The Ndigbo Unity Forum (NUF), a pan-Igbo-socio political organization, has bemoaned the lack of viable and sustainable development projects after unbridged 27-year civil rule.
Key Highlights:
Chairman of NUF, Chief Augustine Chukwudum, told newsmen on Tuesday in Enugu, that the development remains worrisome.
Chukwudum alleged that in the past 27 years, the five South-East states had generated more than N30 trillion both through internal generated revenue, foreign donors and federation account.
According to him, till date the zone does not have a coordinated zonal railway system, fibre backbone, gas pipeline and seaport among others, which are hallmarks of developed regions/counties of the World.
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He attributed the skyrocketing price of food stuffs, which South-East residents are suffering, to the zone’s neglect of large scale and planned agriculture.
He noted that agriculture gave the zone its major source of revenue before independence and profiled the zone as the fastest growing economy then.
“Agriculture is no longer functional because of lack of innovation and critical thinking of leaders on viable and sustainable agricultural practices,” he said.
He noted that the assessment became imperative following backward development of a zone that is highly blessed with human and natural resources.
“Looking back in the1960s, Michael Okpara then Eastern Region premier, built industrial estates, agricultural estates and plantations, education, water scheme, rural, urban upliftment and other development in the region.
“More than 60 years after, his legacy is still here with us, but today, none of our past and present governors can point to a single project that portrays a viable and sustainable legacy.
“Most governors travel to countries that are well-developed, such as American, England, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, France, Spain, China, UAE and others, yet they cannot replicate what they see and experience in those countries,” he queried.
Chukwudum urged present and future governors to start bringing in professionals in their cabinets and major appointments, who would bring ideas into governance.
“They should desist from flooding their appointments with politicians, who bring no idea or innovation to the table,” he added.
