Ijaw youths under the banner of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide yesterday expressed disappointment over the current state of Nigeria, 57 years after independence from Britain.
The group said the life of an ordinary Ijaw person had not markedly improved in the last 57 years, and therefore called on the government at all levels, oil multinationals and other stakeholders “to reflect on the state of the country and to truthfully tell ourselves if we can continue in the same path.â€
In a statement made available to THISDAY in Yenagoa which was signed by the national spokesman of IYC, Daniel Dasimaka, the group said a large part of the concerns expressed by their forebears at the Constitutional Conference held in London in 1957 leading to the Willinks Commission remained unresolved. “It must be noted too that majority of the issues we raised through the Kaiama Declaration during our inception in 1998 (19 years ago) are still unaddressed.  “Till date, the quality of life of Ijaw people is deteriorating as a result of utter neglect, suppression and marginalisation visited on Ijaw people by the alliance of the Nigerian state and transnational oil companies,†the IYC lamented.
