Worried by the poor state of the old port city of Sapele in Delta State, a group of concerned residents, Memories and Development Foundation (SMDF), has vowed to bring the city back to reckoning.
The foundation gathered leaders, monarchs, government functionaries, and Safarians – as Sapele residents call themselves – to rub minds on how to revive the city once known for its unique commerce, wood production, and industry.
At a reunion summit convened by SMDF’s president, Prof. Hope Eghagha, they rued the present state of Sapele vowing to mobilise critical stakeholders to revive the city.
The stakeholders recalled that between the 1950s and 1990s Sapele was well known all over the country and overseas and hosted several multinational companies including the United Africa Company (UAC) and its subsidiary, African Timber & Plywood Company (AT&P).
The leaders including the Governor of Delta State, Sherriff Oborevwori, former minister of Information, Professor Sam Oyovbaira; the Orodje of Okpe Kingdom, HRM Major Gen. Felix Mujakperuo; Ovie of Idjerhe kingdom, HRM Monday Obukowho; Chief Joseph Okorodudu, Mrs Nkoyo Egbidi, and many others, relived experiences as young men and women while growing up in Sapele decades ago when the city boomed.
They urged the state government to join hands with the foundation to forge a new roadmap for the city’s return to significance and influence.
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They attributed Sapele’s decline to “bad politics”, the collapse of the AT& P, the Nigerian civil war, and the emergence of Warri as an oil hub.
They regretted that the Safi City, as Sapele was fondly called, had become a threshold of unwholesome activities and crimes, and with many of the companies now moribund.
The guest speaker, Senator Ighoyota Amori, said Sapele was synonymous with Nigeria and had a unique civilisation of its own, and was a hub for wood and plywood production in the world through AT&P, which he said is second only to Canada.
He said Pidgin English originated from Sapele, adding that Sapele was a melting pot as job opportunities brought other ethnic groups to the city, and that there was unity.
He urged all those who were made by Sapele to give back and help rebuild the city
In his address, Prof Eghagha said the Sapele Memories Development Foundation foundation started in May 2023 as a WhatsApp group but “exploded into a vibrant group of some boys and girls who lived and schooled in Sapele from the 1950s till date”, with different levels of success in their fields of endeavor.
He disclosed that members of Sapele Memories in the UK, America, Canada, and some other European cities, and the local diaspora have been invaluable to the foundation’s successes.
