BY
CHIEF(ENGR) AYEBAEMI OPUENE AYEBAEKIPRE
INTRODUCTION
Let me begin by first extending my profound appreciation to the Nembe Ibe USA
for inviting me to share in some thoughts with you on this important theme;
HEALTH AND EDUCATION- THE WAY FORWARD. In line with this year’s
theme, I will be presenting a paper titled “Educating the 21 st Century Nembe
Youth: Thinking outside the Four Walls”.
I cherish this opportunity as it is the first time I am standing to speak before this
distinguished gathering of the sons and daughters of Nembe speaking area. I will
surely continue to remember this honour. O’Nua!!!
It is a known fact that the cardinal objectives of this organisation include raising
funds for direct benefit of the youths in the Nembe speaking area, Bayelsa State
and focusing on empowering this same group through economic, health, and
educational initiatives.
In discussing this topic, a lot of primacy is placed on the Nembe youth. As a
function organised by this organisation, it is equally relevant that a great deal is
placed on the spectrum of giving, which is the crux of your activities. It is from
that pedestal that I find the following words apt and very relevant:
“Giving back is where you give, and then nothing happens.
No benefits for you, no recognition, nothing tangible gets
sent your way. Your biggest and sole reward is the realisation
that you’ve made a significant change in someone’s life. And
if not “significant” then a positive change nevertheless”.
-Anonymous
This indeed buttresses the true essence of establishing the Nembe Ibe USA, which
is a non-profit organisation. All efforts channelled towards extending that golden
hands of friendship and assistance have no doubt started making remarkable
impact in the lives of our people, especially in the area of education despite the
challenges impeding the age-long academic prowess an average Nembe is known
for in the Niger-Delta right from their early contact with Christian missionaries. To
this end I once again say Nua o!!!
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The Nembe Youth in the 21 st Century.
Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge,
skills, values, beliefs, and habits (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education). We
must bear in mind that education is not restricted to the four walls of an institution.
It starts from the family in our homes, churches and extends to the schools.
Teaching people how to read and write is only but basic step towards shaping the
way such student view life particularly in a social circle.
The 21 st century has come with a combination of globalization and jet age. In
layman terms this simply means the political, economic, social, technological,
environmental and cultural events within a society quickly becomes a significant
part of another society in different parts of the world.
The population that gravitates towards this dynamism of politics, technology,
science, fashion, social media and the entertainment facets are the youths.
Meanwhile the skill to survive in the current jet age has been a herculean task to
both our parents and the society at large. Obviously things have changed and taken
a new dimension. With the advancement in science and technology;
telecommunication/Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the world
has never been so small like ever before. Information gets disseminated in seconds,
cultural barriers are shattered, children and promising youths are exposed to
information that used to be considered inimical to their moral behavior thereby
putting their young minds into confusion. A view also shared and lamented by Dr
Ben Carson in his book “Gifted Hands” when he said “imagine a youth sitting
before a television set everyday watching the flamboyant and expensive life style
of sport, music, film/movie celebrities who earn far better than any professor and
you expect such youth to believe that education is the key to success”.
Challenges
Back home the story is the same-hence the importance of this organization. Gone
are the days when many Nigerians youths see educational pursuits as the only way
to success but the reverse is now the case that more educated youths are
joblessness. The Nigerian youth and indeed the Nembe youth is in a dilemma. He
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is naturally born into a challenging environment. Right from their early age in life
they go through a challenging environment.
More so, and most worrisome is the constant pollution and degradation of the
natural habitat, which has sustained the population over the years. No thanks to
discovery of oil, its exploration and mining. Since its discovery in the 1950s, the
people of the Niger Delta are systematically condemned to bear the effect due to
neglect by the multinational oil companies and their government collaborators. In a
bid to survive and also make their voices heard, the youth became restless. The
likes of Isaac Adaka Boro, Kenule Saro-Wiwa, Asari Dokubo, Genaral Africa etc
to mention a few put their lives on the line for the struggle. Some are dead. Others
are alive yet the issue lingers. While am not undermining the achievements of
these social crusaders, I want to draw our attention to the fact that what some of
our Nembe youths could get is that the only way is to take up arms against the
government in order to make it.
