It is very disappointing to observe that most states in Igbo land are not pulling their weight in terms of development particularly Imo State and Anambra State. A visit to these states made me to wonder if their governors both past and present are not ashamed of themselves. There is nothing new in terms of development whatsoever. What is common is very bad roads, almost completely depleted infrastructure, rising crime, poverty, etc.

Compared with what governors from even neighbouring states such as Rivers State, Cross Rivers State and Akwa Ibom States are doing, it is not difficult to observe that the governors of Igbo states do not have the interest of the people at their hearts. Igbo states particularly Imo and Anambra states have not been blessed with governors with integrity and fear of God. Ibo people pride themselves to be the wisest amongst other Nigerians but they have nothing to show for it.

I learnt that the Imo State governor Ohakim was a 419 operator before he joined politics and he is now the number 1 person in the state. How can any well-meaning person expect such a man to perform in the interest of the people? If you make enquiries about the well-known names in politics in Igbo land, they are mostly 419 operators and people with no integrity, low education and questionable character.

It amuses me to observe that the Imo State governor is trying to make a last minute election-geared impact by offering 10,000.00 jobs for Imo State graduates, when he has not built any new institutions or brought about any remarkable development or improvement in the quality and standard of living of the people. The governor of Rivers State for example has built and is still building new institutions that will transform the state and provide more and lasting employment and development to his people.

It is even worse when you compare the performance of Igbo state governors to that of other states in Yoruba land such as Ogun State, Lagos State to mention just a few. The Igbo people need to wake up and say no to corrupt, incompetent and 419 leaders and seek to appoint credible people who can deliver the dividends of democracy to Igbo people who are becoming a joke in the face of modern day Nigerian politics.

WHAT ARE YOU SAYING IGBOKWENU ARE ENJOYING NAIJA PASS YORUBA AND HAUSAS.

@Poster, please drop the lines were you compare Eastern states to Western States. I don't think that comparison works and it is not eeded as it is all too clear to any NON-BIASED minds out there that development in the East is desperately needed.

We have under-developed minds on here who cannot handle the meaning in such, and will likely approach that as a challenge on their SELF AND EGO rather than a call to action for the good of the people. You risk having this thread turned into another USELESS TRIBALIST thread by doing that. I really believe it is time people start dealing with the issue of underdevelopment in Eastern States, as it is just unbelievable now more than ever.

@ OP It is general problem. It is pervasive and those not leave out any region.

Whateva u do, do not forget d. OKIGBO REPORT

hmmm lets comapre northern states to all southern states even ebonyi and ekiti

@poster.i am from imo state and i appreciate the poor perfomance of the governor but i must say the truth that imo state is not industrialised but is generally thriving in education and decent urban planning more than the rest of the country.the only cities better than owerri are abuja and calabar.

hmmmn

What is development? Define it in terms of what you mean in this thread and we can take it from there. I have stats, as usual.

Okay we've heard u. I thought Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers is Igbo? Oh I guess in ur warped view a good performing governor like him must not be Igbo. Enugu is doing well.

Eastern states still rank 1st in education, lowest poverty rate in the nation and no almajiri/alaye social miscreants.

mekusxxx:

What is development? Define it in terms of what you mean in this thread and we can take it from there. I have stats, as usual.

ahhh . . . here we go again

Mekussxxxx = Udezue

Udezue seems to have the same arguments as Mekusxxx. Interesting

But this is a very irrelevant thread anyway.

Based on educated data,

The two states you mentioned (Imo and Anambra) consistently have one the lowest poverty rate indices, highest education rate, lowest child mortality rate.

Anambra is one of the few states with up to three economically viable towns (Onitsha, Awka and Nnewi) the other being delta state.

Development has many areas you know.

You need to explain what areas of development u are refering to.

The problem is a nationwide issue, the most developed state in Nigeria is Lagos state.

A city that is principally one big slum !

Katsumoto:

Mekussxxxx = Udezue

Udezue seems to have the same arguments as Mekusxxx. Interesting

Hhahahahhahah! You must be blind then

udezue:

Eastern states still rank 1st in education, lowest poverty rate in the nation and no almajiri/alaye social miscreants.

1st in education? I laugh in kwenu. So many ibo boys are vice/chairmen of so many garages and parks in Lagos.

^^^^^^^

At least you will never see an Igbo beggar. We are better than that and it is beneath us to beg another man for money.

