Igbo Youth Assembly Declares Support For LG Autonomy

Igbo Youth Assembly, a socio-political movement has declared its support for the ongoing moves by President Muhammadu Buhari to restore local government autonomy in Nigeria.

IYA President, Mr Ifeanyi Nwaudunna, who made the declaration on Monday in Abuja said that the move by Buhari would enable ordinary Nigerians benefit more from the dividend of democracy. “We commend the move, it will bring development to local government areas especially the financial strong hold of the councils by state governors,” he said.

Nwaudunna said the group was involved in strong advocacy to promote the national unity of the country and also by supporting strong policies being initiated by Buhari`s administration to spread development across the states and regions.

“In the youth assembly which I am the president, we support development policies; such as local government reform, we are in strong advocacy of unity and national integration.

“We agree that there are problems confronting the country, ranging from insecurity, kidnapping and violent crimes, there is the need for the state governments and federal to improve on governance and tackle these challenges,’’ he said.

Speaking on political restructuring, the youth president who is lawyer, regretted that the Igbos were not given proper attention by Buhari’s first tenure but says all hope is not lost. He said the Igbos are contributing socially, economically and politically to the Nigeria project, adding that a lot of expectations from the youth council were not properly attended to.

“Our people are not given positions, but in terms of capital projects, the present government under Buhari has done more than any other person in the Igbo land, “he said.

According to him, the road projects have contributed immensely to boosting economy of the area. “We have made demands, the Igbo youth assembly have requested President Buhari to listen to the voice of reason on how best to handle the exclusion of the Igbos in some key positions of the federation,“he said.

He advised the president to fix political technocrats in key positions who could deliver to the satisfaction of Nigerians who voted them into power. “Technocrats, be they politicians should be patriotic Nigerians and those who have dedicated themselves to the services of the nation professionally,” he added.

We have high hopes that the president forth coming cabinet would be made up of men and women of high integrity and competence,” he said.

This, Nwaudunna assured, would go a long way to manifesting into effective governance across the nook and crannies of the country.

(NAN)