Anioma Youths Hold Press Conference.
BEING THE TEXT OF A PRESS CONFERENCE HELD BY ANIOMA YOUTH FORUM WORLDWIDE (AYF-W), DELIVERED BY ITS NATIONAL PRESIDENT, COMRADE NNAMDI O. OFONYE ON SUNDAY JANUARY 24TH 2021 IN ASABA, DELTA STATE.
Good afternoon Gentlemen of the Press and everyone present on today's auspicious event.
Firstly, Anioma Youth Forum Worldwide (AYF-W) seizes this great opportunity to thank and praise God Almighty who saw us through a very turbulent year 2020. We are very grateful that in the face of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, He made it possible for us to see the beginning of another new year 2021.
It is common knowledge that 2020 was indeed a very rough and tough year. We saw the world and by extension Anioma land witness one of the most difficult and challenging times in recent years as lockdown was imposed with its attendant excruciating experiences all in a bid to mitigate the spread of the novel corona virus.
Similarly, the agitation by Young Nigerians against Nigerian Police excesses that culminated in the widely publicized Nationwide Protest tagged #EndSARS was another major event that shook the foundation of the Nigerian Society with massive negative impact on socioeconomic and political life of the Nation. However, that singular act has shown that if the youths can stand in one voice, all obstacles will be moved.
Comrade Nnamdi O. Ofonye, National President, AYF-W.
With these occurrences, there is no doubt it also took its toll on government and governance especially the Covid-19 which forced governments across the world into revisiting of its fiscal framework for the year with a view to striking a balance between pushing funds into mitigating it and also carrying out other functions of government.
In the face of these, the Anioma Youth Forum Worldwide (AYF-W), as a responsive and proactive Social-political Organization, whose motivation and inspiration stems from the desire for a developed Anioma Nation, is saddened by the failure of those we voted into offices of authority to show accountability to the electorates who voted them into offices.
Against the ethics of fair representation, our representatives have become Lords to themselves and have deliberately failed with impunity to give back to the people who elected them. They evade us their constituents and have turned Abuja as their permanent abode, refusing to come home and when letters and calls are put across to them, they call our bluff and refuse to give us audience even when it is our constitutional privilege and rights. Worst still is the fact that there is hardly the existence of functional Constituency offices in these Constituencies.
Comrade Nwachukwu S. Enemosah, Deputy National President, AYF-W.
AYF-W, on behalf of Ndi Anioma, demands that this ugly and unacceptable representation ends with immediate effect. This is an aberration that must be stopped.
Our beloved Anioma land that is blessed with both human and material endowments have remained underdeveloped not because the government at the center most especially, is not allocating funds to critical projects that will continuously develop the district but for the acts of wickedness on the parts of both previous and present representatives who have learnt how to capitalise on the nonchalant attitude of the people to continue to exploit us for their selfish aggrandizements, leaving both the people and the land impoverished.
It can be ascertained that while we can afford to ignore the events of past years since the return of Democratic rule in 1999, our legislators both at the National and state assemblies have bluntly failed to address our people or give us their accounts of stewardship as is the norm in other climes simply because they are aware that they do not have answers to questions to be put out to them.
Today, youths all over Nigeria are beginning to wake up from their slumber and we the Anioma youths are already in the forefront of this. This age long act of impunity to depriving us from being stakeholders in a government we voted into power will no longer find a place in our society.
As we speak today, it is unbelievable that no one can identify any of the constituency projects of our lawmakers, where they are cited or for what amount. Our yearly budgets run their full courses without us knowing what or which is allocated or designated for our land. They run governance like their personal business empire or secret cult.
For the few projects that they own up and lay claims to as their constituency projects, all that are littered are poor jobs shoddily executed far below standard and specifications. In other cases, same projects are being laid claims to by different Representatives and even governments year in year out.
Worse of it is that they single -handedly choose weak projects that have no direct impact on the masses all because they deliberately evade us and refuse to create an avenue to meet, discuss or interact with their constituents on issues of government and governance as our representatives even when we know that such sessions would give them the opportunities to understand what our plights are with a view to pushing into the yearly budgets.
Understandably, this is because before now, nobody had cared to verify or monitor these projects or hold those involved accountable. However, we might take the blame for the decades past but we want to assure them and anyone coming after now that AYF-W has raised the bar. It will no longer be business as usual.
Based on the foregoing, the Anioma Youth Forum Worldwide has decided to play the missing role of the watchdog of Anioma and its people. We therefore make the following demands and with all forms of seriousness:
1: We hereby call on the Senator representing the good people of Delta North, Sen. Peter Nwaoboshi, his counterparts in the lower chamber of the National Assembly representing Aniocha/Oshimili, Ika and Ndokwa/ Ukwuani Federal constituencies, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, Hon. Victor Nwokolo and Hon. Evangelist Ossai Ossai respectively that from today till the last day of March 2021, being the end of the first quarter of the year, all arrangements should be made to organize their constituency briefings and render accounts of stewardship since 2019 to our people, their own people.
2: That a list of all their constituency projects supposedly executed between 2019 and 2020 be made public for us to verify.
3: That we demand to know what projects are allocated to Anioma land in the 2021 budget that was just signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari. This is to enable us prepare for full time inspection and monitoring.
While we expect that these simple and civilised demands of ours are given the urgent attention it deserves, we will not shy away from taking all steps necessary to ensure that these demands are met and timely. It should be noted that our Directorate of Research and Planning is working independently to get all the facts and figures about these above listed issues and they will guide us as we won't hesitate to approach the Independent and Corrupt practices commission ICPC for help. This is one out of other steps to be taken to get our Representatives to render confirmable accountability.
In the same vein, We hereby empower and charge the 9 Local Government chapters of this noble forum to take a clue and demand same accountability from all members representing us in the Delta state House of Assembly. We must know what is in the budget for us in 2021 as well as what they have all done since 2019 because the need to know has become inevitable.
It should also be on record that we are not unmindful of the huge roles the Local Government Councils play in good governance but while it is unfortunate that the tenure of the immediate past Chairmen just elapsed, we must still ask questions over their stewardship across the 9 LGAs.
Similarly, our searchlight will not be fixated only on the elected leaders. All those holding critical appointive positions at the Federal level under President Buhari's administration and who have refused to use their offices to attract development to our land and people will have a day with the Anioma youths not long from now. They will also account to us as they must not waste and plunder the good will of their present offices leaving us and the next generation with nothing.
Anioma Youth Forum Worldwide (AYF-W), makes this as a clarion call and a passionate appeal on all well meaning sons and daughters of Anioma Nation to rise up and make meaningful contribution towards the growth and development of our people so as to take her rightful place of pride among the comity of ethnic Nationalities in Delta State and Nigeria at large.
Finally, may we use this opportunity to reiterate our earlier call on President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR to consider the peaceful agitations by majority of well meaning and conscious Niger Delta youths on the need to constitute a substantive board of the NDDC as we view the long time absence of a substantive board as an impediment to the growth of the region as designed and empowered by the NDDC Act 2000. The fragile normalcy in the region must not be broken for whatever reason.
God bless AYF-W
God bless Anioma Nation
God bless Delta State
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Signed:
Comr. Nnamdi O. Ofonye
National President
Comr. Sadik Nwachukwu Enemosa
Deputy National President
Comr. Frank Odum
National Secretary
Comr. Elvis Ekwukwo
National Pub Secretary
Comr. William Ugbo
Director, Contact & Engagements
Comr. Samuel Anukwu Esq.
Director, Research & Planning
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