Nwoye Missed Wider Context of SEDC’s 2026 Budget, Says CEO

Sunday Ehigiator

The uproar caused by Senator Tony Nwoye, who represents Anambra North senatorial district at the National Assembly, with his mild rebuke of the South East Development Commission (SEDC) at the Senate Committee hearing of the 2026 Budget of the SEDC may have been a needless overreaction by the senator, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the commission, Mark Okoye, has said.

In a recent far-ranging interview with Enugu-based Afia TV, Okoye stated that Nwoye would not have made scathing remarks about the budget if he had understood the wider contexts that informed the line items he raised objections to.

Said he: “There were about eight senators in the room who were there for two hours. But my big brother and friend Senator Nwoye with whom I had had a relationship for the past 12 years popped in for about 10 to 15 minutes and perhaps may not have understood the wider context of the budget. I am almost certain that if he had spent more time at the meeting, he would have understood the context upon which we were trying to design our programmes,” Okoye said, further pointing out that Nwoye may have latched onto two or three lines that had already been expunged from the budget as the basis for his critical remarks.

Listing the wider considerations that informed the commission’s budget projections, Okoye named the South East Integrated Security Intervention Programme. 

“What we are trying to do with it is essentially what our governors had demanded for at the last Vision 2050 Forum in Enugu where the governors had  called for a South East Regional Security Architecture and a Command and Control Centre in Enugu that can serve the region and integrate it.

“Now, if we want to start designing and developing that programme, you must bring skin in the game. You have to contribute something from the SEDC before you go for a meeting with the state governments. That is essentially what it is. Recall that what we are trying to do is to make the region attractive to investors. Security is of paramount importance,” he observed.

He further revealed that the commission had big plans for entrepreneurs under its South East Industrialization Programme, which would essentially build modern infrastructure into existing industrial parks, industrial clusters and special economic zones as a catalyst for the industrial growth of the region.

“Number three is the agriculture programme where we are clearing land across the region, working closely with state governments and communities to boost mechanized agriculture and drive investments into the agriculture economy. 

“Number four are the mega projects like a regional railway line linking up the five states in the region, a gas pipeline and ports. All of these projects are huge investments. So, how are we going to innovatively achieve the development of these projects? That is why we are trying to do a simple project development plan. 

“What do I mean by that? Do our business plan, do our feasibility study, show the viability of each project, what is the return on investment of a regional rail project, or a regional gas pipeline project? Get that documentation, cost it properly and take it to development finance institutions and foreign infrastructure funds; to see how they can be funded. It is harder work but it is a lot more sustainable and more guaranteed. All of that was provided for in our budget but Nwoye did not see them.

“There is also the South East Investment Company, which is an entity that was approved by Mr. President last year, which will help us to bring in resources from the capital markets, the private sector and even some of the state governments and invest in some of these critical sectors, so that we can build an investment portfolio that one day can pay for the cost of running SEDC and SEDC will become self-sufficient,” he further explained.

Pointing out that had Nwoye arrived at the budget presentation a little earlier, he would have been better informed on the major concerns and priorities of the commission.

Okoye cited the proposed South East Venture Capital as a soft infrastructure that could breed tech wizards like Mark Zukerberg from the South-east. 

“Without a regional financing framework, which the South East Venture Capital programme represents, our youths will always struggle. That is essentially what that initiative is set to achieve; to invest in young people’s innovation so that they are given the opportunity to compete with their peers around the world. So I am sure that if my big brother and friend, Senator Tony Nwoye was in the room earlier, he would have understood the context upon which we were playing,” he emphasized.

According to him, Nwoye represents a very special constituency. “I dare say that it might be the wealthiest constituency in the South-east. Why do I say this? There is SEEPCO Petroleum Company operating somewhere in Ogwu-Ikpele at the boundary between Anambra State and Rivers State. SEEPCO is doing about 8-9000 barrels of oil per day and has a lot of gas. 

“About 25 km from there all the way up is Onitsha Harbor Industrial Estate, which has Dozzy Oil, Chris Oral, SABMiller and others. All of them are burning diesel and in some cases some inefficient sources of energy. There could be a gas pipeline that goes all the way from SEEPCO to the Industrial Harbour. These are opportunities. That same constituency has the defunct Onitsha River Port that has been concessioned three years ago. That same constituency also has the Onitsha Main Market and a number of other markets that are some of the biggest in the West African region. 

“The same constituency has the Lower Anambra Irrigation Project; 5000 hectares of irrigation infrastructure built in the early ‘80s. The same place has the Omor Rice Mill built by the Japanese in the early ‘80s. So, I am almost certain that if my big brother, Senator Tony Nwoye, had been in the room earlier, he would have seen huge opportunities for him to ask, ‘can the SEDC work with Anambra State Government on some of these assets and see if they can turn them around, design them properly and bring them back to the market for private sector investments to come in?’ 

“Any of these investments I have mentioned can generate at least 10-15,000 jobs. That to me is impact rather than the smaller micro initiatives that are very good but perhaps not within the scope of a regional development commission.”