Posted by By AGATHA NWAFOR on
A group, National Support For Yar'Adua/Jonathan Presidency (NSYJP), has appealed to the federal lawmakers to facilitate quick passage of the Freedom Of Information Bill to enhance the fight against corruption, budget monitoring and access to information.
A group, National Support For Yar'Adua/Jonathan Presidency (NSYJP), has appealed to the federal lawmakers to facilitate quick passage of the Freedom Of Information Bill to enhance the fight against corruption, budget monitoring and access to information.
In a statement in Abuja, the group's General Secretary, Kingsley Obolo, North West Coordinator, Jafaru Musa Yar'Adua, Deputy National Coordinator, Chief Emmanuel Omeata and National Director of Intelligence, John Gidado Sabe, condemned in strong terms the repeated rejection of the FOI bill, by the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
The NSYJP wondered why the House members who had set up probe panels to expose corruption will now constitute stumbling blocks to a law that will appropriately empower Nigerians to fight corruption, stressing that the rejection of the bill passage by the legislators is tantamount to betrayal of confidence and the mandate of the electorate.
Commenting on the Niger Delta crisis, the group called for peaceful dialogue between the youth leaders, militants and the Joint Military Task Force (JFT), advising that oil companies in the region should pay compensation to their host communities and that the NDDC should step up activities and projects for the benefit of the people.
The group cautioned that violence is not the solution to the Niger Delta imbroglio, adding that since the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is from the region, the aggrieved youths should channel their grievances through the office of the vice president for necessary action.
While blaming successive governments for the Niger Delta problems for not using the huge allocations accruable to the state governments in the region for the benefit of the people, they contended that President Yar'Adua had taken necessary steps to address the problem since he assumed office last year and they urged the militants to give peace a chance.
The group also described the late Senator Abraham Adesanya as a selfless leader, honest politician who fought repressive military regimes to a standstill despite their intimidating power, stressing that the freedom and democracy the country is enjoying today is due to his political doggedness along with other patriots.
Meanwhile, the group has decried the decay in the nation's health sector and they urged the federal and state ministries of health to act fast in tackling the problems bedeviling the nation's health sector.
The group observed that many of the hospitals in the country have become mere consulting clinics, carrying out wrong diagnosis with obsolete equipment. They urged the health authority to judiciously utilize the funds allocated to the health sector in this year's budget to tackle the problems.