Only when we come together!!!
 

ANNOUNCE THIS ARTICLE TO YOUR FRIENDS!
 Friday, October 20, 2000
 Ibrahim Khaleel, Ph.D.
 Forwarded by: Dr. Femi Ajayi
 [email protected]
 


National President's Address
At
Zumunta's Seventh National Annual Convention

By

Ibrahim Khaleel, Ph.D.
National President

Quality Inn
Chicago, Illinois

Saturday, October 14, 2000
Only When We Come Together!!!

National President's Address
Ibrahim Khaleel, Ph.D.

In the Name of Allah (God), Most gracious, Most Merciful. I am very glad and happy to see and welcome you all to this august gathering of the Seventh Annual Zumunta National Convention here in Chicago, the windy city.

I welcome His Excellency and our Guest Speaker, the Executive Governor of Plateau State, Chief Joshua Dariye; our Special Speaker, Professor Ibrahim A. Gambari, the United Nations Under Secretary-General and Special Advisor on Africa; His Excellency, Chief Joseph Keshi, Consul General of Nigeria, Atlanta; invited guests; ladies and gentlemen.

Our special thanks and profound gratitude go to the Illinois Chapter of Zumunta Association, USA Inc. for hosting and organizing this wonderful convention. It is only Zumunci that makes you to do it.

There is one choice for Zumunta members. We must come together to advance our causes, the causes of our people here and back home. We need to come together to knit a cultural net and develop cultural activities to teach our children an appreciation and empathy for their heritage. As a family, Zumunta sends condolence to its members and Northern Nigerians who have lost their lives or that of loved ones in the various disturbances, riots, and uprising that have occurred since the coming of civil rule in 1999. We hope they did not loose their lives in vain. Our condolences to Aliyu Garba (Tri State) for loosing his wife in Nigeria, Emmanuel Birdling (Midwest) for loosing his mother also in Nigeria, and Dr. Hon Tachia and family for loosing their son (Mzehemen) in Houston.

On a brighter note, we congratulate all our members who have new babies such as Drs. Sarki Abdulkadir (Midwest) and Lawal Garba (North Carolina). Our congratulations to the Vice President, Mr. Isa Bewell and his family for giving the hands of his daughter back in Nigeria and to our Financial Secretary Zainab Fom for tying the matrimonial knots with Mr. Patrick Fom. We wish them the best of life and many fruits of love.

My brothers and sisters, one year ago, you entrusted the leadership of this progressive organization to the current members of the National Executive Council. We took the challenge seriously and resolved to work very hard with the Constitution as our guiding principle. The national constitution is clear about the basic and primary goal and objectives of Zumunta Association USA, Inc. Our Proclamation rightfully states: "We, the citizens of Nigeria from the Northern part of the country, being resident in the United States of America and concerned about our welfare [emphasis added] here in America and the state of affairs in Nigeria, have come together to find ways and means of improving ourselves and contributing to the development of our country, Nigeria, and our respective host communities."

Additionally, Objective (a) of Chapter Two, Art 2:1 clearly states that Zumunta Association USA, Inc. shall "render moral and economic support to all members in times of need through local chapters. Such support shall not be extended to those involved in criminal indulgence."

We took this to heart and designed program that will enhance the welfare of our members. The question you might then ask is "What has Zumunta done for me to better my life?" Or put in another way, "Am I better off than a year ago as a Zumunta member?" You are the only ones that could answer this question. What I know and believe is that the current leadership has tried its hardest (through our program) to have the answer in the affirmative way.

Briefly, ladies and gentlemen, our Program had the goal of making Zumunta relevant to its members and Northern Nigerians. This goal was complimented with three objectives, namely to 1. assist our members and Northerner Nigerians to improve our individual and/or collective welfare; 2. enhance and consolidate current structures and projects; and 3. increase Zumunta's resources.

We detailed activities, strategies, and budget to achieve these objectives. It is not my intention to extensively catalog the program here, but suffice it to inform you that the NGC/NEC meeting of May 27, 2000 in Atlanta, Georgia approved the program. Before the approval, we started to implement the parts of the program that do not need much funding. The development of the egroups, improvement and expanded services of our website, email, etc. are to enhance communication. Messrs Joseph Dahip and Hassan Salami of Minnesota Chapter are serving as our Clearinghouse Volunteers. Their task is to pass information to our members concerning job openings, scholarships, grants, businesses and opportunities among others. We are very appreciative and grateful for their voluntary services. As our members' welfare is always in our heart, a personal dream will hopefully come true in the launching of the Zumunta National Endowment Program (ZNEP) tonight by no other personality than our immediate past President and the Managing Director of Sadiq Petroleum Nig. Ltd., Engineer Abdullahi Sule.

