Ijero Municipal Agenda:Thoughts on Redeeming our Community -Femi Alufa

This piece is about community development. It is a distillation of thoughts of many years that our Ijero community should have a vision plans to take its place in the 21st century world. Ijero Municipal Vision Plan or Ijero Municipal Agenda has been rhetoric or mere slogan on the lips of many Ijero indigenes and residents; the patriots, the scholars, the political class and the masses of the people for the past three decades. It is a latent and potential idea which need effort of the people to makes it a kinetic and brought into fruition before our very eyes for the sake of our community development in our generation and to avoid the pitfall of our future. One of this latent idea is muted in August, 2003 when I published my debut book Tell Ijeroism, A patriotic book of Ijero history and Philosophy and called for the creation of Ijero Municipal Council in one of the pages of the book. Nothing has been done since then actively; Ijero Municipal Vision Plan is an idea of Ijero Municipal Congress (IMC), a nonviolent civil rights and socio-political organization that will work to promote the interests of Ijero people of Ekiti State of Nigeria. In 2010, I ran an unsuccessful campaign for the House of Assembly seat in Ijero Constituency under the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Party, and planned a onerous task to implement an Ijero Municipal Agenda at the House if elected as a state legislator to the Ekiti State House of Assembly in 2011 in my own humble way but I did not get the political will from the major political party then and I published a book The New Covenant of Hope: Blueprint for Ekiti Constituency Development (2010) which dwell much on this dissertation too as my political manifesto, as the rest is now history. I believe that the idea whose time has come cannot be doomed into extinction. As a believer of Ijeroism, I believe that Ijero Municipal Agenda can be achieved by collective responsibility of all Ijero patriots, sons and daughters of Ijero at home and in the Diaspora to come and let us rescue our district from lagging behind in the comity of towns in Nigeria. Some men of goodwill and I are presently began recruiting youthful, brilliant, articulate Ijero patriots into the Ijero Municipal Congress,IMC to champion this worthy cause of our generation. My highest prayer is that my own generation will not be “wasted” but fulfilled its own destiny and purpose in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. IMC ultimate aim is to achieve the provisional agenda for the Ijero Municipal Vision Plan; Agenda for a Better Community Development of the Ijero-Ekiti early 21st Century by the year 2025 and propagate the idea and ideals of Ijeroism; the philosophy of Ajoro, mutual relationship, concord and harmony, and democracy of ideas which Ijero-Ekiti is founded many centuries ago and which is dooming into extinction in our contemporary times. The flame of intense patriotism should be rekindled in our times for the total development and emancipation of our people who has been decimated in the past by the clutches of lukewarmness, government neglects and lack of devotion to Ijero patriotic duty. Once getting the consent of the people and government at local, state and federal, the IMC will pursue policies to establish a fully Ijero municipality, with Ijero Municipal Agenda for Development, socio-economic policies and grassroots democratic government within the jurisdiction of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria and the need to retain its loyalty to the Ekiti State Government and Customs and tradition of the Ijero land. Ijero Municipal Development Goals (IMDGs) is based on the unequivocal support of two basic principles—the autonomy, promotion and protection of the Ijero Municipality and the right of any Ijero personality to supports the realization of Ijero Municipal Agenda.—which together provide the guarantee of a better future for all Ijero people in this 21st century world. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF Ijero Municipal Congress (IMC); 1. To champion the cause of the creation of Ijero- Ekiti Municipality, more autonomous local Government Councils in Ijero districts and creation of more State Constituencies in Ekiti State and Ijero in particular. 2. To promote and protect the interest of the people of Ijero-Ekiti and her district at home and in the Diaspora throughout the world. 3. To campaign for nonviolent and peacefully expression of the people’s social and political beliefs under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 4. To rally public support to seek government’s support at all level to recognize people’s fundamental human rights and yearnings for development through public education, demonstrations, letter-writing campaigns, fundraising events, and press conferences. 5. To organize annual conventions that will formulate the policies of Ijero Municipal Vision Plan and Agenda for the 21st Century, which will remained the basic platform for Ijero Municipal Development. 6. To support and mobilized people to participate in State and General Elections and vote for the political party and candidates that will support the issues of the Ijero Municipal Vision Plans and Agenda for the 21st Century development of Ijero Township . 7. To rekindled the spirit of patriotism and consciousness to Ijero duty and total development and emancipation of our people who has been decimated in the past by the clutches of lukewarmness, government neglects and lack of devotion to patriotic duty. 8. To support the cause of community development, democracy and good governance at the grassroots to evolve a better society. 9. To be the catalyst of socio- political, economic policies and total transformation of the grassroots necessary for the public good through agenda that guarantees a better future for all the people of Ijero municipality, Ekiti State, Nigeria and humanity in general. At Ijero Municipal Congress, (IMC) we have itemized the five basic agenda for Ijero Municipal Development Goals (IMDGs) as simple as A, B, C, D, E steps: 1) Actualization of the processes for Ijero Municipal Agenda from time to time. 2) Beautification of Ijero Township by applying the Ijero Municipal Vision Plan. 3) Constituency Delineation and Self-determination for Ijero Municipal Council 4) Development of Ijero Man and his personality in the scheme of things. 5) Education of Ijero Child and Empowerment of Ijero women and Youths. No political manifesto of any political parties or government can give people their needs for development unless the people concretely demand for it. We need to go through all of these steps to make life easier for our people in Ijero municipality. There can be no gainsaying of the fact that neglect and marginalization by successive governments have caused a lot of social and political doldrums which engulfs this Ijero community and sub towns and villages. About five decades ago, a youthful American President, John F.Kennedy said at his inauguration that… And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. We cannot say that government should meet all the aspirations and collective needs of the community, but the duties of government as enshrined in the modern constitutions of nations is to protect the fundamental rights of the citizen and the government is created at the local and grassroots’ level to make sure that the people are optimally represented and their development Agenda at towns and community level such as education, health, commerce and trade, agriculture,culture and tourism,social infrastructures are catered for by the local or municipal government. I hope this piece will arouse the consciousness of the Ijero People and all men of goodwill to fashion out modalities for the declaration of our vision and agenda for a better future for Ijero Municipal Vision Plan before 2025. Let us all hope that the dark twilight of social and political marginalization that we found ourselves now will bring a glorious dawn of a radiant community and in some not too distant future. A New Future of Ijero-Ekiti Municipal Development is possible before our very eyes. I am a firm believer of the actualization of the Ijero Municipal Agenda, as the scripture said: “The just shall live by faith”. Nobody will champion the cause of Ijero Municipal Agenda for Ijero community, if we, the people of Ijero community keep silent.

The essence of this piece is to help “show the light for the people to find the way”, like the motto of Dr.Azikiwe’s old West African Pilot Newspaper. Together, let us keep the faith in the peace,progress and prosperity of Ijero, the land of our birth and pride, our own Jerusalem here on earth. Let us keep the hope of Ijero Municipal Agenda alive! .I will be extremely grateful if what I have shared on this piece will be constructively admonished and criticized on how we can achieve this historic effort as a people in our lifetime.