Prior to May 2006, the only association available for Nigerians residing in T&T to join was called The Nigerian Community in Trinidad & Tobago based in Trinidad.
For most Nigerians living in Tobago, the geographical physical separation by the sea made it near impossible for us to participate in their activities based in Trinidad. It would have entailed the additional cost of airfare, sea fare, ground transportation, accommodation and getting one or two days leave.
However, there were a few of us who had cause to be in Trinidad many times a month and did attend activities of the Nigerian association in Trinidad, so through them the vast majority of other Nigerians living in Tobago got relevant information of what transpired at those meetings. They were naturally shaped by the views of the experiences of Nigerians living in Trinidad and had little to do with some of the different challenges experienced by Nigerians living in Tobago at that time.
Prior to May 2006, Nigerians living in Tobago met up sporadically at informal meetings usually on the occasion a Nigerian was celebrating an event. If there was a matter of major concern affecting a Nigerian on the island, we would form a quorum to communicate with the High Commission in Trinidad on consular matters etc.
All this changed at the end of July 2005 which was a period of the Heritage Festival activities building up to Emancipation Day celebrated nationally.
The then president of Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo was on a state visit to T&T invited by the Hon Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of T&T to be the guest of honour during this period of black heritage celebration.
We in Tobago read in the papers and watched on TV excerpts of President Obasanjo’s arrival and official activities. Via the media, we later learned that he would visit Tobago as well as the date he was due to visit.
Through the grapevine we were told that the protocol division of the THA at that time had reached out to the Nigerian High Commission in Trinidad for an official list of Nigerians living in Tobago for purposes of sending out official invitations to them to attend an Emancipation Day event being hosted by the THA for President Obasanjo at the end of July 2005.
We further learned that the Nigerian High Commission had indicated to the THA protocol official at that time that they did not know the names of any Nigerians living in Tobago.
We were dismayed by this but still decided to go to the event in our numbers to see our President.
On the day of the event one of the unforeseen issues was that everyone who attended was wearing traditional African clothes as is worn nationwide on Emancipation Day. The other issue was that only invitees were allowed to sit in the rows of chairs reserved for invited guests in front of the stage at the old Shaw Park. All other persons allowed into the venue were asked to sit in the uncovered stands which was a good distance from the stage to observe events as part of the security protocol. That did not deter us and we all stayed to observe the arrival of the THA executives followed by the arrival of President Obasanjo and his entourage. We listened to all the speeches and took in the entertainment.
As the event came to a close while President Obasanjo and his entourage were leaving the stage and being escorted to view the steel pan orchestra as they played, we left our seats in his direction hoping to greet him as Nigerians.
His security from the Nigerian security services formed a barrier as we approached trying to seek audience. One of them wanted to know why and looked on us in disbelief as we explained to him that we were Nigerians. The problem was that almost everyone there was wearing African attire so there was no way to know who was a Nigerian and who was not. I spoke pidgin English to the Nigerian presidential state security agent who was blocking my path and his jaw dropped in surprise. He then asked me to tell him which part of Nigeria I was from to which I responded. He asked if I spoke Igbo to which I replied to him in Igbo which convinced him. However, he was not Igbo speaking so he called out to another colleague who was Igbo speaking to come over that there appears to be Nigerians here. One of them went over to the President and whispered something to him. He looked in our direction waved his hand at the security and they allowed about six of us to approach him. The President is of Yoruba heritage so a couple of Yoruba speaking doctors amongst us engaged him speaking in Yoruba and after a brief conversation he indicated that he had no idea that there were any Nigerians outside his entourage that were in the event otherwise he would have spoken to us directly at some point during his speech. He seemed very unhappy that we had been almost excluded from this event and was glad that we persisted despite this to do all in our power to get through security to welcome him. He gave us brief advice on being good citizens in whatever country we found ourselves as Nigerians then told us he had to go take the salute by the police honour guard that had already assembled at attention near us. We bade him goodbye as he left us to take the salute and then depart for the airport with his entourage.
Following this, some Nigerians living in Tobago made informal inquiries to people they knew working at the Nigerian High Commission as to what could have gone wrong in the High Commission not notifying and inviting us to the event. From the answers received it appears that they rely a lot on the Trinidad-based NigerianCcommunity in Trinidad & Tobago for dissemination of information concerning Nigerians living in Trinidad & Tobago. It was left to inference to decipher possible reasons as to why they did not contact any Nigerian living in Tobago to disseminate invitations to this event.
It was after this experience that we thought of establishing a formal association to focus on the affairs of Nigerians in Tobago. It took some months to arrive at a final decision on this.
Being that there was already a long-standing Nigerian association in Trinidad called The Nigerian Community in Trinidad and Tobago (NCTT) which going by its name was supposed to be an association representing the interests of Nigerians living in Trinidad & Tobago some wondered if it was not simpler to join, pay dues and attend their meetings in Trinidad. It was thought that in doing so that the association could be influenced from within to take interest on the concerns of members living in Tobago.
