Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, talks to BOLA BAMIGBOLA about agitations among the youth and his involvement in the recent coronation of the Olu of Warri, among other issues
You have declared many times that you have a special interest in the youth and that your throne is dedicated to the Nigerian youths. Are you not worried about the level at which Nigerian youths are giving up and fleeing the country?
I will be worried and I am so worried because, over the last couple of years, the news they have been hearing is always tailored towards negativity. We need to rebrand our nation particularly to make our youths see that there is still hope. It is very important; we need to set up a lot of mechanisms to instil hope in our youths and make sure that they believe in this country. The important thing is, if they don’t believe in this country at the end of the day, the whole country would be in a mess because demography-wise, the youth own this country. We can’t do without them, so we need to invest more in them and that’s what I believe we should be doing on this throne and that’s what I have been doing. So, for me, we need to continue to give them hope. In my own capacity as the occupant of the throne of Oduduwa, all I have been doing is to continue to engage in activities that are tailored towards youth emancipation and youth empowerment and so far so good, we have been doing well in that regard.
It will appear that with the passing years, the situation is getting progressively worse rather than improving. Do you honestly think there is light at the end of the tunnel and what do you think should be done differently going forward?
Well, many of the great nations that this country looks up to now are well over 200 years old. It took those countries a while before they got to that level. We don’t pray that Nigeria of over 60 years would take longer for us to build because we have seen nations that, within 20 years, have been completely turned around, like the United Arab Emirates; 20, 30 years ago, there was nothing like the skyline in Dubai. So, we have seen the good and the bad, but what is key is for us to continue to sell that hope. Hope is a product that needs to be sold. We need to focus more on the positive side of the nation than the negative side. For me, I strongly believe that there will be light at the end of the tunnel, particularly, hope for the youth and how things should be done. We don’t need any form of resentment. We don’t need any form of division in our land. What we need is hope and hope all the way. This is a key ingredient and that is what we should keep selling to our youths for them to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. So for us, let’s keep trying. I can’t do it alone. We will continue to encourage more people to embark on such initiatives.
In February, you inaugurated an Adire textile factory in Ife. Six months after, is the factory on course, or are there challenges?
That is one of the greatest achievements that we recorded on this throne. Yes, from the Adire factory, we are currently exporting to over 15 countries and it is being driven by youths and the average that you are going to see in the factory is between the ages of 25 and 45. Our aged mothers that are still very active and still want to leave the house, usually go there to while away the time and get their brains busy. There are so many opportunities in our African print and we are not exploring them. What we are doing is to drive it towards youth empowerment and emancipation. So far so good, there are challenges, in terms of sourcing raw materials locally and getting quality raw materials. But so far so good, we have been sourcing them; So we want to blend our heritage with modernity. We do more digital marketing for it and it has been growing and it will continue to grow.
From your response, the fabrics are getting good patronage outside the country. How has the patronage been locally?
Fantastic! It’s been wonderful feedback. If you go there (Adire factory) now, you will be amazed at the rate at which production is going on. We have different festivals. This year, most of our festivals are branded around Adire fabric. We are going to brand a lot of things around it to showcase our heritage and our tradition. So far, we are getting there.
You also recently inaugurated Ife Grand Resort and Industrial Park. Can you speak more about the vision behind that and what people should expect?
Well, the reason behind the Industrial Park and Ife Grand Resort is to have a hub where we can have a convergence of youths with different ideas and an incubation centre, particularly, for female entrepreneurs. We have that sentimental attachment because women are known to be very reliable in everything they do. Presently, we have about four different female CEOs managing different sections at the hub and we believe we will still do more and attain more. What we are trying to achieve at the hub is to have a convergence point for exhibition, heritage, our tradition, business hubs and a convergence point for innovations and incubation of Ideas and bringing all that to reality. The efforts have been yielding very positive results.
Are there other youth-oriented programmes that you have in the pipeline?
Quite a lot! That is what we do every day here. The Federal Government just gave an award to youths all over the country. What we did as a follow-up was that we set up an SME’s Fund for the awardees and nominees. We actually wanted the programme where the recipients could have grants on a monthly basis and the programme is going well. It is in the media and it is being done in collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria. Alongside that, we pay the school fees of more than 3,000 young people to the university level. We also have Ojaja Fashion Hub where we have trained more than 500 tailors and fashion designers. We help the fashion designers start off; we work in conjunction with a lot of private sector companies to bring them to the limelight. Right now, we have the Royal African Leadership Forum that is globally and internationally recognised. We have an office in the United Kingdom and we have very strong links all over the world and every year we give awards to 100 distinguished youths under 40.
