| Urhobo Historical Society |
Culled from:
The
Guardian
Online - http://ngrguardiannews.com
Friday, February 29, 2008
The Urhobo Nation: Current Challenges and the
Way
Forward
By Olorogun Felix Ibru
President-General, Urhobo Progress
Being an
address at a reception of the UPU's
National Executive Council organised by
the Urhobo
community in
Present
State Of
DISTINGUISHED
ladies and gentlemen, let me state right away that the Urhobo nation
today
currently faces many severe challenges on a number of fronts. I shall
however
limit myself to three broad fronts-political, economic and cultural.
Although I limit myself to these
three
fronts, there is the huge challenge of environmental degradation which
Urhobo
land shares with the rest of the Niger Delta. As we speak, there are
regular
oil spillages, dumping of industrial toxic wastes, gas flares, and
explosions
of aged oil pipelines such as the Jesse inferno of September 1998,
which
consumed over 1000 innocent souls. The long-term effects
of
these pollutants on all forms of life in the Niger Delta region is
now a
cause of much global alarm and social agitation.
Located in the oil and gas belt as we
are,
the Urhobo nation is also victimised by a
host of
obnoxious laws and constitutional provisions, which exclude the
communities
from any proprietory rights over the oil
and gas
resources. On current practice, at the end of the day when these
wasting assets
are exhausted, we shall be left with the negative legacy of a ruined
environment, unless we take remedial action now and inaugurate
alternative economies.
I shall not go into a further elaboration of the environmental question
on the
ground that the Niger Delta is now very much on the national agenda.
Upon deep reflection, the political,
economic
and cultural challenges which I have elected to discuss,
seem to me to be quite grave as well. In fact, I consider them to be
crisis
points, which today face the Urhobo nation. For ease of presentation, I
shall
discuss them one by one.
Political challenges: On the basis of
what is
on the ground, the Urhobo nation is experiencing a political crisis.
There is
considerable apprehension that the manipulation of the political
process by a
significant faction of the professional political class has had the
effect of
sidelining and marginalising the Urhobo
voice in the
politics of
In particular, the large-scale
disenfranchisement of voters in Urhobo land during the April 14 state elections, has caused considerable anxiety among
various
social layers of Urhobo society today. The spontaneous massive protest
demonstrations of Urhobo women for three days in Urhobo cities with
chants of
"We no vote, how you take win?" captures the anger and anxiety in the
society. The spontaneity and range of the ewheya
demonstrations against voter disenfranchisement, is also of a scale
hitherto
unknown in these parts in modern
The Urhobo Progress Union is 76 years
old,
having been established in 1931, first as Urhobo Brotherly Society.
Indeed, it
is the oldest surviving self-improvement union founded by Nigerian
peoples in
On the African continent, the UPU is
second
only to the African National Congress (ANC) of
The far-sighted founders of the UPU realised that in the light of the multi-clan
political
structure of Urhobo Society, our people needed an umbrella organisation
where they can all feel at home; and where a coordinated discussion of
their
overall interests in the evolving Nigerian state and society created by
the coloniser can be undertaken.
The UPU is the Urhobo House. The
attempt to
sabotage this House by rude upstart organisations
on
the ground of some spurious claim to political practice expertise is,
in reality,
an assault on the unity of the Urhobo nation. It is an open invitation
to the
loss of self-focus and structural balkanisation
into
clan autonomies. It is a myopic venture that will further diminish the
Urhobo
voice in the scheme of things in the state, the Niger Delta zone, and
the
Nigerian nation.
There are other specific challenges
in the
political arena that we need to create awareness of and galvanise
efforts to realise or solve them.
State
Creation --
We support the call for creation of
more
states in
An
It has two gas-fired electricity
plants at Ughelli and Sapele.
It has other
mineral resources such as Sand, Silica, Kaolin, Clay, Byrite
and forest resources such as Timber, Oil palm and Raffia Palm.
Urhobo nation has 8 rivers with
access to the
In Urhobo land, we have one refinery,
one
Petrochemical plant, Nigerian Gas Company, one steel plant, Salt
Refining
Company and some industrial clusters. It has about 15 urban centers, 60
bank
branches, three universities, three polytechnics and two Colleges of
Education.