The Economic Development Commission (EDC) is another excellent avenue for our members to earn some money. One of the projects for the EDC is the Expo slated for Spring 2001. This will open the opportunity for our business people to link up with their American counterparts. Our further commitment to assisting our brothers and sisters in Nigeria continues with the Scholarship Program and the Education Conference also scheduled for Spring 2001. Governor Dariye's presence with us today is another evidence of our efforts to work with our people back home.

Of course as 501� organization, we are also aware of our responsibilities to our immediate communities that we are part of. I am glad and happy to note that may of our chapters are participating in one community service or another. Chapters such as Atlanta, Minnesota, Texas, and Tri States have indicated areas of their involvement.

Is our situation all rosy without any problems? Of course not! The apathetic attitude of some of our members to the various avenues for contributing to our improvement and development is very discouraging. The response to our program with all its wonderful projects (such as the EDC) was very depressing. This goes back to my question of whether your life is better today than it was last year as a result of Zumunta? If some of us are not involved because we think it does not matter, then I want to turn the question to: what have you done to Zumunta to make the life of its members better than it was last year? If you think Zumunta is not relevant to you, we think you are relevant to Zumunta. We are requesting you to contribute to it-not only with money but your time and ideas.

Another perennial problem of our association is that of finances. Haba Zumunta members! Your annual due is only $12.00! But there are some members who are not paying their dues. How is Zumunta expected to champion all its wonderful goal and objectives without funds? We need a change of heart towards this excellent organization. An organization such as ours should boast of hundreds of thousands of dollars in its account. We need to pay our dues and even donate more!!!

Let me at this juncture, ladies and gentlemen, turn our attention to the new dispensation at home-the return of civil rule in Nigeria since May 29, 1999. I am very disturbed by the direction of our current leadership. As I indicated in my 40th Anniversary message to our members, I thought the shift in leadership at the national level to the South is an opportunity for Northerners to come together to develop a comprehensive improvement plan and request the Federal government to fund it. But what we got is Sharia, "core north," marginalization, the Middle Belt, the Arewa Forum, the Arewa Consultative Council and the likes. Please I do not want to be misunderstood, every Nigerian has the right to equality, respect, freedom of expression, religion and the pursuit of good life. In fact that is the principles of Zumunta. As the world gets united for economic, political and social survival, we, Nigerians seem to cherish divisiveness of differences rather than their management for improving our lives. We are dissipating our energies and resources on contentious issues rather than issues that will bring jobs, development, food on the table, and progress. The Arewa People's Congress (APC), the Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), the Aferifere, the Bakassi Boys, and the Ohaneze come to mind.

Accountability, transparency, thrifty, humbleness and the likes are out of the window, while graft, greed, corruption and selfishness are the order of the day. We are living witnesses to the unrealistic and selfish salary scale, car allowances, furniture allowances, and others that our politicians were alleged to have. The rate at which Nigeria is spending or intends to spend on our public officials, do we need an outside enemy to run the economy down? I doubt it!

There is one choice for Zumunta members. We must come together to advance our causes, the causes of our people here and back home. We need to come together to knit a cultural net and develop cultural activities to teach our children an appreciation and empathy for their heritage. If care is not taken, we might loose them to the cultural mores of this society. We need to come together to develop programs and activities that will help us economically and socially. We need to come together to resolve to be our brother and sister's keepers regardless of the situation at home. For we are the only ones to develop ourselves. No one will do it for us. It will be a real sad story to tell our children and great, great grandchildren that we allowed others to define us and in the process also divide us. Our people back in Nigeria are looking up to us for leadership and assistance. This was clear to me during my recent visit to Nigeria on behalf of Zumunta. We should not fail our children, our people and ourselves.

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, as a not-for profit organization we cannot be involved in politics. There is a suggestion for those members who are more politically inclined and want to defend the interests of the North here, to form a political organization that is affiliated with Zumunta. The House needs to deliberate on this. This has several advantages. My only advice is we must be very careful that the cooperate existence of Zumunta is not undermined by the activities of some overzealous people in the new organization.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for listening. I wish you the best in this convention. Long live Zumunta! Long live Northern States!! Long live Nigeria!!!

Ibrahim Khaleel, Ph.D.




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