Niger Delta Task Buhari on Federal Character, True Federation
Youths of the Niger Delta region have hailed President Muhammadu Buhari on his swearing in as the new President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Force with a charge on him to adopt the power rotation in relation to the Federal Character as enshrined in Nigerian Constitution.
The Youths who spoke under the umbrella of Niger Delta Youth Coalition (NDYC) said Buhari should not adopt the winner takes it all attitude of past leaders especially with the voting pattern in the last election that saw the North and South-West gaining victory in the presidential election.
National Co-ordinator of NDYC, Prince Emmanuel Ogba who addressed the press in Port Harcourt Saturday noted that it would be dangerous for the North to dominate in the leadership of both the Senate and House of Representative, thereby sidelining other regions.
"There is an indication that the positions in the leadership of the Houses would be through voting, and what it means is that with the majority of the North, there may be the temptation to vote in Northern members in most influential positions, which I think would be dangerous for the nation", he said.
According to Ogba, let the Federal Character principles be adopted to maintain some balance in not only in the three arms but other major and strategic positions at the national level.
The group equally urged Buhari to through away the National Confeb Report Presented to him by the former President Goodluck Jonathan stressing that the Confeb did not go through due process even though it gulped billions of Naira that could be channelled to other useful areas for the interest of the nation.
Ogba further called on Buhari to implement fiscal and true federalism noting that it is the only step that can enhance peaceful and rapid development of the nation.
"Dependent on oil as sole means of our national income is the major problem Nigeria has. We must break away from this monoeconomy to grow rapidly", he maintained.
Reacting to the Amnesty Programme for Niger Delta, the Youth leader advised that the programme should be carried along but should be reformed in the way it is being implemented.
He disagreed with the practice of training the youths only to be paying them allowances at the end of the month without placing them on any engagement.
"The youths could be trained on agriculture and empowered to develop their own farms. By so doing, they would be earning while also working. This engagement would improve on the volumn of food in the country and also help towards diversification of the economy", said he.
He explained further that time has come to make agriculture attractive and massively engage youths across the nation. This will reduce restiveness, unemployment and also increase food for local consumption and export.