By Lexi Elo
The Igbo Conversational Group (ICG) has urged President Elect General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to fashion out a new blueprint for national economic revival in Nigeria.
While commending leaders of the different political parties for maintaining decorum and shunning precipitate acts, the group enjoined all stakeholders to look forward to the remaining plank of the general election with great optimism and remain steadfast in their determination to uphold the collective integrity of Nigeria.
In a statement available with Sundiata Post and signed by the chief convener, Dr. Ikedi Ohakim, the group maintained that in Buhari, Nigeria expects to have her own Lee Kuan Yu (Singapore), Gen. Park Chung-Lee (South Korea) and Deng Xiaoping (1904 -1997) China.
According to the statement “Without prejudice to the existing manifesto of his party, ICG believes that there already exists a concise agenda that the President-elect must as a matter of urgency pursue in order to return the country to the path of sanity, equity, justice and rule of law. As it concerns Ndi Igbo, this priority agenda should include but not limited to Boko Haram Insurgency, reviving the economy, addressing injustice to the Igbos amongst which include Aba Integrated Power Project, abandoned property and the creation of two additional states within the region.”
It continued “In 2005, the Federal Government under President Olusegun Obasanjo concessioned the Aba metropolis to the investors of a 141MW plant in Aba as a security for financing the project. The then President convinced many Igbo investors who rushed and set up various plants/factories on the understanding that this power plant will see the light of the day. The plant was completed by M/S Geometric Consortium with state-of-the-art equipment from General Electric (GE) with an investment of over N100b since 15 months ago. Unfortunately, M/S BPE went ahead to double concession the same zone. The plant cannot take off. The investors are crying, unemployed youths are crying, Igbo are crying. This conspiracy and injustice must be addressed by the in-coming administration as soon as possible.
“On the issue of creation of additional states, this issue was dealt with elaborately in the earlier statement by ICG and needs no emphasis here. Happily, it is one of the issues the President-elect promised to look into during his campaigns. The second Niger Bridge is the only project under the N400 billion national intervention project of 2005 that is being handled as a PPP arrangement. In the alternation, we demand that South-east share of the intervention project be channeled to the development of Osemoto seaport.”
The group noted that Osemoto (Oguta LGA, Imo State)/Oseakwa (Ihiala LGA, Anambra State) is the deepest natural harbour in Nigeria and will offer real naval and marinetransportation platforms if developed.
Most interesting, the ADB report shows that it lies only 18 nautical miles to Atlantic Ocean and will be a strategic hub for oil and gas industry and inland dry docking to promote trade and create employment. Above all, it will open the Igbo land to the sea.
In addition, it will open up more than 3,000 square kilometers of the most fertile agricultural land that has one of the highest alluvial deposits which has been in existence for well over a million years.
The Osemoto deep sea port and all the associated industry will create well over two million jobs for our teeming unemployed youths.
The statement added that the outcome of the 2015 presidential election has introduced a new vista to Igbo politics.
“Without any exaggerations, Ndigbo stand to benefit immensely from the change that has just taken place, in the sense that the new era will re-define Igbo politics more positively. Presidential power may become less accessible to Ndi Igbo but the current state of affairs offers an opportunity for a new and purposeful leadership to emerge in Igbo land. This new leadership must be people who will have the guts and intellectual capacity to become a credible opposition to the new dispensation if need be. In the new dispensation, politics of money and contract will have no place and in this regard, ICG is of the firm belief that the Igbo will be the biggest beneficiaries.
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“ICG commends President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan GCFR for his comportment and deep sense of accomodation. Nigerians will forever remember him for steadfastly upholding democratic ethics and allowing space for every player. President Jonathan came to power when the nation was in a big quagmire and it is to his credit that the country had a smooth transition following the sudden demise of his predecessor, the late President Umaru, Yar’Adua. We salute him for his courage in conceding defeat while asking that he should remain available for the country to tap from his experience.
Igbo Conversational Group believes that the new era can become the foundation of Nigeria’s march into a secured future of prosperity and political stability.
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