Posted by By Tony Amadi on
Restiveness in various parts of Rivers State and the country especially as perpetrated by youths, has been attributed to frustration as a result of joblessness and idleness.
Restiveness in various parts of Rivers State and the country especially as perpetrated by youths, has been attributed to frustration as a result of joblessness and idleness.
In a chat with Telegraph in his palace at Egwi in Etche local government area of the state on Saturday, the Onye-Ishi Agwuru-Igbo clan, HRH Eze (Dr) Sir Job Nwala (JP), expressed concern that youths in the state and beyond have been left with so much time doing nothing, a situation that has turned them into more of the devil's workshop.
The royal father attributed crisis, which occurred in his clan in recent times to unguarded frustration among the youths, and appealed to government to empower them so that they can earn a decent living.
A retired staff of Panalpina Shipping Company, Eze Nwala is said to have engaged in consultations with his council of chiefs, Nzuko Igbo clan and the police in the area to bring the situation under control.
He used the opportunity to advise youths of the clan to eschew confrontation at all times and develop the spirit of dialogue in all they do so as to turn out better members of the society.
Sir Nwala gave kudos to the Chairman of Etche local government area, Ephraim Nwuzi, for emerging the IMB's best performing local government chairman in the state, proudly acknowledging that the chairman's performance was worthy of the recognition and honour given him.
He noted with delight that the chairman's open-door policy and all-inclusive leadership style, which qualities yield good ideas for maximum performance, must have earned him the high rating, further charging him to redouble his effort so as to serve the people better and win more laurels.
The man, who ascended his clan's height chieftaincy stool in 1996, two years later than he was offered the rare opportunity, all to safeguard a dear mother's interest and feeling, is blessed with eight children, split equally along gender divide. And with dancing originally as No. 1 hobby, the royal father has, however, now pitched with draught stars and plays his draught to a championship height, albeit, participating in no tournament but just to while away idle moments and keep the mind creative.
If there is an area where the Eze would earnestly want immediate government attention, that area is the provision or restoration of pipe-borne water to his people. This was said to have ceased to be in place during the tenure of Sir Isaiah Choko, a former chairman of old Etche local government area.
To this end, Sir Nwala has appealed to Chief Ephraim Nwuzi to extend his good performance to cover the restoration of this amenity in the clan.
"This situation gives me serious concern because I have the interest of my people as top priority even against my personal business. So I would want government in the state and local council to come to our aid.
"We have made several appeals to NDDC, Shell and other similar bodies to help but none has responded and reached us with the needed help".
The Eze's hard stance on cultism and other vices like drug addiction is reported to know no bounds and he expressed his opinion in these words: "I have always condemned these. Government condemns it. I and my council of chiefs are against it. We have been preaching all day long against it. And by the grace of God, these vices are most minimal in this community".
He extolled Governor Odili's leadership style, which he said, must have earned him the honour as the golden governor of the nation.
He also described resource control as the "great expectation" of the state and South-South geo-political zone, and advised the federal government to look critically into it and do what is right. He added: "Personally, I am not happy that I am producing something and somebody else is taking it from me".
As a Justice of the Peace (JP), and traditional ruler, several court sessions are said to hold in his palace, for which events he commended highly the activity level of his council of chiefs.
"The council is very active. There could be lapses, but the council remains formidable. On the whole, I rate them 85% active", Eze Nwala summed up.