A PROACTIVE UNITED IJAW A Perspective [3]
By
The Epilogue
In the second segment of this article, I showed a political and economic construct by which the Ijaw Peoples can evolve an Ijaw inner country within the alliance of Nigeria.
This construct was aimed at addressing some issues of consideration raised in the first segment of the article, in which I explained
that the lack of a united representation or task force is disadvantageous to the Ijaw peoples. However, while in the second segment I
proposed a construct for united Ijaw and a representative structure for the Ijaw Peoples, I did not consider an explicit implementation
approach. Two reasons accounted for the decision not to address that issue in that segment. The first reason is that there are
possibly several approaches to getting there. The second reason is, I did not want to muddle up the presentation of the strategic
construct with the implementation of the construct.
Yet of consideration is always, the implementation of a proposal. Naturally, therefore, I look at an initiation of the implementation
from one aspect, with an expected snow-balling effect. It is my experience that in the African Experiment of Democracy there has
never really being an effective exit approach for people who assume governance positions. Leaving elected positions has always led
to all sorts of problems. So it would be an aberration to find the governing persons of the INC Nigeria to willingly vacate the limelight
in the interest of the unity of the Ijaw peoples and of the evolution of the Ijaw Country. Hence, it would be make sense to approach
the development of the Ijaw country along two paths concurrently. One path would be along the integration of the active organizations in Nigeria, and the other path is the institution of the INC Foreign Representative Organs.
On the second path, I am most certain that the Ijaws in the Diaspora can make significant progress. Now then, the approach really
is to fully establish one such representative office, and then use that office as the template to establish all the other foreign relations
offices. Fortunately, one such organization, the INC-USA, already has been legally organized; and therefore it is perhaps the best
place to start. Notably, this satellite INC was authorized by the parent INC Nigeria; the interim INC Foreign Representative of this
satellite is also schooled in the Ijaw Emancipation struggle at the grass-roots level; and several of the resources needed to create
the template are already in place.
However, considering that the operational would-be template of the satellite INC that obtain would be reconstructed from its present
incarnate of INC-USA through the recommendations below, and while the proposed actions are necessary to develop an organic
whole of a representative body for the Ijaws, it must be recognized and be borne in mind that the term "INC Nigeria" as used
henceforth in these sections of the article implies the new INC Nigeria, and not the prevailing one. In effect, for instance, until a
organic INC Nigeria is reconstituted, the embedding of the satellite INCs into the INC Nigeria is not to be undertaken.
Now then, to boot, the INC-USA must address some critical issues immediately. First and foremost, the INC-USA must dissolve
the prevailing management structure: There should be no officers except one, who shall have the title of "INC Foreign
Representative -USA" and that should be the one mandated by the current INC Nigeria. Further, the INC-USA should suspend the
adopted Constitution/By-Laws. The management structure as well as the Constitution/By-Laws to be adopted should be those
developed by the Directing Committee upon its formation. This should enable wider acceptance of the satellite INC by the Directing
Committee member-organizations.
The next critical component of the development that the INC-USA must address immediately, is the formation of a newsgroup.
Accordingly, the Foreign Representative -USA should, post on all Ijaw-issues forums, an announcement of the formation of the
newsgroup and invite interested Ijaws (irrespective of dialect of origin) to relay such interest, select from among the responders the
best qualified, and create the newsgroup, Ijaw News, Cyberspace Division. Specifically, the group should takeover the direct
management of the website www.ijaw-national-congress.org and the forums INCUSA@aol.com and
ijaw_national_congress@yahoogroups.com . In particular, the construction of the website,
www.ijaw-national-congress.org , should be
completed rapidly for the dissemination of news of the motherland.
