Mentorship through apprenticeship to eradicate youths restiveness — Chikezie
Mentoring the youths and equipping them for the rainy day stands a commendable practice in Igbo land. In this interview with our correspondent, Ihuoma Amaike Okoronkwo, the ageless Igbo apprenticeship scheme proponent, Chief RTN Bright Chinenye Chikezie, a veteran in import and export, as well as a maritime stakeholder bares his mind on the state of the Nation and the future of the youth. Excerpts:
Rather than being violent in the quest for empowerment and an all inclusive government, what is your opinion on what Nigerian youths should do to better their lots?
Thank you for the question. First I must say that Nigerian youths, most especially in the South-East should not shy away from the norms the Igbo traditional society was known for. Yes, there are many options to what the youths should do to foster peace, good governance and development to our different states of the federation. I mentor young people who are dreaming of becoming entrepreneurs in the near future and such cannot be futile. Acquiring skills, devices and skills methodology for tomorrow’s empowerment remains one of the best approaches to youths restiveness and juvenile delinquency. So, many well meaning youths of Igbo extraction as well as Nigerians who are successful business magnates as we speak first acquired skills and as skilled labourers, they became employers of labour and facilitators of productivity. The Igbo ageless tradition of apprenticeship has never failed even in recent times. I maintain the status quo as a tilted chief, a custodian of my people’s tradition and culture to say that I encourage all youths within my community, state and country to embrace the modern mentorship and the Igbo ageless tradition of apprenticeship as an option to free ourselves and the youths from modern day slavery and restiveness.
White collar jobs do fail in times of economic crisis like the one we are facing; some states of the federation cannot pay the N30,000 minimum wage to civil servants with all the allocations they receive from the federal government. Pensioners who supposedly should be resting and enjoying their retirement benefits after 35 years of active service are carrying placards along the streets demonstrating at the expense and detriment of their aging conditions and health, all because they have not been paid. Assuming most of them have other skills so to speak, rather than parading in their old age along the streets, they would have engaged the services of some trained lawyers seeking redress in a competent court of jurisdiction than making appearances that negate the economic dividends of today’s academic pursuit.
So many of us trained ourselves in higher institutions from the experiences we got from either mentorship or apprenticeship. Whether we seek to be employed or not, we have reduced the number of job seekers out there. We provide more support and services to ourselves and our people far better than those who are in power with no such skills. This idea will go a long way in helping the younger people who will take advantage of it in addition to their educational qualifications.
Was the Igbo ageless apprenticeship and mentorship without some flaws?
Every coin has two sides, the good side and the bad side. For the scheme, the good side outweighs the bad side. I recall some cases of no settlement or compensation which became issues in the scheme. Some mentors or lords so to speak failed to meet the terms of their earlier agreement with their apprentices and as such could not set up a similar business outfit to mark a successful completion of the scheme. This, I must say, should not be practised. A young man or woman has mortgaged his or her youthful strength (services and labour) in order to acquire a skill that would secure his or her future in a business he or she undertook under apprenticeship. Courtesy demands that at the end of such fruitful services or end of tenure in line with what was agreed by both parties, a similar business be set up for the apprentice from the purses of both parties. I also condemn in practical terms, the idea of playing with the norms of every business by would-be entrepreneurs under the guise of youthful exuberance. After killing the business of your boss through negligence and gross misconduct, where do you expect him to raise funds from and settle you?
The worst thing to do in an apprentice scheme is to kill the business through negligence, nonchalant attitude or gross misconduct and it is common amongst some apprentices. If you don’t like the business, you back out peacefully and change to another career, skill or trade. Don’t allow your mentor to waste his/her precious time on you when you know you are not willing to bend down and learn the skills and as well as keep his official secrets. You met the business setting before you agreed to go for an apprenticeship scheme; you were not the one who set up the business in the first place and so why abuse someone’s privilege? Every party to the scheme should as a matter of necessity keep to the rules for peace and productivity to strive.
What will you advise parents whose children are seeking for employment, but lack skills?
My advice for them is to encourage their children to take advantage of every empowerment opportunity that comes in the form of mentorship or apprenticeship be it from politicians or entrepreneurs to acquire skills in addition to their children’s education. If the government should fail to employ you, you can employ yourselves by being engaged with any meaningful economic activity for a purposeful healthy living. In the present circumstance, you make yourself a scapegoat when you allow people to know that you cannot help yourself in situations as pitiable as feeding and clothing one’s immediate family.
