‘A lot of people go through life without having a clue of who they are’

Dr. Euckay Onyeizugbo              

The psycho-social development module for the Mindset Change and Reorientation Programme for Youth Empowerment began on 15 March 2010 at Songhai. The young women and men were introduced to this powerful, transforming experience by Dr. Euckay Onyeizugbo, a Clinical Psychologist at the University of Nigeria, Nsuka, Enugu State, and the consultant who developed the psycho-social development module. Interviewed by NIDPRODEV after the end of her day-long presentation and exercises, she commented in an excitement-laden tone, “I have always dreamt about such a programme where young people would be facilitated towards the way they think and empowered to have a sense of focus and direction in life.”

Excerpts from this exclusive interview with “Dr. Euckay” by Anthony Oligbo, NIDPRODEV Communications Officer, follow:

You took the participants through the discussion of Psycho Sexual Development. What do you mean by that?

It is really about all the ingredients that make up the human being. It is about all that we are. For instance, the fact that we have a body—it is part of who we are. It comprises the fact that we have cognition; that is our thinking faculty, feelings, emotions, communication and spirituality—which is being able to relate to a higher being. For a human to live a stable life, all these aspects have to be whole or integrated. When we put all of these things together, it makes us a complete being. For instance, when you cut off the legs or the hands, the person is disabled. So when you remove any aspect of the dimensions I mentioned, the person is said to be psychologically disabled and will not be able to pass through life as an integrated whole.

It was observed during your facilitation session that you led the participants through a series of exercises. In one of them, participants were told to close their eyes and sit in a relaxed form, with hands on their laps. In another, they shared things about themselves in smaller discussion groups and in another they danced. What is the essence of these exercises?

The essence of the relaxation exercise is to relax the mind. When the mind is relaxed, it affects the body. In the same way when our body is relaxed, it affects our mind. So the essence of the exercise is to be in a relaxed mood, and when we are relaxed, this will ensure self awareness. This gives you room to monitor yourself. You get in touch with your body, emotions and whatever it is that you have not been paying attention to, because in life, there are too many distractions.

The essence of closing the eyes is to avoid distractions. When you are in a quiet and peaceful mood, you begin to listen to yourself and notice—as some participants did notice—a lot of things about themselves. It is an exercise of knowledge and self awareness. The participants also shared into discussion groups where they were able to talk about themselves. This is like group therapy, where people are given the opportunity to talk about themselves within the context of a group. It helps participants to share what is going on inside them.

Finally on this, the dance exercise is a therapy, and it is good for people who might have poor self-image, people who appear to want to hide from life and for people who cannot move their bodies very well. The purpose of the exercise is to be at home with your body. So the essence of the dance is to liberate them and to let out their emotions. Some participants, who told me they were shy, when they danced, forgot themselves. So, it is all part of the psycho-spiritual integration.

It was observed during your session with participants that you kept on asking the question; who am I? What were you trying to achieve by that constant interjection?

When we talk about mindset and relationship with other people, you cannot achieve that without knowing who you are. A lot of people go through life without having a clue of who they are. They just go by the wind, the peer group, the family, and the society. They just follow wherever the wind blows them. However, it is important that as an integrated human being, you begin to ask and answer the question, so that you can know your strengths and weaknesses. Your strength can be built upon and your weakness can be worked upon. From the exercise, I noticed that a lot of participants do not know their weaknesses. They did not know what to say when asked. For instance, something could happen in the process of interaction with another person and that might get you angry. You might blame it on the other person because there is no insight of why that thing happened. So, knowing who you are will help you know that you have a hot temper and that just might make you laugh over it. But if you don’t know that, it is a kind of weakness that you have; you will blame it on the other person and this can lead to conflict. So it is very important that a young person knows himself or herself. In the world today, there is a resurgent need to look inward to develop oneself rather than put too much emphasis on external resources, such as mineral resources, to achieve a good future.

What is the place of psychology in the management of people?

Wherever there are human beings, there is psychology and incidentally that is the strength of the Mindset Programme being implemented by NIDPRODEV. I was wondering about the number of mindset programmes organized throughout the country; there is none that involves a psychologist. And I said to myself, “how can you change their mindset without the people who specialize in the behavior of workers, employees, how to motivate employers and things like that.” You need psychologists in the prisons, family, and wherever there are human beings; there would definitely be human problems to be solved. So it is important to have a psychologist who would use their expertise to solve the problems or to help draw a programme. So, it is important to have psychologists everywhere you need to manage human beings.

What are your words to the organizers?

Well-done! They have shown that they really know what they are doing. They really mean well and want the programme to succeed. Sometimes, you find people who organize this kind of programme to just make money, but these ones really mean well. I am really impressed. Interacting with the youths was wonderful, they have a lot of potentials, and you know when you do not channel young people’s energy to the right place, it can go haywire. As they say, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. In fact, nature abhors vacuum. So when there is emptiness, anything could enter into it and most of the times, they are the things that are not good. So, I am happy with what NIDPRODEV and other people working with them are doing. I wish them success and I pray that other mindset programmes will take a clue from this.

What are your last words for the participants?

They are good, great and have a lot of potential. They participate well and are eager to learn. This is contrary to the impression you get outside about Niger Delta youth--that they are good at creating conflict and destruction. Honestly, the people I see here have what it takes to create change. I see a bright future for them. All we need to do is to empower, encourage and motivate them. Believe me, they will move mountains.