Until his coronation recently, the Elulu of Mopa and Chairman, Mopamuro Traditional Council in Kogi State, Oba Muyiwa Ibeun, had gained considerable on-the-job training in both private and public sectors. He’s the National Secretary General Association of Indigenous Construction Contractors of Nigeria (AICCON) and President, MUIB Group of Companies with business interests ranging from construction, oil and gas, management consultancy, property management and ICT to real estate. Oba Muyiwa Ibeun who will turn 46 in August, shared his experience with RALPH OMOLOLU AGBANA since coronated as Elulu of Mopa, his programme for the community and why his business schedule will not impede his royal responsibility.
Since the coronation, what has your experience been like on the Elulu throne?
Having been in the council for more than two years as Owa of Mopa before my emergence as Elelu of Mopa, the experience has enabled me to understand the modus operandi of Mopa Traditional Council. So, now coming on board as Elulu I just realized there’s more tasks ahead of us. Because in terms of orientation, we really have a lot to do because that is the only thing that will sustain our developmental plans. So, we have to reorientate our people and ourselves on how we handle community issues, how we embark, facilitate and lobby for development. Sustaining those projects is another thing because government has been doing things for us in the past but we have not been able to articulate ourselves in such a way that we can utilize those projects very well and sustain them. So, these are one area we’ve been looking at. To lessen the burden, I have come up with two standing committees; first is what we call “Elulu Advisory Assembly (EAA)”. EAA is to advise Elulu on day-to-day activities, policy formulation, project conceptualization as well as help in facilitating the implementation of such projects. We are reaching out to government agencies, departments and ministries. In the EAA, we have former Deputy Governors, anybody who has served at the top both at the state and federal levels, may be as former minister, former permanent secretaries or former directors in the federal ministry. This is the caliber of people that constitute this Committee. They will deploy their wealth of experience helping us to conceptualize projects, develop policies and execute those projects.
You need information before you can develop policies. So, on the other hand, we established the second committee named EPPIC (Elulu Policy and Project Implementation Committee). So, when we have policies to implement, it is the responsibility of the EPPIC to carry out the implementation. Be it government project that is being awarded to contractors, EPPIC is to monitor the project and ensure that it is effectively executed to the benefit of our indigenes. And on the other hand, they will help in gathering information; we need to identify areas of gap, so, the EPPIC will help us identify these areas, and give to EAA for necessary processing to enable us develop policies or projects around those gaps. Because they identified the problems, they understand the best approach at which solutions will be implemented. They understand the project location, they know how to also monitor and supervise the implementation of the necessary projects. We have already started work. When you came in, you realised that some EPPIC members were here. We identified three immediate areas of intervention. We looked at power supply, we looked at our roads and the general hospital. We are hoping for the grid light to come up this night after several years. We have sprung into action by ensuring that we got in touch with AEDC, we wrote them and they met us to tell us the current status of our light. We have not had light for several years. They now got back to us that certain metres of wire were stolen but we’ve been able to get some wires for them to reconnect the light, so they will be reconnecting it but it still does not stop there, because we have downturns in our transformers, so, we’ll be looking at the transformers, we’ll be looking at all the wires to be reinstalled. We’ll get in touch with the relevant agency to do that. We’ll ensure every nook and cranny of the local government gets a steady power supply. We understand the rationing system in the power supply as well. So, in terms of sustaining it, we will be engaging the zonal office in Kabba to ensure that we have a fair share of the ration of the light. We also have issues on our roads. On the federal road, the main segment of the town centre in Mopa is completely left out. Before you enter Mopa, the road looks fair enough and when you leave Mopa on the other hand, it is a little fair, but the core town centre, which is less than five kilometres is actually in a very terrible situation. I’ll be writing a letter to the Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency Dave Umahi, I have spoken with his Chief of Staff, and they have assured us that our road issue will be attended to. Our people are supportive of this government, they voted en masse for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I was personally on ground then. So, I told them there’s no how we’ll make our request to this government and they won’t listen to us. I am very sure, within the next couple of months, we’ll be expecting that that road will be fixed.
