NIGERIA UNION OF JOURNALIST HELD APRIL CONGRESS

BY BENJAMIN KALU, UMUAHIA

The Abia State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) held its April Monthly Congress last Wednesday, the 27th 2022, and deliberated on issues affecting the Council and the State. At the end of the meeting, The Congress resolved as follows:

1) That as we march towards the 2023 general elections gathers momentum, Congress  calls on the political class to play their game in a manner that would ensure the sustenable existing peace in the state by indulging in the game according to the rules and refrain from acts capable of plunging the state into avoidable crisis, or making utterances likely to spread hatred among the people.

2) That the Congress believes that it was high time that elder statesmen and political stakeholders in the state convoked a summit that will discuss and harmonise the Abia Charter of Equity in line with current political realities and seek ways to make the Charter of equity to be passed into law by the State House of Assembly to make the zoning seamless and crisis-free in the state.

3) That Congress calls on politicians aspiring to different political offices to continue going about their normal consultations in orderly conduct to avoid heating the polity. It is imperative that no one threatens the peace in the state as crisis is an ill-wind that does nobody any good, instead it brings harm.

4) The Congress call on all Abians to take advantage of the current farming season by going back to the farms to ensure increased in food production which is the antidote to the impending famine in the society which even the world authorities have predicted. That Congress urges government lead in the efforts to boost food production in the state, by encouraging farmers with soft loans, farm inputs and implements and advancing them to the farmers in good time.

5) That with the advancement of the rainy season, Congress advises Abia residents to desist from blocking the drainages with refuse and draws government’s attention to the need for enforcement of environmental sanitation laws.

6) That Congress appeals to the state government to keep its promise of ensuring regular payment of monthly pension henceforth which would go a long way in improving the welfare of retired workers in the state and also devise a means of defraying the arrears of gratuities owed retired civil servants. In the same vein, Congress equally appeals to the government pay salary arrears owed workers, especially staff of the Health Management Board.

7) That Congress calls on contractors handling road projects in the state to expedite action on their various sites to save the people from their perennial ugly experiences associated with deplorable roads which are magnified when the rains set in. Congress particularly calls on the contractor handling the Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene road to ensure that the completely failed portions were made passable this rainy season. Congress also appeals for government’s intervention to ameliorate deplorable condition of the Ohafia- Arochukwu road which has become a death trap for motorists and other road users.

8) That Congress urges government to do all within its power to ensure the speedy demarcation of boundaries between border communities  in Arochukwu and their Akwa Ibom and Cross River communities. This is to prevent the perennial border skirmishes between these border communities which usually escalates during farming seasons and usually lead avoidable to loss of lives. Congress further charges government to ensure that Abia does not come out disadvantaged when the National Boundary Commission finally embarks on the border demarcation exercise.

9)     Congress appeals to both federal and state governments to rally to the assistance of displaced indigenes of Ihe Osu in Arochukwu local government area by providing them with relief materials to a