The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) has urged Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to fulfil his promise to youths in the Niger Delta region when he visited Delta State.
During his visit to the state in February 2017, Professor Osinbajo had promised to meet with youths in the region to discuss how to get them more involved in governance and also to address their concerns.
Speaking at the inauguration of the new exco members of the Council, the youths said their appeal was apt, especially with the call for restructuring that has been on the front burner recently.
The new president of the Council, Eric Omare urged the Acting President to fulfil his ‘meet-the–youth tour’ promise, stating that the agenda of the IYC under his watch was complete resource control.
He said: “Like Major Boro who declared the Niger Delta Republic on February 23, 1966, and gallantly battled the federal forces for 12 days, the IYC under this leadership will vigorously pursue self-determination and resource control through dialogue. The IYC was founded in 1998 to pursue two agenda – self-determination and resource control for the Ijaw nation”.
“Self-determination may mean many things to different people but to us the Ijaw people, self-actualisation means having a political space where we will have total control of our resources and we will be able to govern ourselves. I urge the Acting President to consider meeting with us as soon as possible,” Omare added.
