Press Releases

ON the 3rd August 2012 in Dublin Ireland, Chief James Jephthah was presented the Albert Sth-weitzer leadership Award in Dublin, Ireland by Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Foundation U.5.A.
he was accompanied by 26 students selected randomly from various secondary schools across
the country and some distinguished Nigerians who also attended a two week youth leadership programme in Dublin. This award is annually presented to individuals who have distinguished themselves through service to mankind and who have contributed significantly through their leadership to education and motivation of youths. By accepting the award Chief James Jephthah joins the ranks of distinguished ‘past recipients which include President & Mrs. Ronald Reagan, President & Mrs. George Bush, President & Mrs Mikhail Gorbachev, Vice President & Mrs. AI Gore, Secretary of State Mr. Henry Kissinger, secretary of State Mrs. Madeline Albright and Secretary of State Gen. Collin Powell.

On 7th July 2012 Chief Jephthah was appointed Country President, Nigeria. UN-POLAC (United Nations positive Livelihood Award Centre) by the UN-POLAC International President for Africa, Siberia and The Caribbean’s Dr. Halo B Eton, after serving meritoriously as Country Vice-President, Nigeria from 2008 -2012.

Steven Edmond, Dean School of Technology explaining why James Jephthah was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters, L.H.d (Honorius Causa) at the Huston-Tilloston University, USA in 2011 said inter alia that it was for his unrelenting activities to eradicate poverty and promote peace in the Niger Delta region. Chief Jephthah established James Jephthah & Family Youth Entrepreneurship Scholarship at Huston-Tilloston University to sponsor 6 Nigerian youths each year to attend a university entrepreneur-ship camp in the USA.

James Jephthah is furthermore, an awardee of the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honour in the United States. The only African to be so recognized in the over a quarter century of the inception of the awards and is included in the American Congressional Records. He stars with other distinguished cast as six for- mer United States presidents including Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, Former Heavyweight Boxing Champion Muhammad AIi, former Secretary of State Gen. Collin Powei, congressmen and Nobel laureates who have demonstrated un exampled dedication to the entrenchment of peace, goodwill and equal opportunities to all, without regard to race, creed or gender.

His sterling efforts in the Federal Government Amnesty programme to enthrone peace in the Niger delta, especially in his persuading 32 Militant Leaders to lay down their weapons and embrace the peace process is also particularly noteworthy.

There are good reasons why such a disparate group of opinions have converged in honouring one man again and again. James Jephthah believes that vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with vision is making a positive difference. He continues to make unexampled contributions to society.

Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the worlds ills – against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence. Yet many of the worlds great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32 year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal.

‘Give me a place to stand,’ said Archimedes, ‘and I will move the world.’ These men moved the world, and so can we all.” These immortal words of Robert F. Kennedy encapsulate the phenomenon affectionately called the “Giant of the Swamps; Chief James Jephthah.

He has certainly moved his community, state, Niger Delta and indeed Nigeria. Never in the history of
mankind have so many owed so much to one man.

James Jephthah, a man of unyielding Christian urgings takes the Biblical injunction to Abraham in Genesis that God will bless Abraham so that he will be a blessing literarily. In consequence several brilliant but impecunious children in his community are beneficiaries of his scholarship largesse. Many of the beneficiaries are unknown to him. For the past 4 years he has taken students from various institutions abroad for leadership training programs run by Hoby Hughes O’Brian Youth Leadership Foundation U.5.A. He single headedly provided electricity to Katampe 1 and Katampe 2 communities in Mpape, Abuja. He also provided and maintains a potable water project for these communities. An appreciative Katampe community therefore turbaned him with the prestigious traditional title of Sarduana Katampe I of Katampe chiefdom. His philanthropy though is not limited to any part of Nigeria. Over 250 widows in Gombe, Gombe State, live off monthly stipends he offers them. Many churches and outreaches also receive support from him routinely. He takes the view that investing in Gods kingdom is the only place investment is secure. He coordinates his sundry philanthropic undertakings from the James Jephthah Foundation, City Plaza, Abuja.

“The heights by great men reached and kept” it is said, “were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night’: Longfellow may well have been speaking about Jephthah who once worked as a security guard with the National Library of Nigeria having initially applied for consideration as a clerical staff a position he felt certain he qualified for. He however faced his initial disappointment with equanimity, solaced in the the cognizance that “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.” He learned focus and humility through his challenges.

In the words of Henry David Thoreau, if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.” This has been the experience of James Jephthah.

A member of the Association of Professional Negotiators and Mediators of Nigeria and a Justice of the Peace, James Jephthah was uniquely placed to positively in- tervene in the Niger Delta militancy conflict. President Goodluck Jonathan reposed absolute faith in him and he did not disappoint. Under his stewardship Niger Delta militants dropped the guns in large numbers, thus signalling to others across the Niger Delta that the peace process could be trusted. He carried out this assignment not oblivious of the risk to personal life, but driven by an overwhelming sense of patriotism and the faithfulness of God to secure him.

Chief Jephthah is a member of Nigerian Economic Society (N.E.S). His entrepreneurial acumen has enabled him to establish and nurture from cradle the company Octopus (fan Nigeria Limited into one of the leading wholly Nigerian hi-tech service providers in the nations oil and gas industry.

Chief James Jephthah is a truly distinguished alumnus of the University of Port Harcourt. A graduate of the University’s Department of Economics, he is a brilliant scholar who was spurred on by the competitive academic environment of the university and also holds a Masters Degree in Financial Economics from the University of Abuja.