By Aondowase Agabi
The Tiv Youth Organization (TYO) has sworn-in a new president, Chief Joseph Saater Undu for rte Abuja chapter of the organisation.
The inauguration held on the 8th July, 2023 in Abuja.
In his inaugural speech, “the time has come for us to rethink our collective destiny in the Nigerian project. The time has come for us all to unite and pursue one common Tiv agenda in Abuja. Both the old and the young. The weak and the strong. The poor and the rich. The time has come for us to think as one and live together as a nation or perish together as foes.”
“This is the time for us to bury our individual differences, irrespective of our political and religious persuasion, and come together to dine and wine as one big family devoid of internal strife, grief and political vindictiveness” he stated.
According to him, “the time is now for us to think together, fight together, rise together and succeed together. This is our time to smile again after many years of dwelling in the scorching heat of Nigeria’s political desert where our traducers restricted us from benefiting from the national cake.”
“Our time to empower one another, support one another, love one another and stand up for one another is here. With fervent prayers and willful determination, the knees of our enemies on our necks are gradually lifted off; we can now breathe again. This is the time for us to truly show the spirit of Aya Tutu, where an injury to one means an injury to all. Our time has finally come to prepare us for our own turn in the nearest future, by the grace of God to whom all powers belong” he further said.
He said the Tiv nation must be deliberate.
“But what we seek to achieve cannot be given on a platter of gold! We cannot wait for our turn without adequately preparing our talented youths for the task ahead. That’s why strategic leadership, recruitment and training are crucial, if we must achieve our Vision 2031 in the Nigerian project.”
“It was our late sage and former Minister of the Federal Republic, Dr. Wantaregh Paul Unongo, who once asked these rhetorical questions during his paper presentation titled, “The man Tiv has died”, at the Annual MUT America Convention in 2014.”
He said, “‘How do we recruit good political leaders to protect our interests, develop our people and society and generally govern us well? How do we reclaim our lost relevance in Nigeria? And how do we empower our people by taking them away from debilitating poverty they are trapped in now?’”
“Taking a cursory look at Unongo’s questions, it is my firm belief that the Tiv Youth Organization and other such youth groups are the veritable vehicles through which this strategic and purposeful leadership recruitment drive can be achieved in Tiv nation. That is why TYO needs our collective support to succeed. You can support us with skills acquisition centers, strategic leadership training programmes, mentorship and finance; as well as material and moral support or any way possible as you may wish” he stated..
On insecurity and the attendant internally displaced persons he said: “Our people in IDPs, who are mostly peasant farmers, need to return home, and they need to return soon to continue with their normal lives and farming activities. Our nation is on the verge of famine. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has recently estimated that 25 million Nigerians are at the risk of facing hunger and starvation between June and August 2023, if the government does not act fast to stop this. It is really scary that hunger and starvation are staring us right in the face amidst huge agricultural potential.”
“But the truth is, the widespread insecurity ravaging the country, especially in North Central and other regions being orchestrated by marauding armed Herdsmen, bandits and kidnappers, is the major factor behind our current food crisis. It is also a security threat to our urban centers. The rural-urban migration we witness daily in our cities today is alarming. The mass exodus of thousands of unskilled and unemployable young men who are mostly farmers to the urban centers because of rampaging bandits, terrorists and Herdsmen in their communities is the cause of rising security incidences in our cities and towns. We can stop this by stopping attacks on their communities. We can stop this by making their communities and farms safe. We can also stop this by making subsistence farming attractive and profitable” he said.
“It is on this note that I call on the president Bola Ahmed Tinubu through the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, to direct the security chiefs to clampdown on all identified security threats and neutralize them to give the citizens a new lease of life. This is achievable if the government is sincere and willing to end insecurity in the country” he said.
