Ebis Orubebe, the chairman Niger Delta Youth Leaders Council and director general, Jonathan Youth Vanguard, in this interview says President Goodluck Jonathan deserves to be reelected on account of his achievements. He also spoke on how sustain peace in the Niger Delta region.
By Clifford Ndujihe
On what Jonathan Youth Vanguard is all about
Ebis Orubebe
Jonathan Youth Vanguard is an official youth body drumming support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election. Its membership cuts across all the states, tribes and regions of the country including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. Our job purely is to mobilize youths and women support for the President’s transformation agenda.
On why they are supporting President Jonathan’s reelection
We, the youths of the this country and Nigerians in general have seen what our past leaders did during their administrations. Mr. President has done excellently well within the period he assumed office as the President of Nigeria. So, there is need for us to continue to drum up support for his reelection because of his tremendous achievements.
We are calling on every meaningful Nigerian to support this transformation agenda. Our group as the official youth body is calling on all Nigerian youths and women to support and encourage the president’s reelection in 2015. I also want to use this opportunity to thank the numerous groups for unanimously endorsing President Jonathan for second term especially the PDP governors Forum, the PDP NEC and TAN.
On how they came up the assessment that the president has done ‘excellently well’
On education, as soon he took over, he created nine universities across the six geo-political zones. Today, all are functional and this has reduced the stress of getting admission into universities. He also provided intervention funds for universities and other tertiary institutions.
He has also set up Almajiri’s school as part of the effort to alleviate the insecurity challenge that we are facing in the country today. This is the first time in the history of the country that a sitting president is such and provided the students with uniform and education materials. Also, girl-child education is being encouraged.
On security, The president is doing his best because no president in Nigeria has faced the kind of security challenge that confronted the Jonathan’s administration. But you can see the successes his administration has recorded in recent time in the fight against terrorism in Borno and Yobe states.
The president means well for this country and he is determined to fight terrorism to a standstill and we are beginning to see the successes. He has signed bilateral agreement with some western countries to improve on the fight against terrorism in the country especially in the northern parts of the country.
In the Niger Delta, the situation is no longer the way it used to be before he took over. He has been able to bring to a standstill the crisis in the area especially militancy through the amnesty office and we are all enjoying peace in the area. Even in the South-East, the kidnapping problem has also been put to an end. So, the president deserves commendation not condemnation.
As the chairman of Niger Delta Youth Leaders Council, how do you manage the restive Niger Delta youth?
I am a peace loving person. I play my role as a leader and if I see trouble anywhere I try to restore peace. If people are agitating or protesting, I talk to them. Some of them may be acting based on ignorance or misinformation. So, what I to do is to continue to talk to them to ensure peace and come up with ideas that will improve the situation rather than applying violence which used to be the situation in the past.
So, you can see that our orientation has changed. We are building a new Niger Delta, we are trying to educate them on the need to come up with brilliant ideas that we can sell to government and various government agencies in the Niger Delta area.
On sustaining peace in the Niger Delta
We thank God for giving us the wisdom to lead our youths. We are working together with government agencies to ensure that our youths are taken away from the streets. I thank the NDDC for introducing several schemes to empower and build our youths. Recently, they initiated a programme called ‘Niger Delta Volunteer Service Scheme’ as a way of engaging our youths.
The new scheme by NDDC to help unemployed youths in the Niger Delta is a laudable programme that would go a long way in reducing social vices associated with youths as a result of idleness. I just hope the programme will be sustained to accommodate as many youths as possible. So, I advise that they involve those that are really in need of job.
The NDDC is just one of the federal government agencies in the region. I urge the other federal government agencies to develop youth empowerment programmes as NDDC is doing and in doing that, most of our youths will be taken care of.
The NDDC is about to begin a training programme in Benin Republic. They want to train people in various schemes especially in carpentry, POP making, so that when you want to build, you don’t have to ‘import’ people from Ghana, Togo and other countries. I want to personally thank the entire board of the NDDC especially the MD/CEO Dan-Abia and his SA Youth, George Turnar, for the wonderful programmes they are implementing to help the youths of the Niger Delta.
His advice to Niger Delta youths and Nigerians ahead of the 2015 general election?
Like I said earlier, I am a peace loving person and for that, I will not allow any Niger Deltan to take up arm against anybody in 2015 general election. The President has said this on several occasions that his ambition does not worth the blood of anybody. We, in the Jonathan Youth Vanguard, are peace loving people.
So, if people in other quarters are hoping to make trouble, we believe that the security agencies are capable of handling any situation. Even if we are provoked, we know the security agencies will handle it. So, we will continue to advise Niger Delta youths to continue to take the position we have agreed on, to continue to live in peace and harmony and to enable us build unity among us.
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