TROUBLED by the unwholesome activities of herdsmen on its Eastern flank, destabilised by the actions of militant groups in the South and disappointed at the perceived failure of its leaders, the southern part of Nigeria seems to be in distress.
Of the 11 states in the region that is split into South East and South South geopolitical zones, only a few appears to be succeeding while others are struggling to attain key parameters of governance.
With the situation creating the feeling of despair among the indigenes of the two geopolitical zones, a group of professionals who originated from the region, have taken it upon themselves to ensure that these myriad of challenges are fixed.
To this end, the group which is known as the South East/South South Professionals, SSP, paid a courtesy visit to the corporate headquarters of Vanguard Newspapers, where the points of provocation in the area were ventilated with a view to ensuring meaningful growth.
Led by its President, Mr. Emeka Ugwu-Oju and Mr. Albert Iyorah, Mr. Dagogo Karibi-Whyte and Mr. Charles Iyore, the team principally spoke on the issues of security, economy and governance as they presently stand in the zone.
On militancy/state of the nation
‘’Nigeria is very unstable and it has been confirmed that we are in a state of recession. Politically and economically we are not in a situation where we should be. For SSP we have where we think our people should be. That was the reason we came up with our development agenda which is a 20-year plan. Of course, we know we can realise that agenda if the country is not working. And that is an issue for us. It becomes more critical for us now that we have the Niger Delta crisis. The crisis affects the both regions and also the rest of the country. The South East/South South feels the pain so much.
‘’ We are interested in seeing the Niger Delta crisis resolved so that we can focus on our development agenda. But the way we see things, the crisis might not be resolved if someone thinks it will come through threat or force. The mistake people make is to think that the current militancy is about people carrying guns. It has shown a determination by those behind it to ensure that oil production gets to zero level. And this is not what requires force. We want to alert the nation that it will be self-destructive if violence is pursued having reached a consensus for dialogue.
‘’We will give kudos to the current Minister of State for Petroleum Resources who is ensuring that the crisis is resolved through dialogue. As SSP we are saying that nothing can be achieved by force and if that is done it will take us so many years back. And before we will get to where we are now it will be difficult. Therefore, the opportunity for dialogue should not be thrown away. We are also involved in the issue of dialogue because at the first meeting we had in Abuja with the NSA, Edo State governor, Minister of State for Agriculture, Minister of the Niger Delta, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Special Adviser on Amnesty Programme, the SSP was there. And we created a template for dialogue.
‘’ We also agreed that all the stakeholders come together and commence dialogue but unfortunately there has been a way of ensuring that dialogue did not take place. It is important to state that we are not partisan but we deal with issues that affect the region and the country. The government should perish the thought of using force because it will be a loss-loss situation. The government should handle the issue of equity and justice to be able to deal with the criminals in the region. But the absence of equity and justice provides an umbrella for criminality.
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