However, after the events of President Obasanjo’s visit most people thought that it was better, we built from the ground up an association in Tobago based on what those living in Tobago felt was peculiar to their living in Tobago. That way Tobago issues would be priority as opposed to being diluted in any agenda dealing with issues of Nigerians in Trinidad. In Tobago we would not have the added expenditures in cost and time of going down to Trinidad for association meetings held by the Nigerian association in Trinidad which would have meant only few members amongst those living in Tobago could attend.
Such a small number would not have the votes to win elections for key posts on the executive unless they changed their constitution to ensure any Tobago arm must be in the executive. Being on the executive of NCTT would have increased the likelihood of consistently having any Tobago issues front and centre of any executive deliberation if there were competing issues between members in Trinidad versus those in Tobago for urgent attention.
Even though there was no formal association, Nigerians living in Tobago continued having informal meetings amongst themselves. In one of these informal meetings held in the latter half of 2005 delegates from the Nigerian association in Trinidad were in attendance. Their presence at the meeting was to deliver a copy of the constitution of NCTT and encourage Nigerians in Tobago to form a Nigerian community in Tobago using the existing constitution of the Nigerian community in Trinidad and Tobago. This would then actualize the Nigerian community in Tobago component of the Nigerian community in Trinidad & Tobago which in effect would have absorbed the Tobago community into the The NCTT headquartered in Trinidad.
This triggered what would be considered as the first formal meeting of the Nigerian community living in Tobago held in December 2005 where minutes began to be taken.
At that meeting a member expressed dissatisfaction at the outcome of the meeting held with the delegates from NCTT. He pointed out that several key Nigerians with long standing residence living in Tobago who were not at that meeting as they had not been invited to the meeting. Some other members were concerned about a particular part of the NCTT constitution that suggested that the highest executive position any member from its Tobago branch could hold would be the second vice president position which was a rudimentary position. By the end of that meeting it was decided that a list of all Nigerians residing in Tobago would be collated and that forming an autonomous association of Nigerians residing in Tobago would be the best way forward.
Agreeing to have an autonomous Tobago based Nigerian association turned out to be the easiest part of forming the association.
At the second meeting of the association held on 22nd January 2006 several other issues came up which were:
(a) What would be the name of the association?
(b) What would the main objectives of the association be?
(c) How do we go about drafting a constitution?
(d) Deciding on an election date for an executive body to run the association after a constitution is adopted.
During that meeting a five man committee comprising Dr Okeke, Dr Ogunde, Dr Okali, Dr Dijeh and Dr Maxwell were charged with drafting a constitution for the planned new Tobago entity within 30 days using the NCTT constitution as a guide.
The meeting held in March 2006 addressed progress in the constitution allowing the membership to participate in decision making in clarifying certain definitions of who is a member, annual dues, penalties etc.
The meeting held in April 2006 dealt with agreeing to a name for the association. Out of several suggestions it was Dr Ofole’s suggestion of the name The Association of Nigerians Living in Tobago (TANLIT) was the choice adopted by the majority at the meeting as the name of our association. In that same April 2006 meeting it was agreed that the number of executive posts for election be limited to five positions namely President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Public relations officer.
In the general meeting of the 14th of May, 2006 at Dr Sammy Nwokolo’s residence, elections for these positions was held and the results for the first executive of the association were as follows:
President Dr O. Okeke, Vice President Dr F. Okali, Dr C. Moronu Secretary, Dr N. Keshi Treasurer and Dr L. Garbar Public relations officer.
The first executive meeting of the first TANLIT executive was held on 25th June 2006 where the agenda for their year in office was deliberated on and finalized.
The four main objectives of this new organisation TANLIT were agreed upon which are:
- Create forum for interaction and association of Nigerians residing in Tobago.
- Promote welfare and unity of Nigerians living in Tobago.
- To engage in charitable activities.
- Foster good relationship with the community of Tobago in particular and the people of Trinidad & Tobago in general.
The new Executive’s first challenge was to register the organization as an NGO which was no easy task. However the executive succeeded in the Incorporation of the association by registering it as a non-profit company under the Companies act of 1995 granted on 29th June 2006 which was barely six weeks after their May 14 election.
The executive got an appointment to meet with the Nigerian High Commissioner at the High Commission in Port of Spain. The executive travelled to Trinidad in September 2006 to keep this appointment where the Nigerian High Commissioner was officially informed of the formation and registration of TANLIT in Tobago as a resource for communication and information dissemination to Nigerians living in Tobago by the Nigerian High Commission in Port of Spain.
(Photos to be attached)
The first ever TANLIT Christmas party was held in December 2006 in a private residence in the Crown point area where food and entertainment was made free to our TANLIT membership, their invitees including colleagues from the TRHA, the THA and others from the Tobago public.
(Photos to be attached)