Under the umbrella of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, Ijaw youths have commenced activities to mark the silver jubilee of the Kaiama Declaration and the council’s foundation.

The Kaiama Declaration, which led to the foundation of IYC, was issued by Ijaw youths on December 11, 1998, in Kaiama, Kolokuma/Opokuma LGA in Bayelsa.

The youths, representing over 40 Ijaw clans, had converged to articulate their aspirations for the Ijaw people and to demand an end to 40 years of environmental damage and underdevelopment.

Addressing journalists in Yenagoa on Monday, the spokesman for the IYC ninth National Executive Council (NEC), Princewill Binebai, expressed gratitude to the founding fathers and leaders for their vision, aspirations and contributions to the continued growth and survival of the body.

Mr Binebai said, “Today, on behalf of the entire ninth NEC of the IYC, we express our gratitude to be part of those championing the 25 years existence of the council cum Kaiama declaration. While we are grateful to the Ijaw nation for entrusting us with the council leadership, we want to reassure the Ijaw people that we will not renege on our quest to deliver purposeful leadership to the people.

“We are glad to announce to the Ijaw nation that we will be doing the foundation-laying ceremony of the Council Global Secretariat here in Yenagoa, which has never happened before. For us, we cannot say we are IYC Worldwide because all our activities revolve around Nigeria alone; hence, we have taken the issues of the Ijaw people to the global space.”

The IYC spokesman added, “Wherein the ninth NEC has taken steps to take our people to Ghana, Kenya and Dubai for Global Climate and Plastic Pollution conferences that have affected our environment gravely.”

Mr Binebai said the 25th celebration of the Kaiama declaration and IYC remained very key and important to the Ijaw people, hence the need to review “where we are coming from, where we are and where we ought to be.”

According to him, the assurance from the ninth NEC is that the group will consolidate the achievements recorded by previous council administrations and improve on the gains recorded so far.

“We are very grateful to the founding fathers of the council and our dear leaders, who have contributed a lot to the continued growth and survival of the council,” said Mr Binebai.

Mr Binebai listed the activities to mark the silver jubilee, including the foundation-laying of the IYC global secretariat, public lectures, and the launch of the IYC database. Others are the award night and grand finale at the Oxbow Lake Pavillion and Kaiama Grammer School Field. 

(NAN)