Sebastine Uremmadu, a professor at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, has said that massive recruitment of the Igbo youths into the Federal Civil Service and other parastatals would serve as a means of assuaging the agitation of Igbos against marginalisation.
Uremmadu noted that civil service as a career job would have the capacity of molding the behaviour of youths, adding that it would further contribute to the youths’ strong belief in nation-building.
He made the observation while speaking with journalists in Umuahia on some national issues, especially on the condition of the Igbo nation under the present regime. Uremmadu called on President Mohammadu Buhari to compensate the Igbos with lofty positions in order to balance the recent appointments in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC) and the Department of State Security, (DSS).
While urging the President to forget about the low vote he received from Igboland during the 2015 Presidential polls and see every part of the country as his constituency, the frontline advocate of national unity however, reminded Igbos that they still “have a lot to reap from a large, diverse and prosperous Nigeria, where the best of the Igbo intellect will be utilised.”
According to him, “Every ethnic group is important in Nigeria, the Igbos, the Yorubas, the Hausas, our brothers from the South-South and even those from the Middle Belt are all important to one another and if they eschew the mind-set of distrust, I tell you, this country will develop beyond what any one could imagine because, this is a sweet country”.
He also enjoined Igbos to field the best and acceptable candidate to run for the presidency after President Buhari may have completed his tenure.
On the recent announcement that Nigeria has come out recession, the University don observed that though the situation was still not over, he noted that government, especially, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has made some positive impacts towards dragging the country out from the vicious pit of recession.
According to the finance and management expert, “The intervention of the Central Bank through guided management of the exchange rate where you do not allow market forces to determine exchange rate for you was a good idea. We run a mono economy and produce little to export; therefore, it would not have been advisable allowing the market forces to determine the rate for you.”
UDOKA AGWU, UMUAHIA.
