Chief John Araka is the former editor, Daily Times, former
general manager Daily Times, a media entrepreneur; he was a media consultant to
the ex-governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan and Chief Great
Ovedje Ogboru in the political arena respectively. He was recently appointed
Chairman for the Isoko Cultural day celebration. In this interview with the
publisher and the Isoko Regional Editor, he highlighted reasons why we must
continue speaking Isoko language and to also display our cultural values with
some other salient issues
Excerpt
Can we meet you sir?
My name is Chief John Araka, a journalist, a
Fellow of Nigeria Guild of Editor, former editor Daily Times, former general
manager Daily Times, a media entrepreneur. I also work as a media consultant
to the former governor of Delta State, Dr.Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan and Chief
Great Ovedje Ogboru in the political arena.
I am also a Public Relations consultant to
companies like NDDC, Skyward Resources Nigeria Ltd and so many others. All my
life is media.
Sir, you are the chairman committee Isoko
Cultural Day celebration. What are we expecting from the event?
The whole idea of Isoko cultural day is to
revive our culture. Culture is the totality of the way of life.The Isoko
culture is dying because we are not proud of our culture, we are always trying
to imitate the culture of the major ethnic groups instead of our own
culture.
What you will see on the Isoko cultural day
are some of those things our forefathers value dearly during their time on
earth and we want to revive them again.
On that day we are going to demonstrate our
method of farming, our various festivals, respect for elders. The Isoko people
have respect for elders, hardworking, In Isoko culture we don't beg, no matter
the circumstances, the Isoko person,s must have something doing. The begging
culture of this days were the youths will be begging 'Ose,Ose' those are the
things we want to eliminate from our culture, that act is the bastardization of
the Isoko culture. We must go back to the Isoko culture of hardworking and
honesty.
Especially in the area of diligence and
hardworking, one of the reasons why our young boys and girls are doing funny
things is because they don't believe in hardworking which our forefathers
believes-in. In those days our fathers and mothers will wake up in the morning
and go to their place of work and come back in the evening fulfilled.
Also, the Isoko woman is one of the best
woman you can ever marry, once an Isoko woman is married, even if you marry her
from the brothel, from the day you marry her, you are 100 percent sure your
woman is safe because of the Isoko culture. The Isoko woman have respect for
marital values.
Another area is, contentment because In those
days our values were such that, if an Isoko man build a room and parlor he will
be happy with it. If all he can afford is a white bicycle he is satisfied. And
contentment is the greatest thing you can get in this world, you don't need to
think of how you can commit crimes and get rich overnight. These are the kind
of things we want to display on that day.
The Isoko people have a very rich cultural heritage that
was able to defiled the monstrous colonial influence, but over the years the
Isoko culture is dying.
In what ways the Isoko culture can be revive and preserve?
There should be yearly cultural day
celebration in Isoko. In fact, it shouldn't be only in Isoko, it should be done
in other towns where we have Isoko Development Union (IDU) branches all over
the world, in their own small ways they should also organise Isoko cultural day
to revive the Isoko culture. And they must ensure that they don't trade the
Isoko culture with another one.
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Chief John Araka
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Also, the various Isoko communities have what
they call festivals .For instance, we have Owise Owhe festival, Olihor festival
in Oleh, the Uzere Eni festival, the Ikelike festival in Enhwe etc. But because
of our misunderstanding of Christianity we equate our festivals with idol
worship. Our culture is imbedded in this festivals, so, we shouldn't see the
festivals as idol worship. We are not celebrating idols, it is our culture.
How are you going to mobilise the 19 clans to the
event?
At least 100 persons each from each clan in
Isoko, they will dress in their own unique way, match, dance and display their
various culture.
Sir, the Isoko Positive Agenda just organized a seminar
on the sustenance of Isoko language. What informed the group desire to organize
the seminar?
We are worried especially the Isoko older
generation that our language is dying. Language is the most important
components of culture, language gives you identity. It is most painful that
even within Isoko here, people that are born and bred in Isoko cannot speak the
Isoko language. Our old men and women who are not even educated instead of
speaking the Isoko language to their children they speak pidgin English to
them.
They see it as a status symbol if you speak
English language. This can only happen with the minority ethnic groups like
Isoko. You see the Yorubas, Igbos and Hausas ,even if they have their children
in London, USA or anywhere in the world they still speak their language to
their children, their language is first and foremost. But in Isoko here, our
language is dying, some of our people are even ashamed to speak the Isoko
language. If we are not careful in the next 30 to 50 years the Isoko language
will go into extinction and that will be the greatest calamity that will befall
us as a people.
