Full Text of an Interview with a Nigerian National Daily 

Ike: Can you give a brief on why Development Clinic International was set up?

Amb. Dele-Israel Ikeorha: Development Clinic International (DECI) was set up in May 2001 after the International Conference on HIV/AIDS held at Abuja attended by Rawlings of Ghana, Bill Clinton of U.S. and a lot of dignitaries from around the world. During the Conference, a lot of things became apparent. My thoughts began to crystallize. Certain realities became apparent. Common factors and decimals became obvious. One of them was articulated by Bill Clinton's statement in his speech that "the world is facing a development challenge today." Long before then, 1997 to be precise, I met His Excellency, Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, then the Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity in my capacity as the Executive Secretary of the Peace & Unity Corps of Nigeria, in the search for ways and means to ensure peace and democracy in Nigeria in the face of the long drawn struggle since the June 12 impasse of 1993. After our discussion, Dr. Salim availed me of some  OAU publications including the Report of the 1979 OAU Monrovia Symposium. That Report together with events of the Abuja Conference which clearly exposed development problems facing third world nations including Nigeria, inspired the formation of Development Clinic International days after the conference on 2nd May, 2001. DECI aims at acting as a catalyst for 'real development' in the Third World or developing nations as it is sometimes called. During the HIV/AIDS Conference, five critical and vital development problems areas were identified: Poverty, disease, illiteracy, conflict, lack of capacity or leadership failure. These identified problems are universal when Third World problems are analyzed.

Development Clinic International (DECI) therefore aims at provoking thought and action or what is usually called 'PRAXIS' (thought and action, theory and practice) for various people to mobilize and harness the required capacity that will bring about development in our nations: Third World nations.

In pursuit of these noble objectives, various projects were developed and promoted by Development Clinic International to address the identified need areas based on our core values. Some include the Almajiri: Children Without Borders Program, the now suspended Queen Agbani Darego Foundation, and the Leadership Development Program.

Ike: Can you give us a brief on your Almajiri Project.

Amb. Dele-Israel Ikeorha: We had  written to the Federal Government of Nigeria under the auspices of Peace & Unity Corps of Nigeria (another NGO with which I am also involved) that an Almajiri Commission should be established, a special education for the Almajiris should be pursued; a poverty eradication programme for the Almajiris (PEPA) and Universal Basic Education for the Almajiris (UBE-A) as principal components of the poverty eradication and universal basic education programmes of the current Federal Government should be promoted. At Development Clinic International DECI we also have research, certification and documentary components of our Almajiri Project - "Almajiris: Children Without Borders" -which are yet to take off and will do so as soon as funding is obtained. For the research component, we have applied to Macarthur Foundation, and the documentary and certification components will soon be applied for to acquaint people with the social, cultural, demographic, political, and economic cost of the almajiri reality. (The Documentary "Children Without Borders is billed for March 2003)

Ike:  Can you briefly tell us who your backers are?

Amb. Dele-Israel Ikeorha: DECI is promoted by us, young men and women. As our constitution states quoting the Report of the February 1979 Monrovia Symposium of the Organization of African Unity, (a copy which was  given to me by the grace of His Excellency, Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim in 1997,) "Ready for every sacrifice for which the need is profoundly felt, these young people also passionately aspire for peace. They demand that an end should be put to the violence from which our continent has suffered so much for centuries...They demand that our first item of expenditure should be expenditure on development in reason, economy and humanity. it is now this younger generation, which is now getting itself ready...to restore a valid existence and true dignity to Africa and its people." So  DECI is backed by reputable men and women, people like myself, Ikeorha Dele-Israel, an Ambassador for Peace, member of the Institute of Management Consultants and Professional Institute of Nigeria and publisher of books such as the Problem with Nigeria and the Functions of Leadership among others; Ms Victoria Upah, a graduate of Mathematics and a computer graduate too, Dr. James Auta, a Professor at the University of Chicago in Illinois United States, Mr. Hussaini Abdullahi, a graduate of Political Science,  Mrs. Esther Unung, a professional administrator and member of  the Institute of Chartered Administrators,  Florence Lebechi Ikeorha, a certified registered nurse and midwife and certified reproductive health professional by the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria, and Dr. Mathew Onoja, a medical practitioner and surgeon at the National Assembly Hospital, Abuja Nigeria. 

Ike: Can you give us an insight to how your projects are funded?

Amb. Dele-Israel Ikeorha:  We finance our projects from our legitimate income and contributions from friends and well-wishers. We receive funds principally from individuals and corporate organizations that believe in what we are doing and support us to enable us continue to do same. As at now, we have made  proposals for funding to various international donor agencies such as the World Bank, Ford Foundation, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), MacArthur Foundation. Some of them have replied us and we are hoping we will obtain funds to kick-start the various projects, but principally, we raise funds from within from individuals and corporate organizations who buy-in to our vision.  We organize our projects to be self-financing or viable. For example, the Queen Agbani Darego Foundation luncheon cost was to be defrayed by recipients of the Foundation's Award and many of them have or indicated willingness to contribute free services - courier services, feeding and accommodation services, free cars, architectural services etc. .

