Patrick Ukah is the Secretary General of Oganihu Anioma. Oganihu Anioma is an association of professionals from Delta North Senatorial District of Delta State. In this interview with FELIX IGBEKOYI, the astute politician and businessman talks about youth empowerment, agriculture, education, industrialization, youth restiveness and Delta and Nigeria, politics. He also speaks on other critical issues. Excerpts:
Can you briefly tell Nigerians about yourself?
I am Patrick Ukah, Secretary General of Oganihu Anioma. Oganihu Anioma is an association of professionals
Patrick Ukah
from Delta North Senatorial District of Delta State. The association has been in existence for the past 18 years and our main focus is on education and micro-economic empowerment as it primarily relates to Delta North, and to some extent Delta in whole and Nigeria. One great plus about this summit is that some aspirants who participated and those that did not participate had promised to use the outcome of the summit as a working paper and have given assurance that they will partner with the association in the implementation of the deliberations.
What informed the Summit that took place recently in Asaba?
First and foremost, we all know the current state of the Nigerian economy and in general terms do understand how it affects us. The Anioma Economic Summit was a platform where professionals from the Anioma extraction, which is the Delta North, concern themselves with the policies and programmes that can help the people. That is why the 2014 Anioma Economic Summit was focused on education and the economy. You will agree with me that if every region, town, state or individuals can think of what to do to change the face of their society, instead of waiting for government handouts, there will be significant positive changes in societies. There are a lot of economic potentials in Delta North but the pressing question is how do we unlock these potentials so as to be able to move the region forward? Another fundamental question is, what can the people of Anioma do to make live better for themselves, the state and Nigeria in general?
It is based on the questions that the summit was tagged “Industrialization and Youth Empowerment”. When we say industrialization, we do not concern ourselves with oil but as a matter of fact, some parts of Delta North are also oil-producing areas. Industrialization here means taking a leaf from the present Delta administration that preaches Delta Beyond Oil. So, what other things do we have, how can we contribute again to be able to push forward that philosophy of Delta Beyond Oil? This was deliberated upon during the summit. Right now the Delta North Senatorial District is pushing for an opportunity to produce the next Governor but it is equally important that Anioma also contribute to the Delta Beyond Oil discourse, there are many other things that we have that can help move Delta State forward, especially in the Anioma area.
Are you challenged that the infrastructural amenities in the state are not commiserate with your expectation?
Well, if you look at Oganihu Anioma, we make comments on national and state issues as it affects our region. But our present day resolve is that it is no longer wise to simply point fingers. Oganihu Anioma believes that we can look inwards and see how we can galvanize our area, partnering with government on one side and partnering with the private sector on the other side and also engineering the individuals to use their God-given talents to fruitful use. So, I will not say am particularly not happy with the infrastructural development in the area because our primary concern is what can we do on our own. We just can’t sit on the fence and be waiting for government to do all. I think when we begin to come out with how we can partner with the government and when they are not forthcoming, we can then begin to cry out but right now what is most paramount is how can we partner with each other and how do we reengineer our environment for our own betterment, by doing it ourselves.
If you look at the timing of this summit, it is very close to 2015, why now, does it have anything to do with the politics in the state?
I will like to emphasize that Oganihu Anioma is a non-partisan organization. The association did not just start today; we have been in existence since 1996. And this is not the first time we have held programmes that are related to the economy, we have been giving scholarship to indigent students for the past 18 years. In every four to five years we have close to 20 students under our own scholarship scheme, we have been enlisting very brilliant Anioma indigenes to very strategic locations in Nigeria. I remember in 2007 during the last dispensation, Oganihu Anioma had an interactive session with all the governorship candidates where we demanded for their plans and how we can be of assistance. The process was carried out without zeroing down on one particular candidate. It is coincidental that this summit took place around this time but it is also strategic. Because, this is the time we need to canvass for the right leadership just when candidates are preparing to slug it out. And we are prepared to be of assistance to whoever emerges. As mentioned earlier we are seeking partnership from the government and private sector on how the Anioma people can tap into the opportunities provided. So, this forum send out clearly our message to those in contention for the number one sit in Delta State.
What are your strategies to really enforce this development, since your focus is on the youths? How do you intend to impact on them? Is it through soft loan, agriculture or what area of focus?
Let me give an instance, our scholarship scheme operates this way: Every member of Oganihu Anioma at least sponsors a student in one straight academic year, which is you are sure whatever your contribution is as an individual, it is to empowering a youth. We also host endowments, like we have the Chris Ogbechei Scholarship for Engineering Students and a good number of our members have foundations. Apart from the ones we give on our own, we also manage schemes on behalf of individuals. So, we congregate different interests that believe in us. It is easy for us to implement our plans due to our involvement in the private sector as well as in the government. This advantage makes it easy for us to interface with government and private organizations. You will find out that there are a lot of counterpart funding and donor agencies with ongoing programmes in agriculture and education but the problem is that people are not aware of these programmes. Our primary intent is to discover these schemes and see how it will be of great benefit to the people of Anioma.
How do the people be aware of these opportunities?
Part of what we do is to create enlightenment for people to know how they can access this kind of policies or programmes that are out there. Some of them we want to talk to strategic groups and government and see how we can galvanize those opportunities and help to disseminate them. We also act as consultant but at no cost. People can bring their business proposal for us to look into it and we provide the necessary advice on how you can get access to the needed capital. All these efforts are geared towards how we can help improve the lives of people in the Anioma area. Simply put, if members of the group contribute money to give scholarship and we can meet some of our friends who are not members to endow some scholarship schemes under our own management, you can see we are expanding it. On industrialization, we could get people together either as corporative and help them to access investment vehicles like the SURE-P funds and other federal government funds. One of the achievements of this summit is to inform people that government can be partnered with. Although, some people complain that when these investments come it is shared amongst the government people, Oganihu Anioma is committed to exposing any form of corruption, we want to find out how it gets to the people in the most realistic way possible.
The nature of professionals that make up Oganihu Anioma, is it as a result of the poverty level in Anioma area or is as a result of the love for the growth of the place. What actually informed your coming together? And the people you even doing this for is there any serious awareness or orientation?
I think I started by telling you that every single individual should think of what he can do for the society and not what society can do for him. Some of us benefited from the society, I know a few that can tell you they enjoyed scholarship in the past. But the basic thing is that an association that has been on for 18 years can no longer say it is still a minor. We have come of age and we have been in this movement for a very long time, times are changing, the challenges we have faced in the Anioma region in the past, is not the challenges we are facing now.
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