At a time the spate of violence across Nigeria
seems to be threatening national security, the Ooni
of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, offers
a valuable intervention, in this interview conducted
at his palace preparatory to a non-violence
programme, Peace Icons and the NMVA,
coordinated by veteran broadcaster and cultural
activist , Mr. Cally Ikpe. The monarch, who has
passion for getting the teeming youths of Nigeria
gainfully engaged, examines the country's rate of
violence within the context of the role of the youths
and concludes that addressing the challenge is an
urgent issue of national interest. He ascended the
throne in December, 2015.
Your concern about the youths in the country is
well known especially on empowerment and youth
violence. How concerned are you about the spate
of violence everywhere in the country?
I am indeed very concerned because if you look at
the statistics of those engaging in violence all over
the world, they are mostly youths between the ages
of 18 and 40 years. Those formative years you
don’t have proper balance. You will rarely see
someone of about 60 or 80 years engaging in
violence. Between the ages of 10 and 18, you will
easily see people in that category engage in
violence. But at above 18, you will start
developing the rebellious spirit that 'I can be on
my own, I don’t want to be to taught again, I think
I can stand on my own', peer influence and all
sorts of advice from bad fellowship. So it pretty
much has to do with the formative years and it
really has to be carefully guided.
What do you say about people being under the
impression that violence is profitable and and
maybe somehow government is encouraging it?
I don’t believe in that school of thought that
violence is profitable You can spin violence in
different ways. You can spin it in a positive or
negative way. One is very productive, the other is
counterproductive. When you spin violence in a
negative manner, then it becomes very destructive,
When you spin violence in a very positive manner,
you become constructive. If you look at the
pioneers of this country, they were not violent but
they stood up to save this country and they were
young men. The likes of Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello
and Azikiwe among others. So my point is that
violence cannot be called any other name than
violence if is destructive. In Nigeria today, over 70
percent of the youths are jobless. Nothing is
moving for them, so they intend to look for the
easiest way out by saying that if I decide to go
against the law, I will make quick money and I can
oppress other people. It is a systemic thing, you
don’t just probably think violence is profitable. If
they had alternatives, I don’t think they will
embrace violence. I don’t belong to that school of
thought, my school of thought is let the system
work, let the system run, then we can separate
the grain from the chaff.
Do you think government is actually doing enough
to discourage this trend because, sometimes, we
have seen government trying to go into
negotiations with kidnappers, Boko Haram
terrorists, hijackers, blackmailers and other
criminal elements?
It is neither here nor there. When such a situation
comes up, you look at the overall interest and what
is the overall interest? National security. Any time
national security comes in, that is when
government may try negotiating because the
country is bigger than all of us but violence is
simply bad. What is bad is bad. The truth is that
things are not working. I think we can spin it in a
different way. And the way we can spin it is for the
youths to take things upon themselves and be
more responsible, we should not put everything to
government. We should stand up like a united
force. If we have good leadership in terms of youth
associations, I think government will listen, but if
we say we want to put everything to government
by saying they are doing less, you can’t satisfy 70
percent of 180 million people. The rate at which
our population has grown over the last 20 to 30
years is in geometric progression and there has
not been much plan and much provision for that
rapid population growth. So it is important for us
to rise to the occasion. Once we rise up to that
occasion, it can reduce on gradual basis.
At some points in your life, you may have
experienced violence in one form or the other
which you may want to share?
Violence is not a good thing, I keep saying it. I
experienced the killing and maiming of people
during the June 12, 1993 crisis and I pray it never
happens again. I had to walk more than 20
kilometres, it was actually God that saved me that
day. It was really bad. People got so frustrated,
they were burning houses and burning people
alive, I pray never to experience such a thing
again. The entire Western Nigeria was on fire,
nothing was working, and everything became
grounded. And that was as a result of frustration,
the frustration got to the peak. So, something must
have pushed the youths to that level of violence.
But you cannot blackmail a nation or hold a
nation to ransom, if such is done, it then becomes
a national security issue. And national security
comes first.
It is important because that is the essence of a
nation and it is a growing concern. That is what
actually makes government to bend over
backwards to now readjust and say `we will
negotiate'. They don’t want to negotiate but
sometimes the hands of government are tied to
negotiate. But we, the youths, should we be known
for that? Should we have that kind of name
forever? I don’t think it is right. We should come
together at some point, some of our leaders now
played important roles in governance when they
were in that age bracket. Some of them were
governors, we have seen one who became the
President as a youth and he is still alive, we have
seen a lot of them who were in the parliament
between late 20s and early 30s. So what are our
youths doing? I will keep talking about it, because
I am very passionate about it, as I have actually
built a big capacity that can actually assist the
youths. The youths can do many things other than
violence. The chair that I am sitting on now was
actually made by some youths. That is why I am
building good followership among the youths so
that we can work together. I am not in government,
I am just a monarch but I am using my platform
to encourage youths to quit violence. I am a
living example of the saying that charity begins at
home. My crown is made in Nigeria , most of the
things I use are made in Nigeria. My policy is that
the minimum of 60 -70 percent of what I wear
should be made in Nigeria. Unfortunately, my
wristwatch is not made in Nigeria but we will get
there.
This is a youth programme and the audience will
be interested in the kind of music that appeals to
you?
(Prolonged laughter) Made in Nigeria music. Like I
said earlier on, charity begins at home. We are
very talented in this country, Nigerians sing very
good music even in Africa. We are very talented
people. I have a lot of them actually. I like King
Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, I like old school
music, the very old school music that is full of
wisdom. I listen to them a lot because I learn from
them. And the music of this generation,
interestingly, I like the guy that sang Double
Wahala for Dead Bodi, Oritse Femi because his
music makes sense but people don’t really listen
to whatever he says, they jsut listen to the beats.
But if you listen to his music deeply, it makes a lot
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