Youths cutting across different kingdoms on Friday converged in Ogbe-Ijoh, headquarters of Warri South West Council for this years annual Ijay Unity Sensitization Conference.
The conference, which is an annual event spearheaded by Comrade Ellington Bakumor, Special Assistant to the Delta State Governor on Political Matters, centers on unifying Ijaws in the state.
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The 2020 edition brought burning issues on insecurity vis-a-vis cultism, drug abuse, sea piracy, thuggery to limelight, attracting plausible reactions from firsthand witnesses and victims.
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In his presentation paper, Bakumor took attendance on an history ride, making bare the tenets that drove the formation of cult organizations from around the world.
Citing founding fathers like Nobel Prize Laureate, Whole Soyinka and others, Bakumor stressed that cult groups initially throve on the ideology of freedom and emancipation from colonial oppression.
He lamented how present day cult activities have derailed from the original purpose they were forged upon, and have become a threat to a peaceful environment especially in Nigeria.
The Deputy Leader of the Egbesu Brotherhood asserted that there is a thin line between being a cult member and addict, noting that an average cultist is bound to abuse drugs.
He decried the rising rate of cult activities and other social vices in riverine communities and Ijaw nation in general, pointing that such activities were alien to the Ijaws and abominable before her traditional values.
He stated that while cultism has become an unavoidable routine in today’s society, the energy can be channeled towards productivity and even to the fight against injustice, oppression and marginalization.
The topic attracted reactions from youth leaders and stakeholders of Ijaw extraction across Delta state and beyond, who were present at the conference.
During the discussion session, thought leaders painted that idleness of mind and unavailability of proper orientation has given rise to these social vices, an earlier iteration by the convener.
Various speakers blamed the government, especially representatives of the Ijaws over their lackadaisical and nonchalant attitudes towards livelihood in the creeks.
They called for creation of engagement forums to prevent youths and teenagers from allowing idleness of mind lure them into becoming a menace to society.
In his own keynote address, the Senior Special Adviser on Waterways and Land Security, Alaowei Promise Lawuru, explained that insecurity has long been used as an excuse by government not to develop Ijaw areas.
According to the President of the Egbema Brotherhood, as if that was not enough, oil companies followed by declaring the Niger Delta insecure for head offices to be situated.
Lawuru maintained that youths must be deliberate in shunning violence and restiveness to allow government carry out it’s development plan for local communities.
National Coordinator of the Ijaw People’s Development Initiative, IPDI, Comrade Austin Ozobo charged on youths to channel their energies towards the agitations for the development of local communities and not be a bone in the neck of local residents.
He questioned the sense in being a source of insecurity to your own people as a direct result of cult activities, sea piracy, thuggery and the likes.
Odens Okaba, a foremost advocate for development and good governance in the Niger Delta, declared that should-have-been leaders are to be held responsible for the menace.
He emphatically charged leaders to rise up to the occasion by being accountable to youths who put up their necks to elect them into public offices.
On his part, Special Assistant on Special Duties to the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Comrade Collins Ogbe, lauded the initiative and promised to take the highlights of deliberations back to the bureau of orientation, to in turn report to the governor.
Ogbe further added that the state government has been doing a lot in recent times to engage youths through skill acquisition and entrepreneurial programmes, that going forward, information on such opportunities will be made public targeting the coastal areas.
Mienkebuna Fuludu, the Chairman of Western Zone Chairmen’s Forum of the Ijaw Youth Council, thumbed up the convener for the initiative, declaring that Council will henceforth collaborate with the convener to ensure the message of transformation is achieved.
Obvious solutions conclude upon include engagement of youths and teenagers, proper orientation exercises, deliberate employment approaches by government, IOCs and individuals.
