SPOTLIGHTS
- Urgent action needed to address economic hardship
- Call for improved security, stable prices, and job creation
- Demand for resource control and equitable distribution of resources
- Criticism of the disparity in local government areas across states
From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
The Ijaw National Congress (INC) has urged the Tinubu administration to urgently address the current economic hardship in the country.
The President of the INC, Prof Benjamin Okaba, in a message noting that June 12 is worth celebrating, added that the return to democratic rule has at least given Nigerians the opportunity to choose their political leaders and also advance the exercise of citizens’ rights.
He, however, tasked the current Federal Government to take urgent steps to overcome the hardship facing Nigeria, insisting that the masses who are battling various livelihood and life-threatening challenges, such as insecurity, inflation, unemployment, and criminality, are becoming increasingly hopeless and helpless with each passing day.
“Nigerian fishermen, farmers and other industrialists must feel safe to visit their fishing ports, cultivate their farmlands and operate their businesses even as steady electricity supply is urgently needed to generate and be distributed to all nooks and crannies of this country, including the rural settlements, to make life meaningful,” he said.
Prof. Okaba also noted that Nigeria’s 26th Democracy Day celebration is a significant milestone that has raised several expectations from the government at all levels to deal with issues of peace and peaceful coexistence, mutual tolerance, economic growth and stability, improved security of lives and properties, advancement of educational and healthcare services to international standards, infrastructure development and good governance.
He said Nigerian citizens are in dire need of tangible progress that would translate into positive change for all, irrespective of class, gender, creed, and ethnic differences.
“The oil and gas-rich Niger Delta region, which is a critical component of Nigeria’s economy, expects the current administration to, without any further delay, address the multifaceted challenges facing the region in terms of infrastructure development, economic growth, environmental remediation and job creation to reduce unemployment and poverty.”
According to him, the Ijaw people, who are one of the four largest ethnic nationalities and major producers of oil and gas resources in the country, expect greater commitment from President Tinubu’s administration to deal with their peculiar and persistent problems and concerns about resource injustice, lack of political inclusion and representation in key political positions and decision-making processes, and environmental degradation.
He declared that the Ijaw quest for true federalism is rooted in their desire for greater autonomy, resource control and self-determination that would enable them to manage their affairs more effectively and promote their overall well-being.
Okaba expressed support for Tinubu’s stance on restructuring through efficient management of the local government councils, stressing, however, that seeking local government council autonomy without tackling a more fundamental injustice created by the wide disparity in the number of local government areas per state – where Kano, for instance, has 44 and Bayelsa, at the other extreme, has only eight – amounts to the perpetration of criminal injustice, inequity and disregard for the sensitivity of the people of the Niger Delta region who have fewer local government areas despite producing the wealth of the nation.