Lagging behind the other ethnic groups in Ogun State in virtually all areas of human development, the people of Yewa have decided to literally take their destiny in their hands by identifying their problems and proffering solutions to them. ERNEST NWOKOLO reports
he Yewa, an ethnic group which constitutes the Ogun West Senatorial district of the Gateway State, is on the march to self re-awakening.
Strategically located on the western part of Ogun State, with a good number of their communities sharing boundaries with the Republic of Benin, the people, though share a rich history with the other ethnic nationalities, seems to be lagging behind the rest.
Though the first international border and sea port started in Ijofin in Yewaland where the British hoisted its flag in 1914 and also hosts the maiden station of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), the area could best be described as forgotten when compared with the rest of the state.
From the era of western region to the present day in Ogun State, the people and the area generally trail behind their counterparts in the state, the Egbas (Ogun Central) or the Ijebu/Remo (Ogun East) on most indices of growth and development.
And nowhere is this more sharply observed than in the lives of their youths, the expected future leaders of Yewaland and beyond, who are neither prepared nor equipped enough to fit into that role tomorrow.
The strategic location of Yewaland which ought to confer special advantage on its over 1.4million population, appears to be doing the opposite, particularly, to some of her youth.
Since the area geographically shared borders with the Republic of Benin, smuggling, though illegal, is a thriving trade among the younger generation.
It is not uncommon to see an average Yewa youth pointing at or naming a ‘successful’ smuggler as his or her role model, with the younger ones spoiling to become successful smugglers.
Today, smuggling among the people has morphed from being a booming trade to a way of life, with the attendant frequent deadly confrontations with operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service, whenever the latter tried to check their smuggling activities.
But last week the indigenes held a Building Opportunity for Tomorrow (BOT) Partnership Summit in Ilaro, the administrative Headquarters of Yewa South Local Government Council, to chart a path towards repositioning the area and her people.
Traditional rulers, youths, women, students and artisans in their thousands were in attendance. The speakers were equally Yewa sons and daughters who are experienced professionals.
The speakers, which include the Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Rahman Bello and immediate past Chairman, Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Ogun State chapter, Mr Femi Dokunmu, after taking a cursory look at the history of the area identified the widespread youth unemployment, increasing aged population requiring care and women under-employment among others which governments policies – state and federal, have done little to address.
They admitted that the unemployment situation among their youth may pose a grave risk to the society in future if left unattended to now.
As a way forward, they agreed that there should be a continuous entrepreneurial training for the people, sensitisation of youths on jobs creation and urgent tackling of the palpable “infrastructural deficit” in Yewaland.
And having also realised the place of political power in the scheme of things and how the inability of Yewaland to produce a governor since the creation of Ogun State, in 1976, contributed in part to the stunted growth of the area, they advised all to give support to sons and daughters of Yewa that are vying for elective offices or seeking government’s appointments.
According to Mr Biyi Ote-gbeye, youth empowerment would be a panacea to joblessness of the people. Otegbeye, a Yewa son from Ilaro, founder and Chief Executive Officer(CEO), Regency Insurance Company Limited, said youth empowerment is imperative because of the warped orientation of a good number of the young ones, and who needed to be pulled out today from lifestyles that could lead to dependency in future.
He said: “I think this is the troubling aspect of the vision because geographically our area borders Republic of Benin, so smuggling is a striving trade among the people here. And it has now transcended from being a trade to being a way of life. And you now see the younger folks aspiring to be successful smugglers.
“And we know that if the orientation becomes so warped, then there is a problem; a problem, not just for today but for tomorrow. I think the Boko Haram we are talking about today is not today’s problem, it is an accumulation of some problems that were not addressed then and now have become so endemic.
“There is the need to improve the ability of Yewa boy/girl, to engage them in jobs creation. We need to partner with people to do this and certainly not government because governments have their hands full already.”
Also, Dokunmu, a public relations expert, made the case for the building of a solid foundation as well as having shared goals, vision and clear – cut objectives among Yewa sons and daughters if the desire to improve the socio – economic development of the area is to be realised.
Dokunmu said: “We must lay a good foundation today. We must have shared goals and vision regarding where we are, where we are going and how to get there. There is the need to set our objectives right so that the socio-economic development of our people can be achieved.”
A youth participant who identified herself as Miss Yinka Doyin, told The Nation that the summit was not only an “eye opener to challenges the people have been facing over the years but also came with a wakeup call on everybody to adopt right attitude that would get us out of backwardness at the individual and collective.”
She lauded BOT, a non-governmental initiative, for providing the lead and platform for the empowerment and liberation of the area economically.
Aside the talking, rice and other food items were distributed to tens of people particularly the retirees, aged and women while eight pupils of St. Paul’s Primary School, Owode-Yewa were given scholarship by BOT.
Earlier, BOT had carried out eye screening and prescription of medicated glasses across Yewaland with 6,200 persons benefitting from the exercise, youth empowerment training programme for 175 beneficiaries and also life after service training for 90 retirees.
The initiator of BOT and convener of the summit, Biyi Otegbeye, said his encounter with the plights of people within and outside Yewaland compelled him to formulate BOT as an intervention strategy for tackling myriads of socio-economic challenges his people contend with.
He said: “BOT is an initiative that I put together about 18 months ago and I will tell you two stories that really touched me and propelled me to putting this initiative together.
The first one was a visit to Ayetoro, because I finished from Comprehensive High School, Ayetoro for my secondary education and about two years ago I visited someone there.
“We ran into one of our former teachers, somebody who taught me Agriculture Science in Form 3. I was surprised he was still alive but he was looking rather shabby and in a very sorry state. It touched me because he was a good teacher to all of us.
“We respected him so much and he was supposed to be well-acclaimed at that time by other schools. Finding him in a very helpless situation, not because of extreme old age or any incapacity but rather because the society had been rather unkind to him and there was nobody to help, it touched me. I could only offer some few words of consolation and gave a paltry amount which certainly was never intended to do much but just a way of appreciating him at that moment. It got me thinking.
“The second story, I stumbled on a government appointment. I didn’t pick it on the street but I guessed Mr. President saw some value in me and he chose me to be the Chairman of the board of the University Teaching Hospital, Uyo. Being a private sector person, it was a new experience and on my first visit, we visited the traditional rulers and important places and then we came back to the hospital.
“And then we decided to visit the wards, I shed tears. I saw about 900 patients waiting to consult six doctors on that particular day. The Accident and Emergency section was particularly appalling and these are human beings. I asked the CMD if it had always been like that and he said it has improved. So apparently, what I witnessed was supposed to be an improvement of the situation.
“For somebody like me who had travelled so widely and I knew what value of life should be, it touched me. And what that did to me was to make me think inwardly and I felt selfish.
“So, I came back and went to see what the situation is like in Ilaro, my hometown, it was a sorry tale. Beds without mattresses and then you see wasp in the wards. I offered some advice.
“It is not a government thing but the essential thing is that as individual that is privileged, I can do something and I can also mobilise people that fortune had smiled on so that collectively we can do something together.
“That is why I am in the business of BOT. I felt I could offer my resources, I felt I could also mobilise people who are my friends and contacts to donate money, treasures, time, and talents to worthy causes to help people.”
