Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike
Ekweremadu
A move is underway by leaders of the
southeast geopolitical zone to forge economic
integration and reposition the region for
development.The initiative will have five
governors and an array of prominent Igbo
leaders from religious, economic, educational
and political platforms rubbing minds
together to tackle decrepit infrastructure and
leadership void in the region.
Under the aegis of South East Leadership and
Development Initiative (SELDI), the move
stems from “a near state of hopeless that has
befallen the southeast since the end of the
Civil War and in particular, since 1999, when
the present democratic experience took off.”
The leaders, it was learnt, reviewed the state
of the zone in the past 17 years and
concluded: “The present democratic
dispensation has not helped the area.”Besides
governors of the region, the initiative is also
being driven by the Deputy President of the
Senate, Ike Ekweremadu; former
Commonwealth Secretary General, Emeka
Anayoku; former Ministers Ngozi Okonjo
Iweala, Prof. Charles Soludo, and Prof. Barth
Nnaji.
Other include Dr Idika Kalu Idika, Mr. Tony
Elumelu, Prof. Pat Utomi, Dr Oby Ezekwesili,
Prof. Pita Ejiofor, Prof. Elo Amucheazi, Rear
Admiral Ebitu Ukiwe (rtd), Chief Olisa
Agbakoba (SAN), former Governor Peter Obi,
Dr Orji Kalu, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Prof. Philip
Emeagwali, and author, Chimamanda Adichie.
A source told The Guardian: “The assumption
that the Federal Government should play a
leading role in reactivating the moribund
infrastructure that stares the zone in the face
is the greatest undoing of the region.”
If you look at it, critically, you will know that
over 80 per cent of our active youths have
remained without jobs, thus wasting their
productive age. If we have the quantum of
investments that have remained moribund
working, we won’t have the level of
unemployment existing in the southeast.”
A document obtained exclusively by The
Guardian said SELDI “is dedicated to
transforming and fostering the development of
Nigeria, especially the southeast region,
focusing on leadership development in order to
change the fortunes of the people, and giving
hope to present and future generations. SELDI
is the response to the developmental gaps and
challenges that confronted the southeast after
the Civil War, which devastated the region.”
Source-guardian
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