Ebira Reneissance Group (ERG) holds a retreat in Abuja

Participants at the interactive session

"Ebira people have a problem of what (if you will permit us to say), we would like to refer to as "Political Patience Disorder". Our people do not have the grace of long term plan. Today we are in ACN, the next day in ANPP, weeks later back in PDP and, then the APC - This is a motion without movement! Agreed that Ebiras are not insulated from the general malaise of the Nigerian polity, but we must find a way to domesticate our solution to the general problem of the polity. This, to us, is the challenge of this retreat. We are always looking for quick solutions to the problems that have accumulated over the years. Life is not like that. We know that a house that takes two years to destroy may take up to ten years to rebuild. Therefore, this retreat must address this challenge if we are not to abandon this project mid-way as we have earlier cautioned at the beginning of this speech. A renaissance is not a hundred metre dash but a marathon. We must impress this on our people from the outset".

- BELOW IS THE FULL TEXT -

EBIRA RENAISSANCE GROUP (ERG)         P.O. Box 634, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria

                                          Phone: +2348034525886  +2348036171236

Re-enacting Ebira Communal Spirit                 Email: suleimanjoseph@yahoo.com     ogiriman@gmail.com                                         

VISION

To reawaken the communal spirit of Ebira people to become proactive key players in bringing about the political rebirth of Ebira Nation in particular and Kogi State in general

                                                                                                                       

MISSION

To provide a platform for the realization of the vision by means of social reorientation, conscientization, political education and interface with various stakeholders

A B U J A    R E T R E A T,   2 0 1 3

LET US RUN WITH THIS VISION

Being a Keynote Address delivered by

Pastor Joseph Suleiman Manjoe, Coordinator, Ebira Renaissance Group (ERG)

At the Retreat held on Saturday, 12^th October, 2013 at Villa U Hotel, Wuse II, Abuja

We give God all the honour and thanks for preserving our lives to this day. We cannot thank the Almighty enough for the enabling power He has bestowed upon us to undertake the journey of this project, in spite of obvious discouragement and limitations. We thank you all for your time, money and talents in our service to our beloved nation, Ebira. We welcome you all.

Today marks another important event in our efforts to make good out of the bad situation we found ourselves in Kogi State. No doubt, we have good reasons to be discouraged but as a writer said; "to resign oneself to fate is to cripple fast". In spite of the army of giants and the fortified cities on our way to the Promised Land, we must match on.

Permit us at this point to sermonize a little to charge us in this onerous task we have assigned to ourselves. Our Lord Jesus speaking on the cost of discipleship said:

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him. Saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish.

Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. Luke 14:28-32.

You may ask, what is the relevance of this to this retreat? We are here to access our capacity, weigh our strength and to determine the cost of this project, but before we go any further it is needful for us to share our dreams with the resource persons here present: We are living in a complex world that is so diverse and yet so intertwined. The new Ebira nation of our dream is one in which the citizenry are empowered; a new Ebira nation in which the sons and daughters are knowledgeable about governance, government policies and how they affect them. We dream of a new Ebira nation in which leaders align to global best practices, understand the global strategy for solving problems and managing conflicts in collaborative partnership. As we strategize, let us be open to alignments and re-alignments.

This retreat is an opportunity for us to first examine and appraise our past strategies to see where we have failed and to consolidate on our areas of strength. Second, we have to dispassionately examine the identifiable challenges and strategize on ways to frontally confront them to get the expected result. Happily, all of us have the working papers before now. So, we should have a robust discussion on all of the challenges.

Third, we have to count the cost of this project and see if we have the capacity to carry all of them through, or else cut down on the issues and go for the ones that we are capable of handling within our mental, financial and socio-cultural capacities.

Fourth, to assess and appraise the challenge that confronts us and to see how best to approach them against the backdrop of our previous failed attempts. A man of faith said: "whatever is conceivable by the human brain is achievable". This is particularly so if the right mind and attitude is directed at it. If we put our act together, this David (ERG) can subdue the Goliath.

Personally as the Coordinator, I have the assurance of my compatriots that, this vision is realizable and the mission, accomplishable. If we have any fear, that fear is not whether we have the intellectual capacity to carry it through or the financial wherewithal to cope with the envisaged logistics problem, but it is the patience and perseverance of our people.

