ENCOUNTER

Rise up above party allegiance and loyalty, support personalities irrespective of political party affiliations- Ekure

The name Marcus rings a bell as a social entrepreneur, coupled with his activism, therefore needs no introduction.

Marcus as a community development consultant holds master degree in marketing. He hails from Eku in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta state. 

Marcus Ekure

Presently, he is the founder and president of African centre for leadership, entrepreneurship and vocational studies (ACLEVS).

In this encounter with Isoko mirror he talked about how his organization has been able to create over 133 jobs and mentoring programme for primary school pupils and student tagged: “operation catch them young” and also frowned at the two major political parties, APC & PDP whose members move from place to another in the name of defection.

Excerpts

Please may we meet you?

Marcus Ekure is my name. Am a social ENTREPRENEUR, activist, youth and community development consultant. A native of Eku in Ethiope East Local Government Area, Delta state. I hold a B.Sc in Accounting, M.Sc Marketing and P.hD in view.

Going by your stride today, some people may have influenced your steps,how did they influence you?

In the words of Bob Bass, ''you would remain where you are now in ten years except for the books you read and the people you meet''. Of course in our pursuit of vision, God has blessed us with gift of men! By men here, I mean vessels of honour. Evang Dr S.O. Olotu, Dr P.C. Obakponovwe, Chief Arc O.C. Majoroh, Dr Emmanuel Audu-Ohwavborua, Dr Ovie Ughwanogho, Dr O.C. Apoki and fleet of others have been so instrumental to our social entrepreneurship walk. Most times people ask us how and where we get funding for the big humanity projects we undertake. Frankly speaking, its even difficult for us to explain as we attribute the whole glory to God Almighty, whose infinite mercy and grace keep pushing us on the path of our destiny helpers.

What are your achievements?

As an organisation, UPYA since inception 7 years ago, we have done so much for humanity by the grace of God. The whole idea initially was to build a job solution database where unemployed youths (both educated and artisans) go to submit their CVs for relative job opportunities. After we succeeded in building the database, we saw a need to establish a vocational, entrepreneurial and vocational institution to help train our youths and women with view to enhancing their drive for financial independence. It would interest you to know that today, the database has grown geometrically with over 30,000 CVs of applicants from which we have created about 133 jobs for individuals who are currently working in different establishments. More so, via the institute which is currently known as African Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Vocational Studies (ACLEVS), we have been able to train over 5000 youths and women in various vocations on scholarship including Welding and Fabrication, Bead making, Catering, ICT, GSM and Laptop repairs, Leadership and Entrepreneurship, etc. More to our achievements, through our contacts at the Bank of Industry, we were able to secure the ongoing Federal Government Enterprise Empowerment Programs (GEEP) market moni loan of 50,000 naira each for about 800 youths and women across towns and communities Delta state. Also, through our mentoring and leadership program for college and primary school students tagged '' Operation Catch them young'' we have reached out to over 80,000 young ones many of whom we constantly relate with. We have also done a lot of Seminars, Workshops, TV and Radio programs geared towards positive mental re-engineering. Our latest achievement is the UPYA/ACLEVS Mobile Empowerment Train we commissioned during our 7th year Anniversary on the 30th of September, 2017 at Wellington Hotel Effurun. The essence of this mobile empowerment is to take skill acquisition to the door steps of the less privileged youths and women across our towns and villages at no cost. On board the train, we have ICT (about 20 Laptops), Catering , GSM and Laptop repairs, Bead Craft, Entrepreneurship and Leadership training. We do not intend to only train them on these relevant skills but to also give them appetite for life to enable them self sustain at the end.

Your achievements are quite noble and ground breaking! please, tell us more about the mobile empowerment, any implementation challenge so far?

So far the train is 90% equipped with necessary gadgets and prepared to move to any community. But the challenge militating against it currently is that of lack of funds or sponsorship rather. For the TEAM to storm any community or kingdom, we are looking at an average of 400,000 to 500,000 naira to train between 200 to 400 individuals (that is an average of 2000 naira per beneficiary). But we intend to bring it completely free off charge to beneficiaries. So we are making a passionate appeal to well meaning individuals to sponsor the training in their respective communities. We can also train for churches, groups, and institutions. The advantages are too numerous to mention.

