This is the saddest time of my life as a Nigerian –Rita Lori Ogbebor

She is a prominent busi­nesswoman, activist, hotelier, and founder of a women pressure group, Mothers in Nigeria. Her name is Chief (Mrs) Rita Lori Ogbebor, and she holds the title of Igba of Warri.Chief Ogbebor spoke with Sunday Sun on the state of the nation, and declared: “As a mother, this is the saddest time of my life in my country. Yet, I have no other country to go. I watch what is happening, see mothers and their children being killed, raped, displaced and de-humanized. The year 2015 is around the corner, we all fear for our lives, and those of our children.”



The accomplished woman laments the fate of the country at different fronts, and you ask her whether there would ever be light at the end of the tunnel. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. I am afraid,” she tells you.

So, what are her appeals? What would she want those in authority to do, to forestall the evil day?

“I don’t know. I’m just afraid,” Rita Lori Ogbebor de­clares solemnly. “It’s only God that has the answers. We need His intervention in Nigeria.”

The interview below:

What is your read­ing of the state of the country?

As a mother, I’m very fright­ened. But I’m not just the only one, it’s everybody. One begins to wonder what is the cause of my fright, which borders on insecurity of lives and property. Your business is insecure, your children going out and com­ing in, you are afraid, and this makes a total hopeless case of one’s life.

Business-wise, morally, and everything, things are not nor­mal. It was not like this many years ago. Take business, for instance. You could decide after every budget where the country was going. The budget tells you clearly what the government is thinking. The direction is quite clear, and all the incentives are made known to you. If there is any ban on any product, the reasons are made known. And before the final budget, all business men know that these products are going to be banned, and you prepare yourself.

Today, lot of things are banned, and you find them all over the place in the markets. Where are these goods coming from? Do some people have privilege to import them, or they are being smuggled in? You as a business person don’t know what to invest in. For this reason, you are not interested anymore in investing.

Before, priority was given to Nigerian businesses, to encourage arti­sans. Today, all our shops are filled with imported furniture. Our carpenters are now idle. Foreign­ers have taken over the businesses that provide employment. They come here, with their furniture, only to assemble. The money is carted away from our coun­try, and our children and husbands ren­dered useless.

All these have to do with the leader­ship. People today take politics as the main job in the country. Everybody wants to be a politi­cian. They believe that is the quickest way to get to the top. And from what we see, it is true. But the only thing is that the country suffers, and declines because people now go into politics, not for the country, but for themselves. These are men without any education, vision, and power of im­plementation. They have absolutely no knowledge of how a country is governed. A country is gov­erned first and fore­most when you have absolute knowledge of the needs of the country economically. If you don’t have knowledge of the economy of your country, you have no business being a leader. If you are not a medical doctor, how do you go into the hospital to offer cure for the patients? A lot of square pegs in round holes. That is the state of the country.

This country has enough for everybody. But the leadership is our problem. When I say so, I am not saying it is Goodluck Jonathan, because the problem has been coming for some time. But things get worse when a bad situation is not treated. Today, as a mother, this is the saddest time of my life in my country. Yet, I have no other country to go to. I watch what is hap­pening, I see mothers and their children being killed, raped, displaced, and de-humanized. 2015 is around the corner, we all fear for our lives, and those of our children.

The churches are praying and fasting. But the evil men in our country laugh even at our prayers. They take our prayers as sign of helplessness and stupidity. They plan more harm because they think we are help­less. But we who worship God know that God is not helpless. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear. God will avenge for the helpless.

Nothing is more annoying than when people deride God, deride their superiors. What I mean is; these men know that this country has capable men and women, but they enjoy humiliating them, showing and telling them that we can bring you to nothing. Or how else do people rule the country from pages of newspapers, telling us how marvellous and wonderful they are. Bringing dummy proj­ects, photographing them, pass­ing them off as projects they’ve done? Yet, we are all wallowing in abject poverty. Most projects are not done, or half-done, the cities are filled with people who migrate from their towns and villages to find jobs. Yet, there are no jobs. The result is what we have seen – robbery, kidnap­ping and other violent crimes.