A pan-Nigerian nationalist, reputable ex-militant leader, Youth Leader who is also the Mayor of Urhoboland, Eshanakpe Israel a.k.a Akpodoro, has called on the Nigerian youths to shelve the planned protest billed to commence on August 1 – 10, 2024.
In a statement issued in his Mayoral Palace in Ughelli, the traditional headquarters of Urhoboland, Delta State South-South Nigeria, Akpodoro acknowledged the economic hardship in the country adding that he stands on the side of the masses of the Nigerian people in solidarity at all times but that there’s need to understand the policy direction of the government.
The hardship in the country, he maintained, is not unconnected with the reformative governance of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as he admonished the Nigerian youths to surrender themselves for capacity building and also place their priorities rightly to be able to meet the demands of a new Nigeria struggling to grow with the global economic realities.
All over the world, the President of the National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators, NCNDE-A, said there are austerity measures that governments are currently grappling with across the globe, a reason he said, Nigerians who are critical of this current administration should thread softly and not allow themselves to be used by the fifth columnists.
He noted that some unscrupulous persons are grandstanding and inciting violent protest behind the scene against the government owing to deep-rooted grudge in their defeat at the polls in 2023.
The youths, he noted, are the powerhouse of any nation being the productive population, the Mayor asked them to embrace vocational trades, be technologically driven, technically oriented to be creative than seeking white-collar jobs which are non-existent.
Akpodoro said the civil service is already saturated, stressing that only individuals job creation can salvage the unemployment situation in the country, referencing China, Singapore, India, Taiwan and other rising economic powers in the world.
On the part of the President Tinubu-led federal government, Akpodoro sought an emergency action that will cushion the effects of the austerity measures in the life of citizens, noting that the hardship in the country has gotten to a crescendo and should be mitigated to forestall giving room for enemies of the nation to succeed in their evil desires.
Mayor Akpodoro called for an empirical end to dollars’ surge in the forex market, a development he described as worrisome and troubling, saying it is the nucleus of the economic hardship in the world’s most populous black nation.
The federal government, according to the vociferous Mayor, should further declare duty free on some food items or possibly open up the boarders for goods to come into the country arguing that local producers of food items have been given enough time to build up their local food production, stating that the time for competition is now.
The government, the Mayor maintained, cannot afford to shut down the country’s borders perpetually for the reason of allowing local farmers to feed Nigerians adding that, the same farmers given incentives and soft loans are the ones manipulating commodity markets for their own greed.
The production and distribution of cement, Mayor Akpodoro noted, for instance, should be liberalised to allow for importers to bring cement into the country for competition adding that Nigerian cement market has suffocated enough under the monopoly of a few individuals who have chosen to take advantage of the government’s goodwill.
The former warrior called on the government to engage more in capacity building for the Nigerian youths and also put market control measures in place to check the menace of greedy foodstuffs sellers in the country citing an instance where a tuber of yam is sold for not less than 10,000 naira as against #800 in the recent past in Lagos and other cities owing to conspiracy of factors.
“Nigerians are tired of the unending hardship, and the earlier the federal government cushions the effects of the reformative measure, the earlier the better. Agents of government are not faring better either, the Gberegolor Ughelli South, Delta State-born said most ministers are docile and sufficiently performing but derelicting in their duties.
“This is the time, for instance, that the Ministry of Information ought to be on its toes, particularly the National Orientation Agency, NOA, but they are sleeping on their duties.
“If not for insensivity again, what could warrant the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, to choose this time for the now suspended enforcement of e-cmr to ostensibly unleash his trigger happy men on Nigerians?
“These are men who have defied series of orders by the police authority to stop embarrassing Nigerian youths in streets by seizing, searching their phones, and forcefully robbing them of their monies at gunpoint, I refuse to see such as extorting but robbery at gunpoint.
“All of these breed anarchy, deep-seated anger, and kill the spirit nationalism in an average Nigerian. To date, across the police formations in the country, extortion in the guise of bail for suspects still persists not to talk of the bribery that takes place at checkpoints by those of genuine and illegal duties on Nigerian roads. Nigerians are angry and hurt. The causes of #endsars in 2020 are still prevalent. President Tinubu should rise up to the demands of governance,” the Mayor stated.
The mayor bemoaned alleged marginalisation of the ex-militant leaders of Urhobo extraction as it concerns appointments into ministries, boards, and parastatals of the federal government.
He called on the president to write his name on the marbles by changing the ugly narratives of the Urhobo man.
“Our sons and daughters are all over the world holding their own across professional divides, yet they are not deemed good enough for appointments by this administration.
“The proposed list of legal practitioners award of the Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN, is still a wound in our hearts as the list does not affirm the status of Urhobo nation in the country’s legal profession. We deserve more than we are given,” the former warlord stated.
