By divine appointment and the official duties she performs, she is the mother of all members of The Salvation Army (TSA) in Nigeria and head of women ministry of the Church, an office she has been occupying since December 2010. Commissioner (that is her rank in TSA) Ime Akpan, surrounded by her children, family, friends and many others as she celebrated three decades of existence, had a chat with Senior Reporter, ANTHONIA SOYINGBE, on her life and other issues.
Mama, as some calls her, is undoubtedly loved by many and cherished by all members of TSA. She is like the mother hen who shields her chicks against hawks. She is a counsellor and a prayer warrior who, over the years, has rendered different forms of assistance to people around her.
To say she is very close to her husband is an understatement. Or how best can one describe this couple that has been married for about 40 years and still very intimate like Siamese twins who can’t do without each other? Her husband exhibited it, nestling besides her during the interview, making Sunday Independent to ask her to describe who she thinks her husband is.
She asked while slapping her hubby who was beside her: “You mean I should describe my daddy?”
Gleefully, after a pause, she said: “He is the best gift God gave to me. I am his mother while he is my brother and my friend. We are so fond of each other and whenever he is not at home with me, I always feel bored. He is the one that God gave to me and I love him with the whole of my heart.”
But what is responsible for this love that seems so fresh despite their advanced union? On the question, she smiled again, this time like an 18-year-old, who has just fallen in love, and said: “Love, commitment, and we share so many things in common. We understand each other.”
All through her adult life, Akpan, the territorial president of women’s ministries for TSA in Nigeria, who was ordained Army Officer (Clergy) in 1974, has been working in God’s vineyard since then. She served as territorial home league secretary between 1998 and 2003. Then, she was responsible for the personnel and vocational development of workers, their pastoral care and well-being. Also, her responsibility traverses the identification of officers with future leadership potential, and the monitoring of officer training and development.
Before then, she was appointed territorial league of mercy secretary in TSA. She also was appointed divisional director of women’s organisations of the Akwa Ibom division.
When asked how she successfully raised her children despite her deep involvement in TSA activities, she said: “When they were all young, I went with the youngest and we had a maid who attended to the older ones. We had officers around us and we left them with the officers who treated them just like their biological children.”
She announced with pride that all her six grown-up children serve in one capacity or another in Church.
When Sunday Independent curiously asked her again how convenient it was for her to keep her children at the mercy of house maids, who, many people say, perpetrate immoral acts, she disclosed that all she did then was to train each housemaid and position her as her eldest child.
This, according to her, gave the housemaids they had at different points in time a sense of belonging as a member of the family.
“My housemaids see me as their own mother because I treat them like my daughters. I don’t have problems with anyone of them because I gave them the same teachings and trainings I imbibe into my biological children.”
To lend voice to her wife’s point, Mfon Akpan said, “Training starts from the home. There is no day we don’t call our children together to teach them the word of God; no matter how young or old they were, as far as they were under our roof. From childhood, they knew that which was good and that which was bad. When anyone misbehaved, the other would admonish him or her through the word of God.”
Women of Akwa Ibom, the state she hails from, are thoroughly homely. Another of theirs trademarks is their culinary skills. This, she said, she enjoys.
“I am a very good cook; I can prepare both continental and local dishes perfectly. My mother taught me to cook, and till date I cook very well. My husband can attest to that because he is always ready to tell anyone who cares that I am a very good cook. In the women’s wing of the ministry, we train women to be effective and efficient at home.”
As a woman, she undoubtedly faced lots of challenges working with other women. When she was asked how she copes with some overbearing influence of women whom she would work with, she giggled and replied: “Really, women could be hard to work with; but don’t forget that they are always ready to serve whenever they are called upon. They could be difficult as you have said. Sometimes they are more difficult to deal with like children, but they are bundle of talents; they are always ready and happy to partake in God’s work.
“I am always happy to work with women. When they come up with some of their foibles, all I do as a leader is pray to God and thereafter call them and admonish them. These have helped me to settle issues in the past and it is still working for me now.”
Part of her agenda as the woman head of TSA in Nigeria is to take girls out of the streets and give them a sense of belonging by training them on skill acquisition. This programme, according to her, has the backing and approval of Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.