PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT
Statement of Main Theme
It has been painfully clear for some time now, that Urhobos are bedeviled by a crisis of leadership. With contending personalities supported by different segments of the population, no individual or group of individuals has been able to claim, without being challenged by others, to speak and act on behalf of all Urhobos. The consequence is that in a national political environment in which competing ethnic groups and power centres struggle for influence and scarce resources, the interests of the Urhobos are much less well articulated and vindicated than they should be, largely because lacking a euphony, they present instead a cacophony of voices, and their competitors are the happier for it. Under the circumstances, is it any wonder that not withstanding the very substantial contributions of Urhoboland to the commonweal, among the most striking features of the contemporary Nigerian political landscape are the absence from the federal cabinet and the senior civil service of individuals of Urhobo origin, and the infra structural wasteland that is Urhoboland? There is more, much more, but we need hardly catalog the litany of woes to underscore the point, because the questions are self evident. The issues must be joined if the future of Urhobos is to be secured.