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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Middle-Belt elders back South-South for Presidency in 2007
ELDERS, largely drawn from the North-Central zone of the country under the aegis of Middle-Belt Progressive Movement (MBPM) have expressed support for the presidency to shift to the South-South in 2007, to promote equity and Justice.
The Elders from Adamawa, Taraba, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Benue, parts of Kaduna and Borno states met in Kaduna to also deliberate on the suit filed by the 19 northern governors and some of their counterparts from the South-West against the abrogation of on-shore/off-shore dichotomy in the sharing of oil revenue.
In a statement on Wednesday, they explained that "after deliberation on the issues involved, especially the deprivation of the people of the Niger-Delta and the degradation of their soil as well as their enormous contributions to the nation's economy, the Board of Elders regarded the suit as unnecessary, vexatious and provocative as it is frivolous and insensitive".
The MBPM's National Chairman, Potter Dabup, a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG), who signed the statement, in conjunction with other notable elders, including Mr. Alex Mshelia, contended that the case filed by the governors at the Supreme Court was capable of bringing disunity in the country and threatening democracy.
The Middle-Belt elders also resolved that the revenue sharing formula should as a matter of right revert to the pre-civil war rate of 50 per cent and that in the interim, the constitutional position as well as the on-shore/off-shore abrogation law must be adhered to by all those who wish Nigeria well.
The statement added: "The Board of Elders further noted the meeting of the South-South Consultative Assembly on Tuesday, August 31, 2004 in Abuja and their resolution to produce the next President.
"We endorse the position of the South-South as stated provided that the leadership of the South-South Consultative Assembly will reach out to other zones, especially the Middle-Belt zone to work out joint modalities for actualising the objective".
Dabup urged: "The Middle-Belt governors who are being used by the so-called 19 Northern governors to retrace their steps by abandoning the suit filed in the Supreme Court against the abrogation of the on-shore/off-shore dichotomy bill".
Meanwhile, The Buba Marwa Endowment (TBME) is floating a skill acquisition programme for unemployed youths in Lagos State.
The South-West Co-ordinator of the TMBE, Alhaji Mohammed Olagbaye, who disclosed this in Lagos on Wednesday said the suitability of the skills to be imparted to such youths in a mega city like Lagos was being studied.
Olagbaye, who was reviewing the activities of the one-year old foundation, stated that the programme would help to check restiveness among the nation's teeming unemployed youths.
He said a similar programme was already in place in Kano State, and pointed out that the objective was to complement efforts of government in making the youths useful to themselves and the country.
The TMBE was set up on September 9, 2003, by a former Lagos State military administrator, retired Brig-Gen. Buba Marwa.
Marwa had, while inaugurating the foundation in Abuja, explained that part of its activities would be to provide assistance to indigent but brilliant students and succour to underprivileged women and children.
Olagbaye said the TMBE was also set to support commercial motorcyclists in Lagos State to ease transportation problems in some parts of the state.
On the foundation's scholarship scheme, Olagbaye said 900 out of more than 10,000 students who applied in the 2004/2005 academic session had been selected across the six geo-political zones of the country.
He added that the presentation of the awards to the benefiting students would be personally done by Marwa in selected universities and polytechnics in the country before the end of the year.
Olagbaye said the TMBE had also dug 50 boreholes in various communities spread across 15 states.
"Some have been inaugurated while some are in progress. It is hoped that before the end of this year, at least a 100 of them will be in place covering all states of the federation," he stated.
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