Editorial: Time To Develop And Stabilize Alaigbo

According to his media adviser, Chief Emeka Attamah, the fund is intended to develop Alaigbo to the status of Catalonia in Spain and Bayern in Germany.

Looking at the composition of the committee, the presence of these accomplished Igbo sons and daughters shows that the Southeast is ready to take their destiny in their own hands The committee has heavyweights like Professor Osita Ogbu, Dr Sam Amadi, Dr Joe Abah, Patrick Okigbo, Onyeka Onwenu, and others who were carefully chosen “based on their individual learning, competence and exposure.”

We urge the committee to think of creative ways to stabilize and develop Alaigbo, there should be a conscious effort to develop our educational system, health sector, entertainment industry, manufacturing, agriculture, aviation, export and other areas that need critical attention.

No nation succeeds by mistake, but by careful planning. We have been basking in cargo cult mentality, a term used by Chinua Achebe in his book, The Trouble With Nigeria.

This is a mentality where leaders feel that without sustained hard work, internally, their states could somehow achieve the status of socio-political transformation they had envisaged.

Those who manifest this mentality are always waiting for a fairly ship to dock in their harbour, laden with every good they have always dreamed of possessing.

This also comes at a time the much-touted “non-negotiable unity of Nigeria” is showing cracks at all angles. The Federal Government over the years has shown herself to be incapable of solving any developmental challenges that have confronted the nation.

The fake federalism practised over the years in Nigeria has engendered a rent-seeking system of government where governance is about what leaders can get out of the system, not what they can give to the system. Now the chicken has come to roost.

The effects of mindless misgovernance has birthed terrorism in the North East, banditry, kidnapping and terrorism in the North West, farmer-herder clashes in the North Central, militancy and oil bunkering in the South-South, Biafra agitation in the South East and kidnapping in the South West. The Nigeria state has lost the monopoly of violence to various non-state actors.

Those who are running the show there are busy deploying their creativity at looting our commonwealth, signing nonviable contracts and blocking national progress in place of personal aggrandizement.

A nation that runs petroleum refineries with big losses year to year while spending billions to import petroleum products is not a serious nation.

Right now, every region should take their destiny in their hands. As the rents from crude oil are gradually drying up, the cluelessness of the charlatans in power is becoming evident.

Nigeria does not have any clear development strategy. All we know is that the future of the South East and every other region in Nigeria lies in their hands, not in the hands of the Federal Government.