If you are working with the governor or you are close to him, tell him its time to man up and make Enugu state great. Let him look for business/energy patners that will construct a coal power plant for industrial layouts in the state. Dangote is currently building a gas fired plant in Lagos for his refinery, so i dont see why we cant build our own powerplant here in enugu that will serve and attract companies around the world. Lets stop pretending as if all is well, the earlier we speak up the better for us.

The eastern region was known for palm produce in the 1960s and 70s, what is happening now? currently red oil is very expensive demands cannot be met Why do we have to export palm produce? when we can process it into finished goods like creams soaps gels etc. why cant we have large farms in each senatorial districts that can curb the rising price of foodstuffs in themarket.

I need more answers, why did our IGR drop from 19billion to 14billion? why are we regressing when others are progressing? why?

What we need is an industrial
revolution in this state.
We have the coal to produce electricity.
We have the man power to man this power plant
we have the land water water.

What we need is for the governor to take the bull by the horn.
There are many investors who are willing to support him.

A 500MW of coal fired plant we change the lives of every Enugu
residents.
It will attract both local and foriegn firms to the state.

It will improve our HDI

The health sector will improve

SME will florish greatly as they wont bother about buying petrol
again

Tourism in the state will increase

It will generate massive revenue for the state.

It will improve the ease of doing business in the state.

The list is endless.

Enugu youths/residents lets wake up and demand for what is right. let the pretence stop.

davear:
I need more answers, why did our IGR drop from 19billion to 14billion? why are we regressing when others are progressing? why?

I saw a topic on this issue somewhere else and someone suggested that it was because the governor closed down the baby factories in the state. I don't know if that is the real cause but let's be sincere to ourselves here. Enugu state by far, has the highest number of baby factories in igboland, followed by Abia state. Ebonyi state is still the largest source of raw materials. Another reason for the reduced IGR may be that Anambra businessmen are now redirecting their investments back to anambra state as enugu state no longer offers any attraction as anambra is due to have its own international cargo and passenger airport in a couple of years.

@davear

Your posts are 'beautiful' and well written, but the fact is the thoughts you have shared are idealist at best. Perhaps no one has replied you because of the intrinsic flaws in your arguments.

The federal structure decides how well each state can develop, that is why the Igbo elite are currently calling for restructuring. States CANNOT issue mining licenses to any company, that is perhaps the first flaw in your argument. The FG advertised for partners to mine coal in Enugu, and a few days back Simang group of South Africa was chosen to revive the coal industry. All these decisions are taken in Abuja, and even if the company is incompetent but play their Abuja politics proficiently, they'll be in Enugu for decades, much like the situation with EEDC or Oil companies in the Niger Delta

The other flaw in your argument is that, if Enugu invests in coal to power, then we can solve the power problems in the East. That was true thirty years ago! Today, any power generated is sent to the national grid to be shared by all. This discourages regional investment in power.

Lastly, I don't think it should be surprising if our IGR falls in a recession! Small and medium scale businesses left Enugu in the wake of our foreign exchange crisis. I remember at least a South African business outlet in Polo Mall that closed shop during the period. And, Genesis Cinema as well. It looks like the impact is small but it really isn't if you consider that the businesses that stayed back are battling to stay afloat. Taxes have to be reviewed in a recession, IGR may plummet. That said, Ugwuanyi has a lot of room for improvement. I'm impressed with his work in the rural areas, but more needs to be done.

Over and above all of this, we should lend our voice to the call for restructuring. It will solve most of these impediments to state growth.

@ passion007

Thanks for identifying the " flaws" in my write-up which we all know about and have been deceiving ourselves with it.

Firstly you said that the current structure decides how states develop which is a big lie. If this structure allows some states to develop more than others, then plateau Niger and sokoto states would have been like lagos because their leaders were the ones who restructured Nigeria.

Secondly you said states dont issue mining license which is true, however what happened under the past administration? Was GEJ not from southsouth? Did GEJ not issue thesame mining license under him?did we not have enough appointments under him? why did our politicians not ensure that efficient companies where issued these licenses? what happened to the ones GEJ issued? Did we not have enough people in Abuja under GEJ?

