I hope you’ll be instructed
and delighted as you read my interview with Mr. John Okoro, the Head of the group.
 |
| Mr. John Okoro |
1.
In these times, what
does it mean to be a patriotic Nigerian Youth?
A
patriotic Nigerian youth is one who is proud of Nigeria irrespective of the
ills and misnomers within the society. A patriot would always love his country
no matter what the state of things are.
2.
Don’t you think
saying “Group of Patriotic Corpers” is rather repetitive, shouldn’t Corps
members be patriotic by default?
*Laughs*
Nothing happens by default, and there is always a gulf of disparity between the
real and ideal. Ideally, all Corpers are meant to be patriotic but this is not
the case. This is why we chose to stand out; perhaps we would be able to
restore the patriotic fervor by so doing.
3.
How many people make
up GPC?
GPC is
made up of eight (8) Core members and other adhoc members. Interestingly, we
also have non-Corps members that consult for us and support us in one scale or
the other.
4.
Would the group
outlive the service year of its members? If yes, how?
This is
a question I always get whenever I tell people about GPC and our several Projects.
And the answer is ‘YES, Our projects will continue even after our service
year’. We have a strategic succession plan and this involves having different
batches of corps members on our core-committee. For instance very soon we shall
be bringing on board some batch A corps members who shall take over from us
when we leave. They will also hand over to the next batch…and the succession
continues.
5.
Tell us about some
key members of the group.
Like I
earlier said, GPC has eight (8) Core members. Each member of GPC is dedicated,
committed, and passionate towards the project, and I can boldly say that our
members are professionals that know their onions. Below are the members of GPC:
1. Myself (John Okoro); I am
presently serving at the Office of the Special Assistant to the President on
Job Creation.
2. Wukeh Egem Odey (Serving
at PriceWaterHouseCoopers; PWC); Wukeh
is the Assistant Coordinator/Finance director of the Group.
3. Tope Hassan (Serving at PHCN); Tope is
the administrative head of the Group.
4. Tayo fagade (serving at the Office of
the Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation); Tayo is the
Partnership Relationship Manager, and the Program manager of the Ideas battle
challenge, a business competition targeted at students of secondary schools in
FCT.
5. Ogechi Nwobia (Serving at Nigerian
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative; NEITI); Ogechi is the Public
Relations Officer of the Group.
6. Ruth Ejuojo (Serving at National Action
Council on Aids; NACA); Ruth is the Secretary and the Legal Adviser of the
Group.
7. Chuba Ezekwesili
(serving at Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre; CSLAC); Chuba is the CSR
Manager of the Group.
8. Obinna Chukwudum
(Serving at Alpha plus limited); Obinna is the Media Head of the Group.
6.
Based on the Next
Generation report, what do you think would be the impact of the exclusion of
many present day Nigerian youths and children from quality education? (Click here to Learn more about the Next Generation Report)
Calamity!
I have nothing else to add!
7.
Is there a cause for
alarm? How loudly should we sound it?
Yes there
is surely a cause for alarm, and GPC has been an active voice in raising the
awareness concerning this looming avoidable calamity. Let me give you some
statistics to whet your appetite. We live in a country with an increasing youth
population. Today the persons between the ages of 0-14 account for more than 40
percent of the population. The unemployment rate as at 2012 stands at 23.9
percent. We live in a society where the culture of impunity is encouraged and
sugarcoated. We hear daily how cases of bribery and corruption fizzle out of the
airwaves like a train losing steam and nothing is said about it. Most public
servants are all but passionate about National progress. What is more saddening
is that groups set up to protect rights of youths have become mesmerized by
political aspirations. What is the National Youth Council and the National
Association of Nigerian Students doing about the unfair treatment of youths,
particularly students across the country? They do not know that they are
sitting on a time bomb!
I have contempt with Corrupt Nigerian
politicians and public servants-because I expect their actions to be at the
level of their thinking, the issue that bothers me is that most of our youths
have become sunken in the aqua of greed and stagnation. Where is therefore the
hope of this Nation if the youths that are meant to be the future are still
held back by the thinking of the past? I’ll leave that question to you. But
there is hope.
8.
Is this another
responsibility of the government? Or do you think it goes beyond the
government?
The
government does surely have its role to play, but since the three arms of
government have performed dastardly in creating the enabling environment for
growth and egalitarianism, it is high time technocrats and patriots stepped in
to rebuild the broken down walls. Additionally, history has proven that
National transformation has seldom been orchestrated by the government; most
great transformations have occurred as a result of the initiative of
individuals or groups. Martin Luther was never the president of America, but he
made more impact most presidents of the world that have ever lived. Mahatma Gandhi
wasn’t a politician yet he impacted India and fought for their independence.
The same goes for Mother Theresa and Che Guevara. At GPC we believe that both
the Government and the People of Nigeria have a huge role to play in shaping Nigeria
and we believe that a greater responsibility rests on our shoulders-we the
citizens. Let’s not forget that the government is an institution, it cannot
make choices on its own; it is the decisions of individuals that shape the
actions and behaviors of the government. Good individuals will run a good
government but when the opposite is the case it is then you have perfidy,
mendacity, self-aggrandizement and bigotry pervading the streets like homeless
mendicants. But GPC believes there is hope!
9.
Any Challenges as
group? Has GPC had a smooth ride?
I really
have to think about this *Thinks for a while*. You see the thing is we are
always too busy accomplishing our mandates that sometimes we completely forget
to acknowledge our challenges. But ‘YES’ there have been challenges and the
major one has been in the area of support. We discovered that most
organizations pay lip service to youth development and mentorship, only few
corroborate their words by actions. But I must say that as a group we have been
really privileged to have received support and encouragement from a wide spectrum
of organizations, at least above the expected threshold within the non-profit
industry.
10.
Whose support does
GPC need?
We need
everyone’s support. We need participation from every group and category of
people, and daily we entertain various calls and request for partnership and support.
Remember, this project is only done by GPC, the objective is not for GPC alone,
and it’s for all Nigerians, particularly the youths. We are very open to
support.
11.
You give success
nuggets all the time, please share one with us.
There
was a quote we saw somewhere that has become our creed. It says “There is nothing wrong with Nigeria that
cannot be solved by what is right with Nigeria”. Thank you.
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