It also has 1000
Modern Urhobo folklore is rich in the
many benefits
that have accrued from cultivating good relationships with their host
communities in different parts of the country. For example, my own
father was
conferred with the prestigious title of Aare of Shomolu
by His Royal Majesty, the Oba of Lagos. After my father moved on, the
Therefore, it is clear that UPU
cannot pursue
an isolationist policy for the Urhobo nation. Our value system
predisposes us
to live in peace with our neighbours, but
on the
basis of mutual respect and justice.
Urhobo
Voice and the
We must admit that although we are
located in
the Niger Delta, the Urhobo voice has been relatively weak in the
articulation
of proposals to address the historical neglect and exploitation of the
zone.
This relative aloofness of the Urhobo voice on this question has caused
us some
embarrassment. We certainly cannot isolate ourselves from our zonal
reality. An
apex organisation like the UPU shall
henceforth make
its regular inputs in the discussions of how to develop the Niger
Delta.
As important stakeholders in the
Niger Delta,
we should be aware that the Niger Delta question like state creation
will loom
large in any National Constitutional Review Exercise. At various fora, the Niger Delta people have proposed macro
structural
political reforms that will drastically reduce current marginalisation
of the zone in the Nation's political economy. The reform has come to
be
popularly known as true federalism. The call for true federalism has
two
aspects. First, it is a call to move away from the over-centralised
unitarist character of the present system
to a truly
federalist structure where the federating units and central government
are recognised as mutually coordinate and
subordinate one to
the other.
The other critical aspect of true
federalism
is fiscal federalism which is the principle of ownership and control of
resources by the federating units. This was the Revenue Allocation
principle of
the foundational constitutions of Independent and Republican Nigeria.
We must work in concert with our
Niger Delta
zone and other Nigerians to canvass the de-concentration of powers and
resources from an almighty center. True federalism is one sure way of
preventing presidential elections from being a do-or-die affair
threatening the
existence of the
Economic challenge: Although the
political
threat is the immediate trigger of the sense of crisis, which
challenges Urhobo
people, there also exists a serious
economic
challenge. This is the challenge of poverty and underdevelopment. Of
course,
this is not unique to Urhobo land. Poverty and underdevelopment have
become
defining attributes of the Niger Delta zone, just as with most of the
country.
In its local manifestation,
especially since
1986 when the Nigerian state official1y contracted out of direct
involvement
with the economy by the introduction of the Structural Adjustment
Program
(SAP), there has been a steady rise in the unemployment and
under-employment of
both educated and unskilled youth. The Niger Delta Human Development
Report
published in 2006 makes very depressing reading. Poverty levels are
high and
are worsening. Traditional livelihoods and occupations are being
dislocated and
disoriented by the environmental and social impacts of the oil and gas
industry. In the absence of systematic figures on the volume of
unemployment,
our direct experience of the situation among Urhobo youth in the
homeland is totally
unacceptable.
Year in year out, too many Urhobo
youth
graduate into unemployment. The closure of state industries and the
emigration
of private business concerns from the state for exaggerated reasons of
insecurity, continues to shrink the possibilities of useful employment
and
career development of trained youth. Who would have anticipated Okada
riding
and sale of cell phone recharge cards as occupations for graduates of
tertiary
institutions?
Below these educational levels, are
also
'armies' of male youth consisting of school drop-out and non-literate
youth who
daily drown their idleness in alcohol and the smoking of Indian hemp. Some of these delinquents indulge in all
kinds of
extortionist deviant behaviour. Such
elements become
prone to recruitment for violent assignments by gun-supplying
politicians and
criminal gangs. Slowly but surely, protracted involvement in this
deviance
condition builds up a mindset in such that is thoroughly antithetical
core
values of work, honesty and self-respect normally associated with
Urhobo
cultural values. For example, who would have foreseen a time when
Urhobo youth
would openly beg for money with flattering chants of 'ose!, 'able daddy! and the like. In
our youthful days such public display of deviance was unheard of. Even
those
who were physically challenged, did not
resort to
begging. The family social security network was intact and met the
welfare
responsibilities of such individuals. The behaviour
reversal implied in public begging by able bodied persons, represents a
telling
assault on the self-pride of the Urhobo.
