National Spokesman of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Ebilade Ekerefe has advised stakeholders from the Niger Delta region to adopt new strategies to tackle the persistent reluctance of the Federal Government to respond to their agitations.
According to Ekerefe, the region must do away with obsolete strategies and adopt the new era of strategic alliances with other ethnic nationalities and intellectuals in an aggressive engagement with the federal government for accelerated development of the region.
Speaking recently in Yenagoa at a colloquium to mark his 36th birthday and the unveiling of his book, “Chronicle of Ebilade Ekerefe, The Journey So Far,” he maintained that the Ijaw nation and other stakeholders from the region cannot continue to apply outdated approaches to agitation and expect to achieve the desired result in an evolving world.
The IYC spokesman who used the opportunity to declare interest in the presidency of the ninth council of the IYC, maintained that the new age requires new strategies.
“We are currently in a jet age and we must prepare an army of young, vibrant and intellectually mobile Ijaw youths to drive home our demands.
“The IYC has come of age to look inward and come up with a renewed strategy to confront the myriad of challenges that affect us as a people, if we must get it right,” he stated.
Ekefere attributed the successes recorded by the IYC to thousands of youths, elders, and state governors of the region particularly, the Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri who, he said had supported and encouraged him to speak out against injustice and the failure of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to commit to the demands of the Niger Delta people.
He said the administration of President Buhari was unfair to the region in the past eight years.
He pointed out that the Buhari government unfairly treated the Niger Delta region and its peoples despite the huge contributions of the region to the economy of the nation.
He said: “Under his government, all the institutions of government which were established by law to develop the region, ran under interim or sole administration basis which stalled the development of the region. Despite our cries, the East-West road remains an eyesore.
“Portions of the road remain a death trap with all the promises made. There were serious efforts to terminate the amnesty program and annex the NDDC into the Niger Delta Ministry but, we stood our ground and fought very hard for the status quo to remain”.
According to him, “Majority of the projects awarded by Buhari’s federal government in the Niger Delta region were all on ground-breaking level.
“The worst of it is the climate change and the perennial flooding which have made life very unbearable and yet, the federal government has refused to come to our aid. Unemployment is on the rise and our people remain constantly agitated.”
Highlighting the federal government’s lack of interest in the pains of the region, he added, “Rampaging Fulani herdsmen have invaded our region, killing our people with impunity and the security apparatus of the country, is doing nothing about it.”
As the country welcomes a new government, Ekerefe said it was time to review strategies.
“In a few days from now, we shall be having a new government under Senator Bola Tinubu. Nobody knows his plans for the region and what will befall us. The future is full of uncertainties and there’s no better time than now for a vibrant and courageous leadership”.
On his aspiration for the position of president of the IYC, Ebilade Ekerefe said he was only responding to a public call to service.
“I have come to that point of accepting the call from my teeming supporters, political stakeholders, elders of the council, various organs of the council and the masses to become the ninth president of the most revered revolutionary youth council in the West African sub-region,” he said.
Ekerefe said despite the challenges facing the leadership of the council, if elected IYC president, he would build a new era founded on the achievements he made in the past three years as spokesperson of the Ijaw Youth Council.
“I’m young, vibrant, and energetic to be your president for the next three years, and make no mistake about it, I’m the representation of a new era. Just as I did not sleep as the spokesperson in advancing the cause, I’ll not still sleep as your president.
“Under my watch, the Ijaw nation will be protected against banditry and marauding herdsmen who are terrorizing our people. It will not be business as usual.”
He said, “In the new era, my leadership will aggressively and strategically engage the Nigerian state in a more robust and coordinated manner that will produce desired results. While we shall constantly keep the issues of resource control and fiscal federalism on the front burner of the national discourse, issues of climate change will be prioritized.
“We shall take the advocacy and engagements to the international scene and create global awareness on greenhouse emission”.
“In doing so, we shall set up a research team of young intellectuals from Ijaw extraction who will guide us in our advocacies and engagements. We have already kick-started the free ICT skill acquisition training programme, intended to build the capacities of 301 Ijaw youths before the end of the year.
“We shall accomplish it and expand its scope to accommodate more youths across the region and other initiatives that will be attractive to youths, especially, agriculture and sports development.”
The colloquium was attended by former Nigerian Ambassador, Dr. Godknows Igali, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Otuoke, Professor Teddy Adias, the 2nd Vice President of the Ijaw National Congress, INC, Alabo Nengi James, former National Treasurer of the INC, Chief Kalaiti Jephtha among others.
