Residents set agenda for S-East Development Commission, SEDC

…SEDC should prioritise dredging of River Niger, build seaport, interstate rail line – Archbishop Opoko

…Should deploy 5% of its budget to women empowerment —IWA

…SEDC should address civil war restitution –Chekwas  Okorie

…The commission should tackle erosion sacking the entire region

…SEDC should help to restore security in the region –Archbishop Onuagha

By Anayo Okoli, Vincent Ujumadu, Chimaobi Nwaiwu, Steve Oko, Dennis Agbo, Chinedu Adonu, Ugochukwu Alaribe, Chinonso Alozie, Chinenye Ozor & Faustina Ofoha

THE Federal Government recently established the South East Development Commission, SEDC. Vice President  Kashim Shettima, has disclosed that its headquarters  is in Enugu. The House of Representatives has named Abia lawmaker, Chris Nkwonta, the Chairman of the House Committee of the commission. And with these structures being put in place, likely, the board and members of the  Commission may soon be constituted. Based on these arrangements,SEV engages residents and stakeholders of the region to set development agenda for the commission.

SEDC should consider dredging River Niger, building seaports, rail-lines —Archbishop Opoko

Archbishop Raphael Opoko, the Methodist Ecclesiastical Diocese of Umuahia, wants the commission, when inaugurated, to look into building a seaport and interstate  rail lines to connect the South East states as well as the dredging of River Niger, Ugwuta Lake, and the Azunmini Blue River in Ukwa, Abia State, to open  the region for direct access to the  sea.  This, he said, would help to boost the economy of the zone, generate new jobs, and fast-track commercial activities.

“Let me commend  President Tinubu and the sponsor of the Bill, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ben Kalu. To inaugurate the commission is one thing, funding it is another.

“There are many things for the Commission to do. Many roads in the South East both federal and state roads, are dilapidated. So, they should give attention to rebuilding them.

“As a matter of priority, SEDC should also focus on the energy  sector and build a power plant in the region like the Geometric did in Aba. This will help in the industrialization of the zone.  Another major area it should look at is the seaport in the South East. They should dredge River Niger, Ugwuta Lake, and Azunmini Blue River to link the South East to the sea.  We equally want the commission to build a rail line that will connect all the states in the South East for easy movement of people and goods”, the cleric submitted.

SEDC should be used to address civil war restitution —Chekwas Okorie

Prominent Igbo leader, Chief Chekwas Okorie stated that the commission should be a vehicle to address the breached Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation (3R) Nigeria’s post-civil war policy for the South East region.

“The commission is basically to, among other developmental agenda, address the infrastructural deficit in the South East, resulting from the civil war that ended in 1970, which has since worsened when we look at damages done by erosion and so on.

“The commission itself is expected to attract investment, both local and foreign, with the approval of the federal government to be able to carry out more infrastructural and other developmental activities like in education, employment opportunities, technology and all of those areas that would improve employment opportunities and take away our youths from the streets and give them something meaningful for their lives, that is what we expect the commission to do.

“However, two things are critical; one is the sincerity of the federal government in funding it, and secondly is the calibre of the people that will be put there; are they going to be those who will only patronize cronies or those dedicated to the core mandate of the commission and achieve the objective with which it was set up?

“I don’t expect taxation from our people as a means of funding the commission, because I have heard it muted here and there; but let it be noted that the NDDC which is a similar commission does not tax the people of the Niger Delta to fund it, same as the North East Development Commission.

“Don’t forget that by 1970, what General Yakubu Gowon announced was the policy of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, and Reconciliation, called the 3R. That policy has been observed in a breach and so I see this commission as one practical aspect at least to address one aspect which is reconstruction. The issue of rehabilitation, no one is looking at it, we remain completely alienated and marginalized, but if Tinubu wants to look into the area of reconciliation, he doesn’t have to look far and he doesn’t need a commission to do it.  He should release Nnamdi Kanu and all those young men and women who are being incarcerated for the simple reason that they are asking for the self-determination of their people”, Okorie advised.

