Some Ogoni stakeholders in Rivers State have identified disrespect and disunity amongst the people as reason for the underdevelopment of the area.
The stakeholders who spoke at a workshop on attitudinal change organised by a group, Ogoni United Family (OUF) at Bori, the traditional headquarters of Ogoni ethnic nationality, emphasized the need for respect for leaders and constituted authorities so as to benefit from Ogoni’s natural resources.
They stressed the need for Ogoni youths to do everything possible to stay away from vices and work in unity to develop the area while maintaining the peace.
Speaking at the event, the facilitator, Comrade Dominic Dumekpigi, explained that the programme has became necessary due to the high level of disunity among Ogoni people and the realisation that development can not be achieved in the absence of love and honour.
“What prompted us to organise this programme is because of the environment we are coming from because we discovered that what binds us is unity and love and in the absence of that, there is no development, we also see that our people are divided along the lines and these are the things that have hindered development in Ogoni, so in order for us to progress we feel it is right to have this attitudinal change lecture to see how we can think and interact positively and above all how we can respect ourselves”, Dumekpigi said.
Dumekpigi expressed hope that participants would change their social lives after the seminar.
The keynote speaker at the event, Professor Desmond Nbete, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) who spoke on the topic, “Attitudinal Change as a Psycho-Social Imperative for Unity in Ogoni,” said it is important that the Ogonis see themselves as one and work in synergy so as to develop their region.
He added that development is possible if they can come together and put a stop what he described as crab mentality.
“Let’s not have a crab mentality, it will only cause setbacks to the development of our dear Ogoni, the narrative that the Ogoni people are known for vices needs to change through this attitudinal change and entrepreneurship seminar.
“We should not allow politics divide us instead we should use the parties to our advantage and ensure development in our land,”he stated.
A guest at the event and leader of Ogoni Liberation Initiatives, OLI, Dr. Douglas Fabeke, said one of the reasons why Ogoni has not developed was the lack of respect for the leaders by the youths and disunity amongst the people.
He noted that one of the principles of prosperity in every society is respect, adding that development can only be achieved where respect and unity thrives .
“We disrespect ourselves alot, the disrespect of our leaders is affecting this generation of Ogoni, there is a biblical principles behind prosperity Of every society and every generation and one of the principles of prosperity is the respect for our elders, if we find ourselves in a society where we do not respect our leaders, that society will lack directions and our values will be lost in the process.
“Why we have remained stagnated is because we have devalued our leaders and also devalued our resources, that’s why there is no development,” he stated.