That is why the Isoko Positive Agenda felt
there should be a deliberate effort to revive, sustain and preserve the
language. Before now, IPA were running a programme on Quest FM every Sunday to
ensure the sustainability of the language and sensitized our people to be proud
of the Isoko language.
We should speak our language anywhere in the
world, parents should ensure they speak the language to their children in order
for the language not to go into extinction.
Why does the average Isoko man sees Isoko language as
language that cannot be used to contribute to modernity, globalization, politically,
economically, technologically and scientifically?
I think it is inferiority complex, like I
said earlier, when the people begin to think that their language is inferior,
they are ashamed to speak it in the presence of others. Some parents think it
is shameful to speak the Isoko language at home to their children.
For us to use the language as science,
politically or as a language of development, we must begin to speak the
language continuously. We can also borrow from other languages and adapt it
into our own situation that is how the language will grow .For instance, the
English language borrowed from other languages all over the world, from Latin, French,
Spanish etc.
There are some herbs our forefathers knows
their names, but today many of us now don't know the names of those herbs
because we don't speak the Isoko language. That's why we have to work very hard
to sustain the language and allow it to grow.
It is no longer a secret that the Isoko language is dying
,you know as one language dies a chapter of human culture and history closes.
What are the bold steps IPA will take again after the seminar to revive the
Isoko language?
We are taken several steps, we are going to
appeal to all Isoko people, that anywhere they are, there should be a
deliberate policy that Isoko language should be their lingua franca in their
homes, no matter the education, whether you are a professor or you have PHD,
let them speak the Isoko language to their children. We want to encourage our
people that in any Isoko event to speak the Isoko language.
We are going to organise Isoko language
competition among primary schools and secondary schools, churches in Isoko and
even those in diaspora. If we take such steps, it will help the language to
grow.
Is the government doing enough to promote the
minority language?
Not at all, because most of the people in
government especially at the Federal level are majority. It is not the duty of
the government, it is the duty of the indigenes of the minority ethnic groups
to ensure their language survive. The best thing we can do as an ethnic group
is to urge the government to include our language in the school academic
curriculum.
Recently you were appointed chairman of Hon. Joel
Onowakpo campaign council. How bright is the chances of Hon. Onowakpo come
February, 2019, Federal House of Reps election?
Hon. Joel Onowakpo chances are extremely
brigh , a good product is very easy to sell, a good product in the sense
that if you look at his background, this is a man who started from nowhere. He
was able to educate himself, presently he is one of the best in his Profession,
a respected chartered account all over the world.
He became the chairman of the Delta Board of
internal Revenue (DBIR) and later Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)
coordinating three State, namely Edo, Delta, River with credible performance
and achievements. He is also a successful businessman. More importantly, he has
use his position to help the Isoko people, giving scholarships to Isoko
indigenes. I was overwhelmed that he still organize Jamb lectures and
enrollment for Isoko Students. It has help to lift so many people from
illiteracy to literacy level.
In terms of given employment he has given
jobs to many Isoko people. He is not making noise about it. Somebody who has
been doing this on his own, if they give him the opportunity to represent us,
he will do better. We want Hon. Onowakpo to go there and do things differently
and he has promise to do that. He is not going there to enrich himself or award
contracts to himself and his family, he is already a wealthy man. He is going
there, so that, when constituency projects comes all the 19 clans in Isoko will
benefit from it, so that the people can feel the impact.
We are going to educate the Isoko people and
extricate them from the undue influence of those who have been deceiving them
over the years. Whoever think that Hon. Joel Onowakpo is not going to win is
leaving in the past, because in the past they were writing results, now we are
going to deploy technology in this election, in the past the votes did not
count, but I can assure you this time around the votes will count.
This election is not PDP vs APC,I t is the
election of the Isoko people who want to free themselves from the monarchy.
Isoko homeland is a key provider of present day Nigeria
nation's wealth -crude oil petroleum, but there is nothing to show for it, no
Federal presence why?
The reasons is because of poor leadership.
How can you have federal presence? When the man representing us awarded all the
contracts to himself and his family. How can we develop when the political
elites collect contracts, collect the money without executing the projects. We
must blame the political elites whom out of selfishness don't think of Isoko
progress but only what will benefit them and their family.
What is your message for the Isoko people?
If you look at the average Isoko people they
are extremely educated. We should not allow ourselves to be enslave by anybody,
we should be free thinkers. We should also know that we are the architect of
our own misfortune.
Whatever we need to do cannot be done by any
other people, but the Isoko people. And we must work assiduously so that Isoko
nation will grow from strength to strength.
