The people of Ogoni in Rivers state have given their position on some national issues.
This is contained in a communique made available to DAILY POST on Friday by President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Legborsi Saro Pyagbara.
On All Progressives Congress (APC) El-Rufai led committee report on restructuring, Pyagbara said while MOSOP was satisfied with the position on State Police, Resource Control, independent candidacy, State Prisons, mineral resources control, minimum wage, citizenship among others, it was dissatisfied with some.
He said: ”Reading through the report on restructuring, you will find that it reintroduces the already settled controversial issue of dichotomy on onshore/offshore oil production revenue.
“MOSOP believes that the negative externalities of resource extraction have no boundaries and the revenue accruing therefrom offshore cannot and should not be the exclusive preserve of the federal government.
”MOSOP does not agree to the scrapping of the current local government structure. We reiterate that the local government remains the only tier of government that offers grassroot people a semblance of government.
”MOSOP maintains its position that what we need for the local government now is that it be granted the autonomy and independence deserving of it to operate its own affairs.
”But the local councils and chairmen have to be elected on a zero-party platform while the councils are committed to strict constitutional safeguards that guarantee accountability and transparency.
”Part of the problems of the Nigeria Federation is that its convoluted structure is predicated and sustained by social and structural injustice. The present structure of the Nigeria Federation is defective, unfair, unjust and immoral. No nation can progress when its basic foundation is defective and made it impossible for its component unit to rise to the fullness of their potentials.
“Our proposal remains that the nations that make up the Nigeria-state must have a structural arrangement put in place that allow them to use their resources, innovations and initiatives in driving their development agenda within the context of a federal Nigeria.
“What we need is a truly federal system where the component states or federating entities can develop at their own pace and according to their capabilities and endowments. Any at attempt at restructuring that fails to address structural restructuring is bound to fail. On abduction of Dapchi schoolgirls, MOSOP extended its sympathies to the families of the abducted girls and the government of Yobe State.
“MOSOP regrets the security lapses that could lead to this type of situation in a state where there existed early warning signals that terrorists could attack at any moment once there is any opportunity.
“We call on the Federal Government to mobilise all sectors of its security apparati to ensure that these girls are released and returned back to their families.”
On ongoing voter registration ahead of the 2019 election, MOSOP called on Ogoni sons and daughters who have not performed their civic duty of registering to vote during elections to do so now in the spirit of national redemption and political empowerment.
“Our PVC remains our power for defining our future and the time to act is now. The time to demonstrate that we believe in effective political representation is now with our Permanent Voters’ Card.
”Whilst we laud INEC so far on this process, we also passionately appeal to INEC to make adequate logistic arrangements for those in remote areas to enable them carry out this civic responsibility of voter registration.”
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