Jaja Wants Constitutional Responsibilities For Traditional Rulers

The Chairman of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, King Dandeson Douglas Jaja, has called for constitutional responsibilities for traditional rulers in the country.
He also wants proper recognition to be accorded the traditional institution in the country to enable traditional rulers function effectively.
Jaja made the call when he received the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who paid him a courtesy visit at the state secretariat of the traditional rulers in Port Harcourt, recently.
He blamed the military regime for removing the roles of the royal fathers from the nation’s Constitution, saying the traditional rulers have been struggling since then for the reinstatement of their roles in the Constitution to no avail.
According to him, the National Council of Traditional Rulers has made frantic efforts and several representations to the National Assembly for the recognition of their natural roles in the Constitution without success.
“Every aspect of recognition of the traditional institution’s roles was removed. The National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria has made several representations to the National Assembly for the recognition of our God-given roles as custodians of our culture and tradition, which sadly had been turned down by the national law makers.
“The paradox of the cat and mouse game is that those who have been playing with the traditional institution and refused to recognise their roles in the constitution turn to that institution to be honoured with chieftaincy tittles and recognition; even some of them end up becoming traditional rulers,” he stated.
Jaja, who is the paramount ruler of Opobo Kingdom, said that traditional institution has a lot to offer in the Nigerian project, adding that the institution has repository of intellectuals, professionals and men of diverse disciplines.
He appealed to the National Assembly to revisit the roles of the traditional rulers in the ongoing 1999 Constitution review to enable traditional institution to be more alive to its natural responsibilities.
The monarch also decried the bad state of the Eleme/Onne sections of the East-West Road and appealed to the Federal Government to reconstruct the road without further delay.

By: Akujobi Amadi