Febraury 16, 2008 Meeting Minutes - EVI monthly Meeting

Written by the General Secretary of EVI - Dr. Sunday Okomanyi Abraham

Attendees: Dr. Joseph Akomodi, Mr. Abraham O. Okomanyi, Mr. Abdullahi Bello, Mr. Abdulyekeen Ozigis and Dr. Sunday Okomanyi Abraham.

Chairman’s Opening Remark
The Chairman thanked everyone for finding the time to attend the meeting.

Dues and Donations – Method of payment and deadline for 2007/2008 is March.
The executive members were reminded that March 30 is the deadline for donation to EVI’s account for scholarship program. No member foresees any problem in meeting this deadline.

EVI Scholarship for 2008 University Students Any applicants yet?.
We have one applicant thus far. He is studying in Kogi State University. The executive members are surprised about the low respond thus far from students given the wide publicity accorded to this program (Fliers have been posted in schools and Ebiraview carried an advertisement in its Newspaper). The executive members thought the low respond might be due to communication problem at home i.e. the unavailability of computer/internet access. The executive members decided to wait until mid-March after which a decision will be reached on providing the applicants with alternative option of submitting their application (writing the applicant in a hand written format and submitting by postal mail). The executive members would like to implore registered members residing at home to disseminate the news of the scholarship program to secondary school students.

Development of website – Does Mr. Okomanyi need an assistant and/or should we pay for Mr. Okomanyi’s service?. The need to increase the pace of developing our website was discussed. Fund will be accrued for this important task to ensure that EVI website is fully functional. The executive members thanked Mr. Okomanyi Abraham, our Webmaster, for the job well done. It is worth mentioning that Mr. Okomanyi has developed the website to the stage it is in now without receiving any payment.

Chairman’s account of situations at Home – Mr. Chairman has just recently returned from home. The Chairman has just returned from Nigeria after a three-week visit to Ebiraland. The Chairman went home to get married. The event went very well. We congratulate the Chairman on his marriage and wish him and his wife a happy married life. We enjoin all members to send a congratulatory e-mail to the Chairman, Mr. Abdulahi Bello.

The Chairman was asked to give an account of the situation of things at home. The Chairman indicated that the only word to describe the situation is that Ebiraland is at war with itself. The Chairman indicated that he was very scared during his entire stay at home. There were gun shuts and fighting every where. Houses are being burned down sometimes with the intent to burn the residents alive. According to the Chairman, thugs enter houses at will with the intent to kill. Many prominent people have fled home. A prominent and talented teacher of FCE was recently shut dead apparently for no reason. The Chairman himself indicated that he escaped death as there was a rumour that the thugs would have attacked attendees of his wedding. The complexity of the political and ethnic situation in Ebiraland was discussed at length. The participants of the meeting concluded that the situation has degenerated to the point that there is no solution at sight.

Meeting Adjourned:
The Chairman thanked all the participants for the good discussion and adjourned the meeting.