Sunday Okobi
The leaders of the Southeast region under the auspices of Ohaneze Ndigbo have called for the setting up of the South East Development Commission (SEDC) to manifestly operationalise ideas for the development of the region.
They stated that the formation of such agency would bring speedy progress to the Igbo nation through actions for results, not jaded rhetoric.
At the summit, former Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and a foremost development scholar, Prof Sam Amadi, in his lead paper delivered at the summit titled: ‘Roadmap to Accelerated Economic Transformation of the South East’c insisted that there was a need for coordinated efforts in the desire to achieve the development of the South East Zone intentionally with a mandate for action to move, work and deliver results, adding that the time is urgently now.
In statement signed and made available to THISDAY yesterday by the South East Summit on Security and Economy Media Office, he asserted that the historic rapid transformation of the then Eastern Region of Nigeria under the premiership of late Dr. Michael Okpara in the first republic was a record other nations marvelled and copied, and therefore, could be replicated without any pretence to magic or laments of limitations, but simply a leadership commitment to a mission and zeal for action.
According to him, “Put bluntly in a context, we cannot as a people lament for too long for what we have done before, demonstrated to world acclaim, and can still do again even better, with an increasingly digitalised human capital in our thumbs, and amazing zestful youth assets to exploit.
“No, we must rise above the ‘prison’ of how the cookie crumbled to triumph on how the cookie is refreshed and enhanced.”
The statement noted that while reemphasising the successes of the zone in the First Republic that made the region the fastest-growing economy in the world then, Amadi declared that the ‘rocket attitude’ was the right mix of development processes, a coordinating body (the Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation) “and a strong political will and character that made inclusion a norm and citizen mobilisation a charm.”
The Igbo leader stated that new coordinated efforts to develop the five states of the Southeast would succeed if current dynamics were purposefully factored into the operations and functions of the proposed SEDC without debilitating personal interests and excessive political interruptions to work for the common good.
The professor said: “We have seen how Europe and Asia transformed their economies. We can borrow or reincarnate what we knew, to create a ‘developmentalist’ state that has the political will to mobilise relevant consensus on a development agenda that drives and thrives coherently and consistently.”
On how to achieve this efficiently, he noted that: “The good news is that we had had such a state in the defunct Eastern Nigeria under Dr. M.I Okpara as premier. Okpara’s policy on agriculture had a twofold trust namely: the establishment of farm settlements for food crops and poultry as well as estates of oil palm, cocoa, and cashew among others which were processed for export.
“That was productivity on wheels. Alongside the agricultural products, he went out for numerous industrial projects/states scattered all over the Eastern region which birthed many industries, facilities and new towns all over in a brave record time. It speaks pointedly of boldness and tenacity, his vision and sacrifice, and died without even a home he built himself.
“So the matter of focus in moving from agriculture to industries is strategic and coherent key to eastern Nigeria’s rapid economic recovery and growth with improved human capital and clarity of purpose.”
The South-east Summit on Security and Economy was hosted by the governors of the five states in the region with all in attendance, to rethink a reset for leadership inspirations to re-enact regional synergy for development and prosperity, under the auspices of Ohaneze Ndigbo with Sen Chris Anyanwu as chairperson of the Organising Committee in Owerri, Imo State.
