ISIOMA MADIKE 
Prince Ned Nwoko, a lawyer, politician and humanitarian was a member of the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003. He is at present preoccupied with his pet projects: malaria-free continent and his Sports, Technology and Arts University (STARS) in his home town. He told ISIOMA MADIKE in this telephone interview that those fighting him are driven by jealousy among other issues. Excerpts…
You have this passion for malaria-free continent. Why malaria?
It’s a service to humanity. The fact is, yes, this is an African problem majorly, but I also believe that we can provide a solution; we don’t have to leave with mosquitoes and malaria forever. Mosquitoes breed in very dirty environments and I know that if we can tidy-up our environment, clean up the entire country or even the continent, half of the problem would have been addressed. So, we need to first focus on sanitation. I just feel that it’s something that we can do and that is why I am committed to this project.
If I didn’t think it’s possible, I wouldn’t waste my time and money. However, sanitation alone is not enough. In the long term we need to have other means of curtailing the excesses of mosquitoes, which is investment in vaccines. In doing that, we need to discover vaccines. Just ask yourself one question: why are there vaccines in virtually everything else, just as people are now talking about vaccines for COVID-19, but nobody is talking about vaccines for malaria. This is because the Americans and the Europeans see malaria as an African problem.
They have drugs, which they sell to us that cause long term issues on our body organs, and they make a lot of money from such medicines. Malaria medicines are not friendly to our body system, whether kidney, liver and all that. So, it’s not in their best interest to develop malaria vaccines. Developing malaria vaccines means there would be no need for malaria drugs anymore and the pharmaceutical companies would have serious problems. They will go burst immediately. But unfortunately, over the years, governments have not even bothered to look into this so that there is the need to stop malaria and mosquitoes in Africa.
Are there no mosquitoes in other parts of the world?
There are mosquitoes in some other countries but they are not the dangerous types that cause damage like ours. We know we can take care of them. What I’m advocating is not novel; it’s not new. This is something that I found out that was done in 1937 in Italy. That whole country was cleaned up. They didn’t even talk about vaccines; they just cleaned up the entire country’s drainages, gutters, streets and refuse management, the recycling of refuse. That was all that was done, and they got rid of mosquitoes. We can do it here in Nigeria and, indeed, in the continent of Africa as a whole. Now we have the willingness to do it and the people are ready to support this project.
The proposed Sports, Technology and Arts University (STARS) in your hometown is seen as first of its kind in this part of the world. What motivated you into establishing that?
University education is something that every individual should have a right to attend. But not everybody has the opportunity; it’s not every person that has the means and wherewithal to attend a university. The university we are building is not a normal university though we are offering conventional courses but we are going beyond that to focus on sports. Delta like you know is the number one sports state in the country and I feel that the best place to locate this is in the state. We have many young ones who go to the stadium over time in Asaba trying to compete for spotting medals. Most of them are out of school, all they have is skills for sports. But I feel that if we have a university that focuses on sports, all those kids could now compete with the rest of the world at some point. Not only in sports techniques and others but also in the course of that they can acquire a degree. Getting a degree for them is very important; by the time they are done with their sports life, they can have another thing to fall back on. So, for me, it’s like giving back to the society; it’s giving back to Nigeria because there is no such opportunity in Nigeria or even in Africa. We are sports lovers and we need to provide credible support to our young ones so that they can compete with the best in the world. Again, STARS is a multi-discipline university that will run technology and arts courses offered by the conventional universities but in addition, it will offer professional first degree certificates courses in sports; courses that are rarely found in universities across the African continent. These first degree sports discipline courses are only obtainable in the UK, USA, Russia, Bulgaria and other developed countries around the world. Sport in Africa is suffering epileptic development because of lack of professionals to handle critical areas of the sector. In Nigeria, which is regarded as the giant of Africa, there have been inconsistencies in the international performance of our athletes, the simple reason for this poor disappointing shows not mainly because Nigeria as a country lacks quality Athletes or Coaches to groom, train and prepare the Athletes for such meets, but because those on whose shoulders the development and enhancement as well as formulation of policies are non-professionals.
But some people believe establishing the university is to make more money?