You also made mention of sending power to the national grid to be shared by all. So the power plant Dangote is constructing in Lagos and kogi states will be shared by all? then you must be joking. For your information, Dangote's powerplant will power ONLY his refineries and cement business and will not be shared by ALL Nigerians. If by any chance it is sent to the national grid then during distribution, they will distribute back everything to him and hewould sell any surplus to other discos. Dangote is no "Father Christmas"

Lastly you said the reason for our fall in IGR is recession. So states like Kano Kastina Kwara Ogun Oyo are all recession proof. Mind you these states all recorded massive improvements in their IGR.

Funny you said nothing in Agriculture, or will FG uproot our crops?
or will FG kill our livestock if we decide to raise them?
You said nothing about INNOSSON cars, or will FG sanction Ugwuanyi if he buys Innosson cars?
You said nothing about developing PRODA, or will FG stop him from investing in science and technology?
You said nothing about having an industrial city (Abia is constructing one now) or will FG stop him from doing that?



Have we not blamed FG enough? what has he done in those areas FG will not interfer in?

Lets wise-up and demand for good governance.


People are are not replying because
1. they never knew about some of these things
2. those who know are to ashamed to admit the truth
3. they are waiting for beautiful random pictures of the state to massage their ego that "Enugu is doing well"

@davea
I think it's a wrong premise to hinge development solely on IGR. Even though i think our governors should sit up.

But truth be told, the governors in the east are not necessarily under performing compared to their counterparts throughout the country.

Look at the states with the largest IGR in the country and it tells a story. Lagos, Ogun and Rivers states have the highest IGR and the reason is because..

Lagos state is the commercial hub of the country. The population is humungous and everything that matters is in Lagos. Not every state has the luck of being like Lagos. It will take decades of constant behemoth growth to compete with Lagos has far as IGR is concerned within the political frame of NIgeria.

Ogun state borders Lagos and that's naturally the next place to blow up because there's lack of land in Lagos and a lot of factories have moved to the fringes of Lagos in Ogun and Ogun is enjoying the IGR that comes from these companies.

Rivers state is Nigeria's oil capital. Almost every oil company that matter is in Rivers state.

Another reason why south-east state post low IGR figures is that they've not put in the machinery in place to increase their IGR. Anambra for one should have one of the highest in the country, poossibly in the top 5 but even in the south-east it ranks low.

Does anybody know what is happening to this investment in Enugu...There are many projects not followed up...

Ibeto Cement, a major cement importer, has signed a contract with a Chinese firm, Sinoma International Engineering, to build a $386 million cement plant in Enugu State.

The cement plant will have an installed capacity of 2.2 million metric tonnes of cement per year and would be completed in 30 months, according to a statement posted on the website of the Chinese firm today.

In June, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced the restriction of foreign exchange for the importation of certain goods, including cement. This measure, perhaps, forced Ibeto Cement to ramp up its local production.

In 2012, Ibeto Cement acquired majority shares in Nigeria Cement Company, a comatose cement-manufacturing firm located in Ebonyi State. But the state government shut down the plant, claiming that Ibeto Cement used the plant to acquire import licenses instead of resuscitating the plant.

With Ibeto’s new plant, Nigeria’s installed capacity is expected to rise above 40 million metric tonnes per year, far beyond the local annual consumption of over 20 million metric tonnes. Many cement plants in Nigeria operate below their installed capacities as a result of the rampant importation of cheap cement mainly from China, inadequate gas supplies to power cement plants and high haulage costs.

In September, Dangote Cement slashed its cement prices in an attempt to boost local consumption and compete with cheap imports. This move led to an industry-wide lowering of cement prices by cement companies to maintain market share. The cement industry in Nigeria is dominated by four companies: Dangote Cement, the market leader, Lafarge Africa, BUA Cement and Flour Mills of Nigeria.

Nigeria’s cement industry has benefited from the federal government’s backward integration policy, which was initiated in 2002 to encourage local production of cement. Since that time, more than $6 billion in capital projects have been launched.

