The Urhobo’s are a people with a proud history, culture and heritage; originating from Nigeria and have spread across the world. The UK is the major hub of Urhobo people in diaspora.
Our fathers before us founded our great Urhobo Progress Union, to promote the values of unity and togetherness as the bedrock of progress. This next generation of Urhobo people must draw on the strength and conviction of our fathers to drive forward a new and bold vision of togetherness and development amongst Urhobo people, as the right legacy of the efforts of our fathers, to take advantage of the opportunities in the United Kingdom for the advancement of all Urhobo people.
This was the rallying call of Nero Ughwujabo, the Special Adviser – Social Justice, Opportunities and Young People to Prime Minister Theresa May; calling on 10 Urhobo younger people to a roundtable discussion to understand the challenges facing the Urhobo community but also to understand the vast opportunities open to us to help our community flourish.
The Special Adviser is in a unique position being the first person of African descent to hold the position of Special Adviser to a Prime Minister of Britain. In his very important role as the Special Adviser on Social Justice, Opportunities and Young People, he is actively involved in helping the government to deliver its response to the Race Disparity Audit which identified significant disparities for black and minority ethnic communities.
The Roundtable discussion was held on 13th April 2018 at N0.10 Downing Street, the heart of Her Majesty’s Government. The Special Adviser led the discussion in the same way he hosts other community groups lobbying the government for support. It was a very fruitful discussion with strong ideas on the way forward for our community.
There was consensus that the Urhobo community needs to be better coordinated and better led so that it is better able to access the range of government support at its disposal. It was agreed that this generation of Urhobo people should build an organisation that uses the skills and abilities of Urhobo professionals, which works with existing Urhobo community groups, so that progress and change can begin to happen.
Delegates identified a number of immediate challenges the new organisation can help to tackle, including:
• Building capacity within existing Urhobo organisations and helping to realise the vision of an ‘Urhobo Resource Centre’
• Advancing education and access to leadership opportunities
• Supporting younger generations to access and appreciate their Urhobo roots
• Co-ordinating access opportunities, creating development and empowerment activities for the Urhobo youth
• Using modern tools and social media to raise awareness of Urhobo culture and language Through the creation of a “special purpose vehicle”, efforts to realise these aspirations can commence without further delay.
The overall goal is to create an organisation with a clearly defined purpose, which the entire community in the UK endorses to work in its best interest.
There will be further information on how to get involved in this new movement, so that through our collective efforts, our community will become more effective, stronger and better placed to deliver to its aspirations.