We also have the Leadership Award. We usually have more than 500 CEOs that would come out to converge and actually mentor others. There are so many other programmes that we do. We are doing a lot of youth-driven programmes that have to do with our heritage to keep our tradition and culture intact and we have different youths in charge of them. So for us, it is all about the youth and youth emancipation on this throne. Our activities are limitless and we keep expanding every day.
There have been arguments that the youth must get involved in agriculture and not leave it to the old. Do you agree with this view?
That is one of our initiatives. We have done a lot on the agricultural revolution. We planted over three million cocoa seedlings in the last five years. They are growing now on the farms. We did the same for cashew and we have actually allocated the farms to different sets of youths. The challenge now is the lack of patience by the youth. Will these youth involved in the farming of cash crops wait for five years when the crops will start bringing money? They are not patient, they want to get married, they want to have money, they want to ride cars. Some of them will prefer to go and get a motorcycle and run an okada business that will yield money the next day. Beyond this is the problem that lies with the government. The government needs to make an arrangement and give youths who are engaged in agriculture a monthly stipend before they start earning money on their investment in agriculture, which would not come until between three and five years.
If the youths don’t have that kind of hope, it is not going to work. The government should also have a platform to encourage buyers and sellers to converge and by virtue of that, whatever exchange that happens, they would take their own taxes. So, it is such platforms that the government should set up and we don’t have such platforms presently. We lack such, unfortunately, and that is why we are where we are. It is not easy for the youth to go into agriculture; it is difficult. What is the short-term goal that you will entice them with?
What model would you suggest for the government to make agriculture more enticing for the youth?
An all-embracing model, an all-encompassing model that will put the interest of the youth ahead of other considerations. Put your selfish interest aside and focus on the goal. That is lacking and that is why many of the programmes from the government designed for the youths usually fail. To ensure success, the operators and the people that you put in charge must be selfless. When you want to organise a programme that will benefit others, forget about what is coming for you. What you are going to give to the poor should be the concern. Once you have a selfish interest, it is not going to work. Once the energy is bad towards that line, forget it, it is not going to work and that’s the major problem with a lot of Nigerian projects that are tailored towards youth emancipation and empowerment. If you want to empower youths, be selfless, look for the right youth, not the ones that are already successful, not the ones whose families can afford what you want to give out.
With your passion and investment in youth-related matters, have there been times you felt discouraged because of the lack of commitment from them?
A lot of times, but I just keep going. A whole lot of times, I got discouraged. It has happened several times, in fact, I have lost a huge amount of money. But when you are focused on what you do, it is better to maintain that and keep doing it, so that you know it is a legacy I am building.
What do you make of the agitation for Yoruba Nation?
You know that is a very sensitive issue. What are the people agitating for? They are agitating for fairness; they are saying what is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander. The best bet for us is to have one country, but when people are feeling otherwise, there must be reasons they are agitating. Fifteen to 20 years ago, was it like that? When Yoruba people were in power, were there agitations? There must be reasons and we all know the reason has to do with banditry and insecurity. Even in the north, some people are also kicking. What is important now is for us to adequately separate the grain from the chaff. I am not going to blame the agitators. There must be a reason why they are agitating. I will suggest we talk to them; let’s bring them on board, deliberate with them. Let’s debate. It is very important for us to debate and debate on our corporate existence, for things to be right. It is very critical. For me, that is my own approach. Even when you go to war, at the end of the day, you must sit down to negotiate. So, why not have the roundtable discussion now? Why not go through that route? Why must you go through hot agitation and try to destroy things? The best approach has always been the peaceful approach.
Yoruba Nation agitator, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, alias Sunday Igboho, made rude remarks about you and later apologised. Have you forgiven him?
n this throne, you own the good, the bad and the ugly. You are a father to the good, the bad and the ugly. We are not leaving him. We have set up a lot of committees. Professionals are involved. They are on board for everything in Nigeria to be right ultimately and to look into his (Igboho’s) case. So, we are working very closely with all the relevant authorities to make sure that all is well.
It was in the news that you and the Olubadan sent a delegation to Cotonou, Benin Republic, where Igboho had been arrested and facing trial. What was its mission?
PUNCH
