Nigeria@57: It’s time to reflect, truthfully say if we can continue in same path –IYC

As Nigerians celebrate the country’s 57th independence anniversary, Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide on Monday expressed dismay over the state of Nigeria since its independence from Britain.

It said there was need to “reflect on the state of the country and to truthfully tell ourselves if we can continue in the same path.”

The group, who expressed this in a statement released in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital and signed by IYC national spokesman, Daniel Dasimaka, also lamented that the Ijaw people have been neglected, suppressed and marginalised.

The group which lamented that the life of an ordinary Ijaw person has remained unimproved since independence of the country 57 years ago, regretted that a large part of the worries expressed by their forebears at the Constitutional Conference held in London in 1957, which later culminated to the Willinks Commission, have remained unresolved.

Read also: NIGERIA@57: Buhari insists restructuring, power devolution must go through N’Assembly

IYC said it was now very necessary that government at all levels, oil multinationals and other stakeholders “reflect on the state of the country and to truthfully tell ourselves if we can continue in the same path..”

“It must be noted too that majority of the issues we raised through the Kaiama Declaration during our inception in 1998 (19 years ago) are still unaddressed.

“Till date, the quality of life of Ijaw people is deteriorating as a result of utter neglect, suppression and marginalisation visited on Ijaw people by the alliance of the Nigerian state and transnational oil companies,” the group said.

 

 

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