N’Delta Govs Urged to Curb Restiveness

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Governors of the states in the Niger Delta region have been tasked to pursue productivity by engaging the youths in meaningful and creative activities that would distract them from getting involved in any form of criminality.

The Mayor of Housing, My-ACE China, made this call yesterday in his speech after he was crowned the Mayor of Peace by the United Nations Polac Foundation in consonance with the UN General Assembly Declaration for Peace and Non-Violence.

China, who noted that the youths, if made productive, will pay less attention to criminal activities, appealed to the governments to promote job creation in order to reduce conflict in the region.

He said:  “My message to the Niger Delta governors and the people is to pursue productivity because I have never seen anyone pursuing productivity that stirs trouble where he works. Everybody wants to earn daily bread to promote peace, promote productivity.

 “The youths form the highest population segment of Nigeria. If they are productive, they will pay less attention to trouble. Let the government promote job creation to reduce conflict. Even with things as small as entertainment, you can reduce conflict because as the youths prepare to showcase an event or a contest, they pay less attention to conflict and trouble.

“If there is no profit, there will be conflict because a hungry man is an angry man.  Whatever will make more profit to people would be good.”

He said the Rivers State programmes of social housing and youth development would create a great positive impact in the state, stressing that: “The Rivers State Government has come out with programmes that would ensure that most of the youths are gainfully engaged. So, the organised private sector should get down working in order to get more youths engaged.”

China further stated that: “Nigerian youths want to use their energy to earn profit. So, the government should focus on projects that would absorb more youths, thereby making them happy. Earners are happy people.

“We appealed to the government and the leaders to stop rewarding thuggery because it discourages hardworking and productive youths in the society.”

Earlier at the award event, the Registrar and Director of Programmes, UN-POLAC, Pat Agu, explained that UN-POLAC is an international autonomous institution, a peace advocacy organisation that came to bear following the UN General Assembly’s resolution declaring 2001-2010 as a decade of peace and non-violence.