Group wants closer ties between electorate, leaders

The Niger South Like Minds Group has decried the winding gap between leaders and the led, which they said is making accountability difficult. 

In a communiqué at the end of its maiden meeting yesterday in Bida, Niger State, the group observed that absence of synergy between the people and their elected representatives which has led to near absence of government presence in all facets. 

“It is the lack of this link that is responsible for collapsed infrastructure, decayed institutions and other developmental challenges that have become a phenomenon today,” the group observed. 

It said it was the urgent need to address this lingering anomaly that led to the coming together of like minds within Zone ‘A’ of the state to chart a new course that would bring the desired development to the area through synergy between the people and their representatives. 

To achieve its aims, the group said it was embarking on advocacy visits to various stakeholders such as traditional rulers, political and religious leaders. 

It also planned to articulate a 30-year development plan aimed at transforming the zone economically and educationally; continually evolving strategies that would engage the interest of all those with political aspirations during and after elections; and pay periodic assessment visits to on-going state and federal projects in the zone with a view to ensuring their completion among others.