The Northern Elders Forum and the Southern Elders Forum have decided to set up another group to be known as the Nigerian Elders Forum (NEF) to address challenges confronting the country.
Addressing journalists after a three and half hours closed door meeting on Saturday in Abuja, the spokesman of both groups, Banji Akintoye, said the forum when established will “find a way to meet, study situations, provide solutions and make sure that the decisions have impact on the lives of the people.”
He said the country’s elders are worried, “that things are not well with our country”. He added that a lot was happening in the nation that “ordinarily should not happen.”
Aside Mr Akintoye, other elders at the meeting were Yime Sen, Yinka Odumakin, Alfred Mulade, Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele, Chris Anyanwu, Francis Doukpola, Chike Dike, Bello Suleiman, Ibrahim Lame and Bala Sani.
The meeting was also attended by Sam Nda-Isaiah; Idris Hayatudeen, Saidu Dansadau, Falalu Bello, Doyin Okupe, Yerima Shettima, Charles Nwekeaku, D. G Darah, Abdullahi Usman Toro, Rahila Gowon and Abdulrazaq Adamu among others.
The statement by the group read in part: “We are elders, we are not active politicians. Most of us are not active politicians. We have come together because we are worried about the condition of our country. Things are not well with our country. A lot of things are happening in our country that ordinarily should not happen. Ours is a land of promise, a land well-endowed by nature with a lot of wealth but we are not using the wealth to enrich our people. Instead, we are going down, down and down in terms of prosperity and progress.
“So, we have decided to work together – that is the most important thing because the problems are many. There is a general problem like the problems of ecology. The desert is moving South on upon us, upon our country and we are not doing anything about it. The ocean is moving in from the South, parts of Lagos already under sea level and we are not doing anything about it.”
“What we have decided is to set up, and this is the height of our decisions, to set up a Nigerian Elders Forum. The Nigerian Elders Forum that will establish its own means of meeting and study situation and provide solutions and make sure that the decisions have impact on the lives of our country. Those are the things we have decided today.”
