Children's Rights & Integrative Youth Development™
Keynote, 22nd May, 2019. OFFICIAL INAUGURATION OF THE ANTI- LOITERING & HAWKING AT SCHOOL HOURS CAMPAIGN
AMB PAUL PHILIP IWOK @ THE ABAK LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL HALL, AKWA IBOM STATE. His Excellency, the Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, The Executive Chairman Abak local Government Area, The good people of Akwa Ibom State here present, I greet you all. Today, a worthwhile initiative is inaugurated in our collective effort to checkmate loitering, hawking and other questionable behavioral pattern of our children during school hours. If you look around our neighborhood in recent time, you will observe the number of young creative minds loitering and hawking around town and in some hideouts during productive school hours with keen interest on either to smoke, take hard drugs or believe they can suddenly become millionaires through the betting houses. Instances abound where some young men were given money by their parents to use for admission clearance at the University, only to later discovered that, they had used the money to stake some games with illusion that they would win some millions. At the end, they never won a dime. In those days, students were conscious of making effort on self-improvement through learning not in gambling, truancy and smoking. They read novels, inspirational books and Newspapers not pornographic materials. They listened to news not meaningless musical tracts. They drew closer to people whom they knew had something of intellectual importance to offer them not money, sagging and cultism. Today, the story has changed among the young and the youthful as ethical values has eroded but there is still hope with an initiative like this one. I would want to modestly use this opportunity to seek your collaboration for the successful hosting of the integrative youth development (IYD) training program in the state come July 2019 as part of our effort to cooperatively expose these young minds out of their cocoons. I commend you, Barrister Imoh Williams for your ingenuity which would encourage those who were about to stray to make a U-turn and take advantage of the free education policy of the state as a redemptive feature in their lives. We have a duty to synergize to see that this timely initiative see the light of the day Sir. This is our own, I can, you can, we can. Thank you! May God bless our citizens and our state. Amb Paul Iwok.
Speech, 30th October, 2013 LAUNCH OF HIS BOOK “THE JOURNEY OF A HOUSEBOY TO SIGNIFICANCE”
PAUL PHILIP IWOK AT THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE ANNEX, UYO AKWA IBOM STATE His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Members of the State Executive Council, Our Royal Fathers, The Executive Chairman, Ethical and Attitudinal Reorientation Commission (EARCOM) The Traditional Fathers, The good people of Akwa Ibom State, I greet you all. My name is Paul Philip Iwok, I hail from Nto-Otong Village in Abak Local Government in Akwa Ibom State. Until recently, I was glad to call myself a houseboy but when I met the Chairman of EARCOM Akwa Ibom State Mrs. Christy Obot, I was accepted as an Ambassador and baptized to a new name THE HOUSEBOY EMERITUS, HBE. So, I am now Paul Philip Iwok HBE. My story is not peculiar to me since many youths of my age and some elders present in this hall have similar stories. But through the Grace of God, I decided I would not die a Houseboy. I was not born a Houseboy and so, I believe I would not die with the stigma. My own father by all standards was not doing badly, in 1961; he was a Member of the County Council, which is referred to as Councilor today. In 1980-83, he was the Abak Local Government Chapter Chairman of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and tried his best to expose us to some level of training but along the line, the circumstances of life which no one is immune from, landed me in a Yoruba Woman’s boy quarter as a houseboy for 7 years. In the period of my servitude, I made every effort on self development and improvement through learning. I read Newspapers, listened to radios and drew close to men and Women whom I know had something based on intellectual importance to offer me not money. I also recorded my experiences in a journal. Luckily, the Madam I served was liberal and none discriminating. I was able to build my confidence as one who can one day have a future. Like an Eagle bird raised in a Chicken Farm, I realized early that if I could use my God’s given abilities; I would soar in the Air. I made such good impression in the eyes of my bonded family, that even today; my foster mother Mrs. A. O. Sadipe remains my Matron and her children, my best patrons. Few years after I gained my freedom as a houseboy, I started my own NGO called Organization for Education & Peaceful Co-existence (OREPCON). The aim was to discourage the regular stream of my fellow Akwa Ibomites who are parceled to various parts of Nigeria and other countries to serve as Kitchen Staff without negotiated reward. I had three programs approach: 1. To dissuade our fathers from marrying multiple wives and producing children they could not cater for. 2. To encourage our youths to embrace free Education policy as the most liberating feature in the life of a young man. 3. To help the youths to embrace Godliness which lead to self-control and integrity, wherever they are, even in a Mistress’s Kitchen. The Almighty God helped me to link myself to international and local bodies that help me to attend conferences in Europe and at home. I was certified as a Child Rights Advocate by the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) USA and the British Association for the