Ike: How many projects do you have in progress now?

Amb. Dele-Israel Ikeorha:  To be candid we are focused on two active projects now. The others are research based. It is important for me to state here that Development is our focus but to achieve development, multi-track approach is our strategy. Each project identifies a development programme and we seek or mobilize resources to tackle them e.g. on the Almajiri we are working with the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) who have the institutional and financial muscle to make it a success, while we provide intellectual contribution and administrative/human resource.

We also intend to pursue our other projects like the Leadership Development Project, and the Almajiri Project.  Our research based Independent Impact Assessment Research (IIAR) 2002 - 2005 aimed at ensuring proper use of funds obtained from whatever source by NGOs in Nigeria is an ongoing Integrity promotion project. We intend to continue to focus our organization to provide development service to NGOs and the society at large. In 2003 - 2006 we are working on our strategic plan and this will definitely reposition the organization to better deliver on its mission.

Ike: How do you feel about the suspension of the QADF Project?

Amb. Dele-Israel Ikeorha:  It must be known that it was not suspended for lack of funds but because of the Miss World 2002 brouhaha in Nigeria. How do I feel? I feel pained. My pain and I believe the pain of all of us here at DECI is not just the over twenty thousand dollars or two million naira expended on the project by us and tens of million by others in cash and kind (e.g. the architects), but the poor, thousands of them who have been deprived of an opportunity to end their poverty, illiteracy, cure their diseases and give them a better quality of life. My pain is the distinguished personalities who we would have honored but can no longer; men and women who have come to identify with the project and are willing to do something to end the misery of their fellow men, but have been kept on hold to continue to face the moral assault of watching with excruciating pain and regret, the misery of our poor folks on the streets, on television, newspapers and radio, that is my pain. But we are in the process of developing another program that will address those areas.

Ike:  I cannot end this interview without asking this question. What is your reaction to the accusation that some use NGOs as an avenue to amass wealth by way of getting funds from foreign donors?

Amb. Dele-Israel Ikeorha: It is true that some do it, but it is not all. It will be wrong, insulting, unfair to label all NGOs in Nigeria as being self-serving, fraudulent, deceptive and all other unwholesome adjectives. The truth is that the percentage of NGOs who have access to international donor agencies are in the minority and within that minority we have the good, the bad and the ugly. But we are not all bad and we are not all ugly. In Nigeria we have over 10,000 NGOs, most of them financially crippled and technically un-empowered, most of them unregistered and some working with dignity and commitment despite their capacity inadequacies, at the community level with no access to international donors or ignorant of their existence altogether. The percentage with that access are in the minority; about 1% i.e. about 100 NGOs. That is the reason why we are carrying out our independent impact assessment research 2002 and the response have been poor. That is why we are advocating a broader, open, and more inclusive approach to funding of NGO activity in Nigeria by corporate, local and foreign donor agencies. Majority of NGOs in Nigeria are not properly organized. Thousands do not know how to write proposals talk less of obtaining funding. They don't even know the address of the donor agencies, nor do they possess references that will be judged credible by donor agencies. They don't even know that there are organizations who give funds for NGO activities. The whole situation is compounded by the credibility crisis, the competitiveness, the pull-him down syndrome that is characteristic of some elements of the Nigerian society and the accusation that there is a mafia within the NGO and donor communities whose object is to ensure that funding revolves round a few clique, all collectively make the situation to appear mysterious. The problem is that the minority with access to donor funding have not been made accountable to the public. Nobody knows them, only the funding agency, few of us who have access to their reports and sometimes journalists. The issue is that the funding process leaves a lot to be desired and as I and others advocated in the IPRC workshop in May this year involving major donor agencies, the whole process should be liberalized. However, we at DECI take it as a personal organizational responsibility to act with integrity and to demand integrity from all NGOs and donor agencies alike. We have not received any funds as at now from any international donor agencies. As I mentioned earlier, we design our projects to be viable, we look for ingenious ways locally to fund our projects. In the foundation project we exploited the huge potential for corporate involvement that have been neglected for many years. By this way, we obtained for free, services worth over twelve million naira. Even though there was no-cash movement, there was economic activity. We are against the misuse and misappropriation and fraudulent use of funds obtained from international donor agencies. We are a registered member of the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations and membership imposes on member organization the responsibility to be transparent, accountable, to operate with integrity and as you can see pasted on my office wall is a statement by the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor which states that "You must teach your members to keep good records of transactions and conform with all prudential guidelines in their operations". As a member of the Professional Institute of Nigeria including five members of DECI's Executive, we have a code of conduct, to conduct myself in all my activities with a high sense of transparency and adhere to the highest professional standards and ethics possible. Our Independent Impact Assessment Research is aimed at promoting that integrity among NGOs and donor agencies alike. Mediocritical leadership is responsible for the attitude of those who misuse or divert NGO funds for self-enrichment. Leadership exposes a man of quality and separates him from a man of mediocrity. That is what I believe. At DECI we are doing all we can to ensure we live up to the demands of quality leadership.

Ike: Thank you for granting me the audience for  the interview.

Amb. Dele-Israel Ikeorha:  Thank you too.

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