The OCHETOHA K’IDOMA (formerly known as Idoma National Forum), the umbrella body for all sociocultural organizations in Idomaland, Central Nigeria, recently elected Prof Yakubu Ochefu as her President General to head a new executive council saddled with the onerous task of coordinating her affairs for the next two years.
prof. Aboki Ochefu
Mustardpoint.com caught up with the Professor of Economic History and Development Studies in his house on Old Otobi Road, Otukpo, for an exclusive one-on-one:
Q- Prof, you were recently elected unopposed as the President General of Ochetoha K’Idoma, the rallying point for all Idoma sociocultural groups. Are you excited?
Ans- In a way, yes. More of nostalgia than excitement, because for nearly forty years I have been researching into the development efforts in this community going back almost ninety years. It has been part of my research as an economic and development historian. So when I was nominated I felt very nostalgic that I have been asked to tread a path that goes back almost ninety three years when the first recorded meeting of development association of Idoma elites took place in Lagos. So it is actually a mixture of nostalgia and excitement.
A cross section of members after the election
Q- Information available to mustardpoint.com indicate that there had been some disquiet surrounding the activities of Ochetoha K’Idoma. Infact, up to a few weeks before the AGM it appeared nobody was interested in coming up. Then all of a sudden your name came up. Does this not mean so much work for you to do?
Ans- There’s no doubt about that at all. Remember that what we now have as Ochetoha K’Idoma started as Idoma National Forum. I was a member of the Idoma elite group from Calabar that went to Kaduna for the meeting that led to the formation of Idoma National Forum. Again, as a result of my background as a professional Historian that sense of history is very dear to me. And when I left Calabar to Makurdi to start the Benue State University, we started a branch in Makurdi where I have held leadership positions. But I have not participated at leadership at the national level. So I know the history of the Association over thirty four years, I know the challenges, I know the frustrations that have always bedevilled our people in our quest for a sense of purpose in our society. So with the benefits of hindsight and history, I am psychologically and mentally equipped to take on the enormous challenges that will definitely come up on the way.
Prof. Ochefu delivering his acceptance speech after the election
Q- What would likely constitute your first agenda?
Ans- Whenever I assume any office, first thing I do is to do a SWAT, SWAR and other necessary analyses. These enable me to have a firm understanding of the issues at stake.
At the AGM, three interrelated issues were thrown up by most delegates. The issue of security that is confronting us; the issue of preservation of certain aspects of our culture and our language; and the issue of opportunities for our youths. At the general level those were the three major issues. This helps one to understand that this is the way our elites feel. So we now have to conceptualize these feelings with the rest other segments of our society and come up with a direction. A few more issues may be added. For example, some talk about unity of our elites, and political marginalisation. Now we have to look at all these and see how each comes up in terms of priorities.
Like I said in my inaugural speech, when the first recorded Idoma sociocultural group met in Lagos in 1933(the Idoma Loving Union) their motto was to promote the love and unity of Idoma people worldwide, while their agenda was to deal with the scourge of prostitution that had taken root. Their existence became known because of a letter they wrote to the colonial District Officer to help repatriate Idoma women who were prostituting in Lagos. Then we know of the Idoma Hope Rising Union in the fifties and the Idoma Development Association in the sixties through the seventies and eighties before it went moribund. Then of course the Idoma National Forum which has metamorphosed into the Ochetoha K’Idoma.
Prof Ochefu and his exco members
So each generation of Idoma elites was confronted by problems peculiar to their own generation. We must therefore agree as to what problems are peculiar to our own generational setting and find ways to deal with them, as those before us did in their own times.
Q- You have been in the forefront of organizing Associations for a long time. From University of Calabar, to Alumni of Nigerian Universities, Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, name them. What are you bringing from this pedigree into running Ochetoha K’Idoma?
Ans- Well, like I have said, the first thing is to do an analysis that defines the problem. A lot of times we do not do proper analysis to situate the root cause of a problem. Sometimes we even erroneously regard the manifestation as the problem. So we need to first do proper analysis. For example, someone was expressing his worries to me about unity of our elites. And I told him that there is no where in the world that there is absolute unity among a community. We should therefore go beyond the idea of disunity and find out why certain elements of our elites find it difficult to come together. Once we are able to dimension such issues, then we can see which ones can possibly be tackled within the hundred days window, three hundred days window, and six hundred days window which is our tenure. By then we should be able to confidently go back to the AGM and give account of how we have tackled identified problems. We would also have sought inputs from our members along the route.
Therefore what I am bringing to Ochetoha K’Idoma is using the experiences I have garnered from organizing such other bodies. But more importantly, tapping into the hordes of talents that we have. We shall identify interest bases and pull them in. We have Leagues of Idoma Professors; Generals; Engineers; Businessmen; Entertainers; etc. If we are able to get even ten percent of our thousands of professionals scattered all over the world, to cue into identified projects, we must have gone a long way. This is my plan which I am bringing from my experiences.
Q- You have also been very active academically, delivering papers here and there. You do not think that this is going to be in the way, or the other one being in the way of this?
Ans- I have gone to political schools before, to understand the political mindset of people who seek political office and I have interacted with active politicians at high levels. I like to gather experiences here and there.
I have reached a level in my academic career whereby my third generation students have become Professors, so I really don’t have much to prove there anymore. All I do now is supervise PhD students. I also teach final year first degree students just to mentor and guide them. So I am able to manage my conflicting responsibilities, though they will definitely take their toll. It all actually depends on dedication and commitment.
Q- Mentorship has become very crucial these days, especially in this era of youth restiveness. What is your immediate plan to deal with a culture of entitlement which is fast becoming a culture with our youths?
Ans- This is a very interesting topic. I have looked for empirical evidence, and there is really no evidence to suggest that majority of our youths have that entitlement culture. I have also subjected it to historical investigation, and found out that within the context of Idoma society and culture youths have a role to play in the day to day life of our communities. They are recognized officially as a body, and each generation of youths brings to the table its own understanding and sentiments. I have also researched on inter-generational relationships. Each generation believes that its days are better than the past generations. In the seventies when we were enjoying U-Roy’s music, our parents must have wondered what we enjoyed in it. It would never have made any sense to them. My son saw one of my secondary school pictures and wondered that I kept such long hairs.
In our villages now, a lot of our young people have taken to cassava farming and making good money out of it. A lot of them are riding okada. Many are really hustling to make ends meet.
But, as in all societies there will be a section of the youths that would engage in unsavory activities. They will always be there, no matter how small, to give the community a negative image. It is in this context I wish that we understand the position of our youths in the society today. We have the majority of them who are genuinely struggling to make a living. Sometimes it’s difficult to make a young man understand why he should complete his university education and come home to ride okada, but we have to make them understand that worse has happened in other parts of the world before now. India had the famous era of Barefoot Doctors. Qualified medical Doctors who were so poor they couldn’t afford shoes, yet they went to work barefeet. That was the consequence of the mass education policy India embarked upon after their independence.
In our case now, we have a large segment of youths who have acquired prerequisite education which the new digital knowledge economy, with its endless opportunities, can provide for. It is much easier to upskill an educated youth than a stark illiterate. If it is in agriculture, how do we make him smarter in achieving higher profits? If it’s in transportation, how can they take advantage of the digital infrastructure?
The point however is that the negative minded youths will always coexist with the positive ones. Nothing anyone can do about it. What we can do is to make sure that they don’t expand and polute the good ones. Instead we should make them shrink.
*mustardpoint.com wishes Prof Yakubu Ochefu and his team at Ochetoha K’Idoma a very fruitful tenure.