Study of Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (BASPCAN) in 2006 at Yorkshire University, England. When I returned, I was drafted to be a co-trainer of the State Children Parliamentarians by the Ministry of Women affairs, Akwa Ibom State. I am proud to tell you that, this is the first time in our years of Servitude that the experience of a houseboy is lucidly documented in the book pages titled “The Journey of a Houseboy to Significance” The book is a compendium of not just the life of Paul Iwok, but that of high profile citizens of the state who demonstrated that, any man of purpose can escape poverty and servitude to reach the sky. The book shows that the rich legacy of the Akwa Ibomites will not be rubbished on the altar of cheap expediency. If the little boy from Nto-Otong Village, who left home with a polythene bag, can later knock on the gates of Buckingham Palace, no one should be written off. As we can all bear witness, the dreams I nursed for fellow Akwa Ibomites have been well served by the Government in the state. Free and compulsory education, Ethical and Attitudinal Re-orientation and Godly governance challenges all of us to join the crusade for a new and better Akwa Ibom State. Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Houseboy has come home to roost. Akwa Ibom State Ethical and Attitudinal Re-orientation (EARCOM) has agreed to put this book in the hands of our youths, students, fathers and mummies and all those in authority. The battle has just begun as I make myself available to fulfill the Vision of EARCOM and the Government. I invite you not just to buy the book but to read, absorb the content and teach those not literary to understand. This is our own I can, you can, we can. In conclusion, we must chorus in one voice and say, AKWA IBOM STATE is no more the destination to fetch house helps, rather a State where future captains of industries are nurtured through the Free and compulsory education policy of the State government. Thank you and May God bless our Governor, citizens and our state. Paul Philip Iwok HBE.
Speech, 16th, June, 2014 PAUL PHILIP IWOK TO THE NIGERIA UNION OF JOURNALIST (NUJ)
THE PRESENTATION OF HIS BOOK “THE JOURNEY OF A HOUSEBOY TO SIGNIFICANCE” AKWA IBOM STATE COUNCIL AT THE PRESS CENTER UYO. The Chairman Nigerian Union of Journalist Akwa Ibom State, The State governing council of NUJ, Members of the press here present, Invited Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen I am most delighted by your invitation to present copies of the book, “The Journey of a Houseboy to Significance” authored by me. Your invitation to me speaks volume of the dynamic, innovative and purposeful leadership of the council in line with the uncommon transformation drive of the state government. Please permit me to say a little about the book which are about to be presented to your office. The Journey of a Houseboy to Significance chronicles the true life experiences of a young village boy who migrated to Lagos in 1991 in search of greener pasture but ended up as a houseboy for seven (7) years. Coincidentally, the houseboy served in the same street in Lagos where our digital governor and the apostle of the free and compulsory education policy Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio CON was residing then as a practicing lawyer. That particular houseboy is the one standing before you today as the Houseboy Emeritus. The Houseboy Emeritus was certified as a child protection social worker by the British Association for the Study of Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (BASPCAN) at Yorkshire University England in 2006. I want everyone present here to know that, there is nothing basically wrong if a young man or woman is being trained and mentored in the house of an elder but the condition of engagement must be clearly agreed at the entry point, either to train the child on Skill acquisition or send him to School for a sustainable future. My book is the first book in history that chronicles the true life experiences of the generation of some prominent Akwa Ibom people who served as houseboys but are doing great things at the global level today. “The Journey of a Houseboy to Significance” is a potent instrument of change and a gift to the youths of Akwa Ibom State in particular and Nigeria in general most of whom have felt powerless in the midst of past social deprivations. It is a gift to all the Ette’s and Ekaete’s who are toiling in various kitchens and boy’s quarters in our cities with little or no legal rights or abilities to ethically negotiate a future. It is a gift to the hemp-smoking dwellers under the bridges in the cities who believe that crime is the only way to the good life. It is a gift to the yahoo-yahoo diehards who exchange their God given ingenuity for stupendous riches without foundation. Finally, it is a template for any government seeking to lift up the youths from the morass of hopelessness to the bowels of hope and productivity. Ever before my book publication, my story has made some noise that, distinguished leaders and the media are willing to get into the ring to fight the houseboy syndrome and the obnoxious label of being regarded as HOUSE-HELPS. This calls for partnership between us and the Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ) Akwa Ibom State Council. Let me use this privilege to thank the Pioneer Newspaper Corporation for all the support and the State Government for sponsoring me to Chicago USA in November 2013 for the International Integrative Child and Youth Development training program. I hope my book content will help our people in the campaign against servitude and the demeaning houseboy syndrome. Thank you for listening. Paul Philip Iwok.
