The Coalition of Southern Groups (CSG) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led federal government to, as a matter of urgent national importance and concerns, declare a state of emergency on all the federal roads in the Southern part of Nigeria.
CSG is a socio-political pressure group with the mandate to mobilize, promote, advocate for unity and good governance.
Addressing a press conference Thursday in Abuja, its Convener and former Commissioner of Information, Tourism and Public Works, Prof. Vitalis Orikeze Ajumbe, said the sordid state of the roads were yearning for attention and long overdue for total repairs and overhaul.
According to Prof. Ajumbe, it is on record that the Southern part of the country produces the liquid gold that sustains the economic well-being of Nigeria and these roads have been left unrepaired for decades.
“In view of the above, the Coalition of Southern Groups (CSG) calls on the federal government to as a matter of urgent national importance and concerns, declare a state of emergency on all the federal roads in the Southern part of Nigeria.
“Therefore, the CSG frowns at the total neglect of majority of roads in the entire Southern region of Nigeria and charges the relevant ministries and agencies to wake up to the clarion calls of fixing all the road networks across the southern region.
“This emergency meeting of stakeholders of CSG is essentially to deal with some of the critical issues that affect the good people of the southern region. Today, it is difficult for our farmers to ferry their farm produce to available market places due to the deplorable conditions of all the roads South Nigeria.
While experiencing hope that the concerns raised will be addressed, the Southern group said: “Good and usable roads are the life wire of any viable economy and commerce in an ideal society. To this effect, the southern region of Nigeria is totally at a disadvantaged position due to the nature of the bad roads that crisscross the entire Southern region, there is avalanche of untold hardship on the local people, who are traditional peasant farmers and petty market traders to eke a living.”
Pro. Ajumbe further said the coalition will consciously advance a good leadership re-engineering ordinance to remedy the process by taking a holistic overview of all the identifiable leadership deficiencies in the Southern part of Nigeria.
“The Coalition is not also oblivious of the need to take pragmatic steps towards addressing the question of followership insensitivity in this context of achieving the emergence of quality leadership progression.
“Moving forward, the CSG is a proactive organization that will not be idle as a lame duck to watch aimlessly, while things moves around, we must get involved.
“Therefore, the Coalition of Southern Groups (CSG) is to work assiduously to add to the value chain, and as one of the cardinal aims, is to raise critical questions on national issues that is of common interest to the people of the southern region and as well as to extend hands of fellowship to other sister organizations with similar objectives and ideologies across board, where ineluctably necessary to collectively build a better Nigeria.”
