Barely 24 hours to the planned nationwide “End bad governance in Nigeria” protest, the Rivers State representative at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Board, Chief Tony Okocha, has called on youths in the state not to participate.
Okocha, also the caretaker committee chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, stated this during an inspection of NDDC-sponsored ongoing projects in five different local government areas of the state.
The APC chieftain expressed concern that while people have the constitutional right to protest it could be hijacked by bad elements, thereby leading to looting and loss of lives and properties. He posited that since the assumption of office the president has put in place policies like student loans, agriculture, local government autonomy, and new minimum wage, amongst others, that are for the overall interest of Nigerians and called for patience.
He said: “This is part of the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President and is one serious reason why we have said to Nigerians and Rivers people that the president deserves some more time to bring what he has in his offing. So, we use this opportunity to plead with our people who are somewhat misled to believe that protest can solve Nigeria’s problems. The president is not the architect of the poverty Nigerians are experiencing. I think the president is trying as much as he can to bring good policies to Nigerians.
“One of the reasons we have decided to go to project sites today is because we want to build an advocacy in support of Mr President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The President directed the project we are here today to inspect through the NDDC to go into all the nooks and crannies of our region, the Niger Delta, to make the people smile and make the people feel the impact of government.
“So we could not have done this under a riotous situation. If there was chaos here, this project would not have gone. So, I would like to tell our youths to refrain from violence or protest. The reason I say so is that it could be hijacked, and if it is hijacked, the security agencies will not stand to see you take laws into your hands.
“So we use this opportunity to tell our people that Mr. President means well for Nigerians. He has just been in office for barely one year and two months, and the problems of Nigeria have been there, and he is overloaded. You are aware that at a point in this country, states were borrowing money to pay salaries, so states incurred a backlog of debts. With the removal of the fuel subsidy, which was difficult because there were cabals who held sway, a lot of money that these few persons were syphoning came back into the system. The president is deploying the funds by percentages, including the federal, state, and local governments. He did not keep all the monies at the centre.”
The NDDC state representative commended all the contractors for their dedication in executing the projects on record time and the communities for their peaceful disposition and support. He also assured that no contractor would be owed under the 7th Board of the NDDC as led by Mr. Chiedu Ebie and the Managing Director, Samuel Ogbuku.
Responding, some community stakeholders thanked Okocha and the NDDC for bringing succour to their communities.
A stakeholder in the Soku community, Dr Otiasah Christian, while emphasising the importance of the water project, said there had been several cases of cholera outbreaks in the community that led to the loss of lives as a result of lack of potable water.
Also, the Community Development Committee (CDC) chairman of the Umuchem community, Mr ThankGod Agbam, said the project is the first of its kind despite being a host community suffering several oil spills.
