Let govt know your problems, Yar’Adua charges ethnic nationalities
By Ihuoma Chiedozie and Sola Adebayo
Published: Friday, 24 Apr 2009
President Umaru Yar‘Adua on Thursday urged leaders and elders of the various ethnic nationalities in the country to come to the Presidential Villa, Abuja and tell him the problems faced by their people.

The President said such visitations would enable his government to get a first hand knowledge of the problems and challenges confronting Nigerians in all parts of the country.

Yar‘Adua made the call during an audience he granted a visiting delegation of the South-South Elders and Leaders Forum, at the State House.

Informing the delegation that he had to call off a scheduled trip to Tinapa in Calabar, venue of an ongoing summit on the Niger Delta, because of the South-South Elders’ visit, Yar‘Adua said discussions with the groups would also help the government to solve problems in all parts of the country.

He said, “I welcome visitations from leaders from all parts of the country so that we will know first hand the problems of the peoples of this country.

“I recall that just about four weeks ago, I received members of the Arewa Consultative Forum and I made a call for leaders from other parts of this country to visit us so that we can interact .”

The President noted that the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs was the third of its kind in the country, as it was established specifically to tackle developmental problems in the oil-rich region.

He said the new ministry was similar to the defunct Ministry of Lagos Affairs, and the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory Administration.

Yar‘Adua also expressed hopes that stakeholders participating in the summit in Calabar would be able to fashion a developmental strategy for the troubled region, using the 15-year Niger Delta Development Master plan as a platform.

He said the plan would ensure a ”total transformation of the region” in 15 years.

“Infact, I was to open the summit today but I asked the vice-president to represent me due to this meeting (with the South-South delegation),” Yar‘Adua said.

Earlier, leader of the delegation, Chief Edwin Clark, said the South-South Elders and Leaders Forum were in the Villa to ”pay a courtesy call, and pledge loyalty” to the President.

Clark thanked Yar‘Adua for receiving the delegation at a very short notice, and also for selecting their ‘son,’ Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, as his deputy.

He commended the President for establishing the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, and appointing two Niger Delta indigenes as the ministers in charge of the establishment.

He said, “We congratulate you for your understanding of the problems of the Niger Delta; you have allowed the Niger Delta Development Commission to remain and you have provided more funds for them to operate.”

Clark thereafter, called on a former Chief of General Staff, Admiral Mike Akhigbe, to read out the South-South‘s demands to the President.

Although the President was obviously ready to listen to the demands, Akhigbe, after hesitating for a moment, informed the President that the request should be made in private, without the presence of journalists who were covering the event.

Akhigbe described the demands as ”issues of family discussion which we don‘t want to open to the press.”

Consequently, the President had to make his remarks before journalists departed the conference room where the meeting took place, to allow the South-South delegation express themselves.

Members of the delegation included Chief Alfred Diette-Spiff, Chief Chibudum Nwuche, Chief Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas, Senator Stella Omu, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun and Mrs. Bolere Ketebu, among others.

Clark, who confirmed the private session with the President in a telephone interview last night, said the problems of the Niger Delta dominated discussions at the meeting.

Clark said, “We discussed the problems facing the Niger Delta region and the South South as a whole with the President. The meeting was very important and that is why the President did not go to the South-South Economic Summit. The President had to send his deputy, Jonathan, to Calabar.

“The meeting was in two phases; first, the general courtesy call and secondly, the closed door session in which we discussed major things affecting the region.”

Although he was not forthcoming on the details of the closed door meeting with Yar’Adua, another member of the team, who craved anonymity, said the South- South leaders demanded accelerated development of the region.

The source said the leaders told the President that they had elicited assurances from the militants in the region to embrace dialogue and give peace a chance.

They also requested the President to allow the detained leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Mr. Henry Okah, to benefit from the recent presidential amnesty to the Niger Delta warlords.

According to him, the leaders also raised the issue of payment of the outstanding funds due to the Niger Delta Development Commission.

He said, “We met with the President and assured him that peace had returned to the region. We told the President that our youths have agreed to lay down their arms and ready for dialogue with the Federal Government. The President was urged to immediately embark on all-round development of the region and massive youth empowerment.

“I also remember that the President was pleaded with to release the outstanding N300bn due to the NDDC. The leaders were of the opinion that the money would assist greatly in the development of the region.”

Another source at the meeting disclosed that the South-South leaders reminded the President of their initial agitation for a review of the derivation formula to allow the region to get as much as 50 per cent.

You took time to make a thread, copy and paste, but some how you refuse to leave your opinion? Excellent.


Yardua may want to focus on much more pressing issues instead of encouraging division among the very people he is supposed to be ruling.

Can you not see the man is deranged .What do you want to say?

Are u telling me that  this man does not know the plight of people - how interesting.

The man is suddenly awake? WOW!! I guess count down to 2011 has already begun!!! lol

blacksta:

Are u telling me that this man does not know the plight of people - how interesting.

What do you think?

YaraDeranged is at it again.

This is an endorsement of Ethnic division.

I want someone to tell me how the most pressing priorities of any group of people from any ethnic group is not inter-twined in the aspirations and challenges of the Nigerian people as a whole

We need a 21st Century President, Yar'adua should go home.

[size=18pt]2 years on, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria still need lectures on the country's Problems.[/size]

Give the man a break! He must either be a late starter or nonstarter. He will wake up one day and discover that his time is up.