With the Ibeto Cement deal, Sinoma Engineering has become a Chinese contractor of choice for most Nigerian cement companies. In August, Dangote Cement signed a $4.34 billion deal with the Chinese firm to build cement plants in 10 African countries and Nepal. In September, BUA Cement signed a $600 million deal to double the capacity of its cement plant in Obu, Edo State
.

and this one....

A US-based renewable energy power firm, Motir DuSable Power Investment Limited, is to build 300MW solar plant in Enugu State. The first phase of the project, estimated at about $200million will inject 100mega watts of power into the national grid, which will subsequently be increased to 200MW in the second phase.
The drivers of the project which is a joint venture between two
US-based power firms have already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Federal Government of Nigeria to site the project in Enugu State with the goal of making the state the hub for renewable energy generation in sub-Sahara Africa.

The chairman of the firm, Mr. Emmanuel Irono, on Tuesday, made a presentation of the company’s planned take-off of the project during a performance review retreat of the Enugu State Executive Council holding at Nike Lake hotel, with Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in attendance.

According to Irono, chairman of Motir DuSable Power Investment Limited, “We have a joint venture that would enable us to bring this project to Nigeria and we are licensed and have gone through all the processes and procedure in terms of the power purchasing. Also, we have an alliance that can help us go through the various segments necessary for this project to be successful.”

“So, today is the first day that we are meeting with the governor and his executive council members right here in Enugu and we are very pleased that it turned out a positive meeting”, he explained.

He further stated that the project comes in phases, adding that the first phase will cost about $200m while another phase that will come thereafter would also cost 200m dollars. “Depending on the capacity we can do as they allow us but our partners are willing to consummate the project.”

On the gains of the gigantic project, he said: “Our intention is to be able to bring more jobs, more opportunities, more innovations to Enugu State and to Nigeria. We believe that this will be a fantastic project for job creation and a mission critical for the Federal Government of Nigeria and Enugu State.
“This is because we can empower Enugu State people to have access to power. If everybody wins, it becomes a win-win situation for all of us.
“The state will be a collaborating partner in terms of making sure that our investment is safe and that the money we are bringing in is safe. They are not a financial partner. So the money we are bringing in is hundred percent to enable us fund this project.”
Commending the governor for his warm reception and frankness, he said the fact that the governor invited them to the open floor to talk about the project was ‘simply amazing’, noting that this was despite having not met him before.
Speaking earlier while declaring the 3-day performance retreat for members of Enugu State Executive Council open, Governor Ugwuanyi commended the development partners in the state for their successful contribution towards the actualisation of his administration’s reform agenda.
The governor noted that the retreat was in line with his pledge made during his inaugural speech in 2015 to give the people a new lease of life with regard to good governance, enhanced social services, rural development, improved security, justice, among others.

we have human resources ,government have fail to improve our human resources .to improve in igr, we must invest in smes, we must change our economy from agrarian to industrial one (production ) .building of road s only can not solve our economic problems. the should build skills acquisition and development centre in all local government or major towns in the state with adequate funding .this will increase our igr and make our youth gainfully employ , it will reduce crime rate

and this nice one...any news....?
By Dennis Agbo, Enugu Those who witnessed the ground-breaking ceremony of the Enugu Free Trade Zone, ENPOWER FTZ, last week, were impressed with the turnout of dignitaries and the motivation of the citizenry towards actualizing an economic hub in South east Nigeria even as the state government is also planning another industrial park in Enugu which will be the biggest foreign investment south of the Sahara, propelled by a Chinese private investment.

Saturday Vanguard gathered that after a careful survey of economic activities in Africa, a Chinese group known as GoalMark group, traced most of the Sino-Nigerian trading activities to the people of South East, Nigeria and decided to set up an industrial park in Enugu state. The public-private sector imitative is a project between the state government and the prospective investor – Goalmark group of Beijing- China through the coordination of a Nigerian company- Superjet Industrial Company Limited based in Enugu.

