Ijaw Congress Charges Professionals On Political Participation

President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Prof Benjamin Okaba, has urged Nigerian professionals to monitor the conduct of their members, collaborate with the government and actively participate in politics.

He also admonished them to demand accountability from public officials, organise training programmes and set up professional clubs in primary and secondary schools across the country which will help to surmount the contemporary challenges facing the country.

Okaba who is a professor of Sociology at the Federal University Otuoke, Bayelsa State, gave the admonition yesterday while delivering the keynote address at a retreat organised by the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) in Warri, Delta State tagged, “Contemporary Challenges in Nigeria: The Response of Professionals.”

While insisting that Nigeria’s challenges are multifaceted, Okaba highlighted bad governance, weak institutions, ethical decadence and lack of a sense of nationhood as some of the predominant problems bedevilling Nigeria.

The INC helmsman bemoaned that after 63 years of independence, the productive base of the Nigerian economy remains weak, narrow and highly externally oriented, making the country to rely largely on importation to meet the basic needs of the citizens.

He however said, “Nigeria can, and will, get better. The challenges are not unprecedented, nor are they insurmountable. The solution lies in our attitude, aptitude and the little things we do to make ends meet.

“We should be conscious of the challenges and their implications for ourselves and this nation as well as embrace and be drivers of positive change in our individual homes, offices and other spheres of influence.”

He appealed to professionals in the country to support the present government led by President Bola Tinubu to bring sanity into the polity, especially at the grassroots.