By: Felix Ikpotor
As conversations towards the 2027 General Elections begins to take centre stage, a former presidential asviser, Engr. Reynolds Beks Dagogo-Jack has called for a rebuilding of the political foundation in Rivers State.
He said the current political foundation operational in the state was faulty and only benefits a few politicians instead of the people.
Dagogo-Jack, who was a senior special assistant to former President Goodluck Jonathan on power, said the kind of political leadership in place in Rivers State cannot take the state to its expected promise land.
The former SSA and former governorship aspirant under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 gubernatorial elections in Rivers State, stated this in his address at a town hall meeting with the theme : “Citizens, Leadership and the Road to 2027: Discusing the Future of Rivers State Beyond the Next Election, ” organised by the Rivers Peace Initiative in conjunction with Super 93.3 FM and the Centre for Peace and Security Studies, University of Port Harcourt.
The former chairman, Presidential Taskforce on Power frowned at the attempt by some leaders to annex the state into their personal estate, saying such would bring disharmony and cause insecurity in the state.
“The progress of every society starts from its leadership. Leadership is embedded in politics. It is from politics that leaders emerge. The current format of our politics in River State will not take us to the promised land.
“We need to change the foundation of our politics. And it was not always this way. We have had governors in the past. We have had other judges. We have had governors in the past who did nottry to convert the state into a personal estate, a personal structure. That process is defective. It will not produce harmony. It will not produce peace. There will be insecurity. And all of that will impact very negatively on our economy,” Dagogo-Jack said.
He recalled that the state was always in competition with Lagos State economically, but regretted that the state has fallen deep down the pecking order. He stressed the need for a total change of principles to catch up economically.
“This state was always second in every measure to Lagos, and we even have more resources than Lagos.
“We could easily overtake Lagos if we do the right thing consistently. But we must start from first principles. We need to have the right kind of politics established as a format in the state where merit is top priority, not personal structure, not personal ambition. Where transparency is the order of the day. Where humility is embedded in leadership, ” he added.
He bemoaned the seeming silence of elders in the state over its dwindling political and economic fortune, advising that everybody must get involved in entrenching a new leadership structure that can deliver the state from its current state to that which would benefit future generations.
Dagogo-Jack particularly frowned at statements credited to some politicians in the state that they alone have the powers to nominate persons to rule over the state, saying such claims could spark disharmony in the state.
“The idea that a few persons have arrogated to themselves who becomes the governor of Rivers State is very offensive and I ask our elders why are they not talking and have abandoned the struggles to youths?
” So everybody should come out to dig a new foundation of Rivers politics. Once that foundation is right, the superstructure will be right and there will be stability, there will be security, there will be prosperity and the younger generation would do better than the ones that are struggling today, ” he maintained.
Former president of the Nigeria Instute of Public Relations, Senibo Bobo Sofiri Brown in his keynote address said Rivers State currently has no aspiration, stressing that it’s leadership and citizens seems not to know what to do to get out of its current state. He advised the government to build its aspiration around the abundant maritime resources at its disposal.
“You cannot become great without an aspiration and clarity of aspiration. Rivers State must go back to have a clear aspiration of sectors it wants to capture as number one.
“My aspiration is to see Rivers State back as the most efficient maritime economy in West Africa. And it’s doable. We can condition ourselves and build a whole new economy around the maritime sector. We can capture the seafood agro-industry processing, ” he advised.
Earlier, convener of the Rivers Peace Initiative, Obinna Ebogidi said the town hall meeting which is the sixth in its series is organised to address pertinent leadership issues rocking the state.
He noted that all was not well with the state, hence the need for stakeholders engagement to proffer solutions to the state’s teething problems.
The convener lamented the resources accruing to the state does not equate the realities on ground in terms of development, calling on citizens of the state to hold the governments at all levels accountable.
“The future of Rivers State will not be secured by blame alone. Not by government blaming opposition. Not public institutions operating in isolation from one another. Not by citizens withdrawing into silence or frustration.A state does not decline suddenly. It declines gradually. It starts when difficult conversations are avoided, when accountability becomes selective, and when citizens begin to expect less from leadership and from themselves,” Obinna posited.
