Ozoro union holds Lagos conference on leadership, empowerment

Ozoro Progress Union (OPU), a community-based organisation, has convened its 2025 national delegates conference in Lagos.

The event, held between October 24 and 25, underscored the union’s mission to celebrate the cultural values, morality, and communal bonds of the Ozoro people, a community in the Isoko area of Delta state.

Held under the theme ‘Purposeful Leadership: A Tool of Economic Empowerment & Political Emancipation,’ the conference focused on the critical role of effective governance in community development.

Steve Omanufeme, the guest speaker, articulated how effective leadership serves as a powerful catalyst for economic development.

Omanufeme, who is the managing director of Independent Newspapers Limited, emphasised that visionary leaders shape a community’s destiny by establishing stable institutions and investing in human capital, thereby laying a foundation for sustainable and inclusive growth.

He outlined several key channels through which leadership achieves economic empowerment, including building strategic, long-term planning, recognising the importance of education and skill development.

Others are prioritising investments in critical infrastructure like roads and energy and encouraging a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Omanufeme also stressed that transparency and accountability from leaders are non-negotiable for sustained economic development.

He concluded by urging the leadership of the Ozoro union to strategically harness the community’s available resources to drive effective development.

“Effective leadership has proven to translate resources into opportunities, thereby enabling individuals and communities to improve their financial well-being,” he said.

“The case of Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore is quite instructive. The development of modern Singapore is attributed to his pragmatic leadership.

“Lee was a stern advocate of pragmatism, stating that he was not ‘enamoured with ideology’ but instead with what works. For Lee ‘the ultimate test of the value of a political system’ was ‘whether it helps that society to establish conditions which improve the standard of living for the majority of its people’.”

In his remark, Odio Berkeley Eloviano Asiafa, the president general of Ozoro Kingdom, reaffirmed the union’s core identity.

He clarified that the OPU is fundamentally a culturally based organisation, driven by a sense of common brotherhood and shared values, rather than political motivations.

“Ozoro is a community in Isoko land. One of the fastest-growing economies in Delta state. I emerged as the president of the association in 2021. I am in my second tenure. Some of the values of the association, we place a high premium on morality. We have cultural values,” he added.

“This conference is about the Ozoro people in different parts of the country. We have come to deliberate on issues affecting us as a community.

“The theme talks about people of common brotherhood, moral codes, common destiny, communal existence for the advancement of people.”