New Navajo Administration Delivers Its First State of Navajo Nation Address

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer

Published January 29, 2019

WINDOW ROCK — In office for about two weeks, the Nez-Lizer Administration delivered its first the State of the Navajo Nation Address on Monday, the opening day of the 2019 Winter Council Session.

Here is the joint address presented by Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer:

On behalf of our Administration, we congratulate the 24th Navajo Nation Council and we look forward to building a positive and productive working relationship with each of you for the benefit of our people and the Navajo Nation. We also congratulate all of the elected officials from local, county, state, and federal levels for being elected or re-elected to serve in office.

Most importantly, we thank our Diné citizens. Without you, we would not be in the position to lead our Nation and help our Diné people today. We have met many people with unique perspectives who brought a wide variety of matters to our attention, but on the campaign trail it was apparent that they had one common notion in mind when it came to our Nation’s government – the need for change. We visited over 70 communities, including those represented by the members of the 24t Navajo Nation Council. To our colleagues on the Council, the call for change is what got each of us elected and we must work together to fulfill the mandate of the Navajo People.

We were very grateful to receive over 65-percent of the votes from Navajo voters in the General Election. This high percentage signifies a mandate from the Navajo People, a mandate to create positive change and in our view, change presents opportunity – the opportunity to work together to strengthen and empower our people and our communities.

We want the Navajo people to reinforce that teaching known as “T’áá hwó’ ajít’éego,” especially within our youth. We need to believe in ourselves individually, collectively, and at the government level to become self-reliant and determine our own future.

Working with the 24th Navajo Nation Council and the Judicial Branch, we need to look at our overall government structure and determine how we can become more efcient with our employees, our spending, and by eliminating the duplication of services. There is a likelihood that our Nation will have decreased revenues, so it is in the hands of us as leaders to work together to address these issues.

As a Nation, we also need to focus on the social issues that impact so many of our people. If we want change in our communities and throughout our Nation, it has to start from within ourselves as individuals, but some of our people need help doing that. Alcohol and substance abuse, depression, suicides, and mental illnesses are only a few of the problems that too many of our Navajo people face each day, especially among the young people in our society. We need to instill a greater sense of hope and let them know that we care about them.

Our people can have running water and electricity in every home, we can have a strong economy where everyone has a job and is doing well fnancially, but if we do not address the underlying problems that are affecting our people, our families, and within our homes, then those material things will not mean much in terms of improving the quality of life for our people.

In this State of the Navajo Nation Address, we will provide you with an overview of our Administration and an outline of our priorities – the priorities of the Navajo People. We strongly believe that our faith in our Creator has guided us to this point and that we have assembled a great team that will work together to advance the priorities of the Navajo Nation.

We also take this opportunity to thank our past leaders former President Russell Begaye, Speaker LoRenzo Bates, and the 23rd Navajo Nation Council for their leadership and service to our Nation. We thank each of you and wish you well moving forward.

In closing, we once again congratulate the 24th Navajo Nation Council. Thank you for taking on the challenge of serving your people and your communities. I assure you that the Nez-Lizer administration will work with you to create a better future for all of our people.

God bless each of you, and God bless our great Navajo Nation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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