How can your exposure be of extended benefits to the entire Yagba and Okunland?
You need to understand the importance of Mopa in Okunland. We happen to be strategically located in Okunland, and if development starts from Mopa, it’s going to spread like a wildfire to the rest of Yagbaland and Okunland. We have two of the five local government areas (Yagba East and Yagba West) to our right and two others (Ijumu and Kabbabunu) to the other side. So, our location puts us at advantage to have even impact across the entire Okunland. I believe if Okun is going to get it right it, should start from Mopa.
Growing up, did you ever dream of becoming the King?
Growing up….hmmmmn…you see somethings come to you without planning it. I felt that aura around me, that air of royalty, and having grown up under the situation where both of my grandparents were key players in the traditional council, the feeling of royalty around me just came to me naturally.
My paternal grandfather was the first Owa of Mopa and my maternal grandfather was the first Otunba of Mopa and regent for four years (1982-1986). My father asked to take the family title of Owa of Mopa in November 11th, 2022. So, it’s been a family thing, and don’t forget that the Elulu that just passed away, late Oba Julius Olufunsho Joledo was my uncle.
When it was imminent that you’re the next Elulu, what immediately came to your mind? Were you excited at the prospect of wearing the crown? Reluctant? Or weighed down in view of the royal responsibility you were about to shoulder?
It should have…but I saw it as a call to service, and I realised we don’t have more to life than service to humanity. So, when you are called upon to serve, you should do it with all gladness. Again, I understand the concept of royalty, mostly because of my background, that is one. Also because I have close friends who are royal fathers; from the Olusin of Isanlu-Isin in Kwara State, Elemona of Ilemona, Ejeh of Ankpa, Ohimege of Kotonkarfe among others in Kogi State. I have quite a good number of my friends that are royal fathers.
You have joined the league of successful entrepreneurs who ascended the thrones of their ancestors. How do you intend to manage your time between your tight business schedule and full-time royal duties?
Traditional institution is a full-time job. Some of the executive responsibilities in my companies I have to delegate, and I have to pull out of the chairmanship. I have quite a number of companies, ranging from road construction, oil and gas, management consultancy to property development, real estate…I do quite a number of things, so, like I said, executive roles will have to be delegated to enable me face the job at hand now. Aside the experience I gathered in the private sector, I also worked with the government before calling it quit in 2009. So, I understand the workings of the civil service and management consultancy, from project conceptualization point of view. I was part of those that helped the federal government in building Medium Term Sector Strategy System (MTSS), system of budgeting (Budget Office of the Federation). That actually enabled me to understand that you can actually develop your community using the tools of budgeting. We’ll be reaching out to MDAs on seeking for their intervention in terms of projects. We know that is going to give us the rapid development that we desire.
On tackling insecurity in Mopa Kingdom and the growing calls for the establishment of state police, what is your take?
I think about two days ago, I had a meeting with the Chairman of the Transition Committee in charge of Mopamuro Local Government and some security agencies, we’re deploying strategies in terms of security. The state governor, Usman Ododo is doing his best and the state is fairly peaceful. But to compliment the efforts of the state government, we’re deploying more technologies into our security measures, they require mobility and communication gadgets, radios with antenna. There’s also a talk around deploying technologies such as drones for periodic aerial survey. We are going to have a drone station where we can do area survey to ensure the safety of our people. We will ensure that all hands are on deck, be it the Nigerian Police, Civil Defence, the vigilantes as well as the local hunters-a joint security task force. If you are conversant with local policing in Kogi State you’ll understand the role of the vigilantes. The vigilante is very strong and effective in the state. The vigilante groups have helped in rescue many kidnapping victims and apprehension of perpetrators, notably the bank robbers in Yagba West and most recently, the student attackers in CUSTECH, Osara. So, it has been a record of success on the part of the vigilante groups in the state. I believe they can really do more.
