The GEJ/K3 Indelible Legacy
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Fellow Forumites
I bring you some refreshing news - a most pleasant experience I had yesterday (Sat 20/10/12) with a number of our young Ijaw boys and girls here at Cambridge, UK, under the auspices of the GEJ/K3 PAP initiatives.
{gallery stories/ND_Amnesty/Cambridge_OTOKITO|UK-Based Anthony Otokito with PAP Students in Cambridge}
I witnessed with my own eyes the fabulous manifestations of the PAP and the visionary building blocks for the future of the Ijaw nation that this our honorable guy, Kinsley Kuku and his team, are quietly but surely putting into place. This guy by his deeds is fast becoming the Awolowo of the Ijawnation! This is visionary leadership at work. Watch this space in another five to ten years time re Ijaw manpower potentials.
I drove down from London to Cambridge yesterday afternoon on an entirely different mission when it was brought to my attention that an event was underway at the Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, organized by the Nigerian students at the Uni. Couldn't resist the temptation to attend with my host. Boy, am I glad that I did?
It turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to meet this group of very impressive young Ijaw youths, all studying at the Uni on a variety of course programmers ranging from medical science, civil engineering to law. I was told there are currently about 60 (yes, sixty) Ijaw youths at this Uni alone. Several of them arrived only recently during this semester on 4years undergraduate and others on Post-graduate Masters degree courses.
{gallery stories/ND_Amnesty/Cambridge_OTOKITO/SET-2|UK-Resident Anthony Otokito with PAP students in Cambridge}
Chatting with them individually and in groups, their enthusiasm and commitment was quite overwhelming. I felt really proud of them and I told them exactly that and the need for them to keep that momentum going, not just for themselves as individuals but also for their sponsors/benefactors (the PAP), their country and, most of all, the Ijawnation. I reminding them of the reality that they represent the key drivers of the future destiny of our Ijaw nation and our people. From my brief impromptu "sermon", I could see the joy and aura of appreciation oozing out from these guys - that one of their very own was there to talk to them from a purely mentoring perspective. This brings me to my primary reason for making this posting.
One common theme mentioned to me by several of these admirable young Ijaws, was the abject absence of some sort of meaningful on-the-ground advisory/mentoring type or co-ordinational support for these youths when brought over from Nigeria into this totally alien 'Oyinbo' environment. I do feel that this is a deep void that can and ought to be filled by our Ijaw Diaspora organizations here in the UK, in particular, the INC-Europe and the IPA.
Indeed, whilst at the event, my attention was repeatedly drawn to community “elders” from other ethnic groups who turned out in solidarity with and to speak to their brethren. Not so for the Ijaw youths, despite their relatively sizeable number at that Uni. I really do consider that similar support could be put in place for these youths. We (here in the uk) can all play some useful roles. Its achievable with the right building blocks in place.
The major problem, I reckon, seems to be the apparent lack of communication of any sort between the PAP office in Nigeria and the Ijaw organisations here in London. I only stumbled on this matter by sheer chance - and I'm quite regular at INC-E meetings. No informational flow from the PAP office. This needs to improve.
Its almost certainly the case that none of the Ijaw organisations are made aware of this relatively large number of our youths that are now coming into the UK as part of this most commendable manpower developmental strategies of the PAP. I really would suggest that the PAP office establishes an effective link with both the INC-E and IPA leaderships such that all are aware of the need to help facilitate some local support mechanism to complement the good work the PAP Office is doing. I guess, if effectively done, occasional visits can be arranged to Universities where our youths are based in sizeable numbers. Officials of these organisations can be invited to events being organised. More so, such links would help generate/foster a local support and contact network for these our future leaders.
I'm quite conscious that both the Chairman of the INC-E and President of the IPA are silent members of this INF discussion parliament. They are both my friends and it’s my intention to raise these matters further with them at personal levels.
Whilst the PAP office is clearly doing a brilliant job, there is always room for improvement. As suggested, they should urgently give serious considerations to establishing effective links with these Ijaw Diaspora organizations, whether here in the UK or in the USA. It's in the interest of our youth and the future of the Ijawnation.
{gallery stories/ND_Amnesty/Cambridge_OTOKITO/SET-3|UK-based Tony Otokito with PAP students in Cambridge - Set 3}
Finally, I attach here for your viewing pleasure a selection of the several photos that I took with some of our Ijaw youths at the Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK. Hope they all come through (20 of them) - if not I may have to repost them in piecemeal.
Kind regards
Tony Otokito (uk)