The role local of leaders and Elites in the development of my community

Table of content
Introduction…………………………………………………………...….3
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND PROFILE OF MY COMMUNITY…….4
ROLES OF LOCAL LEADERS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MY COMMUNITY…………………………………………………………….5
ROLES OF THE ELITES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MY COMMUNITY…7
DEVELOPMENT AND MY COMMUNITY………………………….…….7
CONCLUSION………………………………………………...…………10
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………..11

INTRODUCTION
The impact socio-economic impact small local communities make on a state and a country cannot be over emphasized. The Local leaders are individuals/indigenes of a community chosen to represent the Views, plans and aspirations of the community people. They comprise of the heads of families, youth Leaders, Heads of clans, community elders and e.t.c Depending on the peculiarity of the community. The emphasis or major characteristics of the Local leaders definition lays claim to the fact that “they should belong to the small community they represent.

The Elite is the term from the Latin word “Eligene” it means to elect. (Sultana, 2009) The Elite people of a community are most times small, depending on the community they come from. They are individuals of high social status compared to other members of the community.
Relating this definition to the Ugborodo community, the Local leaders are leaders that are from the five constituencies that make up the Ugborodo community. Which are Ogidigben, Madangho, Ode-Urhobo, Ajudiabo, Ijala heads of families, old men, chiefs, community elders, they have local names which help to identify some of them. The Olaja-Ori is the supreme head of the Ugborodo community Eghara-aja. These traditional rulers represent the community’s interests, their plans and aspirations to help improve and increase development in Ugborodo, with a total population of 5,000 people they are very active, vibrant and consistent in getting their voices heard.
While the Elites are people of high social status who are most times educated, influential leaders that represent a high percentage of top leaders in the business, members of the state and federal government, doctors engineers, journalists, professors, civil servants e.t.c with roots in Ugborodo community.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND PROFILE OF MY COMMUNITY
Ugborodo community is one of the largest oil producing communities in Delta state, Nigeria. She has a rich cultural heritage with their local dialect been Itsekiri that is close related to the Yoruba language, The Itsekiri language and culture has developed and cross bred many cultures and influenced development of various sectors. Ugborodo community economy depends largely on traditional fishing, periwinkle picking even though they have their soil rich with crude oil. (Oritsegbemi O. Omatete, 2005)
The presence of oil in Ugborodo community has greatly increased the level of corruption. A lot of money is been generated by the presence of multi-national oil companies MNOC thus corruption and greed is almost the order of the day. Planners of developmental activities often get in wrong as a result of this which often times are at the detriment of the community indigenes. The services of seasoned community indigenes to take up leading roles in ensuring threat to conflict are averted which would have resulted from a series of happenings some of which are: the lack of standardized land tenure rights implementation, government sponsored schemes initializations into the Ugborodo community e.t.c The need for Local Leaders and Elites to play effective roles in the development process of the Ugborodo community cannot be over emphasized.
Early in 1998, CHEVRON sought to acquire additional land in Ugborodo community for its Escravos Gas Tank Phase II project. The company contacted the Ugborodo Community Trust (UCT), the bona fide and legitimate organ of the Ugborodo Community entrusted with responsibility for addressing such requests which had been dealing and mediating for the Community in all matters relating to their relationships with oil companies in the community. The Ugborodo Trust consisted of both local leaders and Elites to help represent the stakeholders in Ugborodo. This Trust has been able to use their influence to ensure smooth operation between the communities and oil companies. The lives of the indigenes have been transformed, families enriched, through this partnership.