Most of our parents never believed that events will turn around for the worse in their retirement but it is obvious that the lack of planning and the failure to acquire other skills has constituted an emergency on their part. Every failure to plan is already a case of planned failure hence our youths should have plans B and C for a better tomorrow.
Insecurity remains a threat to live and properties in Nigeria.
How would you react to the plight of the parents whose children are victims of kidnapping, insurgency and other crimes?
It is disheartening to note that most of our children and youths are becoming victims of kidnapping and abduction. To condemn what is condemnable, it is evil to indulge into such practices. Abduction of fellow human beings for the purposes of killing them, collecting of ransoms from their loved ones before setting them free, raping the females amongst them and other inhuman treatments that are against human rights remain evil and unthinkable. It goes beyond shedding tears and feelings of empathy. Hoodlums, bandits or Boko Haram cannot be a solution to our national problem. We as a nation must rise to defend the defenceless, our future generation and the aged within us. I also condemn the worst case scenario where secondary school children who were abducted from their different school environments, in their school hostels when the school was in session. I can only plead and encourage our parents especially those whose children and youths died to take solace in the Lord. Insecurity remains a serious threat until it is subdued or tackled. No parent whose children fell into the ungodly hands of hostage takers would be happy with the situation. While I call on the federal government, states, local government authorities and every stakeholder to rise to theirr responsibilities, I pray to God Almighty to visit the domain of these evil men and women in our society and pay them in the same coin.
What trade are you into and how promising is it for future engagement?
I am a seasoned maritime stakeholder, an import/export consultant and customs broker, a licensed clearing and forwarding agent (ANLCA), MD/CEO Zodaic Integrated Limited, Britzuchez Logistics & Maritime Limited and C.C. Anabiz Investment Limited. We partner with other stakeholders to provide services needed for the day to day running of the industries.
Where did you study?
I am a product of Community Primary School Ndiolumbe Comprehensive Secondary School Ndiolumbe, Eziama High School Aba all in Abia State between 1982-1994. I graduated with Bachelors of Science (Bsc.) degree in Marketing from the University of Port Harcourt in 2011.
Which political party do you belong and what efforts have you made with your party to empower the youths?
I am one of the ambassadors for sustainable peace and development awardees, again one of the awardees of special merit for good governance and I believe that what was wrong could be corrected through purposeful leadership. Man is a political animal by nature, yes, but man has grown to the level of being responsible for his responsibilities and that has been my watchword. In recent times, I have not decided to take up membership with any political party in our country Nigeria, at the time being an advocate for good governance enshrined with people’s oriented values in all spheres of leadership. We must not all join the political parties at the same time in order to actualize youth empowerment, peace and good governance; whether we join or not, what is more important is for us to deviate from what is wrong to do what is right before God and all men.
You are advocating for peace at the time the country is experiencing trying moments, do you think Nigerians will heed to this idea at especially during this critical moment of economic devastation?
Nigerians should as a matter of necessity embrace peace and eschew violence for good governance to strive. It is a pity that most Nigerians have lost hope in our political leadership as well as governance; I am not surprised seeing these anomalies because the youths have remained jobless after every effort so to speak to actualise good governance through the process of election at the different levels of government. I am not surprised also to have looked around trying to see the dividends of good governance at different places most especially in Abia State where I came from, where it has been on record that our government has never been purposeful and people-oriented. Rotational gubernatorial seat or not, agitations for one or more are still issues at the moment. My reason for advocating for peace through mentorship and apprenticeship for youth empowerment in order to actualise good governance is that, in my opinion those already in power cannot continuously remain clueless as we have labelled them. The need to adjust to a more purposeful leadership structure has remained sacrosanct in the minds of both the ruler and the ruled. Whether or not the party structure that has remained their reasons for poor performance or that they lack the political synergy to carry the people along, let us give peace a chance.
It pains me to see the youths being violent in their agitation for employment opportunities and an all inclusive government. In the same way, it is sardonic to see that the government has failed in their effort to provide the basic amenities to the people in all spheres of government. We do not build to destroy the landmarks that provided the link to our collective unity just like we do not destroy our values and rudimentary culture in the name of building a stable nation. As a people who have a focus for the actualisation of our goals and economic realities, we need a proper definition of what exactly we are striving to harness and then dialogue to agree on the modalities of a successful policy implementation. Let us rethink and adjust for better.
