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Amnesty programme poorly managed, says Akpanari, Ijaw leader

Rev Francis Akpanari is the president of Ijaw Peoples’ Association (IPA) in Great Britain and Ireland. Now in his 80s, Akpanari, who studied Telecommunications Engineering in London and worked with a British Telecommunication company is now a reverend. He speaks with PAULINE ONYIBE on the history of IPA, its achievements and some political issues

 

Could you give us an insight into the history of IPA Sir?

 

IPA was formed in 1948 by some seamen who decided to settle in London. They were known as elder Demstar workers. They decided to be meeting every month in one person’s house and at that meeting they were contributing one pound each every month and at a point, they realised that it was getting heavy.

 

So one of them called Eseru had a house and he couldn’t afford the mortgage. He decided to sell it and move on to Liverpool, so nine members said that they would buy the house.

 

Three members of these nine went to Barclays Bank in London and took a loan to buy the house and three members that had a house at that time stood for the loan and the house has been there since then. We went there and met the house and we took over the running of the association and the house. Now the house is worth 800, 000 pounds.

 

That is the main revenue turning point of the association and the association is growing from strength to strength. We are having children there and the children are joining us. Membership was formerly open to men but we attracted our women to join.

 

What are the achievements of IPA so far?

 

The achievements have been in different ways. There was a time some students couldn’t afford their school fees, so the association came in and paid. And in the house we left one flat for any persons that come to look for an accommodation, we put them there for free.

 

That has been going on for years. We tried to make sure that all Ijaws come together. We also realised that children born abroad can’t speak our language. So we set up an Ijaw school in London so that they can learn how to speak Ijaw language. They can now dance awigiri.

 

They can sing and they can take part in our yearly activities. Funny enough, and unbelievably too, some of the leaders could not speak Ijaw language either, but now they can speak it. There are even some white ladies that have got married to black people. They can speak the language now.

What other things pertaining to Ijaws have you people taken to the outside world like food, your dress code and all that?

 

When you talk about dress code, I don’t think that Ijaw women here know how to dress more than those there. They are first class dressers in Ijaw cultural attire. I don’t think what they are doing in this part of the world can measure up to what they are doing in Britain. If you see an Ijaw woman at a party, you must know that she is an Ijaw woman.

 

How do you see democracy as practised in  Nigeria as against what obtains the western world? Are they on parallel lines?

 

No. I don’t think so because a leader or Prime Minister or parliamentarian in white world will make sure that they don’t soil their name.

 

Once their name is slightly soiled, they will resign and move away, but a black man in the same category will soil his name and will still remain in office to soil more names and there is nothing anybody will do. That is the difference.

 

Let us talk about corruption. What is the different mode of corruption in the western world compared to Nigeria?

 

The disparity is very much. Before you conclude that this person is corrupt, there will be a lot of investigations on him and they will make sure that they find you guilty; that you can’t even deny it.

 

Then they take action. But in this part of the world, they can investigate you and even seize all your properties and the man is still there looking at you. That is the difference. It looks as if a person who is corrupt is a hero.

 

What do you think has helped the western world to develop better than the third world countries?

 

Of course, if a contractor is given a contract to do a road, he will finish that road within a given time or his contract will terminate. And they will never give you such a job again but in Nigeria, the reverse is the case.

 

Nothing like contract upward review?

 

No. If you are given a job and may be the bank has registered you as a contractor and you know that if you do this job, you are going to get 5,000,000 pounds and the amount to be spent is 15, 000, 000 million pounds, the bank will give you the money to complete it and then you go and collect the money from who awarded the contact to you. It is as easy as that.

 

Why is it not working here?

 

If they give me a capital position, I will demonstrate my experiences and my sincerity to make sure things are done properly. There is no point going there to study and come back and change your attitude. You are not doing any good to this country.

 

You are there to study and come and redesign your own country to make it better.

That is not happening which to me is annoying. People like us abroad but because they cannot fit in here, they decided to stay back. In my association, we have 25 professionals with PhD under their beds but they don’t want to come because they will not accept them.

 

There is this crude local refining that has been going on and the government is not comfortable with it. From your own angle, do you think establishing local refineries will be a good option?

 

Oil refinery is a thing that a government should have control over. Oil is a subsidy that should be controlled by the Federal Government if it is managed properly. The way they are allocating the funds, to me it is not proper and if the funds are being allocated properly to those areas that are bringing this oil from the ground, such things will not happen.

 

If I’m very rich and I have got a village that is very poor and I go and develop that village, nobody will commit crime there. If the people are poor, unemployed and the oil is coming from there and you are enriching some other places, they will make noise.

 

They will devise all sorts of means to make sure that they access the oil. So, for that reason, the Federal Government has so much to be blamed for that activity going on. The government has to really turn things around to make sure that whatever allocation is due to them should be given to that community for development.

 

Looking at the level of insecurity in the country, I just want to know how the country you are living in was able to curtail insecurity?

 

You see, what is happening here now has happened abroad in so many places but they controlled the situation. The situation now is a war against everybody, especially those that are kidnapping. So if you are going to face those people, you have to have superior power over everything that they have to conquer.

 

That is why all over the world, China is developing a nuclear weapon and other people are developing the same thing. Because if I get a nuclear weapon and you have a nuclear weapon, you will not want to threaten me. It is an easy solution if they can manage it. Now, science has brought in drones.

 

They can fly and you will not see them. If you know that there is an activity in one particular area. You send a drone to the sky and it will report back and you will know how to get around with that and you go there and  grab them. If you do it for some time, they will stop. There must be a situation where you tell a thief that if you continue like this, we will kill you.

 

There must be a time when every leader will say, enough is enough. I tried to bring three developers. When it gets to Nigeria, they will say please ‘we can’t go because of insecurity.’ I have worked around here. I have not seen any crane building houses. This is why we must have a strong hand to govern this country because if you are in a key position and you are given a contract, just do it.

 

How do you see the amnesty programme?

 

I don’t think the programme has worked the way they designed it and once it didn’t happen that way, it means that the programme is not working. Back in London, so many of the amnesty boys that were supposed to be going to school have stopped because their school fees were not paid.

 

And they started coming to the association to beg for money. I know about seven of them that have been working in London without going ahead with the programme. To me, it isn’t a successful programme.

I don’t know if there are some people that benefited from it but the students that genuinely went to study, most of them didn’t complete their studies. The idea was good but it was mismanaged by so many different people. It is not successful, they better stop it.

Don’t you think that if it is terminated, they will resume hostility?

 

The goal of the Niger Delta is different. Their goal is to make sure that they are looked after. And you don’t try to shield them away. Their goal has not been met yet and the problem will still be there until their goals are met. They must achieve that goal.

 

The 2023 presidential election is around the corner. What is your take on which section of the country should produce the President?

 

I buy into the suggestion that they should give a Southerner a chance, because I was in this country when the first Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa was inaugurated. I was here when the Saduana of Sokoto governed. I was there when Nnamdi Azikiwe was President and since that time, it has been North in most cases. That is not right because Nigeria belongs to everybody. So I think a Southerner should be given a chance

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