|
Listen to article
|
In a strategic bid to accelerate development in the Southeast, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the leading Igbo socio-cultural organization, declared on Wednesday that the Southeast Development Commission (SEDC) will serve as the region’s engine for growth, with governors from the Southeast playing a pivotal role.
The Southeast Development Commission (SEDC) bill, championed by Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu, brings together five key states – Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo – under a unified development umbrella, paving the way for a more cohesive regional growth strategy.
As a key driver of regional development, the SEDC will oversee the allocation of Federation Account funds to rebuild and restore the Southeast’s aging infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and other vital projects, helping to reverse years of neglect and underdevelopment.
In addition to infrastructure development, the Southeast Development Commission (SEDC) will also confront the region’s longstanding ecological and environmental challenges, working to mitigate the devastating impact of decades of neglect and degradation on the region’s natural resources.
However, a statement by Ohanaeze’s National Publicity Secretary, Alex Ogbonnia, reads partly: “Furthermore, the South East governors led by the governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma, will leverage the opportunity created by the Commission to anchor programmes that will fully harness and promote the industrial, agricultural, tourism, energy, commercial and investment potentials in the zone. It will also help to create the much-desired centrally coordinated security architecture in the zone; and more.
Read also: Anti-Tinubu Protest: Ohanaeze Says Igbos Won’t Be Involved
“A few days ago, the Minister of Works, Senator David Nweze Umahi, in Abakaliki, announced plans by the Federal Government to construct a 477 kilometre – six-lane Super Highway, traversing five states to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
According to the minister’s blueprint, the super highway will stretch from the Southeast, passing through Abakiliki, Enugu, and Nsukka, before terminating in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
“The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide Chief Engr. Dr Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, MFR; OFR; CFR; FNICE; FNSE; FNIST; KSG (Ahaejiagamba Ndigbo) is highly elated and sends a warm gratitude to Mr. President over these developments.
“The Ohanaeze Ndigbo has maintained that the cause of backpedalling by Nigeria is the Igbophobia-a pathological fear of the Igbo in a country they have sacrificed so much to uphold. As it stands, President Bola Tinubu has shown a major departure from the Buhari regime by signing the SEDC Bill into Law; appointing Sen. Dave Nweze Umahi, a brilliant and prudent engineer as the federal minister for Works, and Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla as the Chief of the Naval Staff.
“This is a quantum leap and a new beginning. An Awka man asked the wife, “ineme elee omanaese?”
