AWKA – Obi of Onitsha, His Royal Majesty,Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe has called on the President, Ahmed Bola Tinubu to consider convoking a National Economic and Security Council summit to discuss the myriad of economic and security challenges facing the country with a view to proffering solutions to them.
The Monarch made the call at the weekend during the 2024 ofala festival in his Imeobi palace Onitsha.
He reasoned that the first year of President Tinubu’s administration was marked by the uncertainty induced by the aftermath of the general elections and further heightened by unceasing insecurity and the effects of the sudden removal of fuel subsidy leading to increased pump price of petrol.
For these reasons, the general well-being of the polity declined even more steeply making the economic and security sectors the most critical areas of enlarged concerns which had adversely affected the people’s cost of living,led to job losses, business closures,a growing sense of hopelessness and mistrust in government and leadership.
He expressed regrets that inspite of calls by individuals and several organisations like High Chief Gani Adams, League of Nigerian Columnists,The Patriots,Afenifere, Arewa Consultative Forum,The Yoruba Council of Elders and others on the government to act constructively and firm, nothing is yet seen to have been activated to reverse or ameliorate the situation.
The Onitsha Monarch noted that even when these individuals and groups appeared at various times to have made suggestions which included but not limited to devolution of powers and downsizing of governance, addressing the nexus between insecurity, agriculture and high cost of living, bridging the effects of fuel price hike on cost of living, tackling bad governance characterized by corruption and ostentation, the government seemed to oblivious of them.
The Monarch said the summit Will enable to develop a comprehensive plan to address the challenges and integrate same into a positive and implementable blue print for the country’s future.
In another breadth,the Monarch also took a swipe at the Anambra State Governor,Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo for allegedly crippling the traditional institution in the state at s time other state governments and the government at the center were working hard to enhance the relevance of the institution.
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In his speech at the ofala ceremony,the Traditional Ruler said he was embarrassed to wake up one morning to find that the Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council he headed had been dissolved and dubbed as an illegal organization by the State Government.
“This is most unfortunate at this period that other states,as well as well as the federal government and the National Assembly are seeking ways to enhance the relevance of the the traditional institution in the country
“Besides the inability of the Traditional Rulers Council in the state to meet to deliberate on matters of interest to the state, the state traditional institution consequently has no mandate to participate in the affairs of the nation’s traditional institution at the national and sub regional levels”,he said.
Providing the prelude to dissolution of the council,the monarch said: “On 12 January, 2024 I was constrained to address a public letter to the Honourable Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Community Affairs of Anambra State in my capacity as the Chairman of the Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council (ASTRC).
“My letter was sequel to the suspension of the traditional ruler of Neni and the demand for apology from two other traditional rulers by the Commissioner through correspondence posted on the social media by the Ministry.
“Both correspondences by the Commissioner and I naturally generated much attention on the social media resulting in the discontinuation of the monthly meetings of the ASTRC by the Government since March, 2024.
“This was on the pretext that the ASTRC, which was constituted and hitherto supervised by the State Government, had suddenly become illegal,” he lamented.
