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Introduction The SAK Foundation Nigeria (Incorporated) is an arm of The SAK Foundation International which was formed with a broad and global objective of supporting the exploited of the world by supporting those who have chosen not to be corrupted in developing countries where the exploiters thrive by reason of the endemic nature of free-floating corruption in the midst of poverty. We are proud to pioneer an international foundation with these noble objectives and such a foundation springing out of the events in Nigeria can not come as a surprise considering some of the very sad but interesting happenings in Nigeria in the last two decades. The foundation recognizes that it is extremely difficult to curtail corruption in the midst of extreme poverty, not only of finance but more importantly of knowledge (ignorance). It also recognizes that tackling poverty in developing countries is another extremely difficult task that has been on the agenda of various international bodies and has therefore not taken that task as its primary objective. However, the events just before and after the death of Mr. S.A.K. Metseagharun has revealed to those of us who knew him that a near hopeless vicious circle develops where ever poverty fuels corruption and corruption does the same to poverty. In Nigeria this can be taken as the direct cause of the elimination of a middle class and the creation of a frightening gulf between the usually corrupt rich and the also corrupt or incorruptible poor. It is our opinion that the middle class disappeared as the corrupt amongst them enriched themselves and became rich while those who would not join the band wagon became poor or died like Mr SAK Metseagharun whose burden and vision was to develop and protect the environment of his mangrove swamp hometown and his people who like most other oil-producing communities in Nigeria have been exploited, poluted, neglected and abandoned over the years. He was brutally murdered while in active service of his community. The murder could rightly be interpreted as an attempt to kill his vision but instead has led to the birth of the S.A.K. Foundation which is a charitable non-profit organization with the preservation of that vision (in Nigeria) and the virtues of Mr S.A.K Metseagharun as the primary aims. This foundation has since been duly registered under Part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Caption 29, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1990. His brutal murder in cold blood in broad daylight along the famous Okere Road in the oil city of Nigeria on September 23 1998 had been misunderstood as a mere community dispute over oil money. However, the story is a lot more complicated. A detailed and painful look at the events before and just after his death clearly shows that his death was a direct outcome of the machiavellian practices of some of the petroluem exploitation companies in a desperately corrupt country. Those who knew the man SAK Metseagharun, remeber him for his meekness and more importantly as one of the few to have died with their integrity unquestionably in tact. He was virtue in the midst of vice as he persistently refused to be corrupted in the discharge of his duty as the former Administrator/chairman(sitting on millions of dollars of public funds) of the Board of Internal Revenue of his state and also until his death as the chairman of the legally reconstituted Escravos (Ugborodo) Community Trust Governing Council. We have known for a while now that all it takes for evil people to succeed is for good people to do nothing. Now we have realized that all it takes for corruption to florish, be justified and be accepted as the norm anywhere is for good people not to support and encourage those who would rather not be corrupted.
Most people who justify corruption may truly be greedy satan worshipers but probably not all and the biologist may even rationalize it as "adaptation" in a competitive world where the organism has little choice if it must survive. The life of S.AK was that of one who would not adapt to that kind of environment and therefore died. The S.A.K foundation is laid in faith and in hope for the promotion of virtue in the midst of vice (it's motto) in Nigeria/Africa to begin with, and to do same in other places in the world as the vision is shared and extended. This is the summary of the foundation's aims and objectives.
The exploitation, oppression ,repression, degradation and polution of oil-producing communities in Nigeria is expressly permited by a culture of "free-floating corruption" which some oil companies and individuals have been mercilessly catching in on. |