Gains of investment During the signing ceremony of the MoU, GoldMark group’s delegation from China led by one Mr.Lin Feng said “the company decided to go ahead with the project after a careful study from which we confirmed Enugu as a suitable place for it. The project which will cost billions of dollars to complete will bring massive investments to Enugu from all over the world and ensure the tremendous improvement of the economy of the state and environs. Most Chinese companies shipping goods to Africa will move down to Enugu and set up base within the industrial park from where they will distribute or export to other African countries.” Going by the proposed investment, the Industrial park is to comprise investments in such major areas as coal mining, power generation from coal and water treatment plants as well as cassava and rice processing concerns. The Industrial park is made up of various zones such as a Residential zone that would warehouse a well serviced residential estates with over 20,000 housing units comprising of flats in high rise apartments of 35 floors each and duplexes; a Free Trade Zone; a Commercial Zone covering a modern 500 shops wholesale, warehouses, shopping complex, malls, bus terminals, sports recreational facilities, office spaces on several high rise buildings, hotels and more; an Industrial zone designed to accommodate light, medium and heavy industrial complexes with a capacity to host over 250 industries and the industries will be provided with state of the art environment for indigenous and foreign industrialists. It will also accommodate an Agricultural zone, a large area covering over 700 hectares of land for modern and high yield crop and live stock production complete with modern abattoirs and produce market that will also serve as a training environment for local farmers; There will also be power infrastructures providing 24 hours power for both the residents and industries from a 300 mw thermal power plant powered by coal. Also included in the plan is for an establishment of a specialized school for training of manpower to handle the various investments that the park will be attracting.

Ugwuanyi’s foresight
Governor Ugwuanyi had since May this year developed road to the site through Nchatach-Nike including other communities of Oruku, Akpuoga-Nike, Owo and Amechi-Idodo. The Governor severally went to the host communities to resolve the issue of the 2, 632 hectares land acquisition for the project. The President General of Nchatacha community, Chief Fredrick Edeh, confirmed to Vanguard on Ugwuanyi’s effort at reaching amicable resolution with the host communities which brought about an access road developed to the site of the project. The General Manager of the facilitating private investor company, Superjet, Mr. Emeka Ugwu, who was at the ground-breaking ceremony of the Enugu Free Trade Zone, said that the ENPOWER FTZ would not affect the proposed Enugu Industrial park but would rather complement each other. He stated that the Chinese decided to set up the industrial park because of the interest of the people of the south east in industrialization. “It is a real estate development designed to gather critical infrastructure in one locality so that the aggregated infrastructure becomes cheaper. The choice of Enugu “It’s like a new city to contain 250 factories and will also house residential estates. The choice of Enugu for the location is because the state is strategically located for access by 26 out of 36 states within 24 hours and the state hosts an international airport. We have acquired the mining lease for coal which will be used to fire the power for the industrial park. Our social responsibility includes scholarships, employment, trainings and will take care of host communities and government will take care of revenue generation through personal income tax. In the next 6 to 8 years everything will take shape,” disclosed Ugwu. It was based on the unprecedented industrial revolution and economic activities coming in the state that Governor Ugwuanyi requested from the Federal government to commence construction of a second runway at the Akanu Ibiam International airport. He stated that the establishment of the Free Trade Zone has created an urgent need for the construction of a second runway at the airport in order to accommodate the expected increase in air traffic. “We therefore invite the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, to present to us, a plan for this project and we affirm the availability of land required for its actualization. We further appeal to the Federal Government to ensure that the Airport meets with all internationally accepted standards especially by extending and resurfacing the existing runway and installing or building facilities that would improve night operations and accommodate heavier aircrafts that are normally used for international and intercontinental travels.

this is my opinion, why our igr keep going down since the administration of ugwuanyi. enugu state economy solely depend on taxes, there was large igr because of huge inflow of investment and huge allocation from the fg doing last administration .Sullivan chime's huge dept and economic recession plundered our allocation to all time low,this government is running on very low capital compare to the last administration. is on record that many investors and companies in enugu are owned by foreigners.in this economic recession many companies closed down and now we are In opposition (apc) unlike before . our government have to do the right thing to avoid youth running to the neighbouring state for survival , building road s in the village where there is no body is useless, we have to invest in youth (smes) to make our state and towns economically viable, industrialisation is the key, we all must understand that we are in opposition and nothing for us , the governor should better wake up to the reality. anambra system of government can be compared to capitalism , so there case is different

@ davear:

You admit states can't issue mining licenses, but you refuse to see what this implies. Not being able to define the rules of the game for companies already puts the state at a disadvantage. The improvements in healthcare, employment, development indices, which you have espoused in your page-long posts, are all tied to something as basic as being able to tell a company what rules to play by. The state recently summoned EEDC to a public hearing, which the latter scorned to attend. Political power is king, my dear. Economic power is his foot soldier. And the king lives in Abuja.

