ANAMBRA WEST YOUTHS: THE MISCONCEPTION

By NBF News

Anambra West Youth Association is not a political group. The Association is an avenue of mobilizing the youths to live in peace and harmony. It is geared towards attracting, monitoring and protecting developmental projects in the area.

The youths are also mobilizing to ensure that votes count in all elections in the area. In other words, that elections must reflect the genuine choice of the people as expressed with their votes.

This explanation has become necessary to quell the rumour being peddled by some people that the association is a grand plan by some individuals to build political structure for themselves. No doubt, those peddling this rumour do so to create suspicion and disunity in the association. Knowing very well that if the youths are organized and speak with one voice, it will become imperative to be accountable to those being led.

Similarly, the interest of the youths is not only to attract the attention of the Federal and State governments to the area but also to ensure that projects approved for the area by various strata of governments are well executed. Even the activities of various town leaders who manage public concerns unaccountably will be monitored.

Specifically, the youths are saying 'let bygone be bygone' that 'the era of selfish representation is over'. The youths are emphatic that they will no longer tolerate the winner takes all syndrome, which has been an albatross of the local government, in terms of development.

More importantly, the association will also work with social institutions in Anambra State, to redirect the minds of the youths and contribute efforts towards quashing the security problems. They intend to achieve this, by organizing workshops and seminars, using resource persons who are acknowledged role models in the society to teach some of the misguided youths that crime does not pay. That there are many legal ways of making a living, without engaging in kidnapping and armed robbery.

Seriously, the youths are not happy that Anambra-West is the only LGA in South East Zone that has no tarred road except the 13km road under construction. we are yet to be convinced about the seriousness of the current rural electrification project. Education suffers the same neglect where the pupils sit on bare floors to receive lessons. Some of the primary schools hardly have up to three teachers.

The post-primary institutions in the LGA which are run by the state government, have not received any meaningful assistance from the State government for renovation or refurbishing of infrastructure. The effect of this neglect is that these schools today look like scenes reminiscent of war ravaged communities - dilapidated structures, leaking roofs, eroded floors, rickety doors and windows, collapsed laboratories.