Ebira people have a problem of what (if you will permit us to say), we would like to refer to as "Political Patience Disorder". Our people do not have the grace of long term plan. Today we are in ACN, the next day in ANPP, weeks later back in PDP and, then the APC - This is a motion without movement! Agreed that Ebiras are not insulated from the general malaise of the Nigerian polity, but we must find a way to domesticate our solution to the general problem of the polity. This, to us, is the challenge of this retreat. We are always looking for quick solutions to the problems that have accumulated over the years. Life is not like that. We know that a house that takes two years to destroy may take up to ten years to rebuild. Therefore, this retreat must address this challenge if we are not to abandon this project mid-way as we have earlier cautioned at the beginning of this speech. A renaissance is not a hundred metre dash but a marathon. We must impress this on our people from the outset.

As for us in this renaissance, we have come a long way in this struggle; we have the never-die spirit to carry it through. What we require is the support of our men and women of means. We plead that all these issues must be put in proper context/focus in this retreat so that when we rise from here we will go into the field armed with the wisdom of our resource persons to galvanize our people to buy into this project. And ultimately, Ebira nation shall be better for it.

We get inspired when we read the stories of the great political runners of history who make the difference in their generation for and on behalf of their people. We are bestirred by the activism of the clergyman, Martin Luther King Jr. who had a dream; walked his dream, preached his dream, lived this dream and today, the African-American are the better for it. We are also inspired by the elderly Mahatma Ghandi whose idea gave birth to the modern India. In our contemporary times, we are encouraged by the selfless freedom cry of Madiba Nelson Mandela and the uncommon courage of Fidel Castro of Cuba who dare to successfully challenge the neocolonial exploit of his giant neighbour, the Great USA. Close to us here in our time (in Okun land) is Chief Jide Omokore who has vowed that Okun political leaders will no longer be determined by the political masters across the Niger River. And he has been investing good money in this noble project and the investment is yielding good results. Politics in Nigeria is very expensive, if we are serious about liberating ourselves politically, we should be prepared to invest our money in it. Will our own men and women of means be challenged by these heroic deeds? Is there any way this retreat can fashion a means of bringing our men and women of means to buy into this noble renaissance initiative? We surely have a tall vision, but definitely not an impossible mission.

Dear compatriots, let us run with this vision. No one can hinder us in this dream if we are determined not to be distracted by internal intrigues and filthy lucre of pecuniary gains. It does not matter if the political stooges of our oppressors do not recognize our mission. Let us be focused to run with the vision - Patriots of other lands and the silent majority of our concerned people are cheering you with their subdued voices in their closets. The statesmen of yester years are cheering you in their grave saying "While we were here on earth we accomplished our mission by the grace of God, you too can". Value change and political re-orientation have been achieved by people in other climes.

Therefore, we also, seeing that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses from other lands, let us lay aside every weight, and the distractions from political manipulators which can easily ensnare us. Let us run with endurance, the vision that we have set for ourselves God helping us. The seeming failure of yesterday is not a good excuse for our costly inaction today. The word of Mary Radmocher should spur us to attempt again and again until the desired result is achieved; "courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I will try again tomorrow". THE FUTURE IS NOW!

THE KEY ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION AT THE RETREAT

A	NATIONAL ISSUES
S/No.	Challenges/Task	Accomplishment Strategies	Implementer	Timeline
1	Proposed National Conference; what agenda for Anebira?
2	Delineation of Constituencies
3	Ajaokuta Steel/NIOMCO, Itakpe
B	STATE-BASED  ISSUES
S/No.	Challenges/Task	Accomplishment Strategies	Implementer	Timeline
1	Gross in-balance in Kogi State public service
2	Poor budgetary allocation
3	Marginalization in political appointments
4	Infrastructure deficit
C	LOCAL ISSUES
S/No.	Challenges/Task	Accomplishment Strategies	Implementer	Timeline
1	Quality of representation
2	Political participation by well-meaning people
3	Clan politics
4	The minority question
5	Security Concerns
6	Land encroachment
7	Vulnerable strata empowerment
8	Civic education

