Some Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and other legal practitioners in Cross River and Akwa Ibom have passed a no confidence vote on federal and state governments, insisting that besides “failing in their in their duties”, both arms of government should “jettison white elephant projects and concentrate on actual governance and welfare of the people.”

Deploring the destruction that followed the nationwide youth protest over police brutality, the senior lawyers submitted: “When people started the #EndSARS (agitation) and the thing degenerated into looting of warehouses where food items were stored and so on and so forth, we understand that there’s hunger. And like they say, a hungry man is an angry man.”

During a tour of the damaged building of their colleague, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) and others in Calabar, leader of the team, Paul Erokoro, noted: “The first thing government should do is to accept that white elephant projects have never developed the country. What we want from government is actual governance, and that is not hard.

“Actual governance requires simply a sincere approach to taking care of the welfare and security of the people. It is easier if their salaries are paid in addition to filling the potholes. If water is not running, ensure it does. Also make sure that pensions are paid, and there is no room for escapism.”

He added: “Government projects should be focused on reality.”

Touched by Ndoma-Egba’s razed home, Erokoro said, “that is where we want to congratulate the government of Cross River State for the industries they’ve built. We want to congratulate them for the super highway they are building, the deep seaport – whether they have finished or not – we appeal to this government to leave those projects for now.”

The team leader further noted: “We are happy that the government of this state, in its budget some days ago, told the whole world that it is devoting 69 per cent of the budget to youth empowerment and creation of jobs. We thank the governor for this bold step, but we are interested on how it would be implemented.”

The lawyers cautioned against more political appointments, stating: “The government is already too large. All over the world, jobs are created not by employment of workers into public service, but by putting in place an enabling environment for the private sector to create jobs. It is the private sector that employs. Government must always be seen.”

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