By Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt
He was once a fearless warlord in the creeks of the Niger Delta; a freedom fighter and liberator of his people who had the prefix of a feared mangrove name, popularly known as Shoot-at-Sight. But he has since dropped all his arms and abandoned his violent agitation to embrace the peace in the Niger Delta region.
Shoot-at-Sight, whose real name is High Chief Bibopere Ajube, now commands the economy, wages war against poverty, fights unemployment and creates opportunities for jobless youths in the Niger Delta region.
Little wonder his name is mentioned by the Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd), at every occasion. To Dikio, Ajube is an outstanding example of what is possible in the Niger Delta.
The amnesty boss believes that if Ajube, despite his limited educational background, could rise above the challenges in the Niger Delta to become one of the most successful entrepreneurs among his peers, other ex-agitators have the potential to do same.
Therefore, Dikio has since embarked on the mission to make other ex-agitators think out of the box like Ajube by capitalising on the numerous opportunities in the region to become successful entrepreneurs instead of depending heavily on only N65,000 monthly stipends.
Ajube, who hails from the Ijaw riverine Arugbo-Ibe in Ese-Odo Local Government Area, Ondo State, had no formal education. He could not attend a primary school. But right from childhood, he saw the river criss-crossing his community as an opportunity for fishing. So, he grew up with a survival instinct as a fisherman.
Asked to describe himself, Ajube, who is always economical with words, said: “I am a man of humble beginning. I had no formal education. I was brought up in a creek community called Arugbo-Ibe where fishing was predominant and so I naturally grew up to be a fisherman.”
Perhaps, the river, trees, mangroves and other natural creations that Ajube saw in his environment while growing up reinforced his belief in the God that created them. The former warlord said he grew up to become a spiritual man who relies on prayers and divine signs for decision-making.
“I am also a very spiritual man who doesn’t make decisions without a sign. I call God Onise Iyanu (the God of wonders) because he leads me. I see myself as a son of God, so I always commit to prayers.
From his Ondo fishing camp, Ajube embarked on a voyage to Delta State where he met another leading light in the struggle, a former ex-agitator, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo alias Tompolo. The meeting no doubt commenced the era of violent agitation that humbled the country’s economy.
Though he restrained from speaking elaborately about their exploits in the creeks, Ajube said he embraced the amnesty programme offered by the Federal Government and immediately surrendered all his arms and ammunition.
In fact, Ajube has never regretted his decision to surrender all his weapons and embrace the government’s olive branch. It was the singular decision that made him wear his thinking cap as he saw himself metamorphose into a major player in the economy of the Niger Delta.
According to Dikio, the story of Ajube is a clear example of what is possible in the Niger Delta.
“Ajube today is a model of success and an inspiration to so many of our youths in the region. We are using his story to inspire and encourage others to change their mindset of depending on N65,000 monthly stipend.
“We are encouraging them to key into our new vision of transforming the ex-agitators into entrepreneurs and/or employable citizens who will become net contributors to the economy of the region and the nation like Ajube”.
It was gathered that Ajube refused to register for the monthly stipend of N65,000 paid each agitator. He also precluded his ‘boys’ from receiving such monthly payment and rather decided to seek and develop other economic opportunities in the Niger Delta made possible by the amnesty programme.
He chose to be an entrepreneur and floated a company called Bradama International. He trained all his boys, mentored them and employed them in Bradama where they earn handsome salaries every month. Bradama has become the Nigerian emerging powerhouse in the oil and gas servicing industry.
In fact, Bradama International offers a wide range of services such as pipe fabrication and pipeline construction; training on professional welding; dredging, canalisation and marine services among others. In fact, Ajube, who did not see the four walls of a primary school, hires and pays graduates with various higher degrees fat salaries every month.
The company, which designs and construct sophisticated pipelines, has completed and delivered multi-billion-naira projects for big players in the petroleum and power sectors.
Ajube narrated a particular opportunity he saw during the formative period of the amnesty prigramme that led to the establishment of Bradama.
He said: “After the proclamation of the amnesty, I travelled with my brother Kingsley Kuku to Ghana. I received complaints that there were issues with our boys in their schools. Only two men were allocated to train 150 students. This made me realise that there was no fully equipped vocational training centre where skills can be acquired for youths to be positively engaged.
“I noticed the quack training centres available was only a means to siphon money from the amnesty programme. So I asked my brothers in Ghana to join me back to Nigeria because I believed we can build a better training school for our people. “When I got back to Nigeria, I brought in experts from the United States and I told them I wanted to build a training facility, and that was how it all began. I named it Bradama, which means handwork.”
Indeed, the interim administrator, Dikio, has not hidden his admiration of Ajube. He wants all ex-agitators to be like Ajube. Dikio was particularly impressed that the ex-agitator was already implementing a new model he introduced in the amnesty programme to change the existing training approach he inherited from his predecessor.
He was elated when he discovered that his model of Train, Mentor and Employ (TME) was being practised in Bradama and has transformed some of the former foot soldiers of Ajube into entrepreneurs.
Using Ajube as an example, Dikio has been touring the Niger Delta preaching the gospel of entrepreneurship to all ex-agitators. He has been preparing the ex-agitators to capitalise on the opportunities and comparative economic advantage in the region to create wealth and escape the shackles of N65,000 monthly stipend mentality.
In his last tour, Dikio, who had the picture of Ajube in mind, started work on his project of constituting the ex-agitators into cooperatives in three broad areas of maritime security, food security and maritime transport. He held a workshop that taught the ex-agitators how they could successfully transform themselves into wealthy entrepreneurs leveraging on the cooperative model.
For Dikio, if ex-agitators fail to think like Ajube by taking advantage of the economic opportunities in their region to create jobs and grow wealth, they will continue to rotate around poverty, thinking that only N65,000 is all that is available for them. Therefore, Dikio did not hesitate to describe the monthly stipend as a stronghold which the ex-agitators must break away from the way Ajube did, to maximise their potentials.
He said to them: “You must think of how you can graduate from stipends after 11 years. I am offering you a platform. You have to form yourselves into cooperatives. You are better than this stronghold of N65,000. We can’t make progress sitting in one place. My job is to make you think beyond the N65,000 mentality.
“We are starting a process of making our ex-agitators self-reliant entrepreneurs and by extension employers of labour. We want to open their minds to see the numerous resources that are available in their environment and how adding value will make them become financially self reliant.
“When you form partnership, you become stronger. There is a spirit behind coming together. Stop making excuses to remain where you are. We want to see you rub your minds together. Develop business ideas. If you start, in six months, you will be shocked. Your lives will change.
“If what you get is more than what you spend, don’t bother. You must learn the language of money to be rich. The rich invest while the poor don’t. No matter how much you get, you must take something out. You must know basic things. If you choose to be rich, you will be rich. Change perception about you. Define yourselves through your actions.”
In the same line of thought, Ajube insists that the Niger Delta cannot be criminalised. He says no society or region is devoid of crime but maintains that bad elements must be shown the exit door. He said he derived his inspiration from his passion to lift his community out of poverty.
He said: “There is no community that doesn’t have criminal activities going on in them. What is important is curbing the criminal activities and gainfully engaging the youths in free education, access to social amenities and acquiring skills.
“These are the things I thought about and it inspired me to do it for my community. Ultimately, I look forward to having more graduates in the community”.
“The 13th attempt was the one that I gave birth to my twin through IVF. God stamped it. God has blessed us with lovely children. I was 50 years old when I had my last child. Persistence is key,” she stressed.