AT any time the name Makurdi is mentioned, the common understanding is that of the capital city of Benue, the food basket state of the nation located in the North Central Zone of Nigeria.But refreshing is the fact that Makurdi has also booked a strategic place on the international wall map as the leading city in ceramics wares.Interestingly, this feat that has made Benue and Nigeria proud is facilitated by no big name in the country, but a poor master potter, Mr. Levi O' Bem Yakubu, a 1979 graduate of Industrial Design with specialization in ceramics art at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.Yakubu also studied Ceramics at the post graduate level in Indonesia and has continued with his innovation in the discipline.After his brief teaching at the Ceramics Arts department of Benue State Polytechnics, Ugbokolo, he decided to retire from state service to establish and nurture what is today called Dajo Pottery in 1988.The poor young potter, in spite of the challenging economic situation of the nation, was not deterred as the indigenous entrepreneur continues to push ahead. The firm is today recognised as the pioneer marble ceramic industry in Africa and by that Nigeria is properly placed on the world map in that regard.Mr. Yakubu is best classified as the world renowned master trainer and lecturer to many higher institutions in the world including: Calvin College in Grand Rapids Michigan, Trinity College Illinois, Dort College in Iowa etc. He as well, offers consultancy services to many agencies on ceramics. He has exhibited locally, nationally and internationally and has won most prestigious local, national and international awards for three consecutive years from 2007 ' 2009.Other awards to his credit are: national award of Member of the Order of the Niger (MON), and the National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM). During the First International Grand Prix in Ceramics Art competition, 2011 in the far away China, he exhibited his product, The Fisherman and won the excellence award out of 420 entries received from 115 countries.The win earned Nigeria, the hosting right, a privilege that is rare to get even by the world biggest economies.Ironically, even though the firm has been projecting the nation's exploit on the world map through its production of variety of tablewares, decorative ceramics for households, hotels and other public buildings, no government presence is felt in the factory.At the moment, its major constraint has the lack of electricity supply, as the company is not connected to public power supply, hence, it relies on generating plant to operate.This has made things difficult as most of the machines for efficient production are left idle for three years since they cannot be operated with generator. Similarly, water and good access road are other contending problems.In fact, successive administrations in the state have not considered it forthright to support the giant stride of an indigenous entrepreneur.The present administration, it was gathered, attempted to award contract to electrify the company since March 2011, but mobilisation to the contractor was not forthcoming up till now.One begins to wonder how government would engage in rhetorics that would not add value to the lives and economy of the state.Interacting with The Guardian, on how the firm was able to participate in the international competitions that placed the nation on the world map of excellence in Ceramics, the president of Dajo Pottery Ltd, Mr. Yakubu said the company went it all alone without state or national sponsorship.'The question I have always asked is this, is this state or nation worth sacrificing for' Upon all the sacrifices that I make for this country, nobody looks my direction. Indeed, my temperature rises anytime am talking about this; it's the only thing that rises my temperature.'The master potter intimated that there is abundant deposit quality clay in the state that can make the nation attain vision 20:2020 if properly tapped which also would create mass employment and nobody would be talking of petroleum.'We are always crying that Benue is poor, the state is poor when it is the most endowed state in the whole world. China is where it is today because of clay that is put to maximum use'.What however, has continued to beat the imagination of many is the much talk by government of attraction of foreign investors into the country when we loose sight of indigenous effort like Dajo Pottery Ltd as well as other private efforts that, even though not supported, have taken the nation to places'It is therefore the conviction of many people that Dajo pottery, like many other indigenous firms, does not need one quarter of budget of the state to perform wonders for the nation but just a push by government in the way of capital injection like grants or interest free loans to further make the country proud.It is also important to note that decisive intervention by government, as it was done in China, would be required for the economy of the state and nation to record massive turnaround.As a fact, when the Government of China decided that tea or food cannot be served in public places like government offices, hotels etc. from the national to the local level, they were not making a mistake. With that singular decisive patronage and policy direction, the Chinese nation is ranking top among the economies of the world.It is high time we started to look inward to exploit the best for our state and nation rather than continue to play lip service in the name of bringing foreign investors to come and salvage the state when determined and committed indigenous entrepreneursare crying for support and encouragement.
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