Imo Investment Summit: 24 Hours In The Sun

EXPRESSO By STEVE OSUJI

HOMECOMING

It’s most delightful to return to the THISDAY family as a columnist exactly 30 years after I exited as Editor, THISDAY, The Saturday Newspaper, in 1995.

 I had put a call to the Duke (as we call Publisher, Prince Nduka Obaigbena), saying I would love a back page column in THISDAY. “Sure,” he said before I could finish my request. “You’re one of us, I will give you Friday. Send your article to me.”

And that’s it. It took less than a one-minute call.  And that’s in character with him, a mercurial mind, no frills, no hee-hawing. And here we are.

Those who have enjoyed EXPRESSO on FB over the years can now read it here first hand, every Friday… Let’s go!

IMO’S 24 HOURS IN THE SUN

It must be Nigeria’s biggest investment summit in recent times. That may explain why the organisers got carried away and dubbed it the first in 50 years.

But let’s correct the misnomer.

Investment Summit was by no means new nor was the talkshow a rarity in the Southeast state.

Way back in 1991, Governor Evans Enwerem organised a similar show. In 2010 or thereabouts, Governor Ikedi Ohakim had one of his own and in his short-lived tenure, Governor Emeka Ihedioha had put together an education summit.

Even in the embattled northeast of Nigeria, there was  Bauchi Investment Summit 1.0 early October while mid October witnessed Abuja’s summit.

Ehingbeti (Lagos’ prime show) and Kadinvest, Kaduna State’s flagship economic get-together is at its 6.0.

But it must be acknowledged that the Imo outing was outstanding. It may have trumped everything ever done before it. Yes, in terms of quality of organisation, calibre of attendees and media power, it was nonpareil. It may also explain why it was hyped as West Africa’s investment show in some quarters.

Apart from Vice President Kassim Shettima, nearly a dozen other heads of state and quasi sovereigns were in attendance. Then some of Nigeria’s business barracuds, starting from Aliko Dangote to Jim Ovia were present, real time.

Give it to Governor Hope Uzodinma, this must be recorded as a testament to his chutzpah and derring-do.

Neither a businessman, an economist nor intellectual, the boy from the streets-turned a bar-knuckle politician has come a long way into political stardom!

One would bet he had a swell time in the sun even if it was for 24 hours. One would wager that most of Hope’s guber colleagues would have gone dark green with envy as he soaked up the limelight like the lead man in a Hollywood blockbuster.

But the star attraction was the presence of Boris Johnson, former British Prime Minister and Ban Ki Moon, the immediate past Secretary-General of the United Nations.

These heavyweights  gracing a sub national’s economic summit at a time dark clouds seem to gather over Nigeria, was most salutary to all.

Considering that the major news wafting out of here like a foul smell was about the abduction of school children in their hundreds, about the designation as a country of particular concern and Nigeria as a “disgraced country,” why would any rational person speak of investment?

Add to that, what someone has described as a shameless genocidal debate about genocide in Nigeria, then the timing of the Imo summit and Governor Uzodinma must be applauded for bringing a sunny face of Nigeria back on to the front burner … if only for a fleeting moment.

“I feel very safe in Nigeria,” enthused Boris Johnson.

That’s a huge endorsement for the security situation in Imo particularly. Coming at a time separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu was just handed a life jail and the atmosphere in the zone is most tense.

However, these pluses and more will never justify the cost of these talk shops that pass for economic summits in Nigeria.

This column has seen and reported enough summits to recommend their immediate abolition in Nigeria forthwith.

Their costs certainly outweigh their benefits.

In fact, discerning observers think elaborate investment summits are conduits for spiriting away state funds. At best, economic summits are misplaced priorities.

In the case of Imo State, many indigenes have called it an “international show in a time of disease and hunger.”

The Imo populace don’t rate the governor’s performance highly so far.

In any case, many wonder why the governor is ‘unlocking Imo’s economic potential’ at the twilight of his 2nd tenure?

This should have been done at the beginning to afford him some quality economic roadmap.

For instance, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote in his remarks, hinted he had industries on the drawing board seeking for clement environments.

A Dangote fertilizer plant, for instance, should be humming somewhere in Imo today with all the huge benefits and without all the noisy fanfare if this had happened in the first year.

What happened last week is considered by some Imolites as clout-chasing and validation hunting as we round the corner to the new electioneering season.

Hope is known to be key to APC’s 2027 do-or-die election. He is primed already to head the campaign in order to secure a pre-eminent position in Tinubu’s 2nd term. He needs a lot of goodwill and ample cash on the road ahead.

Some have wagered that Imo’s brief hours of sunshine may have cost her about five billion naira (N5B) or more.

For instance, online checks show that Mr Johnson takes hundreds of thousands of pounds for a speaking engagement. Though Mr Moon’s fees are not disclosed, they may be in the same range, but ultimately determined by whether an engagement is virtual or live; by location and nature of organisers.

This means that speaking fees and logistics for major dignitaries would already gulp over a billion naira.

Phew! For a state with a dying education system, one saddled with derelict schools and health facilities, and a collapsed rural economy, an investment summit is not her  priority.

Lastly, a true leader doesn’t need a summit to harness the untapped potentials in Imo’s palm oil economy. It is an untapped goldmine would easily yield double the monthly revenues from Abuja. The work has to be done first!

Long story short, Imo’s sunny moment comes at an exorbitant cost.

Mr & Mrs Tinubu In Mixed Doubles!

Power is best deployed with unseen hands. This must explain why Generals and leaders generally, don’t bear arms.

When some soldiers in Sao Tome and Principe acted up some years ago in the era of President Olusegun Obasanjo, he merely sent a word to them to vacate their perch otherwise he would come get them. They practically fled!

President Bola Tinubu could have sent the Benin coupists a few cryptic words  instead of sending fighter jets and even boots.

In the same manner, first lady, Mrs Remi could have passed a note to Osun governor, Ademola Adeleke to cut to the chase lest she would…

She needed not to physically harangue the governor, her host in the glare of the world.

Very poor optics.###