Former Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Gabriel Toby, and some top stakeholders in the Niger Delta region have called for a reversal in the country’s spending model where 90 percent of the nation’s resources are used to cater for 10 percent of the population, who are mostly politicians.
The stakeholders described such as sad and major causes of the nation’s problems such as agitations, conflict, and crisis. They are therefore seeking an urgent reversal of the model and demanding that 90 percent of the resources should be channeled to addressing the needs of 90 percent of the population comprising the middle and lower class, while 10 percent only can go to the upper class.
According to the stakeholders, the reversal may hurt the rich but is very necessary if the government is intentional about transforming the nation. They urged the politicians to accept the proposal in good faith, eschew selfishness and greed, and be people-oriented if they actually desire to move the nation forward.
The calls were made during a multi-stakeholders State-level Dialogue, tagged: Promoting Peaceful Coexistence and Inter-Community Dialogue in Rivers State, organised by Search for Common Ground, and funded by the European Union.
The stakeholders argued that most conflicts in Rivers State arose from the selfish attitude of politicians.
Toby said, “The problem with the political gladiators is selfishness and greed. Most of them are not for the communities. Politics, when practiced well, is good because if you don’t have people who organise the State, it will have impact in the society. But the point is that those who play politics should go into politics with a mind to serve, not to amass wealth. Communities, the common man will admire them if they serve well.”
The former deputy governor called for peace, stating that there will be no development without peace.
Also speaking, the Director, Center for Peace and Security Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Martin Ifeanacho, said what exists in Nigeria at the moment is “survival mentality,” where everyone is fighting to survive because the few political class have taken almost all the nation’s resources.
He stressed the need to cut down the excesses of the rich and use it to improve the living standard of the majority of the people.
He said, “We need leaders who understand that you cannot fight poverty by acquiring all the available resources. We need a system to cut down on the excesses of the rich and use the benefit got from the recovery to improve the quality of life of the poor.
“Nigeria is a class-based society where 90 percent of the resources are used to cater for 10 percent of the population, mostly politicians, and we are saying let’s reverse it. Let us use 90 percent of the resources to cater for the 90 percent of the population and 10 percent to the rich.”
He noted that the major causes of conflicts, crises, and pipeline vandalization are as a result of a few people diverting the commonwealth of Nigerians, but assured of a change if government hearkens to their reversal call.
The Component Manager, Search for Common Ground, Solomon Adejo, explained that the meeting was aimed at peaceful conflict resolution in communities.
Stakeholders from the academia, security, civil society, youth, among others, attended the meeting under the Community-Centered Approach in Transforming Criminality and Violence in the Niger Delta being implemented by SFCG and funded by the European Union.
