Omiete Blessing
Some stakeholders Ogoni, in Rivers State, have identified disrespect and disunity amongst the people as reason for the underdevelopment of the area.
The stakeholders, who spoke yesterday, at a workshop on attitudinal change organised by a group, Ogoni United Family (OUF) in Bori, Khana Local Government Area of the state, emphasised the need for respect for leaders and constituted authorities so as to benefit from natural resources in the area.
The stakeholders stressed the need for the youths in the area to shun vices and work in unity to develop the area while maintaining the peace.
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Speaking at the event, the leader of Ogoni Liberation Initiatives (OLI), Dr Douglas Fabeke, said one of the reasons Ogoni has not developed was the lack of respect for the leaders by the youths and disunity amongst the people.
He noted that one of the principles of prosperity in every society is respect, adding that development can only be achieved where respect and unity thrives.
“The disrespect of our leaders is affecting this generation of Ogoni, there is a biblical principles behind prosperity of every society and one of the principles is the respect for our elders, if we find ourself in a society where we do not respect our leaders, that society will lack directions and our values will be lost in the process.
“Why we have remain stagnated is because we have devalued our leaders and also devalued our resources, that’s why there is no development,” he stated.
On his part, a keynote speaker, Prof Desmond Nbete, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), noted the need for the Ogonis to see themselves as one and work in synergy so as to develop their region.
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Speaking on the topic, “Attitudinal Change as a Psycho-Social Imperative for Unity in Ogoni”, Prof Nbete said development is possible if the ethnic nationality can come together and put a stop a ‘crab mentality’.
“Lets not have a crab mentality, it will only cause setbacks to the development of our dear Ogoni, the narrative that the Ogoni people are known for vices needs to change through this attitudinal change and entrepreneurship seminar.
“We should not allow politics divide us instead we should use the parties to our advantage and ensure development in our land,” he stated.
Also speaking, the facilitator of the one day seminar, Dominic Dumekphigi, explained that the programme became necessary due to the high level of disunity among Ogoni people and the realisation that development cannot be achieved in the absence of love and honour.
“What prompted us to organise this programme is because of the environment we are coming from, because we discovered that what binds us is unity and love and in the absence of that, there is no development.
We also seeing that our people are divided along the lines and these are the things that have hindered development in Ogoni, so in order for us to progress we felt it is right to have this attitudinal change lecture to strategies on how we can think and interact positively to achieve development in Ogoniland”, Dumekpigi said.
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