Mr President, Dr Betta Edu’s Achievements As Minister Speak Volume- IYC
The Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) is a known civil rights organization in Nigeria’s Niger Delta Region that aims at promoting the interest of the oil rich region unlike those hiding under faceless groups to taint the hard earned reputation of one of President Tinubu’s best performing ministers and our proud daughter,Dr Betta Edu.
This is not surprising given her sterling performance in Ministry.It is not also surprising that as a performer and a poster girl of Mr.President’s Renewed Hope Agenda that Dr Edu is, she is attracting the bile of some misguided elements which is what the faceless individuals behind a recent media attack on the Minister are.
Ordinarily, the Ijaw Youth Council is too focused and too occupied with development programmes in the South South region in particular and Niger Delta region in general, to respond to a faceless group claiming to speak for the people of the region but it behoves on all our sons and daughters who wish the oil rich region well to always stand to be counted whenever hired goons and agents of destabilization try to bare their fangs.
This explain why it has become imperative to puncture the lies told against Dr Edu in a jejune and baseless press statement planted in some national dailies by a phantom group, Coalition of South South Civil Society Organisations led by non- existing Emmanuel Gabriel Abela.
It is also imperative to remind the urchins behind the distasteful media attack that Dr Edu has neither been indicted nor convicted for any financial infraction by the anti graft agency.It is therefore laughable that the faceless group is calling on President not to reinstate Dr. Edu to her office.
Dr Edu has never, did not and will never dip her hands into a public till hence the Ijaw Youth Council is strongly convinced that she will be vindicated soon and restored to her office.
IYC hereby urges the general public, especially Niger- Deltans to ignore the vituperations of the frustrated individuals masquerading as a Coalition of Niger Delta Civil Society Organisations.They do not represent the people of the region.
The Ijaw Youth Council and other known Niger Delta groups, are solidly behind our adorable and hardworking daughter of the south south region.
We are proud of her achievements in the Ministry and appeal to Mr President to reinstate her to continue to lift the poor and vulnerable out of multi- dimensional poverty inline with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the administration.
The achievements of Dr Edu in her ministry within the short period of her stay, including the verification of the National social register,which led to the commencement of payment of grants to thousand of Nigerians, the launching of trader Moni to help market men and women, the restructuring of the Npower programme for more efficiency which has started yielding results, payment of grant to Vulnerables across Nigeria, visit to and provision of relief materials to several IDP camps, among many others are verifiable defining features of Dr Edu’s stewardship in the Ministry.
Given the foregoing, the IYC urges Mr President to urgently restore our daughter back to office as the poor and vulnerable in Nigeria yearn for her return so that she will continue her selfless role of standing in the gap for them under the Renewed Hope Agenda.
Comrade Bedford Berefa Benjamin is the spokesman of the Ijaw Youth Council Worldwide.
