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.
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| 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.