Next, the Foreign Representative -USA should contact and invite the Ijaw community-constituent organizations in the USA to
facilitate the setting up of the Directing Committee that would consist of an electee of each of the Ijaw community-constituent
organizations. The Foreign Representative could implement that structure by meeting with the following dialect-group organizations of
the Eastern Zone Ijaws: Andoni Organizations, Okirika Organizations, Kalabari Organization, Okoloba Organization, etc, and invite
them to participate in the governance of the satellite INC by electing a representative from each organization to serve in the Directing
Committee. The chairman of the Directing Committee presumably would be the Foreign Representative. While the language
differentiations amongst the Eastern Zone Ijaws make it easy for the creation of representative organizations within the eastern zone
ijaws, this is not quite the situation among the Central Zone Ijaws. So for this zone the Foreign Representative have to adopt either
the local government structure or clan structure prevailing within this zone of the Ijaws. Either of both method or a creative mix of
both, depending on the most appropriate, should also be employed to define the representative invite formula for the Western Zone
Ijaws
The reconstructed INC-USA must from here on operate with the mind-set of being embedded into the INC Nigeria in some future
date. Accordingly, the reconstructed INC-USA must keep in mind and accept unequivocally that even the operating practices,
adopted by the Directing Committee, will ultimately have to be submitted to the INC Nigeria, both for reconciliation with the
Constitution/By-Laws of the INC Nigeria and for ratification. This last step is necessary to embed the reconstructed INC-USA into the
INC Nigeria, to the end of forming the single representative body for all Ijaw Peoples. Upon the completion of the embedding of the
reconstructed INC-USA into INC Nigeria, the representative structure adopted in the ratified operating guidelines will have to be
immediately implemented. In tandem with the implementation of the ratified Constitution, the reconstructed INC-USA must also
formally surrender the Ijaw News to the INC Nigeria for restructuring, but of course, with inputs from the reconstructed INC -USA. In
particular the INC Nigeria would develop the structure for, and have the final say in, grafting the newsgroup into the Information
Agency of the INC Nigeria.
Moreover, a think-tank forum dedicated to the analyses of Ijaw issues and the coalescing of those analyses into positions critical to
evolving an Ijaw inner Country in Nigeria, would be a welcomed development; and let me be the first to cordially invite all progressive
Ijaws dedicated to Ijaw unity to subscribe to such a forum, and participate in this noble task of nation building.
Moreover, all funds collected or generated by the INC-USA during the period spanning of its reconstruction to and embedding into the
INC Nigeria must not be handed over to the INC Nigeria willy-nilly. The Nigeria system of accounting and funds management should
not be allowed to be applied to these funds. Proper checks and balances must be put in place prior to granting the INC Nigeria
access to these funds.
There after, still working towards the unity and effective representation of the Ijaws, the Ijaw organizations of the Diaspora in the
different strategic locales: Canada; Europe --Britain, France, etc; Asia, South America; others, may draw from the experiences of the
reconstitution of the INC-USA to develop from amongst themselves approaches for instituting the locale-specific satellite INCs: I
believe that the approach proposed for the INC-USA is a good starting point for developing locale-specific INCs; and these
locale-specific INCs can then embed themselves into the INC Nigeria. However, because the news group serves all the INCs, all the
satellite INCs reconstructed after the INC -USA need not create locale-specific websites, instead the satellite INCs should prudently
put together a small team with the responsibility of reporting locale-specific developments to the newsgroup in the USA, for posting
on the website, www.ijaw-national-congress.org.
Finally, all the organizations, which I have noted as being of strategic importance and significance in the Ijaw struggle, by way of
recommending their integration towards the development of an Ijaw Country, are welcomed to reach me via my email,
naye_b@yahoo.com , to pose questions or concerns related to the need for further clarification on portions of the article. I promise to
address all questions thoroughly to the best of my ability.
The first step to Ijaw unity, as I see it, lies in the hands and minds of every well-meaning Ijaw, including those of us in the Diaspora.
This first step is the elimination of all impasses to the Ijaw unity. Hence, each and every one of us must introspect and do the right
thing for mother country, Ijawlands. Each and everyone must be vigilant and keep at arms-length from us all divisive elements that
attempt to derail our commitment to mother country.
Concluded
May 2002