Commission should deploy 5% of its budget to empower women –IWA

Igbo women want the Commission to prioritize training and empowerment of women in skills acquisition and modern farming for self-reliance,  the  National President Igbo Women Assembly, (IWA, Lolo Nneka Chimezie, submits this as part of the women’s agenda for the Commission.

“We want SEDC to dedicate about 5% of its allocation to women empowerment. They should periodically hold training for women on farming and export of farm produce as well as other skills acquisition.

“We also need their involvement in the establishment of food processing factories in the South East to help stop waste of agricultural produce. The Commission should fund research on methods of food processing”, IWA advised, while also seeking help in funding education in the region.

The Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, tasks the Commission on infrastructural development in hospitals and schools.  The President General of COSEYL, Comrade Goodluck Ibem said “We want the SEDC to improve on the infrastructures in the South East by constructing quality roads both in the rural and urban areas. These will help farmers from the rural areas to bring their farm produce to the urban areas thereby reducing hunger and the high cost of goods.  We also want the SEDC to build, rehabilitate, and equip our hospitals and healthcare centers to provide quality healthcare for our people.

“We want the SEDC to look critically into our school system because currently some of our children are studying under the trees because of the unavailability of classrooms and desks for learning.

“We also want the SEDC to look into youth employment and empowerment in which case the Commission will provide vocational centers for training of our youths and women on various skills which will help them to be self-employed and financially stable. These centers will provide start-up capital and equipment for participants after their training. These will go a long way to reduce youth unemployment, insecurity, youth restiveness and make our youths self-reliant”.

The chairman, board of trustees, BoT of Igbo Think Tank group, Professor Madubuike Ezeibe, wants the Commission to exploit the entrepreneurial potentials of youths in the South East zone.

He said: “Efforts should be made for opportunities for the youths to create jobs for themselves and foreign exchange for the country. The commission should take advantage of the current high demand for cassava flour in the international market.

“SEDC should go into negotiation with companies abroad that need cassava flour, establish a fertilizer blending plant and  a cassava flour plant. Youths should be recruited and  supported with loans and fertilizers  to produce cassava tubers for the cassava flour plant. Both the fertilizer plant and cassava flour plant should be privatized by selling their shares once they have broken even. Another area the Commission should exploit is processing poultry meat. Feed mill, broiler parent stock farm & hatchery, and  meat processing plant should be built”.

Mr. Okechukwu Ikechukwu Innocent, an engineer, also supports the idea of the Commission focusing on attention on infrastructure development in the region and added his voice on the need to establish a seaport in the region.

“I advise the commission to ensure that all the roads within the South East region are properly fixed.  Another area they should focus on is the issue of a seaport. Igbo are business people; I don’t think the Lagos seaport is enough to sustain their business activities”.

SEDC should work to support restoration of security in the region -Archbishop Onuagha

The Methodist Archbishop of Okigwe Archdiocese, Most Rev. Biereonwu Livinus Onuagha, says his agenda for the Commission is to focus on agricultural development, erosion control, and reactivation of the storage facility for grains lying waste in Okigwe as well as steady electricity supply in the region. He also wants SEDC to invest heavily in education and entrepreneurship for the upcoming young generation.

“SEDC should assiduously work and liaise with relevant agencies and authorities to see that security is restored in the South East. If the South East Development Commission must function effectively our security must be restored and guaranteed and that can only be achieved through the release of Nnamdi Kanu”.

Also, the Founder, Chairman Governing Council, and Director General, of Onitsha Business School, Prof. Olusegun Sogbesan, who commended the birthing of SEDC, urges the commission “not just to place before the people the same values that the politicians have been dangling before them public”. He said the commission should work very hard on the security of lives and properties of the residents.

“There must be a deliberate effort on rural economic development within the South East and deliberate national integration and strategy development for the South East that will make the people have full expressions of their gifts and existence in Nigeria as a country”, he noted.

