About

Growing up in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, I witnessed debilitating

poverty around me. I was fortunate enough to attain primary and secondary

education through the generosity of my hardworking grandparents. But

others were not so lucky and the trajectory of their lives is not much to

write home about. They ended up recycling the poverty from which they

have emerged. It dawned on me at that impressionable age that education

was pivotal to breaking thecycle of poverty or unshackling oneself from its

humiliating grip. It occurred to me that Education is emancipation.

So in 2007, I founded Caprecon to support individuals, especially young

people, on their journey of emancipation, mostly through education.

Some years later, I became interested in the experiences of Refugees and

Internally Displaced Persons, having spent some time in an IDP camp as

a volunteer, and witnessed the trauma suffered by most individuals in there.

Also, I did postgraduate studies in forced migration which exposed me to

the modus operandi of Humanitarian Aid and Relief agencies in Africa. I

discovered that their programs were geared more towards providing scant

material aid to Internally Displaced Persons and refugees, with little regard

for the dignity of refugees. To many NGOs, they were numbers to

be checked off on a list.

But at Caprecon, we see things differently. We know that they are human

beings with agency; and are able to cater for themselves, if enabled or

empowered. At Caprecon, we hold the philosophy that every person has the

right to design their own future. So we embarked on a number of programs,

in tandem with local and international organizations, to empower IDPs and

other individuals impoverished by natural disasters, violent conflict and

other debilitating tragedies. 

One of such programs is Sprout, and through it, we are able to provide IDPs

with the tools they need to work themselves out of poverty and

the misery; and become self-reliant.

Sprout is essentially our anti-trafficking initiative. It is aimed at reducing

Child trafficking in IDP camps by providing IDPs with marketing and

business skills training, entrepreneurship programs and anti-trafficking

education. Working with IDP community leaders, we help to create

anti-trafficking strategies needed by IDPs to protect

themselves and their communities.