By Tony Adibe
Prominent Igbo sons and daughters will gather on Wednesday next week in Enugu, capital of Enugu State for a retreat to chart a new course for the Southeast region.
Governors of the Southeast States, National Assembly members, captains of industry and the Igbo intelligentsia, are to participate in the ‘voyage of self-rediscovery’ with the theme: ‘Ako Bu Ije.’ Many other dignitaries who are being expected including members of the Ohanaeze Presidential Advisory Council and the Association of Igbo Town Unions (ASITU) led by Chief Emeka Diwe.
Organisers of the event, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, said the programme had become imperative in view of the prevailing circumstances in Nigeria as they affect the Igbo. But NewsBits recalls that most of such retreats held in the past were yet to impact positively on the Igbo as they were often forgotten soon after the participants left the venue at the end of the events. There hardly could be any follow-up to similar gatherings of the Igbo in past.
However, in a statement issued, the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has restated his resolve to lead Igbo people to a glorious and enviable pedestal where they can harness their natural endowments and creative potentials for the benefits of Igbo land in particular and Nigeria in general.
Iwuanyanwu, however, bemoaned the fact that those virtues and values which were the hallmark of the Igbo were fast fading. He recalled with nostalgia the group’s resourcefulness, team spirit, entrepreneurship, tenacity and resilience that placed the Michael Okpara-led administration as the fastest developing economy in Africa in the 1960s.
The Ohanaeze PG explained that time has come for the Igbo to reflect deeply on how to transform Igbo land into a tourist and investment destination, stressing that all the human and material resources required to develop the region were in abundance in the zone. All that was needed was to give them direction and momentum to achieve the desired goals, according to him.
Details from the Chairman of the retreat organising committee and Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Okey Emuchay, indicated that a one-time Chief of Naval Staff, Allison Madueke, will be Chairman of the event. Emuchay also disclosed that the retreat will feature paper presentations by eminent scholars and accomplished technocrats including Prof. Okey Ikechukwu, who will deliver the lead paper.
Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Prof. Nnenna Oti, will speak on “Education: Technological innovations and entrepreneurship in Igbo land” ; Dr. Nnaemeka Obiaraeri handles “Agricultural development and food sufficiency in Igbo land;” while Prof. Maurice Iwu will dwell on “Health Care: Harnessing the potentials in Igbo traditional medicine.” Monsignor Prof. Obiora Ike will further speak on the topic: “Re-orientation of values –A panacea to insecurity in Igboland.”
