Empowering Wakirike In The Diaspora

Empowerment is key to the success of any project.
But what form empowerment should take is also critical. Empowerment is a popular political jargon in Nigeria and means at least three things.
It means to give somebody a political position of relevance that would enable him or her to be visible in the arena of governance and in the minds of his supporters as capable of offering them gratuities.
Two, it means giving a person huge sum of money (huge as defined by the person’s taste and expectation) to enable him or her live a life of material and social comfort if  not opulence.  It also means to provide social amenities to communrties through a person as a result of the influence he peddles or as a mark of favour for some patronage (often a reward or pay back for political support).
TheWakirike Coalition is not a political organisation. Therefore, empowerment could not mean any of the aforesaid, but perhaps something more profound;something more valuable than money. Really, with Nigeria’s economy in dire straits and the Naira exchanging for more than 200 to one dollar, it will be herculean for people battling with basic needs of survival to be very useful in funding a dollar project. So, we can look outside of monetary empowerment to no less valuable things that are critical to the success of our venture. I want to identify three points here:  Information, Motivation and Partnership.
Information is key to knowledge and the Wakirike people in the diaspora need to get up-to-date information about issues affecting the Wakirike people at home. Technology has made information flow very brisk; so, there is need to build a strong chain of communication that will give the Wakirike people in the diaspora, accurate facts, not misleading or apparently jaundiced stories disseminated by rumour mongers and political jobbers.
The Wakirike Community can also be empowered by motivation. They can be motivated to fund education at home, in two ways: One, by taking a cue from the activities of sister ethnic nationalities in the diaspora who build very strong bonds of unity among themselves and establish linkages with their kith and kin at home (Ibiyediki da).
For example, the activities of the Yoruba in diaspora stimulate and sustain the development of education in Yorubaland. In Rivers State, the efforts of the IbaniSe Forum, the Kalabari National Association and the Ikwerres in diaspora(who have decided to hold their national convention this year in Port Harcourt), are worthy of emulation and should actually spur the Wakirike Community in USA to do more to reinvent the prime position of the Wakirike people at home
The second motivation is frugality how the resources (fund, skills, tools etc.) deployed to projects will be used. To whom much is given, much is expected. When funds are put to appropriate use, donors would be willing to contribute more.
The Wakirike Coalition should therefore device a means of monitoring its projects to achieve the desired result. Motivation is a double-edged empowerment tool that would quicken the benefactor(seeing the success of the project will provoke positive action for continuous participation) and the beneficiaries(who will be delighted for the success of the programme and will continue to keep faith with it).
The last point is partnership. The cost of funding education is high but the burden will be significantly less if there is partnership and collaboration with committed persons and groups. The Wakirike community in diaspora will be stronger if they get strategic partnership with relevant interest groups and patriotic philanthropists.
There are many blessedWakirike individuals who can be reached and engaged to contribute to the education fund. Therefore, participation in the Wakirike Trust Fund project should not be limited to the contribution of Wakirike people in diaspora alone. It should be enlarged to involve wealthy individuals in and outside of government who can pay a definite amount of money yearly as their token to the fund.
The Trust Fund project should also get the support of the Wakirike local government councils and corporate organisations operating within Wakirike Be Se territories. Monies generated from these sources would boost the Trust Fund and enlarge the scope of programmes to be carried out.
The Wakirike Community in the diaspora have demonstrated capacity as a dynamic and strategic link between the Wakirike people in the Ijaw hinterland of Rivers State and the United States of America.  They certainly need to be well empowered by the required information, motivation and strategic partnership to succeed in sustaining this education fund project.
In Nigeria, education is not just a process of acquiring knowledge, it is a means to earn a good living and also position people (kinsmen) to occupy strategic offices in the corridors of power. In the absence of good paying jobs, it becomes a challenge to convince the youth to continue to read merely to earn certificates even though they are intelligent and can make good grades. We are aware that many people died in stampedes at recruitment centres a few years back. Indeed, a former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, is on trial over the incident. Presently, over one million candidates are said to have applied for recruitment into various cadres of  the Police Force to fill about 10,000 vacancies.
Last year, the joke was on doctorate degree holders who applied to be truck drivers for a cement company with the aim of owning the trucks after clocking some kilometre. Stimulating interest in education is becoming a formidable task.
The Wakirike people were able to achieve much in education at a time in their history because of unity of purpose. But can this still be said today? While other ethnic groups are pulling themselves together, inter-communal interests and internecine conflicts  seem to conspire to diminish our growth. How much strength do we still have to build bridges of development in our various endeavours as our fathers did yesterday? Can we reflect further on our political status in Rivers state and our gains as Wakirike people? It is imperative for Kirike Be Se to re-strategise, quickly and  I believe the Wakirike community in diaspora can kick-start the process by engaging our politicians and public office holders to articulate a blue-print on how to reposition the Wakirike people, create meaningful jobs for our youth.
Finally, the Wakirike Community in diapora will be well empowered if they establish a non-partisan think-tank group to research and discover patriots who can demonstrate the epic Wakirike spirit-men and women who would promote Kirike Be Se collective interests rather than fan embers of personal empowerment and self aggrandisement.
Paul-Worika is a Federal Commissioner, Public Complaints Commission, Rivers State.

Alpheaus Paul-Worika