Mark Neboh
Aku Luo Uno as a development concept simply means setting-up medium and large scale commercial and manufacturing industry ventures in the investor’s indigenous home region. It is a productive strategy which if rightly applied enhances speedy and lasting industrial development of the investor’s indigenous region.
This age long strategy totally discourages the idea of making manufacturing industry investments in foreign countries or in regions outside the investor’s indigenous region to avoid falling victim to unforeseen regrettable consequences. Adopting Aku Luo Uno development concept helps to guarantee everlasting ownership of an individual’s or collective industrial investment once properly established under existing legal frame work. On the long run, it provides gainful employment and accelerated economic and industrial development to the investor’s home region among other plausible end results.
Since our existence, we Ndigbo have continued with our grave mistake of making huge capital investments in other regions of our country ignoring the monumental losses we suffered as a result at the end of the civil war and continue to suffer till date owing to recurrent sectional clashes in today Nigeria unpredictable political terrain. We have by this unpardonable mistake unknowingly promoted the rapid economic and industrial development of other regions even those covertly resentful of our feat to the disadvantage of our own region.
We have bluntly neglected the age long proven adage Charity Begins at Home.
It is no longer news that a good number of manufacturing industries and mega-commercial hubs built in different regions of our country belong to or facilitated by Ndigbo capital and intellectual contributions. These flourishing industries and mega hubs generate abundant revenue in the form of various tax regimes for these state governments and provide ample employment opportunity to their indigenes while relegating our people to playing meager roles in the production process. There is actually nothing wrong with exploiting investment opportunities in other regions except as in our own unfortunate case where it has become a modus operandi and extremely detrimental to our developmental aspiration.
The questions now longing for appropriate answers remains just these, have we really realized that we are committing grave existential error and secondly, how can we reverse this frightful predicament before it consumes our innocent future generations. I have taken my time to interact with some of our players in the field on this disturbing subject matter, unfortunately their answers have always pointed to the issue of lack of adequate industrial development infrastructure, unrelenting harassment by multiple security operatives, inadequate internal security arrangements and absence of support from our state governments.
I quite agree with them but the case is different with just one investor venturing to invest at home in comparison to when there is an overwhelming thoughtful consciousness that we have been doing it wrong all along and now collectively decide to make the genuine overdue U-turn. To achieve the desired end result, our industrialists and prime commercial class, our apex socio cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and State Governments have to jointly resolve out of sincere conviction to make the required sacrifices to provide the basic infrastructure needed and secondly deeply upgrade our internal security arrangement. It is important as well that relevant government economic departments jointly work out favourable investment incentives in our various states with the motive to give wide ranging support to new and existing industries to prosper.
Aku Luo Uno initiative if properly planned and executed has the potential to correct our grave blunder of the past. It will rightly reposition our investment mindset and drive industrial development to our advantage and that of our future generations. The process will create mass employment for our teeming youth, utilize their intellect and our local raw materials in their various production undertakings thereby add extra value to our regional economy. Once in motion, the ensuing success will definitely give deserved boost to our inherent entrepreneurial capacity and rightly spur us beyond limits to expand our exploits and venture into new production techniques and products variety as well as explore new markets within and far beyond our shores.
The time is now as further delay might lead us to regret.
Neboh writes from Lagos