Cultural challenges: I move now to
the third
major crisis front which is also a source of disability to the
imperative of
continuous identity renewal even within the context of social change.
Here
again, the question of cultural change is a subject of much lamentation
by
older generations of Nigerians across the land. In particular, the
lamentations
focus on value decay.
Regular media reports and live
experiences of
brutal armed robberies, assassinations, rape, large scale treasury
looting,
political banditry, and hypocrisy signify to older Nigerians that the
humanistic ethic and fellow feeling which were core attributes of our
traditional cultures are today in great disrepair. The traditional
community
and religious sanctions, which guided behaviour
have
suffered decline, despite the great appearance of piety and spiritually
represented in the unprecedented multiplication of religious
affiliation.
Once again, despite the pan-Nigerian
cultural
crisis, its manifestations take on the peculiarities of particular
culture
areas. Here are two instances critical to the Urhobo cultural front
today.
Urhobo
Language
In this regard, a major weakness in
the
Urhobo cultural domain today is the decline in the spoken language.
This
observation has become a common place in a wide variety of Urhobo
gathering.
Western educated and urban Urhobo households are the most afflicted by
the
decline of the spoken language. If this process is not arrested, it
would mean
that the cultural processes of formal schooling and urbanisation
will eventually complete the estrangement of Urhobo from the use of
their
language. History and reason tell us that a language with no speakers,
is for practical purposes a dead language.
In our own case, the problem is
exacerbated
by the fact that the written literature in Urhobo language is also
quite meagre. If the population of
speakers continue to decline
and there is no growth in the literary output in the language, there is
no fall
back position for the revival of the language at some future date.
Rural Urhobo
where the language is alive is experiencing economic enfeeblement. It
is by and
large a zone of increasing poverty, given the neglect, which rural
economies
have endured since oil and gas became the touchstones of national
economies
concerns. Therefore, as it were, what does it profit a man or woman who
is
fluent in Urhobo?
Yet there are intrinsic value of
identity,
aesthetics and the like for which a language acts as a library, beyond
mere
access to material resources. A people's language sums up their
experiences of
several generations. It is also a vehicle for projecting their cultural
wisdom
especially in a federally structured political matrix such as ours. In
a
competitive polity, where the national question is mis-posed
and answered at the expense of demographic minorities, the fate of
indigenous
languages is squarely in the hands of the native speakers themselves.
Fortunately something can and must be done by us.
Education: The value of education for
national development has regained its primacy among the variables
accounting
for a peoples' collective empowerment. The plenitude of natural
resources is
not enough. Knowledge remains a vital driving force. Thus, while our
own recent
elections were driven by a banal, but violent "do-or-die' slogan, the
campaign rhetoric of political parties in the advanced industrial
nations place
a special premium on further modernisation
and revitalisation of their educational
sector. In this connection,
the UPU long ago distinguished itself by founding
The
Way Forward
Ladies and gentlemen, now that I have
indicated some of the broad problem, let me now turn to what, by my
lights, I
consider to be a way forward. First, it should be observed that the
political,
economic and cultural challenges as I have sketched them, constitute
present
area of weakness for the Urhobo nation. That notwithstanding, the
terrain is
not bleak. The Urhobo nation also has a rich pool of strengths and
opportunities to arrest the slide into weakness and counter potential
threats
to its future as an active player in the Nigerian space. Life itself
can be
read as a series of challenge that is the crucial determinant of growth
and
disintegration.
In this regard, the Urhobo Progress
Union
world-wide, has a crucial leadership role to play in mobilising
the Urhobo nation to respond adequately to the challenges. In doing so,
the UPU
will have to place emphasis on the rehabilitation of the values of
integrity
and service among the elite, as well as come up with strategic
interventions to
develop the material and human resources of the homeland. Fortunately,
there
are several variables in the nation which are potential sources of
strength in
this project of revitalisation.
Strength
Factors
I briefly itemise
some of them as follows:
Territorial
Resources
- Urhobo
nation enjoys a contiguous territorial space.
- The
territory also traverses both upland and reverine
ecologies/environments. It is therefore accessible by networks of land
and river transportation. It has access to port.
- In
addition to the rich reserves of oil and gas, there is an abundance of
natural land and aquatic resources waiting to be developed and
industrially harvested in sustainable ways. Indeed, to lean on popular
religious parlance of the day, Urhobo land is "richly blessed."
