A Frontline pressure group, National Public Interest Group- NPIG, a public-peace building and mediation group says leading Youth groups in all 36 States of the federation and FCT are to choose delegates in their respective States to converge in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to deliberate on burning national issues, leadership and development challenges confronting the nation with the view to enacting the Nigerian Youths Bill of Rights to constructively engage the Federal Government in finding enduring peace and purposeful development of Nigeria in the overall interests of all.
The National Convener of NPIG, Comrade Samuel Abasiekong-Abasiekong disclosed this Tuesday in Uyo during an Advocacy visit to the Akwa Ibom State branch of Committee for the Defence of Human Rights- CDHR. He noted that following the commencement of the nationwide #EndSARS protests, NPIG has received memoranda from various leading Youth groups on the way forward hence it becomes imperative to convene the summit for the youths to dispassionately appraise the state of the nation and discuss the way forward to bring the ongoing protests to an end and restore peace in the interest of the nation. Comrade Abasiekong who led other NPIG Officers to the visit said the meeting was strategic and in recognition of CDHR’s remarkable capacity and antecedents in human liberation and peace building. He solicited CDHR’s technical and logistics support and partnership for the event. Comrade Abasiekong also used the occasion to call on other interested key properly organized youth groups with genuine issues who are yet to send in memorandum to do so without further delay. He provided the following link as NPIG portal where all memoranda and all other issues concerning the summit are sent:
Bellow is the link to NPIG portal:
He also enjoined State Governors in Nigeria to be willing to sponsor delegates from their states to the event stressing that details on conference date, registration procedures and participation will be released at the end of the final implementation planning meeting next week.
Responding, the State Chairman, CDHR, Comrade David Ekanem, thanked NPIG for the initiative. He noted that the prevailing conflicts and challenges that are almost ripping the nation apart are manifestations of fragrant abuse of both human and institutional rights stressing that the way forward is for those entrusted with leadership duties to value and respect these rights. He described NPIG’s mission as a patriotic assignment and pledged CDHR’s partnership in areas relevant to it’s key mandates and focus. He thanked the NPIG team for the visit and advised them to avail CDHR with details of the event and special areas of cooperation to guide its decisions. Speaking with 9newsnigeria Correspondent after the meeting, Comrade Abasiekong said, “Even this morning before we came for this meeting, we have received two memoranda from Youths groups. With the prevailing situation in the country, it is obvious that many more are coming. “We have no time to waste due the urgency of the situation at hand. At such we shall not wait for all youths groups in the 36 States to send us their memoranda before we do the needful. If some States delay us, once we have 2/3 of representations in the country, we shall close our portal temporarily and move on” Abasiekong said.
“The momoranda that we have received so far proved that we have very intelligent youths in this country and what they are asking and complaining about show that the government has failed the people for many decades and today protest is an explosion long overdue. We shall not take side with the government in anyway, but shall only mediate between government and people to press on the latter to do the biddings of the masses at the limits of human capacity either in segments or in whole. But on the whole, the people must leave the negotiation table satisfied”. The NPIG leader submitted.
