From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
History was made last Thursday in Orogwe in Owerri-West Local Government Area of Imo State, when an elite group formed by a cream of the illustrious sons of the town organised a seminar for youths to guide and ensure that they toed the path to greatness.
The members of the new association, The Orogwe Patriotic Assembly (TOPA), otherwise known as TOP Assembly, have been worried as the Umunwaoha Autonomous Community has started experiencing the effects of urbanisation.
The group, therefore, deemed it necessary to use the inaugural seminar with the theme, “Repositioning Orogwe for Greatness” to carry out re-orientation for the youths of the town by using seasoned professionals drawn from the community to teach their younger ones the importance of education and knowledge, vocational skills as well as giving them tips on healthy living.
The youths who attended the conference were excited as it was the first time a seminar was being organised in the town and the resource persons being their own brothers and sisters who had excelled in their various fields of endeavour through hard work.
Before the commencement of the seminar, the traditional ruler of Umunwaoha Autonomous Community, Eze Oha Ofe Ise 11, Eze Emmanuel Ejiogu, had unveiled two giant sign-posts out of the four, built by the TOP Assembly and mounted on the Onitsha-Owerri expressway to announce the departure and arrival to Orogwe Town from the Ogbaku and Irete axis.
The elated traditional ruler said: “I come from Orogwe myself. When you look at the unveiling of the signposts, a lot of people keep talking about big things, but these small ones matter very well.
“If you know what this signpost is going to do for my people you will be surprised. A lot of our brothers and sisters have passed our town, Orogwe, without knowing that they are in their community. With this signpost you can tell your driver that you will stop at Orogwe and when he gets to Orogwe he will stop for you. Let me tell you, those of us at home are happy about what TOPA has done.
“We have six villages in Orogwe and five in Ndegwu, which make up Umunwaoha Autonomous Community. We are people who develop ourselves. Before I became the traditional ruler we have been in the forefront of carrying out development strides, developing Orogwe in different aspects. And when you see a group of elders coming together, know that it is very important; I pray that Orogwe will not go back.”
After the unveiling of the sign-posts, Eze Ejiogu led the way to the Orogwe Civic Centre where he declared the seminar open.
The monarch, who was also the royal father of the day, again commended TOPA for erecting the sign-posts, which he said indicated the boundaries of Orogwe and its immediate neighbours of Irete and Ogbaku, all towns situated along the Owerri/ Onitsha expressway.
He also commended the association for organising the seminar, which he also said would help the youths and the entire people of the community to develop and move forward.
“I must commend The Orogwe Patriotic Assembly first for their thoughtfulness in erecting two big sign-posts, marking our boundaries between our neighbours of Irete and Ogbaku, which will help travellers to know where Orogwe is really located along Owerri/ Onitsha Road. Secondly, I commend the patriotic zeal of the association to move the community forward by trying to mentor our youths and also by using this seminar to provide health tips not only to our youths, but also to all our people on how to adopt preventable health measures and how to manage old age ailments.
“I urge the youths and the people to listen to the experts who are all from Orogwe and to learn from their own examples,” he said.
President of TOPA, Sir Cliff Nzimako, disclosed that the association, which came on board last September is made up of natives decided to come together to drive the development activities, human capital development of the youths of the community in collaboration with the town union, the Orogwe Community Development Union (OCDU).
Sir Nzimako, a renowned entrepreneur with specialisation in pharmaceuticals, disclosed that the purpose of the seminar was to change the mindsets of the Orogwe youths by bringing indigenes of the town who have made it in their various fields of endeavour to talk to their young ones as a way of encouraging them too to aspire to get to the top.
“The seminar is in two parts; the first one is the changing of the mindsets of the youths through mentoring by indigenes of the community who have become successful in their various fields of endeavour and secondly, to educate the people of the community on how to live a healthy life and that was why we have brought doctors and pharmacists who are from the community to educate our people on healthy living and preventive measures against illnesses,” he declared.
Chairman of the organising committee for the seminar, Mr Patrick Chukwuemeka Duru said the seminar was primarily to inculcate the values of hard work in the youths who are the future leaders of the community.
“We want to celebrate with our people and seize the opportunity to talk to them on pertinent issues ranging from youth empowerment and career development.
“On the side of the youths, we feel that there is a gap. Today’s youths are more interested in short cut approach to everything, everybody wants to make it very fast, taking wrong routes. We think that the youths should be guided so that they do not make mistakes at last. And we know their expectations; that everybody must go to school, but we know too that it is not compulsory that everybody must go to the university; those who are not able to go to the university should have a skill, learn a trade.
“We want people to diversify. If you have a skill, come up with it and we will guide you on how best you can achieve your ambition. We want our youths to know that there are key ingredients that you must have, key factors to success, starting from humility, if you are not humble you will have a very big challenge,” Duru said.
The keynote speaker at the conference, Mr Austin Nwokediuko, a chartered accountant and managing partner, Nwokediuko and Co, who spoke on “Re-positioning Orogwe people for greatness,” noted that for the community to continue on its developmental strides, its youths who constitute the productive sector of the community, must be the focal point of its development.
He pointed out that Orogwe has a growing population of youths that need to be encouraged to acquire knowledge through education, stressing that most of the speakers at the seminar had come from a very poor background, but had through hard work and study become successful in their chosen careers.
He regretted that today in the community, most of the youths have refused to be hard working or ready to acquire relevant skills that would make them better persons.
He pointed out that the town which has produced professionals in all fields has today some youths who have refused to work hard because of laziness, arrogance and indiscipline.
“They have also refused to take advice from their senior compatriots and professionals. So, they must be re-oriented to know that Orogwe should be a community whose sons and daughters are industrious people. There must be a collective effort by the older generation to change the current mindset of the youths who think that success could be achieved through shortcut instead of hard work, education and acquiring useful skills,” Nwokediuko said.
A specialist gynecologist who works at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Dr Chidiebere Njoku, spoke on the “Danger of drug and substance Abuse.” He noted that the use of drugs has become common with most of the youths of the community.
He, therefore, cautioned that any youth that indulges in Indian hemp or other dangerous substances risks ending up with psychiatric problems, advising the youths of the town to shun negative influences if they must achieve their God-given potentials.
He equally advised the elderly people to have regular medical check-ups to help them make early detections of diseases that could be treated or prevented before they become major health issues.
Similarly, an Abuja-based pharmacist, Miss Chineneye Odinaka Ihemedu, who spoke on ‘Wellness and preventative medicine,’ admonished the people, especially the elderly to be careful of what they eat, saying that most of the illnesses that people were as a result of their lifestyle.