Human
Resources
- Urhobo
land is the most densely populated area of
- Beyond
the potential conferment of some advantages in a democratic political
process, the large size of the population constitutes a huge internal
market if the economic resources of the entire state are harnessed and
developed.
- In
those days when the UPU planned the establishment of Urhobo College Effurun, the leadership had to undertake a
nationwide search to get two young men who possessed the magical "
Attitudinal
resources
Having
sketched the
territorial and human capital strengths, I now turn quickly to the
factor of
attitudinal strength. There are two striking attitudes, which the
typical
Urhobo person exhibits.
- The
so-called average Urhobo person resents being treated as a fool. To
express it in the fashionable contemporary popular parlance of urban
- Second,
the Urhobo is a stickler for his or her rights. When pushed to the wall
by an oppressor or the weight of perceived injustice, an Urhobo will
insist on his or her rights and damn the consequences.
In truth,
the
tradition of open criticism of injustice is institutionalised
in the culture. It is manifested in the high satirical art form of Opete normally deployed in song-fests of Udje and Ighovwan
where the high
and mighty can be thoroughly dressed down by name, with complete ritual
immunity. In the competitive inter-ethnic milieu of contemporary
Nigerian
society, this standing up for one's personal rights has often been
misinterpreted by neighbours as
aggressiveness.
Weakness
factors
The above
consideration allows me to quickly list some inherent factors of
weakness in
Urhobo as well
- A
strong sense of individualism which co-exists with the traditional
communal social organisation of Urhobo
societies. Dominant explanations of this trait usually trace it to the
republicanism which characterized Urhobo politics for several
generations. In the modern context, this individualism is seen as a
drawback to the organisation of group defence or protection.
- A
related effect of the above, often remarked upon in the autocritical discussions which occur in Urhobo fora, is the claim, that the nation is often
reactive rather than proactive.
- The
ethnological connections of different clans with non-Urhobo nation, have not normally been summoned in a
systematic way, as a potential resource for building proactive alliance
with other groups. Within
Now that
we have
surveyed the factors of strength and weakness which in my view,
are aspects of the Urhobo nation, we can now focus more directly on the
way
forward. The UPU as the apex body of the nation has a special role to
play in
the coordination of our response to this challenge.
Here
again, I must
remind you that this address is not a speech from the throne. It is an
invitation for a serious family debate among all of us. My purpose here
is
merely to stimulate this debate which has become so urgent.
Politics and
Unity Challenge
A thesis
that has
been advanced in the ranks of government politicians and government
functionaries in defence of their current
political action
is that it is they who have a monopoly of expertise concerning
politics, and
the 'game of politics' in Nigeria. As such, political decisions
concerning the
Urhobo should be left to them - those who know the game." An ancillary
thesis advanced in reinforcement of the above is that the UPU should
limit its
concerns to cultural matters. It is claimed that culture - defined in a
depoliticised manner - is the only sphere
in which the UPU
has competence. All those who hold that restrictive notion of the role
of the
UPU are in grave error.
Ladies
and
gentlemen, we must acknowledge the steadfastness of Chief Benjamin Okumagba, the immediate past President-General,
for
upholding the holistic role definition of the UPU throughout the period
of the
crisis. For record purpose, the history of the UPU shows that the
theory and
practice of the founding fathers, even in colonial times, was
predicated on a
holistic understanding of its responsibilities as both geo-political
and
socio-cultural. They conceived the body as the apex and umbrella organisation for the advancement of the overall
interests
of all Urhobo.
That is
why the UPU,
right from its early days, worked ceaselessly to promote the
consciousness of a
common political identity of an Urhobo
nationhood.
They engaged in a sustained agitation against inclusion in historically
baseless colonial administrative creations of Jekri-Sobo
division.
