Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Abia State, Chief Charles Ogbonnaya, has canvassed massive support for the South East Development Commission (SEDC) as a propeller to rebuild the region.
According to Ogbonnaya, SEDC, when set up, will address the causes of agitation and constant tension in the zone.
SEDC Bill sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives and member representing Bende federal constituency, Rt. Hon. Ben Kalu, has been passed by both chambers of the National Assembly, and awaiting presidential assent.
Chief Ogbonnaya in a media chat in Umuahia, said the SEDC, when inaugurated, would be the first concrete effort towards addressing the degradation in the South-East occasioned by the civil war.
The former Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, however, expressed disappointment that both Governors and other political leaders in the region were not showing enough support towards the take off of the commission.
He argued that the support of South-East political leaders was crucial to drive the Commission through the intervention of the Federal Government.
According to him, the philosophy of the Commission is in tandem with late Dr Michael Okpara’s development agenda encapsulated on prime document establishing Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation (ENDC).
The PDP chieftain noted that under Okpara’s ENDC, cocoa farms, rubber and palm plantations were established and run by the government.
He also listed Metropolitan Hotel at Calabar, Presidential hotels in Enugu and Port Harcourt, as well as Golden Guinea Breweries and Ceramics factory in Umuahia as other industries set up by Dr Okpara under ENDC.
The PDP chieftain commended the Deputy Speaker for being proactive in sponsoring the bill given the level of infrastructural decay in the South-East since after the civil war.
“Synergy is now necessary between the Federal Government and the states in the South-East to fund the rebuilding of the infrastructure in the region.
“I believe that Hon Benjamin Kalu has presented us a golden opportunity to rebuild the south-East which was ravaged by the civil war. I believe all of us have to come together to make it possible by putting pressure on the Federal Government to do the needful,” he said.
He, therefore, appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to endear himself more to the South-East people by signing the SEDC Bill into law without further delays.
