Ijaw Elders Forum (IEF) and a coalition of Ijaw interest groups have advocated the inclusion of Ijaws into the current administration as appointments so far announced have left them out.

They lamented the non-inclusion of Ijaws in appointments in the President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

IEF made the position known on Saturday in a statement by its Chairman Chief Bukazi Etete on behalf of the coalition of Ijaw interest groups.

The coalition includes Ijaw Professionals Association (IPA), Ijaw Nation Forum (INF), G24 Embasara Foundation, and Ijaw Women Connect Worldwide.

The IEF noted that it was in solidarity with ongoing advocacy by the pan Ijaw sociocultural group, Ijaw National Congress for equity and justice in appointments by the Tinubu-led administration.

“It is very sad to note that the Ijaws have been completely left out of the Federal

Government but for a minister of state position. It is unacceptable that with the myriad of appointments by this Government the fourth largest ethnic group in the country has been largely ignored.

“Being conscious of the unfortunate economic, political and social deprivations, the unjustifiable denial of access to wealth creation through the ownership and management of our God endowed natural resources in line with the tenets of fiscal federalism, the least the Federal Government can do to assuage the ill feeling of the Ijaw people is to have adequate representation in Federal appointments to create a sense of belonging,” the group stated.

The coalition urged the Federal Government to reconsider its stand and include Ijaws in the government to create a sense of equity and engender unity in the polity.

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