The Ijaw National Congress (INC) has taken a swipe at President Bola Tinubu-led administration over perceived lopsidedness in the Federal appointments.
According to the group, Tinubu is being of favour to a particular ethnic group in the sharing of political appointments at the detriment of others.
The INC, in a statement by its National President, Professor Benjamin Okaba said the development runs foul of the Federal character as enshrined in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
It queried the rationale for the proposed appointment of a non-Ijaw man as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports of Authority.
The statement read in part, “We are constrained by the exigencies of the recent federal political developments, especially in terms of appointments, which are skewed in favour of one ethnic nationality to make the following assertions;
“That the Ijaw have been left out of the present government of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and have no representation in the entire executive branch of the Federal Government of Nigeria, except for only one federal Ministerial position.
“We assert that this is not acceptable to the Ijaw people who are major contributors to the Nigerian economy. The Ijaw nation has the dominant population in five coastal states of Nigeria and contributes disproportionately to the revenue of the country.
“That we the Ijaw live in and occupy no less than 65% of Nigeria’s coastal lands but have no representation in government ministries charged with the development of our region and homeland economy. These ministries include but not limited to the Ministries of Marine and Blue Economy and its parastatals, Transportation and its agencies, etc.
“The Ijaw people have been precluded from participating in matters of the development of their own territory even when the resources of these territories contribute immeasurably to the revenue sustaining the entire nation. We do not and shall not accept this practice of exploitation and under-representation.”
Irked by the development, the INC, therefore, demanded inclusion in the Federal Government, particularly the executive branch as well insisted that Ijaw be adequately represented in policy formulation, planning and implementation of development projects and programmes in Nigeria’s marine economy and associated ministries, parastatals and agencies.
“We demand without equivocation that an Ijaw person be appointed Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority. This is because no Ijaw person has occupied that office since the establishment of the organisation in 1955.
“We demand representation on every board or parastatal related to the marine economy in Nigeria. We insist that Government should not be exploiting the resources of our land, seafront and territory without representatives appointed from among our people who own the territory.
“We demand immediate actions to be taken and corrections made on the issues raised above.
“We insist that the acceptance of amnesty by our people, which has drastically reduced the multifaceted and multidimensional agitations, some of which occasionally injure the national economy, should not be seen as an instrument of subjugating and cowing the Ijaw people.
“We state unequivocally that the only way to allow sleeping dogs to lie is for the Federal Government to be fair, equitable and just to the Ijaw who are the real owners of the marine economy.”
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