An Ijaw leader, Chief Albert Horsfall, has called for the restructuring of the country, to allow the Ijaw ethnic nationality manage their own resources in the Niger Delta region.
Chief Horsfall who made the call at the second edition of Heroes of Ijaw Nation Award night in Port-Harcourt, on Saturday said that the Ijaw nation would have witnessed tremendous progress if it had been managing its resources, and appealed to the people of the Niger Delta to wake up from their slumber.
He said that Niger Delta deserves to get more since the mainstay of the Nigerian economy is from the resources of the Niger Delta and appealed to the federal government to avoid all forms of exploitation and abuse of power, in the Niger Delta.
Horsefall condemned the near absence of development in the region and warned against the danger of having the wealth of the nation concentrated in just some few hands.
In his keynote address, Amaopusenibo Bobo Brown, urged the people of the Niger Delta to draft a developmental plan for the region.
He said that the underdevelopment of the Niger Delta was due to a lack of a draft policy for the development of the region.
Brown said that the people of the Niger Delta would not be able to take adequate actions to reverse the decline of the region unless they understood root causes of the decline in the region.
He urged the people of the Niger Delta to produce a socio-economic framework for the enhancement of the dignity of citizens of the region and to avoid attempts to push down others, saying that the framework should generate a non-partisan collaboration for expansion of productive capacity and prosperity in the country.
On his part, one of the organizers of the event and President of Ijaw Republican Assembly Patriotic Front, Alatubo Charles Harry, said that the award was organized to honour eminent Ijaw sons who have excelled in their endeavours.
He said that the problem of the Ijaw nation should be intellectualized and internationalized, and not to attempt to solve the problems of the Ijaw nation through militancy, saying that they are working towards a new worldview.
Notable Ijaw sons were given award in different categories to appreciate and encourage them on what they have done.
Among others who were given award was the Amanyanabo of Twon Brass, HRH, King Alfred Diette Spiff.