ERG Membership Profile

S/No	Name	Position & Profile
1	Pst. Suleiman Joseph	Coordinator, ERG; Director, Academic Planning, FCE, Okene; fmr President-General (PG), EYC; fmr. Member, defunct National Political Reform Conference, 2006; founder, defunct Movement For the Restoration of Ebira Dignity; founding father EYC; member, Pals Collective
2	Nuhu Ogirima	Secretary, ERG; National Secretary, Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU); fmr. SLA to Senator N. Abatemi-Usman; fmr. Vice President, COEASU; fmr. PG EYC; fmr. National President National Assoc. of Ebira Students (NAES); fmr National Sec, NAES; founding father EYC; member, Dynamic People's Forum (DPF)
3	Comr. Abubakar Momoh	Fin. Sec/Treasurer, ERG; fmr. Secretary CTC, Okehi LGA; fmr. DPG EYC; founding father
		EYC; member, DPF
4	Professor Adam A. Okene	Member, ERG; Dean, Post-Graduate School, NDA, Kaduna; member, Ebira Senior Academics
5	Comr. Haroun Opotu Yussuff	Member, ERG; Director, (Education), Teaching Service Commission (TSC), Kogi State; fmr. SA to Senator M.S. Ohiare; former President, NYCN, Kogi State; fmr President, Okene Youth Council; National Chairman, Peace Network Forum (USAID) & Justice of Peace International Youth Congress, Brussels, Belgium; founding father EYC; Chairman, DPF
6	Comr. Husseini Obadaki	Member, ERG; fmr SA to Deputy Governor, Kogi St; fmr. National President NAES; fmr. Secretary General, EYC; fmr. Secretary, Okene Youth Council; founding father EYC; Vice Chairman DPF
7	Comr. Austyn Ochu	Member, ERG; Member, Local Gov't Service Com. Kogi state; fmr. SA to Governor Kogi St; fmr. Secretary NLC, Kogi St; founding father EYC; member DPF
8	Comr. Gomina Kadir	Member, ERG; President Gen. EYC; fmr President, NYCN Okene LGA; Founding father EYC
9	Comr. Idu AbdulMalik	Member, ERG; fmr Chairman CTC Okehi LGA; fmr Coordinator EYC
10	Comr. Japa M.I.	Member, ERG; fmr Secretary NUT, Kogi Central; fmr Secretary General EYC; foundation member EYC
11	Comr. Obansa Musa	Member, ERG; Deputy Registrar FCE, Okene; fmr. President Okene Youth Council; founding father EYC; member, DPF
12	Comr. Maliki Iliyasu	Member, ERG; fmr. Acting Education Secretary Okehi LGEA; fmr Publicity Secretary EYC; foundation member EYC
13	Comr. Hojapa A.Yusuf	Member, ERG; National President, National Assoc. of Pharmaceutical Technologists and Pharmacy Technicians of Nig; deputy Dir. Prm Health Care; fmr. State Chairman, Media & Health Workers' Union of Nig. Kogi State Council; foundation member, EYC
14	Comr. Ajoge Enesi Abu	Member, ERG; Principal Assist. Registrar, FCE, Okene; fmr President NYCN Adavi LGA; fmr  PRO NYCN, Kogi St; Chairman SSUCOEN, FCE, Okene.
15	Barr. Abdurrahim Shaibu	Member, ERG; Director (Legal), NAPTIP, Abuja; EYC Elders' Council, Abuja
16	Alh. Muhammed Umar	Member, ERG; Deputy Director (Personnel), NASS; EYC Elders' Council, Abuja
17	Alh. Abubakar Jimoh	Member, ERG; Director (Special Duties), NAFDAC, Abuja; EYC Elders' Council, Abuja
18	Comr. Abubakar Isah	Member, ERG; SLA to Hon. AbdurRahman Badams; fmr. Secretary-General, EYC; fmr. President, NAES, BUK; fmr. Gen. Secretary, NUT, Adavi & Okehi LGA; Patron, NYCN, Adavi; Founder, Ebira Intellectual Forum; founding father EYC; Member, DPF
19	Dr. Isah Yinusa	Member, ERG; Chairman, COEASU, FCE, Okene; Deputy PG, EYC
20	Mal. Muhammed Sadiq	Member, ERG; Editor & Publisher, Image Newspapers
21	Mr. Baba Razaq	Member, ERG; Secretary EYC Lokoja chapter
22	Mrs. Hafsah Muhammed	Member, ERG; fmr. Treasurer, EYC

Thank you for your audience.

Suleiman Joseph

Coordinator