ROLES OF LOCAL LEADERS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MY COMMUNITY 1. They negotiate settlement during conflict situations to ensure peace that will bring development and make the community attractive to investors. 2. They control Land ownership and land distribution in Ugborodo. 3. They are ensure that job opportunities that open in the multinational oil companies are shared to the deserving families as this is shared from family to family 4. They engage the multinational oil companies to provide scholarships to indigenes. 5. They negotiate with oil companies to ensure that corporate responsibility projects are directed to the areas necessary. 6. They settle family disputes that arise between families or within families by been mediators in the process 7. They give feedback on the perception of the activities carried out by the multinational oil companies 8. When compensation is awarded by multinational oil companies during the event of an oil spillage, the local leaders have an in depth knowledge of those affected and how the compensation funds can be shared without crisis 9. They are leaders that live an exemplary lives that inspires and motivate the people to buy into the objective of the Ugborodo community 10. They are the middleman/link between the government and non government bodies and Ugborodo community in terms of monetary assistance for projects that the community cannot carry out single handedly 11. They make public statements that are then documented to wrong information propagated by the media or external forces. 12. They are watchdogs of community projects by evaluating the timeliness of the project completion in Ugborodo. 13. The collect funds for financing local community projects through levies, launching and donations 14. Ensuring there is peace and stability between Ugborodo and other neighboring communities. 15. Create a sense of awareness of politics in the community. 16. Educate the community indigenes on the need to vote, how to vote and criteria to selecting a political candidate 17. Arranging, investigating and selecting marriage partners in the community 18. Local leaders enact laws and taboos by banishing those involved in taboos and punishing those you break the laws 19. Local Leaders select projects that will be more beneficial to Ugborodo based on the needs, importance and availability of resources 20. They encourage oil companies to support local contractors during the operations.
ROLES OF THE ELITES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MY COMMUNITY
The Elites are the community indigenes, the selected few, sons of aristocrats, teachers, priests and merchants, business moguls, political Leaders, e.t.c some of their role in Ugborodo community include: 1. They organize seminars and training to help build the people of Ugborodo on areas of their expertise for free. This will help build and cultivate skill that lead to empowerment. 2. They give counsel to youths on challenges bordering on education, seeking jobs, choosing a skill to master. 3. They are mentors to upcoming youths and leaders in the Ugborodo community. 4. They also bring the plights of the Ugborodo community to the spotlight under a head in the leadership hierarchy. 5. They honor exceptional leaders in the community for the outstanding accomplishments to peace, philanthropy and security development of Ugborodo. 6. In the Ugborodo community they are the driving force behind “Delta beyond oil” initiative where indigenes are thought skills to rely on rather than oil. 7. They investigate government officials and other leaders of misconduct in the way they embark on their roles. 8. They focus on building their membership strength which will invariably increase their scope of influence in decision making at all tiers of government. 9. They work hand in hand with local leaders to ensure smooth running of activities 10. They also provide scholarships to student and employment opportunity to the qualified indigenes of Ugborodo 11. They start up business within Ugborodo community that helps provide jobs, improve the investment opportunities and send a positive image of the community to the world in general. 12. They encourage and partake in constructive opposition to government policies and laws that are detrimental to the Ugborodo community because their goal is to be the vehicle that addresses misconduct of governance 13. They are board members on Ugborodo community committees 14. They organize and engage in Television and Radio station to educate, on the importance of education and environmental development 15. They can raise huge funds for projects that need a lot of financial capital because of their sphere of influence. 16. They are involved in Key decision making to improve the community.
DEVELOPMENT AND MY COMMUNITY
The following are the pictorial representation of examples of the elite and local government impacts on developments:
Below is the ICT centre built by the STAND (Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in the Niger Delta) in partnership with the Local leaders

The entrance to the ICT training centre [ (STAND, 2010) ]

The Elites are not left out in their quest to see Ugborodo develop and attain its full potential. One of the Elites from Ugborodo recently built a tourist beach resort. It was also advertised on CNN which was a positive move to showing the world what the Ugborodo community has to offer. The following picture shows the 911 tourist resort and beach.
Outside beach area view.

[ (papinjoku, 2011) ]

Interior Design

(Resort)
CONCLUSION
The Elites and local leaders all have various roles they play in ensuring there is development in Ugborodo community. Sometimes they have to play their roles side by side in dealing with the Multi-national oil companies other times they are on their own. A community grows in development that includes the three bottom lines which include the financial, Environmental and social areas all with the full participation of Leaders placed in various positions that will ensure all the stakeholders benefit congruently from their efforts. Some of my information was also gotten from telephone calls of two individuals. One of them is a business woman from the Ugborodo community and the other a worker in the Ugborodo environment.

REFRENCES
Bibliography
FALETI, S. A. (n.d.). Challenges of Chevron’s GMOU Implementation in Itsekiri Communities of Western Niger Delta . 1-27.
Oritsegbemi O. Omatete, P. (2005, 3 21). "CRY, MY BELOVED UGBORODO". Retrieved from http://www.africamigration.com/: http://www.africamigration.com/archive_01/o_omatete_cry.pdf papinjoku. (2011, march 24). 911 Resorts and Beach Ugborodo, Nigeria. Retrieved from frontlinejournalbits.blogspot.com: http://frontlinejournalbits.blogspot.com/search?q=911+resort+ugborodo
Resort, 9. S. (n.d.). 911 Suites Nigeria Limited Beach & Resort. Retrieved from www.hotels.ng: http://www.hotels.ng/hotel/28254-911-suites-nig-limited-beach-resort-delta
STAND. (2010). Ugborodo Community. Retrieved from http://stand.stakeholderdemocracy.org: http://stand.stakeholderdemocracy.org/communities-ugborodo.html
Sultana, K. (2009). The Role of Elites in Economic Development: The Reality of Bangladesh. Institute of Hazrat Mohammad SAW, 11.