NDIGBO have continued to lament the lingering insecurity in the South- East region and tasked the governors in the zone to rise to their responsibilities by coming together to tackle the problem.
The lingering insecurity in the region has destroyed many families and crippled the economy of the region.
The people of the region think it is time for their governors to work as a team to salvage the region as their efforts are not helping.
Their counterparts in the South- West region are collaborating; they have a regional security outfit that is working hard to secure their people. Recently, it was reported that they have embarked on joint agriculture projects for mass production of food items and crops to make life reasonably better for their people.
The Northern governors are collaborating to fight insurgency and other crimes. Last week, they held a security summit in Katsina to rub minds on how to tackle crimes in the region.
What are the South-East governors doing? Are they cursed not to work together or is it an issue of ego? Businesses are collapsing; traditional ceremonies meant to be held in Igbo land are still done outside the region due to insecurity. Some Igbo investors have refused to take their businesses to the region. Sadly, this is affecting the internally generated revenue base of their states, and they resort to taxing their already impoverished citizens to death. Time is now for them to bury their differences and ego, and work as a team for the good of the people of the region.
S-East needs group, not individual championship to survive --Prof Madubuike
A former minister of Education and Health, Professor Ihechukwu Madubuike, is of the strong view that the South-East zone does not need individual but collaborative efforts to develop and urged the governors to start a team for the interest of the zone. He decried the lack of cohesion and cooperation among Igbo leaders, especially the governors.
Madubuike noted with regret that no communique had been issued from a much-advertised South-East Economic Summit held in Owerri in 2023 which many intellectuals submitted well-researched papers on the way forward. He pointedly placed the woes of the region on the foot of the governors who refused to pursue regional integration.
"There was an economic summit which was properly advertised and several people, including academics, submitted very well-researched papers. Our darling sister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala made remarks at the summit. She said that the bane of Ndigbo was partly in-fighting and also partly self-inflicted.
"It will surprise you that up till today, there is no agreed communique from that highly advertised economic summit. Recently, during a paper presentation in Enugu, I bemoaned the lack of cohesion and cooperation among our governors. Everyone is dancing and wanting to be applauded. Our situation in Igbo land is more than individual championships. We need a group championship if we are going to survive. We must survive as a group, not as individual states.
"What we have now is a tragedy. It is as if we are headless. I don't know where most of our people at the helm of affairs want to go or what they want to be remembered for. Leadership is all about legacies. I can look back today and see what I did when I was Minister for Education in the Second Republic; how I initiated Open University, how I initiated the University of Science and Technology, etc. There were no private or state universities until I became Minister of Education under Shehu Shagari. All the 13 universities then were federal universities and only one, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was in the South- East. But within the short period I was in office, I brought the Federal University of Technology, FUTO, Owerri. We also had one in Yola, and the University of Agriculture Makurdi, among others.
"But today, what we have is pure tokenism. We occupy positions in this country as if we don't deserve them. But for the quota system, nothing will be given to us, and that's why Tinubu Presidency will give us only five ministers and everybody kept quiet."
Govs don't consult, behave as if they know it all--Ozobu
For Prince Richard Ozobu, the governors of the South-East zone commit blunders in governance because they don't engage in proper consultations with statesmen and those experienced in public service who could guide them on policy matters.
Ozobu, who also decried what he described as a lack of dynamic leadership in the zone, said most of the South-East governors are too inexperienced and still learning on the job, hence the need to work as a team and exchange ideas.
Ozobu said: "I think the South-East governors have not been properly reaching out to statesmen and experienced men in administration. Most of them are too inexperienced and still learning on the job. It doesn't matter your background and the organisation you worked for before, governance is a different business. You cannot do well without experienced people around you. Some statesmen have acquired experience in public service even before most of the governors were born, but the governors hardly make consultations.
"They don't reach out to those who could tell them the way and manner things were before this time and how things could best be done. The governors need to consider as paramount, the best interest of the South-East region.
"Most of the five South-East governors are working at cross purposes and do not have the interest of the zone at heart. Most times, they absent themselves from meetings where important matters affecting the well-being of their people are discussed and decisions are taken.
