Group Insists on Appointment of Urhobo Indigene as PTI Principal

The Urhobo Advancement Agenda (UAA) said it 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 the Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, Delta State, despite the overabundance of core Urhobo professionals qualified for the position.

A statement signed by the National President, Theophilus Akpocha read in parts: “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 Urhobos 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.”

The group said it 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.