Don’t Ethnicize naming of Ujevwu Rail Station after Rewane, INYC tells Udu Community

The Itsekiri National Youths Council, INYC, has counselled Ujevwu Community in Udu Local Government Area of Delta State, against ethnicising the naming of Ujevwu Rail Station after late Chief Alfred Rewane, saying the naming of projects is within the prerogative of the executor and in this case, the Federal Government.

The apex Itsekiri Youths’ body, made the statement in reaction to the position of President-General of Ujevwu Community, Chief Notoma Godwin, who faulted the Federal Government as the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, formally flagged off freight services on the Warri-Itakpe Standard Gauge Railway Line on Friday April 16.

The Federal Government had explained that the Agbor Station Complex, Abraka Station, the Opara Station, Ujevwu Station, Railway Village Station, Agbor and other stations along the Warri-Itakpe Rail line, were named after deserving Nigerian citizens, who have contributed to the progress and development of their respective communities and the Nation at large. 

The INYC President, Comrade Weyinmi Agbateyiniro, in the statement released Sunday April 18, through Public Relations Officer II of the Council, Prince Stanley Oritsemolebi Emiko, emphasized that the naming of critical infrastructures such as: “Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, do not connote any ethnic colouration or ownership of land, it rather immortalizes the names of famous Nigerian leaders, who sacrificed their lives for development of the country.

“For instance, the Agbor Station Complex in Delta State, was named after former President Goodluck Jonathan, who is from Otuoke in Bayelsa State, while the Railway Village Station, Agbor, was named after Edo-born Vice Admiral Mike Akhigbe. The classification of flight tickets to Osubi Airstrip as Lagos to Warri or Warri to Lagos, does not in any-way undermine the ownership of Osubi, an Okpe Community.

"No one raised objection to the naming of Abuja National Stadium after Chief MKO Abiola, a man that is from far away Ogun State, who made similar sacrifices with Chief Alfred Rewane in the democracy that we all bask in today. The Federal Government should not be distracted by the primordial reasoning, but should go ahead to recognise and name other national assets after worthy sons and daughters of Itsekiri extraction such as Chief Dore Numa, a signatory to Nigeria's amalgamation of 1914 and the legendary Chief Festus Okotie - Eboh, the country's first Finance Minister, whose immense contributions to our national development has not been immortalised".

While commending the Federal Government for completing the Warri-Itakpe Rail Line and subsequently flagging off freight services on the route, INYC urged the Federal Government to immediately commence construction work on the railway line, intended to connect Warri Port and build the proposed new Sea Port in Warri, “to enhance the usage of the Itakpe to Warri Railway line”.

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