I am not doing that because I want to make more from the university. For me, it’s an investment for humanity, investment for the people, for the poor, less privileged individuals anywhere you can find them. We are doing that for both children and the adults alike so they could be employed and earn a decent living. We planned to have over 3000 students in the university from day one, and you could imagine the ripple effect of that in our society. Universities are the benchmark for any development in any country. Cities and towns like Oxford and Cambridge, Harvard, they are all known because of the villages those great universities are located. They all became famous and known because of those universities. I could have invested in hotels in Abuja or in London, for instance, but if I do, people will say, ahh, why don’t you do this at home; why can’t you bring all that nearer home to help develop our communities. The benefit of the proposed university is that it is going to improve the level of sports administration, development and Athletes performances in Nigeria. On the long run, it will revolutionise the tourism industry in Delta State, this is as result of the influxes of Coaches, Athletes and Sports administrators from other states of the federation, from other countries within the African continent and beyond, who are expected to troop to Idumuje- Ugboko to acq u i r e t h e s e professional degree certificates in sports, as well as educate those who aspire to become professionals.
There is this news that the proposed STARS University is a ploy to take over the lands belonging to the poor in your community. How would you like to react to this?
We are doing what we are doing despite some people who said land is an issue. Land is not an issue because Idumuje-Ugboko has land that anybody can imagine. And those who want land to do anything can go ahead; Ugboko can accommodate everybody who wants to develop as long as you are doing it. Like me now, my university is 95 per cent built, we are almost ready with the structures. And those who are talking about land, they live in Lagos, some in Abuja and Port Harcourt; they don’t go home, they have no homes in Ugboko. When I built the road to Ugboko, where were they? Or the electricity, where were they? Now we are building a university, they are talking. Well, you can’t satisfy everyone at any particular time. But in life, when you are determined, when you are doing something that is for public good, you don’t think about the resenting voices. If you do, such a person will never make progress in life because some people can never give you 100 per cent support in life. Some people are wicked, some are stupid, and others are just merely jealous. So, you just ignore them and keep doing the best you can do for the people that need you and need what you are doing.
Could that be the reason you have chosen to put your community in the global map of development?
Well, for every person that is dissenting, there are 100 others who like what you are doing. So, they are negligible, we can ignore them. History will judge us. I’m not doing all these because of anything but because of the long term development, long term investment. My investments in my community are all people oriented. If we all have the capacity to help others and we don’t do it, what kind of life are we living? Back in my place, I just want to identify with the common people. If you come to my place, nobody is stopped from entering my compound. I don’t segregate; I don’t discriminate against the less fortunate people in my community or anywhere else. All those who are dissenting, their gates are under lock and key. They don’t even sleep in Ugboko. They go and sleep in hotels at Asaba. They are not thinking; they are not exposed. Is not only having the money to do things. Even if you don’t have the money and someone else has, you can support, and if you can’t support, you keep quiet. But you know, they only want to be heard fighting, that is their achievement that they are fighting. So, for me, humanity drives me and it would continue to drive me.
Could you tell us about your Foundation?
My Foundation was born out of the same engagement to serve humanity; the need to reach out to the society, to give back to the society that made me. And just like any other Foundation, it’s geared towards, especially and predominantly, education, providing scholarship and all kinds of support for students in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions to train them both at home and outside Nigeria. Specifically, we have close to 900 students on our scholarship at present. Out of that about 40 of them are abroad studying, from Europe to America and Australia and we would not stop doing that because it helps to emphasize how important education is. Then health, malaria eradication is one of our focuses on health. And like I said earlier, we also reach out to people who are suffering from different ailments. We provide money for kidney transplant, major operations and other health issues. We are also focusing on the environment that is why we are talking about sanitation, clean up, recycling and the rest of them. And of course, I am a lover of customs, culture and sports. These are our major focus in the Foundation and then we are doing the best we can so that in the next three years, God’s willing, things we are instituting now will become very manifest, very obvious for others to do and maybe follow as well. That way we can provide the needed support for the people across the country and even across the continent.
You were once a legislator. Do you still have plans for active politics?
Well, active politics doesn’t mean only contesting for elective positions. We must understand that politics is the driving tool for development generally as a government platform. Without politics, you can’t do much development. So, politics entails that societies are developed and maintained. That is the foundation of government; the development and sustenance of goods in any society. Every one of us has a role to play in politics, if you don’t do that and you leave the riffraff, they would mess up the entire political space, plunder the commonwealth and set us back because they have no vision, no standard and certainly they have no belief in providing what is required to be done for the people. So, for me I’d always do politics but I don’t have to contest for any election. It will enable me to support and lay down policies that could see to the growth of our dear nation.
What about your Golf course?
Golf is just one of those sports that I’m involved in. I love sports generally, so I have a Golf course now that will be holding tournaments and like every other thing I’m involved in, it will help draw positive attention to my community to promote the place. We are developing a new course that is of international standard and I hope we would be able to also use it to create opportunities for my people. Golf is part of the course we expect our students to undertake. So, in the next 10 years, there will be students from STARS University that could compete like any other student anywhere in the world. That is our hope and projection. The university is a complete package.
