Felxfame's Blog

By:  Vincent Ukpong Kalu
Date:  Sat, 07/07/2012 - 19:32


President, League of South East Presidents of Town Unions in Lagos, Mr. Tony Ohakwe, has said that the dream of South East to produce Nigeria’s president in 2015 is very much alive. According to him, the zone is not making noise about it but seriously working towards bringing it to fruition. Excerpts:

What’s your comment on the state of the nation? You cannot exhaust the state of the nation in a single discussion like this. However, I have to narrow it to security. The Boko Haram insurgence has gotten to a feverish level that only God can solve it for us. However, I think the end of the sect is in sight following prayers by Christians and Muslims. Remember the Maitasine sect of the 1980s. It fizzled out. Today, Nigeria still exists.


How can you access President Jonathan’s first year in office? I will score President Jonathan very high in terms of governance. We should remember that he met a lot of hiccups – economically, socially and politically. Economically, most people had thought that Nigeria would have crashed by now but it has not been so. The president is trying to address most of the issues and we are doing well in terms of managing our economy. World Bank indices show that despite the fact that we are oil-dependent, we are on the path of progress. 


However, there are areas I want the president to address – our much dependent on import. The time has come for us to do more in terms of agricultural raw materials for export. That is why we are happy with the Minister of Agriculture for his plans in the agric sector. 


In terms of foreign investments coming to Nigeria, the Minister of Trade and Investment has reeled out figures showing direct foreign investment in Nigeria and if that is so, we are getting to the level that we begin to export not only agricultural produce, but also finished products.  In the maritime sector, the present government has tried its best and with the kind of money that has been voted to help indigenous ship owners, we are on the path of progress. 


There is a lot of confusion in the political arena, not from the president but politicians. It is good now that we are having a vibrant opposition that is criticizing with facts and figures, though sometimes some of the criticisms are without any substance. However, we are beginning to see what opposition means in a democratic set-up link Nigeria. So far, so good, Jonathan is doing well. He should pay more attention to energy that will power the economy. If power is put in place in the next one year, the economy of Nigeria will be robust.


While canvassing support for Jonathan in 2011, you were emphatic on President of Igbo extraction in 2015, how feasible is it? Presidency of Igbo extraction is feasible in 2015. If you observed during 2011 elections, for the first time, the Igbo spoke with one voice. The first time there was unity among the Igbo despite that we have some pockets of rebels, which is allowed because this is democracy.


With the newfound unity among Igbo, the 2015 presidency of Igbo extraction is very feasible. The plans are on, but how it is going to be achieved is not what we should be discussing in the newspapers. We are not making noise about it.  If you watched what happened during Ojukwu’s burial, it will give you a signal that Igbos are on the verge of returning to pre-civil war era, that is, the period when we had Igbo Union; we are coming back to that. 


Today, Ohanaeze is empowered to speak for Igbo and you are to abide by its decisions, irrespective of political leaning. With the powers given to Ohanaeze, I have the conviction that the 2015 agenda for Igbo will be achieved, God willing. Achieving this is not by way of making noise in the media because there are some great re-alignments within the political class in the country for obvious reasons


Other regions are gearing up towards economic integration to forge ahead. Recently, we had South West economic summit, the South South, what of South East? The governors we have in the South East are not working according to the rules. Sometimes, you wonder why we have to elect some of them. At a time when governors of other regions are coming together to articulate economic issues to move their regions forward for the betterment of their people, ours are busy abusing each other.


 I know that the chairman of the South East Governors Forum, Peter Obi is a member of Federal Government economic management team. I know there are one or two problems among the governors and the problems are best known to them.

The action of Abia State governor, Chief T. A. Orji by sacking non-indigenes working in his state didn’t go down well with other governors. This is a pointer that there is no unity among the governors of South East.


We at state town unions development associations have made some marks to Governor Obi, we are also aware that some groups of professionals are tinkering with the idea of South East economic summit. Some eminent sons from the private sector are working round the check along side Ndigbo Lagos in this direction.


One major hindrance is the non-cooperative attitude of the governors, who are supposed to be at the forefront on the issue. I wonder why the governors have failed to take a cue from the master plan of late Dr. Michael Okpara, former premier of defunct Eastern Region. What happened at the South South economic summit is a blueprint of Okpara’s economic policies, but the people, who are supposed to adopt and enhance it for their own people, are not concerned instead; you see them going on individual basis.