A thought expressed by my Eleme brother Amos Olungweonwi on Facebook got me thinking further and inspired me to share my thoughts. I hope we would build on this conversation in addition to the various talks ongoing. It must reclaim its place in the scheme of things on Earth.

Eleme Local Government Area (Eleme) is a peace loving community in Rivers State, Nigeria that house some of the best brains, the world can boast of. It is made up of Agbonchia, Aleto, Alesa, Alode, Akpajo, Ebubu, Eteo, Ekporo, Ogale and Onne. It houses Port Harcourt Refinery, Eleme Petrochemical (Indorama), Notore (Formally NAFCON), Oil & Gas Free Zone, Onne Port among others. With these, you would expect that Eleme would be a haven drawing people to both work and live there but that is currently a far cry, as Eleme is experiencing an unacceptable level of exploitation by all and sundry…simply because its political class has failed to project a united front!

“I hate to hear this “Eleme is APC OR Eleme is PDP” Eleme is not a political party but an ethnic nationality.” Amos Olungweonwi

“The politicians need to harness the gains in whatever group they belong to for the good of Eleme. In some communities, members of a family strategically share themselves within the strong political parties just to ensure development comes to their area at all times. In my dear Eleme, members of same family kill each other for simply having different political ideology. We need to grow up and very fast. We are wasting away.” Osila4Real

If Eleme did not exist, would we have anyone touting their political affiliation as dominant or otherwise in Eleme? So it comes first before any further classification!

My Experience as a Public Servant

I got the real shock of our divide when I got appointed by Rivers State Government to man the Revenue Board of the State. My natural and instinctive thought was “Great! I am not a politician and I have such a strategic position, so I would work with the politicians and see how my position could be beneficial to us.” I was surprised when my friends now political leaders started staying away from me. Some send me funny requests…like request for tax clearance certificate for paying little or close to nothing as their tax, when their earnings require they pay more. Their argument was how can their sister be in such a position and it would not benefit them? And I am like “I have a responsibility of not just ensuring that the internally generated revenue of the State increases but that people pay what is legally due.” And I recall that my friends from other States rally round their brothers and sisters once they are given appointments, to ensure that they succeed.  So rather see how we could jointly assist ourselves for our common good, the preference is for self aggrandizement. I was strengthened though when my eldest brother encouraged me to stay focused and even his tax papers…he never sent directly to me and he refused to get interfer in my work. And then the political class appeared indignant that how would they be on the field and a non-politician would be given such a lucrative/juicy portfolio? I no fit shout! And that’s what we were doing that the much gain we would have realised from the opportunity escaped us.

As Is

I see families torn apart on the alter of political differences. My heart bleeds. I see my clans and communities retrogressing simply (and it’s not so simple) because we are unable to understand that what binds us together is far greater than what separates us. We are a great people. We are resilient. We are determined. We shall succeed.

I pray and hope that we would allow better judgement to prevail. That we would realise that we must stay united for Eleme to actualise itself as the heart beat of Nigeria’s economy.

May the peace of God and wisdom only God gives abide with us all.

Osila4Real