In line
with the
popular rebellion of all Urhobo clans, the UPU fought for the creation
of
separate Native Administration structure for the Urhobo. They took up
the
political campaign to persuade the colonial government to recognise
the coronation of Esezi II as Orodje
of Okpe, after a long interregnum. To
avoid the
painful experience of the 'Agbassah land
case' of
1925, the UPU made the Sapele land case of
1941-3 an
all Urhobo national affair. The organisation's
innovative venture in the educational sphere was also designed to
advance the
competitive position of all Urhobo in the socio-political and economic
dynamics
of an emergent
But here
is a major
irony. Those who now claim a monopoly of political expertise and seek
to decree
the UPU as incompetent to involve itself with the overall political
interests
of the Urhobo nation, are themselves the same actors who craved and
received
the political blessing of our apex umbrella organisation
a few years ago. Moreover, during the middle phase of the political
processes
which preceded the latest election primaries, these same actors ran to
the UPU
to solicit support of the parent body when they had strong
apprehensions that
they were losing control of their party machinery in the state. Of
course,
these same government politicians know the truth: which is that like Afenifere, Ohanaeze
and the Arewa Consultative Forum, the
Middle Belt Forum, the Ijaw National
Congress, just to name a few, an apex organisation
like the UPU cannot be politically aloof. It
must of necessity be interested in the national political dynamics
without
being party partisan.
The
generality of
the Urhobo people know this to be true, and they have demonstrated this
political understanding of UPU responsibility by their steadfastness
with the organisation. This is the
essential unity with the people,
which UPU must continue to protect and preserve. The people know that
the great
trust which the UPU earlier placed in government politicians was
betrayed and
abused. The real crisis of unity therefore, is between such politicians
and the
people. However, it follows from above that the best way of touching
base with
the people politically at all times is for the UPU to be vigilant in
holding
government at all levels to transparent governance. Our organisation
also has to learn to align its political and moral voices with social
forces in
the country that are active in the defence
of
democracy and Niger Delta advocacy. For it is only
a
democratic
Economy and
culture
Ladies
and
gentlemen, I hold that the political challenge is the most delicate of
the
three broad challenges I talked about. Large and significant as the
economic
and cultural challenges are, their resolutions are more a matter of the
deployment of technique and resources.
Let me
simply state
therefore that the eradication of poverty and the promotion of cultural
and
language revivals in Urhobo land, is easily within the competence of
Urhobo
professionals today. The knowledge, techniques and organisational
skills to undertake a massive agrarian revolution and general industrialisation of Urhobo land are available.
The
financial
resources and fund-raising network skills are also available. What is
more, the
interventions required to eradicate poverty and to refurbish the
cultural front
can have win-win outcomes for the people and the change agents.
Ladies
and
gentlemen, do you doubt that there are Urhobo professionals who can
profitably
invest in rural industrialisation and wipe
out rural
poverty within a decade? Do you doubt that Urhobo businessmen and women
and
cultural professionals now exist who can invest profitably in radio,
television
and other media and who can thereby effectively contribute an Urhobo
dimension
to the growing Nollywood market?
I doubt
that you
have such doubts. But where is the will? You may ask.
By Way of Conclusion
Ladies
and
gentlemen, let me conclude this address by reiterating more pointedly
the goals
of the National Executive Council of the UPU. In my acceptance speech
on
December 7, 2007, I stated that our vision is to build a strong, united
and
confident Urhobo nation, that is accorded
recognition
and respect, as well as its rightful place as a key player in
In this
regard, it
is also in our own interest to work towards rapid development of
We hereby
commit
ourselves to the following tasks among others.
a. To
work towards
achieving greater unity in the Urhobo family.
b. To
avoid an isolationist
policy and promote peaceful co-existence with fellow Nigerians.
c. To
restore the
dignity and pride of Urhobo Nation and people as active and essential
players
in
d.
Completion and
effective usage of our Ultra-modern Cultural Centre initiated by the
last
administration at Uvwiamuge, Agbarho.
e. Set up
a modern
secretariat with Internet facilities and UPU website.
f. To tap
the vast
range of human resources now available to the Urhobo Nation locally and
in the
Diaspora through setting up of expert committees to strategise
on critical issues to move the Urhobo Nation forward.
g. To
strive to
correct the unfair allocation of local councils and federal
constituencies in
Urhobo land.
h. To use
the
opportunity of a National Constitutional Review to canvass for an
It is
clear from the
above that the National Executive Council cannot achieve these goals
without
the regular collaborative inputs from you. We, therefore, appeal to you
for
your kind support by way of criticisms, suggestions and financial
support.