Toni optimistic about PNG, urges students to help change city

THE country is in the brink of a strategic moment in the history of Papua New Guinea, Loujaya Toni said in her Independence anniversary message.
Speaking at the Pukman Katu Lecture Series at the PNG Unitech, the Lae MP and Minister for Youth, Religion and Community Development said: “We are going forward.
“We are going to greet, meet and rub shoulders with people who are in positions of power. Are we ready?”
The series is held annually on independence eve so speakers can encourage youths to become good leaders and respectable citizens.
The series is in honour of the late Pukman Katu who was an outstanding leader and council member.
Toni urged the university and its academic departments to take a participatory approach and be proactive in the development of Lae city.
She said the students should step up.
“The change that we will experience, you can say that we will literally, physically, spiritually and mentally be a part of.
“If you see yourself as a part of Lae, citizen of Lae, the decisions we make are going to make or break Lae.”
Toni expressed her gratitude to the Communication Development Studies Department which she was a part of while doing her post graduate studies and eventually graduated with a masters in communication back in April.
She shared her vision and revealed that she was working on a five-year development plan for the electorate and encouraged the university to take on projects that she would be initiating.
Some of the projects she plans to begin this year are the biometric data registration rollout, youth aptitude test, sand and gravel delivery to all 16 wards of Lae for road maintenance.
The biometric rollout needed to be done so every Lae citizen could be registered before any project or development started.
“This will mark the beginning of change,” Toni said.