By Chuks Eke
Anambra State Traditional Rulers’ Council, ASTRAC has charged the national assembly to expedite action in the passage of a bill for an Act to establish National Council for Traditional Rulers which is ained at specifying particular roles for traditional rulers in the country.
The charge is coming on the heels of the proposed act to establish the traditional rulers national council which has already scaled through a second reading in the national assembly barely a month ago.
Chairman of ASTRAC and traditional ruler of Obosi in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra state, His Majesty, Igwe Chidubem Iweka (Ogalagidi, Eze Iweka III) who made the change in his Palace while speaking to newsmen on behalf of other traditional rulers in the state, said the bill needed to be in place as quickly possible to specify the
constitutional roles for the traditional rulers’ in the country.
Recalling that he was among the traditional rulers from the Southeast Zone that attended a general meeting of traditional rulers in the country where the idea to assign specific roles to traditional rulers was muted in 2023, Igwe Iweka described the step in the right direction,
Igwe Iweka declared: “If you look at the role of the traditional rulers in their communities, making sure that there is peace in their communities, bringing government policies to the masses and if there is crisis people run to their kings for protection among many other functions, you will find that the traditional rulers needed that constitutional right and recognition by the federal government”.
The monarch therefore urged the state governments, particularly in the Southeast geopolitical zone which are yet to pay five percent local government allocation to traditional rulers in their respective states, as specified in the federal accounts allocation formula to do so without further delay as according to him traditional rulers are saddled with enormous responsibilities in their communities that require funds to tackle them.
He contended that such percentage of funds allocation to the traditional rulers would encourage them to tackle the myriad of responsibilities confronting them within their various localities.
On the recent massacre of 16 northern indigenes in Uromi, Edo state, Igwe Iweka who sued for peace, described the incident as unfortunate and condemnable.
He therefore warned that the reprisal killings which happened in 1966 where innocent Nigerians were massacred for anything they did not know about should not be allowed to repeat itself in Nigeria.
He commended the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Kayode Egbetokun for the reported arrest of the man who in a viral video, threatened mass killing of southerners living in the North.
The Royal Father pleaded with the federal government to find a lasting solution to the recurring crisis between herders and farmers which according to him has led to the killings of many innocent Nigerians across the country.
“The Federal government should as a matter of urgency find lasting solution to the crisis between herders and farmers because many precious lives have been lost across the country as a result of this, just as farmers no linger go to their farms across the country for fear of being hacked to death by the dreaded killer herdsmen”.
The ASTRAC further observed that the crisis of herders and farmers has contributed to the food scarcity in the country thereby creating hunger and sufferings among many Nigerians.
On the security situation in Anambra state, the monarch commended Governor Chukwuma Soludo for taking the bull by the horns through the establishment of Udo ga achi,. Agu-nechemba security outfit which he said has reduced crime to the barest minimum in Anambra state.
“Our governor, Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo has done much on security, you all know that crime cannot be totally eradicated anywhere in the world but at least Gov. Soludo through his wisdom created this Udo ga achi/Agu-nechemba which we all see that crime has drastically reduced to the barest minimum”.
Igwe Iweka further applauded governor Soludo for the wonderful infrastructural developments being put in place by his administration in the state and many other projects across different sectors, even as he advocated that Soludo should be given the chance to go for a second tenure to enable him complete the monumental projects he has started.