"Most of them are acting on fundamental inexperience on the job. Yes, you can learn on the job, but there are certain areas and values you can't learn on the job. Matters like history are too important. Governors must ask questions to know about the past and how we got where we are in the South-East. They must know the way and manner things were done in the past to guide them to take the right decisions.
You can come to power at a very young age, but you need to reach out and ask questions about certain things. For instance, most of these young presidents in the Western nations have highly experienced advisers and statesmen to guide them on matters of state policies and history. Yes, you can have exuberance, charisma, and dynamism, but you can never buy experience from the market. Application of policies requires experience.
"The South-East governors have never agreed and delivered on any joint programme, project, or policy for Ndigbo. It has been all about rhetoric, motion without movement. You saw what happened in the formation of Ebubeagu security outfit. I told people that Ebubeagu was planned to fail because I didn't see anything that suggested that they were serious in establishing a security outfit for the zone."
Govs should interact with former governors, exchange ideas --Peter Obi
The former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, also expressed worry over the level of insecurity in the zone. He urged the governors to come together to tackle it. He also called on them to invite former governors of the region to exchange ideas on how solutions could be found and insisted that security is the foundation on which people can live in any environment.
"Like I always say, the primary duty of any government is security of life and property. And it is worrisome what is happening in Nigeria and South-East in particular, where people wake up every day with news of killings, abductions, and kidnappings.
"The governors of the zone should come together as a body to be able to tackle the problem. As I thank the governments in the zone for their efforts so far, there is a need to do more. I want our governors to see themselves as a family to solve this problem. I am saying this with the little experience I had when I was there. The governors should urgently come together. They can even invite those of us who had been there to interact with us to chart the way forward.
"Yes, there was an attempt in the past to form a joint security outfit which failed, but I don't believe in failure. There should be more effort to make it work. They should also work with security agencies, and vigilante groups to achieve the desired objective. In the South-East, there is a need for the governors to come together to be able to tackle it.
"Even in economic agenda, I want to see the South-East governors work more closely. We want to see them come together and also bring together other groups in the zone," Obi advised.
Revive abandoned moribund farm settlements --Onyediogbu
Another respondent, Chief Nnadi Onyediogbu advised the governors to embark on joint economic ventures to generate employment to keep the youths busy and take them away from crimes. He said the five states in the zone can cooperate in the area of agriculture, using the abandoned farm settlements established by the former Eastern Nigeria government as a base.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"When I saw the massive farm settlement at Igbariam in Anambra East Local Government Area, I marveled and wondered why that place should be abandoned. I was informed that private individuals have acquired the settlement and it is underutilised. Why can't the governor use it as a base to promote agriculture because from what I saw there, the place can feed the entire Anambra State if put into proper use."
Governors' Forum lacks effective leadership --Ex-Ohanaeze chairman
A former Imo State chairman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof. Chidi Osuagwu, noted that they cannot properly run their umbrella union let alone collaborate for joint projects. He said the Forum's secretariat ought to drive the expected cooperation but it lacks effective leadership.
"Leadership is about vision, and showing direction to the people on what to do. If the people are motivated to follow the indicated direction, the leader succeeds. No leader does everything alone. Any leadership is limited by its vision. If the Igbo people are not effectively solving their multifaceted security challenges at this time, then the leadership is failing.
"The insecurity in Igbo land, some of it engineered by unexpected actors that wish the Igbo people ill, has become pernicious. It appears to be beyond the vision of the present crop of governors in Igbo land. The attempt to address the insecurity issue head-on by Governor Alex Otti of Abia State succeeded for a while, at least the relentless criminal kidnappings in the Umunneochi axis lessened appreciably.
"But the success now appears challenged by such recent bizarre developments in Aba. It is as if some forces wish no end to the insecurity in Igbo land. But the governors and community leaders should not be deterred.
"The South-East Governors' Forum has lacked effective leadership for a while now. This has cost-necessary synergy for effective solutions to the insecurity plaguing Igbo land. The governors should muffle their egos and rally around anyone among them with solutions to offer for the good of the great Igbo Nation.
"There is pain in the land, from poverty, hunger, sickness and banditry, uncertainties of life all around. True leadership emerges at times like this. Let them show it", Osuagwu said.
