Rancho Palos Verdes-CA
Saturday 01/13/2018
Life & Times Media Group organised a cocktail reception for Senator Babafemi Ojudu- Senior Political Adviser to President Buhari who was on a visit to Los Angeles on Saturday 01/13/2018.
The reception was at the home of the Publisher/CEo of Life & Times, Chief Chike Nweke,
It was an opportunity for an interactive session by a cross section of leaders of the Nigerian community resident in Southern California to ask topical questions and get answers from the Senator about burning issues in our homeland including the state of the economy, the separatist agitations in different parts of the country, the rampage of the Fulani herdsman, the fight on corruption amongst other burning issues.
In his speech at the occasion- Senator Ojudu urged Nigerians resident in the diaspora to act collectively and join hands with government to solve the myriad issues of development facing Nigeria. He said Diaspora Nigerians living in technologically advanced countries can leverage on those great opportunities in the countries that they reside in to bring major advancements to our homeland.
He cited examples of Poland, Afghanistan etc as some of the countries in the world where their diaspora became game changers in their march to become great countries. Senator Ojudu lamented the present administration is dealing with deeply entrenched interests in the polity, the civil service, the judiciary etc that have been frustrating the well meaning efforts of government in tackling the festering problem of corruption in Nigeria.
On separatist agitations – he said he believes Nigeria is stronger as one united country and government is doing it’s best to address the perceived injustices in different parts of the country.
On the problem of Fulani herdsmen, he assured diaspora Nigerians that despite views to the contrary- the present government is doing all it can to bring the perpetrators of these heinous acts to face justice. He said that the present government met this West African regional problem which have been exacerbated by extreme desertification in the Sahel region of West African where most of Northern Nigeria belongs which has forced herdsmen to move their cattle to the Southern region for grazing. He also said that the collapse of Libya and some other North African countries following the Arab spring brought in loads of cheap light weight firearms into Northern Nigeria with the resultant effect that herdsmen who traditionally used sticks to control their cattle now carry AK-47s as they engage in their nomadic cattle rearing. He said government is working hard to introduce ranching as an option to nomadic cattle rearing in Northern Nigeria is is studying models of ranches in arid regions of countries like South African where cattle ranchers depend of grass grown, bundled and shipped to them from wetter/less arid regions to feed their cattle.
Click on link below for a photo reel of the occasion:
pix.sfly.com/dGC9f32N
Very compelling charge to Nigerians in Diaspora!
That’s lovely
good move