SEDC is administrative paraphernalia with no substance —Obasi Igwe

Prof. Obasi Igwe, does not believe that the commission will achieve anything for the region. He sees it merely as another administrative entity that lacks real substance.

“The South East Development Commission, SEDC, is almost totally irrelevant to any Easterner. It is only administrative paraphernalia with much sound but no substance, and we have said so severally.  If the federal government is interested in developing the East, they should end channeling every business to or through Lagos, and dredge from Owaza/Azumini through Opobo to the sea and reopen the Igbo/Eastern seaports”.

The  chairman of the Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers, Igwe Samuel Ikechukwu Asadu (Okenwa Ogadagidi) of Edem Ani Ancient Kingdom in the Nsukka council area, urges SEDC to pay serious attention to dilapidated infrastructures in the region, especially roads and health infrastructures.  “South East States are known for abundant human resources. The commission should focus on  constructing rail gauges to connect the region for easy movement of goods and services. The commission should also create an industrial hub to absorb youth resources which would trigger industrial revolution in the region south and the country at large”, the royal father submits.

Dr. Uche Nnamani, a lecturer at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, urges the commission “to address our long-subsisting marginalization as Easterners and sincerely address the remnants of the civil war ruins. The Commission is expected to initiate projects and programmes to address the imbalance occasioned by the structural and political marginalization of the South East”.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency, ANSIPPA, Mark Okoye lauds the setting up of the commission.

Okoye, a former Commissioner for Budget and Economic Development said: “To start with, let us identify some of the challenges threatening the region that the SEDC can intervene in. It is estimated that the South East needs investment of about $10 billion annually for the next 30 years to mitigate the infrastructure deficit of the region.

“The region also has about 2,500 active erosion sites cutting across the five states, which have displaced hundreds of thousands of persons and negatively impacted their means of livelihood. SEDC should make the control of erosion menace a priority. The region also faces heightened insecurity from various factors, including secessionist agitation and a hangover from the war”, Okoye said. However,  an Onitsha-based legal practitioner, Joshua Ifekwem doubted the sustainability of the commission in the face of what he described as the penchant for Nigerian leaders to marginalize the South East.

“On paper, the commission sounds good, but how far can it go? Will SEDC attract investments like the ones being enjoyed by the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, or the North East Development Commission, NEDC?” he asked.

He suggested that adequate budgetary provision be made for it and that political parties should steer clear of the commission.

A  retired school principal, Chief Onyemaechi Ndiukwu wants the commission to focus attention on ways of upgrading educational institutions in the zone. Citing the latest university ranking in Nigeria, Ndiukwu lamented that only the University of Nigeria, Nsukka made the top 10, which he blamed on infrastructure deficit in the universities in the region, both federal and state-owned.

He suggested that the SEDC should select two universities in each state in the region, and upgrade them as centers of excellence.

SEDC should revive the agricultural  programmes set up by former Eastern Region –Ozobu

Prince Richard Ozobu urges the commission to revive the agricultural programmes in the region set up by the former Premier of Eastern Region, Dr. Michael Okpara, to boost employment and revenue for the states and Nigeria.  Ozobu also wants a commission to revive abandoned industries established by Okpara in the five states of the South East. He said: “The commission should focus on what is on the ground in the South East. We have agricultural programmes like farm settlements and industries set up across the eleven states of the former Eastern Region set up by Okpara. The farm settlements should be revitalized. The various industries set up by Okpara which had gone under should also be revived to employ our youths.  There was the cashew industry which was a well-organized revenue-yielding industry during the Okpara era. The cashew plantations are still there in Okigwe and other areas. They can be revived to boost employment for our teeming youths.

“But these beautiful plans will come to nothing if the government fails to appoint men of proven integrity to manage the commission. The major focus should be on what will affect the lives of the people positively; not to be used to satisfy political interests. There should be accountability”.

The president of Igbo National Council, INC, Chilos Godsent, wants SEDC to grant scholarships to indigents and embark on the construction of rural roads.

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