Faced with continued ne­glect of the South East zone by the federal au­thorities, prominent Igbo lead­ers have unveiled a 50-year de­velopment plan for the region.
The gigantic plan was dis­closed on Thursday at the commencement of a three-day World Igbo Summit at Grego­ry University, Uturu, Abia State.
In a statement they issued on the goal of the summit, the organisers said that the projects under the plan will be executed between 2016 and 2066.
The Vice Chairman, Sum­mit Publicity Committee, Chin­we Nnorom, who signed the statement, quoted the Director-General of the Summit, Dr. Ife­di Okwenna, as saying that “the current economic, security and political conundrum Ndi Igbo found themselves is believed to be a product of leadership emergence problem, direction­less and purposeless leader­ship, fragile relationship with neighbours, lack of unified vi­sion and programme or action, progressive disconnect between the Igbo intelligentsia, political leadership, the business class, Igbo levels of leadership, weak integration of the Diaspora in the economy of the Igbo nation and the pervasive lines of secu­rity threats in Igbo land.”
She said to this end, the summit will address the chal­lenges facing the Igbo by de­signing a roadmap to re-launch the Igbo back as the economic giant of the black race.
The organisers said that the time is ripe for Ndi Igbo to stop playing what seems like the script of their detractors who wish to perpetuate their sub­jugation as a result of the Civ­il War.
Nnorom said that the sum­mit would host both Igbo at home and in diaspora.
Among the resource per­sons from Igbo land billed for the summit are the Chairman, Senator Ike Nwachukwu, for­mer Military Governor of Old Imo State/Minister of Foreign Affairs/Minister of Labour and Productivity who also doubles for Abia State; and co-chairmen representing the Igbo nation as follows: Dr. Chukwueme­ka Ezeife, (Anambra), Col. Joe Achuzia (Delta), Chief Francis Ogi (Ebonyi), former Senate President Ken Nnamani (Enu­gu State), Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu (Imo) and Chief Isaac Wonwu (Rivers).
The keynote speaker is Pro­fessor Epiphany Azinge, the Di­rector-General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS).