The Gaambe-Tiev Community of Tiv extraction in Taraba State on Sunday initiated moves to foster unity among Tiv clans to attract development.
The community, under the umbrella of the Gaambe-Tiev Association, Taraba State, disclosed during a fundraising meeting for the construction of a community hall in Jalingo that the initiative aimed to provide a permanent meeting point where progressive ideas could be shared to transform the community and regularly discuss the unity of the people.
Elder Joseph Ayerhan, the president of the Gaambe-Tiev Association, noted during the occasion that the idea became necessary as unity among the Tiv ethnic group in Taraba was paramount to attracting development.
According to Ayerhan, the association had found it challenging to reunite the Tivs as one people in Taraba and decided to narrow the unity steps to their clan to serve as an example and a challenge to others to unite for the overall development of the Tiv ethnic group in the state.
Elder Ayerhan expressed the desire to reunite the Tiv ethnic group as one people in Taraba, enabling them to collectively share transformative ideas that would benefit the youth.
“As a progressive-minded people, we, the Gaambe-Tiev Community, have taken the decision to unite and attract development. We believe that unity is key to attracting development of any kind.
“The decision to build our association’s hall is to enable the Gaambe-Tiev Community to have a permanent meeting point where progressive ideas would regularly be shared for the development of our people.
“Our desire is to challenge other Tiv clans to unite. We wish to become one united Tiv people of Taraba to achieve greatness,” Elder Ayerhan disclosed.
The guest speaker at the occasion, Prof. Samuel Apinega of the Faculty of Law, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, commended the Gaambe-Tiev Community for its distinguished decision to prioritize unity for the development of the Tivs in Taraba.
Prof. Apinega lamented the sentiment of sectionalism among the Tivs in the state, which has degraded the ethnic group’s reputation and negatively affected the developmental aspirations of the youth.
The university don appealed for the sustainability of the unity effort and called on other Tiv clans to emulate the Gaambe-Tiev’s initiative to reunite the Tivs as one people in Taraba State to achieve greatness.
Meanwhile, the district head of Mbawaa, Wukari local government, HRH. Zaki Samuel Naan, pledged on behalf of all traditional rulers in Gaambe-Tiev to remain supportive in ensuring that the association succeed in her quest for unity among Tiv in Taraba state.
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