Invitation to
Fifth Annual
Conference of Urhobo Historical Society
Petroleum
Training
Institute, Effurun
& Ibru Centre and Bruce Onobrakpeya’s Niger
Delta Cultural Centre, Agbarha-Otor
October 29-31, 2004
Urhobo Historical Society (UHS) will be
holding its Fifth
Annual Conference as indicated above. Its earlier Annual Conferences
were held
in North America (2000 and 2001) and in London,
England (2002 and
2003). This
will thus be the Society’s first Annual Conference in Urhoboland. It is
therefore with great pleasure that we, on behalf of the membership of
the
Society, invite you to all the events of the Fifth Conference.
The Opening Ceremonies of the Conference (9:00 a.m. -12:00noon, October 29, 2004, at Effurun) will be
chaired by Justice
V. E. Ovie-Whiskey (Rtd.) and will be addressed by Governor James Ibori
and UHS’s
Chairman, Professor Peter Ekeh. Olorogun Moses Taiga will be the
Special Guest
of Honour of the Conference, while Senator David Dafinone will be its
Chief
Patron. The Conference’s Closing Ceremonies (5:00 – 7:00 p.m., October 31, 2004, at Agbarha-Otor) will be
chaired by Maj.-General Chief David
Ejoor (Rtd.) and will feature awards named after Chiefs Mukoro Mowoe,
Omohwovo
Okoro, Agbontaren Udih, M.G. Ejaife, and Adogbeji Salubi.
Between the Opening and Closing Ceremonies
will be several major
events of the Conference. There will be two book launchings. First is a
UHS book
titled Warri City & British Colonial
Rule in Western Niger Delta, edited by Peter Ekeh (October 29, 1:00
– 3:00
p.m.). Chief E. K. Clark will chair the ceremony; Olorogun Professor
F.M.A.
Ukoli will review the book; and Olorogun Moses Taiga will be the Chief
Launcher. The second book will be launched at Agbarha-Otor (31/10/2004, 2:45 – 4:45 p.m.). Chief Johnson
Ukueku will preside over the ceremony
and Mr. Goodie Ibru will be the Chief Launcher. This book, titled
Where Gods and
Mortals Meet: Continuity and
Renewal in Urhobo Art, is edited by Chief Perkins Foss,
with contributions
by Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya and several other Urhobo scholars. It is
the
most comprehensive book to date on Urhobo art culture. The
book’s launching will be accompanied with
a poster version of an Urhobo art exhibition, which is currently on
display at
the Museum for African Art in New York City.
There will be three roundtable sessions at
the Conference.
The first two of these will focus on the central theme of the
Conference,
namely, “Urhobo’s Future and the Challenges of an Emerging Global Order
in the
21st Century.” Chaired by Senator David Dafinone, and
moderated by
Professor David Okpako of the University
of Ibadan, the first
roundtable
probes the status of education in Urhoboland and weighs the prospects
and
problems of a “private” UrhoboUniversity.
Participants will include leading scholars and businessmen. The second
roundtable is titled “Youth Crisis and Urhobo’s Future.” It will be
chaired by
Professor Vremudia Diejomaoh, former Director-General of Nigerian
Institute for
Social and Economic Research (NISER) and former Deputy Director of
International
Labour Organization (ILO). Some youth leaders and activists will
participate
along with seasoned academics. The third roundtable is a women’s forum
on “Women and
Cultivation of Urhobo Culture and Language.”Its chairwoman will be announced later.
Leading Urhobo women will participate.
The highlight of any of UHS’s Conferences is
built around
its Keynote Address. This year, Professor Omafume Onoge, University
of Jos, will speak on
“Urhobo Youth
and the Urhobo Future.” Olorogun Moses Taiga will preside.
We believe that another highlight of the
three day conference
will be an ecumenical Thanksgiving Church Service on Sunday, October
31, 2004,
at Agbarha-Otor, starting at 9:00 a.m. This open-air Church Service
will be
co-celebrated by Monsignor Anthony O. Erhueh, of the Catholic Diocese
of Warri,
and the Very Rev. Professor Samuel Erivwo, Provost of the Anglican
(Communion)
Diocese of Warri.
We hope and pray that this unique Conference
will lead to
the building of a greater future for the Urhobo people and for
Urhoboland. We
trust that your participation and contribution to its events, and to
any
developments that will flow from them, will be acts in which you will
take
great pride. We therefore strongly urge you to attend all events
of the
Fifth Annual Conference of Urhobo Historical Society.
