By Bamidele Frederick (Sapele)
A group under the aegis of Urhobo Advancement Agenda ( UAA ), has insisted that the next substantive principal of the Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, near Warri in Delta State, must be an Urhobo indigene.
In a press release signed by Comrade Theophilus Akpocha, National President, Urhobo Advancement Agenda, which was made available to the press, the group maintained that despite the pool of professionally qualified Urhobo indegene that are fit for that position, they have been inundated with calls of planned move to foist a non Urhobo as the principal of the elite Petroleum Institute.
The press statement read: ” Urhobo Advancement Agenda (UAA), has been inundated with expressions of concerns from different quarters over a planned attempt to foist a non Urhobo indigene as the substantive Principal of Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, Delta State, despite the overabundance of core Urhobo professionals eminently qualified for the position.
UAA as a foremost advocate for equity, fairness and justice in the affairs of Urhobo Nation strongly condemns this move to repeatedly shortchange the Urhobos because of their natural disposition to peaceful co-existence and warm hospitality often taken for granted.
The UrhobosĀ have over the years been grossly marginalised in the appropriation of the nation’s commonwealth in the midst of playing host to enormous revenue resources, oiling the wheel of growth and development of the country.
UAA is hereby using this medium to call on the appropriate authorities in the succession management of the Institute to ensure that the pool of qualified candidates of Urhobo extraction is duly accorded the Right of First Refusal as it is done in other notable Federal institutions in the country.
UAA has put up mechanisms to remotely and keenly monitor the process of the appointment of the Principal of the Institute this time, with high expectations that the Federal Government will use this opportunity to right some of the wrongs of the past meted on the Urhobo Nation.
We strongly believe that this would be a step in the right direction in guaranteeing the continued peace and tranquility enjoyed by the Institute since it was founded and hosted on Urhobo soil for almost 50 years now.”