Let me tell you, i am neither a PDP nor APC card carrying member, but call it APC or PDP, they are the same thing, it’s just a matter of interest. Today, one of the major problems Nigeria is suffering from is the dearth of leaders with consistent principles. Majority of those we celebrate in APC today where offshoot of PDP whose interest shifted at one point or the other and vise versa. Everyday we hear cases of defection along APC and PDP lines. Frankly speaking , we are yet to see something really new and different in government and with the leadership qualities being displayed by the current crop of politicians irrespective of political parties, I do not see this desired change coming soon! That is why am strongly advocating for youth involvement in politics. We need to give the young ones a change. Zip Ziglar said, “doing something the way it has been done and expecting a change is a clear definition of foolishness”. The crux of what am saying is that we need a new approach in our political system. But I don’t see either of these political parties you mentioned as way forward.

The niger delta region is under developed, what do you think we can do to develope the region?

The state of affairs of the Niger Delta Region today, bearing in mind the volume of funds that has entered into the system, is nothing to write home about. The recklessness and visionless of the leadership of the commission overtime has no doubt created a paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty for the people of the region. A research recently revealed that the volume of funds that has been pumped into the NDDC since inception is times ten of the amount it took to transform Dubai to what it is today. NDDC has become a political ATM machine for self aggrandizement and ostentatious living. On the question of way forward, i think one commission should be restructure and decentralised for each of the member states to take charge of their affairs. One of the major challenges overtime has been that of marginalization cry by member states. I think the current structure is making the commission far from the people. However, when each state is empowered to manage its regional affairs with minimal supervisory control from the center, it would become easy to hold the leadership accountable for mismanagement of funds. In the wake of the recent Niger Delta Avengers action, I made my stand very clear that even though am in support of resource control, the war should begin with our leaders here in Niger Delta who have been directly or indirectly involved in management of both the Niger Delta Ministry and NDDC allocation since the inception. Before fighting for more, we should be able to get our leaders to account for the amount we have received hitherto and how they utilized it. If not, the lamentation would continue even when we get the whole world!

How would you rate Delta state in terms of development?

I do not even want to talk about that! The current administration is one of the worst this state has ever witnessed since the creation of the state. A state where we hear huge amounts being released from the federation account monthly but we do not see commensurate effects both in human and structural developments? A state where Local government workers and teachers are owed for several months salaries with relish? In fact the best way to describe Delta state of today, is a state that is only on papers! Its only on papers we hear Delta state having better roads than other states in the country. There has not been a major recruitment into the civil service since the inception of this regime, yet people are retiring on monthly bases! No major road has been tarred other than those done in the time of James Onanefe Ibori, our educational sector is fast eroding daily, contractors are not being paid, no money in circulation. Without mincing words, my heart grief for the state over the misdemeanor and visionlessness of our leaders. Yet with all these visible evidence of backwardness, our people, at the altar of sycophancy have lost their sense of sincerity and judgement for fear of the unknown. Our youths who are supposed to be the trustees of posterity have been divided along party lines and conscribed to what is called party loyalty or party is supreme! The summary of my take here is that Delta state is worst off under this regime and there is nothing to write home about in terms of development, in comparison to States like Lagos, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and the likes!

Local government election is at hand, what advice do you have for the youths?

 Like I said earlier, the youths of a nation are the trustees of posterity! A nation with the youths is vanquished! The situation of today youth in Nigeria is very pathetic and nothing to write home about! The Nigeria youths story is an unbearable lamentation which can only be ignored to the detriment of the country. The 2015 general elections revealed that the youths accounted for over 60% of the total vote cast. That is to say that the Nigeria youth has power to decide who rules them. The population of the Nigeria youth today is about 68 Million. That is to say, if Nigeria youth is to be rated as a nation, it would have been bigger in population than countries such as South Africa, UK, Ghana and in fact some 5 African countries put together. The same crop of leaders who have been ruling this country for ages are still the people in charge directly or indirectly! We cannot continue this way! The bible says, "in the days, old men shall dream dreams and young men shall see vision''. But today in Nigeria, old men are dreaming dreams and seeing vision for the young ones! Its only in Nigeria you see a man of 70 years old being appointed commissioner for youth affairs. It goes to show the demeaning and ignominious level to which today youths have been made! More than ever, this local government election should be seen as opportunity of test running the not too young to lead psalm which has become the mantra of many young people today. I urge the youths to rise up above party allegiance and loyalty and support personalities irrespective of political party affiliations. They should support their fellow youths who are credible and with good antecedents.