On the other hand, the education sector has been neglected and compromised to a
point that some our tertiary institutions are always under lock and key due to
incessant strikes. As I speak to you now, there is a national strike embarked upon
by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). These constant strikes that
have gradually become a tradition in most cases frustrate students who at long run
end up engage in social vices and thereby becoming a problem to the society.
Most religious leaders back home are not helping matters either, rather they
encourage materialism and primitive accumulation of wealth for themselves. These
churches are more or less miracle centers that is why they will continue to have
army of youths in their congregation because at least 30% are job seekers and are
looking for holy prayers to connect them to their destiny and nothing else.
We can go all day enumerating these challenges, despite the existence of these
challenges; we must strive to make our presence felt in our communities. To teach
our children better, to ask them on a regular bases what drives them; do we inspire
them, do they have the right perception of ideal careers.
We need to teach our children that there is more to life than what they see, so they
could aspire to be better.
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Way forward
At this juncture, the question that comes to mind is what is the way forward?
Outside the four walls of an institution we can continue to teach our youths
by empowering them by organizing skill acquisition/entrepreneurial
seminars, workshops.
It is also good to organize quiz and debate competitions where winners will
be given good prizes and special scholarship award that will encourage them
to strive for academic excellence.
Talented Nembe youths can also be encouraged and assisted to build their
sporting skill(s) by establishing a football or sport academy. Just as we
celebrate Lionel Mesi, Christiano Ronaldo, Michael Jordan,Kanu Nwankwo,
Danel Igali etc; our youth can also be celebrated internationally.
We can also organize career talks and seminars for the youths. Let them
have the rare privilege of listening to renown Academics and Scholars,
Medical practitioners, Engineers, Business moguls etc, speak to them on our
soil so that they will be inspired to work towards becoming responsible
people in the society. They know that with the right and required foundation
they could achieve far more and instill in them that hard work actually pays.
In the early 70’s, the Nembe National Committee with some members; Prof.
E.E. Opuwaribo, Mr Thomas Spiff, Prof. T. Oguara, Sir C.T. Ikelemote, Sir
E. Opuene, Dr A. Beregha (Late), Mr Inaife etc. focused on educational and
development round the main towns in Nembe Ibe by encouraging, teaching
and inspiring youths. They sourced for teachers where they were found
lacking and they raised funds to buy and distribute books to schools in our
communities. This passion can be carried on.
A long lasting legacy can be built for generation unborn which will out-live
us but have a ripple effect that will change our people forever. While we
have good number primary and secondary schools tertiary institution is non-
existence in the Nembe speaking area. We can pull resources within and
from friends, donor agencies etc to build a world class university in Nembe.
Back home in Nigeria we already have private universities complementing
the public universities. Some of these include Madonna University, Okija in
Covenant University in Ogun State, Igbenidion University, Okada in Edo
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State and American University of Nigeria, Yola in Adamawa State to
mention a few. Having such a university will not only give the teaming
number of our youth the privilege of acquiring quality education but will
also further expose our ancient ancestral home to the global world.
Conclusion
As I round off my presentation, the message for me is, we cannot bury our heads in
the past and also have the present and the future. The Nembe area we have today is
not attractive to investments. In as much there are issues in governance, we must
teach and organize our youths in a manner that will bring about further
development to our communities. We need to give confidence to investors, if a
Nigerian like Aliko Dangote can shun the Niger Delta areas that produce the raw
material and invest $18 million in Lagos for a facility that should be in Niger
Delta, it is a signal. This project, according to newspaper reports would create
149,000 jobs.
This must be a wakeup call to us and this must further push us to educate the 21 st
century youth that our communities must be enlightened and developed to compete
favorably with other parts of the world.
I must reiterate that the way forward definitely is the path you have chosen-a step
in the right direction. There is no gainsaying that if you educate a youth, you save
the future of a nation. There is nothing godlier, more humane, and more beautiful
than putting a smile on the faces of people. Your activities over the years have
shed more light into the lives of our people. I encourage your effort.
Nembe O’Nua!!!
PAPER PRESENTED AT THE ANNUAL (10 th Anniversary) ORGANIZED
BY THE NEMBE IBE USA HELD AT HILTON GARDEN INN ATLANTA
GEORGIA, USA ON THE… SEPTEMBER, 2017
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