2001 stewardship address BY THE UNIMA PRESIDENT

Saturday, November 24, 2001

Fellow Nigerians:

Happy thanksgiving, I hope that you did enjoy the celebration with your beloved family.

It is with humility and by the Special Grace of God that I stand before you this evening to present the Executive’s stewardship after one year in office.  At the time this executive took over, there were few things that we did set up to accomplish. These were in addition to the usual Celebrations and meetings and they are:

Ø      To increase participation in UNIMA activities

Ø      To set up teams to handle specific assignments dear to UNIMA

Ø      To review and revise our present Constitution so as to conform to the dynamics of the environment we live in.

I would say that we had successes and also disappointments.

Before going further, I wish to once again recognize that we had some sad events this year. Among those we know, we lost one of our own, three families lost their dearly beloved father; a member lost his brother, while another member (my nephew) lost his sister who is my niece. May we stand up for a moment to pay our last respect.  ----MAY THEIR SOULS REST IN PERFECT PEACE AMEN.

Beginning with the successes, we will all agree that the turnouts in all our activities this year was outstandingly high. This was due to the hard work of members of the executives, the women’s wing of UNIMA and few other UNIMA members who took it upon themselves to organize these activities. I will shy away from mentioning their names for fear of missing any of them, however I will say to all of you “THANKS A MILLION FOR YOUR DEDICATION TO THIS GREAT ORGANIZATION” Our God will repay you immensely.

Four teams were set up; they are Out Reach Team, Welfare Team, Cultural Team and Educational Team. Some of the teams were very effective while others need to be prodded. The executive will explore ways to encourage and strengthen these teams in the coming year. I wish to use this opportunity to thank Mabel Enwemnwa, who left us for greener pastures, for her encouragement and effective participation both as member of executive and chairperson for Outreach team. She is truly missed.

The constitution review committee has completed preliminary review of the present constitution. Their product will be discussed in the coming general meetings and we plan to have the constitution ratified before the present executive leaves office at the end of next year. I want to thank the Vice President who is the chairman of this committee and all the members of the committee for the excellent work they have done so far.

As I said, it has not been all successes. Our financial membership and our finances have only improved marginally. Without the support of Nigerians both financially and physically, the organization will never attain the great height that this executive has envisioned. We can provide vision and the mission, but without active participation of members, we cannot achieve our goals. I am therefore once again asking for everyone’s support, if we are to move forward. The financial secretary will present the financial status of the organization.

THE WAY AHEAD:

Our yearly activities, Fund Raising Party (which we could not do this year because of the bereavement), Independence Celebration and the July 4 Picnic will be held as usual. In addition our standard quarterly general meetings are also scheduled and can be obtained from UNIMA web page..

With the support and cooperation of all of you, we intend to enrich the Independence Activities. We need to think outside the box, the executive have some ideas however the implementation would require many of us to sacrifice our time and talent. More details will come as we move into 2002.

Also when the constitution is ratified, there will be a redefinition of who qualifies as a financial member of UNIMA and what will be the members’ benefits and responsibilities. The basic qualification is that the individual is a Nigerian, but that may not be sufficient.

The Executive is also toying with the idea of a group life insurance program. Is it doable and if so how, we don’t know at this time. Again your effective participation will help answer the question.

Finally, the teams will be strengthened, motivated and equipped to become more effective. The success of any organization is the ability of its constituent parts to effectively perform. The responsibility of the leadership council is to provide the necessary and sufficient condition for these parts to perform. WE WILL DO OUR BEST AS MEMBERS OF EXECUTIVE BUT WE CANNOT DO IT ALL. Effective participation of each and every one of us will help this organization move forward.

Finally, I want to thank all members of executive immensely, for their support and solicit their continual loyalty and support for the rest of our term in office.

LONG LIVE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA

LON LIVE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

MAY THE ALMIGHT GOD BLESS YOU ALL  - AMEN

Daniel Okpala

UNIMA President/Facilitator