But that is not beneath you Yorubas and the Hausa. Whenever I am in Lagos, I have to give a few Naira to your little Yoruba Street Urchins.

EzeUche:

^^^^^^^

At least you will never see an Igbo beggar. We are better than that and it is beneath us to beg another man for money.

But that is not beneath you Yorubas and the Hausa. Whenever I am in Lagos, I have to give a few Naira to your little Yoruba Street Urchins.

That is a bold faced lie !

Kobojunkie:

That is a bold faced lie !

Prove it Kobowhore!!! 

Even in Alaigbo, most of the beggars are Hausa or those Moroccans.

We Igbos are too proud to beg. It is not in our culture.

yemmight:

1st in education? I laugh in kwenu. So many ibo boys are vice/chairmen of so many garages and parks in Lagos.

Ignoramus. So many YORUBAS are almajiris, motor park touts and beggars. If you find 10 beggars of Igbo origin in naija, you will find 1000 Yoruba and some 5000 hausa/fulani. FACT

I direct you to these sites (being populated)

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-237534.0.html

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-373873.0.html
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-36515.0.html
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=355230.msg4968328#msg4968328
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-371485.0.html

No Yoruba state aside Lagos is more developed that Enugu, and in terms of industrialization, Anambra and Abia trounce them, except of course Lagos which is not atypical yoruba state. New posters should endevour to look for existing topics similar to what they have in mind to post before exhibiting their ignorance. These things have been discussed over and over again.

mekuszyx:

No Yoruba state aside Lagos is more developed that Enugu, and in terms of industrialization, Anambra and Abia trounce them, except of course Lagos which is not atypical yoruba state. New posters should endevour to look for existing topics similar to what they have in mind to post before exhibiting their ignorance. These things have been discussed over and over again.

I believe the topic is about igbo states and not yoruba states.

Thanks mr mekuszyx for your statistical input.

More contributions like that.

RoadStar:

I believe the topic is about igbo states and not yoruba states.

Thanks mr mekuszyx for your statistical input.

More contributions like that.

Thanks. BUT you are not quite correct to assert that the topic is not about Yoruba states. The OP made a direct comparison btw Igbo states and Yoruba states, and so brought yoruba states into the equation

I have asked him to define what he meant by development
Does he mean human development?
Industrial devpt?
Insfrastructure devpt?
Or what? It will help his argument and lead us on on how to respond.

Onitsha was a town that was reduced to ground Zero by the enemy forces during the Nigerian civil war. But today, what do you see at Onitsha?. Is it 5,6,7 storey buildings.
If towns such as Shagamu or Zaria had gone through what Onitsha went through during the war, do you think they would have attained the same height at which they are today?.
So who is lagging behind?.

Andre Uweh:

Onitsha was a town that was reduced to ground Zero by the enemy forces during the Nigerian civil war. But today, what do you see at Onitsha?. Is it 5,6,7 storey buildings.
If towns such as Shagamu or Zaria had gone through what Onitsha went through during the war, do you think they would have attained the same height at which they are today?.
So who is lagging behind?.

I don't know you but what you have above is saddest CROCK of bull! What has a 50-year-old war to do with development today in a city so densely populated? We are speaking of level of development obtained after injection of millions dollars into the state, and state's own attempts at revenue generation. How has that money been spent so far is the question here, not how we can ring out another excuse for mediocrity by injecting, for the millionth time, from almost 50-year-old war.

The @Poster is probably an Ibo who cares so much about the decay he sees in his states and villages. And you are here throwing in Sagamu and Zaria so as to what? Make him FEEL better about the decay he sees in his home state? Make him ACCEPT MEDIOCRE state of living in his City because some city, hundreds of miles away is just as bad? If that is not stupidity, I don't know what else is.

@ Andre Uweh

It is only a fool that will not understand the effects of war and reconstruction. Almost all the cities, roads and bridges in Igbo land were destroyed during the war of attrition imposed on Biafra by Nigeria. Since after the war, Igbo land has not been offered any preferential help to catch up with the rest of Nigeria. Despite all the set backs as a result of the civil war, Igbo land had stood up to be counted. I expect the detractors of Ndigbo to remember the reasons why quota system is institutionalized in Nigeria.

[size=20pt]OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT STATISTICS[/size]
Total Value
GDP


Igbo

Imo
$14.21 billion[2]
$3,527[2]

Anambra
$6.76 billion[1]
$1,585[1]

Rivers State
$21.07 billion[1]
$3,965[1]

Abia
$18.69 billion[2]
$3,003

Ebonyi
$2.73 billion[1]
$1,232[1]\


Delta State
$16.75 billion[1]
$3,990[1]




Yoruba

Lagos State
$33.68 billion[2]
$3,649[2]


Ogun
$10.47 billion[1]
$2,740[1]

Osun
$7.28 billion[1]
$2,076[1

Oyo
$16,12 billion[2]
$2,666[2]


Kwara
$3.84 billion[1]
$1,585[1]



and most of the hausa states and others barely surpass the $1000GDP mark so judge based on facts.

based on this most Igbo states are better off then Nigeria itself

Nigeria
$341.572 billion
$2,249

^^^
Why was it institutionalized please? We would like to be enlightened further, and while you are explaining bear in mind that Igbo people accepted quota system and were instrumental in creating the entity called Nigeria they are now trying desperately to run from.Na lie, una no fit go anywhere.We go all suffer together, what Igbo and Hausa join together let no man put asunder.hehe

You have included Abia, Rivers and Delta- three major oil producing state. Since Rivers produces most of the oil, it would make sense that it would have a large GDP. However, that does not translate to the per capita estimate.

Also Yoruba states consist of Ondo and Ekiti last time I checked. I am also aware that you used wikipedia statistics so stop claiming that they are "official development stats" its not mekusxx you are talking to.

The problem with the GDP values for oil producing state is that it probably does not trickle down to the masses. The Government does make huge royalties from oil companies and such but I dont know if those loyalities are paid exclusively to the federal government or some go to the state.


I do think oil has done a lot for igbo states than most people would admit though, but still even these high GDPs of rivers or delta rarely trickle down to the masses or are they used for development projects. The OP was actually talking about core igbo states such as imo and anambra.

I think the OP is correct but people would never see the problem anyways because all they care about is their ethnic group. Everywhere in Nigeria is underdeveloped though regardless of ethnic group. There is a lot the state government for each state can do to improve their state infrastructure. You really dont need federal government except you want to work on huge projects.

Also, igbo states could form a coalition and pool money together to improve one part, which could develop quickly and yield funds to build/develop other areas. There are really ways you could improve your economy no matter how tribalistic a government is- lets be sincere you guys have sucky leadership like the rest of Nigeria.

Thanks. BUT you are not quite correct to assert that the topic is not about Yoruba states. The OP made a direct comparison btw Igbo states and Yoruba states, and so brought yoruba states into the equation

you tribalistic mofo, he also compared "igbo states" to cross river and akwa ibom. Its very likely the OP is not from a western state.

Ok here is how it goes. Let's put all paper statistics aside for a minute. Most of us have travelled to very many parts of Nigeria and can make comparisons based on what we have seen. I have traversed the lenght and breadth of the SW. I make bold to say that apart from Lagos, no SW state is more developed than Anambra, Enugu, Imo and Abia. I can sacrifice Ebonyi, which is a laggard Igbo state comparable to Ekiti, Ondo and Osun. In Ibadan, capital of Oyo, one of the largest states in Nigeria, the only industrial area is Oluyole. Given the population of Ibadan, the few Indian companies there cannot serve 0.00001% of the pop. The Industrial areas in Enugu and Aba more than compensate for that. The only place in Ogun is Agbara Industrial Estate and that is more than well taken care of by Nnewi. As for private buildings, we also know that the houses you find in Anambra, Owerri and parts of Abia state can only be found in Lagos. Let any one who has a counter opinion bring their experience out for discussion. If we bring the existing stats in the equation, we also know what that states; and I am not talking about Wiki stats.

I completely agree that Igbo states lack development. But they are not lagging behind any SW (aside Lag) and any SS state (aside PH-Rivers). Akwa Ibom has almost no industry except for Mobil and the Aluminum smelter co. The paper mill at Oku Iboku is dead. Many of the okada riders in Aba are from Akwa Ibom. Asaba in Delta is only just developing and if anything, is an Igbo enclave.

personal real observation: compare a yoruba village to an igbo one.


most igbo villages just look like towns only with less buildings
yoruba villages straight up look like villages.

if you want to count out oil then go to the yoruba states and count out the fact that it's igbos that are doing most of the business there.

idk why you'd count out oil, its a part of the state;s wealth in the end of the day, but i know as a fact that even in lagos the igbos are living better then the yorubas, though there's a huge yoruba upper class as well.