Dangote is a businessman and is at liberty to build coal plants to power his companies. They are private businesses. Besides, he imports the coal that powers his plant as there is no significant coal mining going on currently. Nigerian states don't have that liberty. Any power generated by any state is sent to the national grid. The distinctions are obvious and I'm not clear why you're fussing over this issue.

Yes, our IGR is lower because we are in recession. Our nation's GDP is lower because we're in recession. States that have grown their IGR these past 2 years deserve accolades, and certainly have a thing or two to teach other states. States whose IGR dropped are not failures; The real concern would be if we were having a national boom, and Enugu's IGR was falling.

The rest of your post seems intended to titillate the reader's sentiments. No, FG won't uproot our crops, or poison our livestock feed, or spank Ugwuanyi for building an industrial city (a fancy name for the current 9th mile corner). I however agree we need more investments in agriculture, to achieve food self-sufficiency at the very least. We need to reposition PRODA. We need more investments at the Enugu FTZ, which hasn't been the buzz we thought it would be. But, first, we need to convince investors that they're better off driving through decrepit federal roads to the eastern hinterlands than simply setting up shop in Ogun or Lagos. We need to convince them that their surpluses will be easier exported through AIIA or Sam Mbakwe Cargo Airport than through MMIA. We need to emphasise the convenience of getting in their machinery via the Onitsha port than through the ports in Lagos. Okay, this is really sarcasm but the truth is that the odds are not in our favour, my brother. Unless the country is restructured, our eastern states will never really become distinguished. We can dream big but reality will cut us short. Ogun and Nasarawa will become cities to contend with as development spills over from Lagos and Abuja, and we would still be waiting for our day in the sun.

What is the state doing in those areas where federal interference is minimal? These areas are not the next level you and I want, and after monies are plundered, whatever is left can only produce underwhelming results.

I am not making a case for Ugwuanyi. I'm only trying to get you to see the bigger picture.

Lovely write ups so far. I'm enjoying the conversations, keep them coming perhaps the government will listen through this medium and at least implement some of the ideas stipulated here...

@ passion007


I like how you tactically evaded my questions and distorted facts to favour your squib.

If political power is king, Economic power his foot soldier and the king lives in Abuja as you said, then what happened between 2010-2015 when we had the king on our side?

I dont get what you meant by this statement " Dangote is a businessman and is at liberty to build coal plants to power his companies". Does it mean we have no businessmen/enterprise that can build power plants in Enugu? ( even if its an expensive project collaborations are allowed)

If you think Dangote is not into local mining, you can check this link. www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/dangote-commence-coal-mining-quarter-4/


If your IGR dropping from 19billion to 14billion is not a failure (when others are increasing theirs from 13billion to 36billion in thesame recession) then "failure"must have got a new definition.


Atleast you concurred with my sentiments in areas of Agriculture, PRODA and the FTZ, but still went back to scream "restructure". Yes we need to restructure the country so that regions and state can have more powers and control resources, however if these states cannot execute the basic things states are allowed to do, how certain can you be that they will utilize the powers when allowed to.
Are we to fold our hands and wait till they restruture?
Would it not be wise if we start working on some things while waiting?
While we clamour for restructuring let us at same time coerce the state into doing its work.


You are already making a case for Ugwuanyi by claiming that our drop in IGR is not a "failure".

@ afam4eva


I have already said it before that IGR alone cannot be used to rate development however it is one of the most important indices in checking efficiency of taxation and indirectly checking the number of industries a state has.

You said that "the governors in the east are not necessarily
under performing compared to their counterparts throughout the country" If you realy meant this, then you need to understand that the only region southeast bettered in IGR is northeast- a bokoharam ravaged region.

Yes Lagos is the commercial capital, Ogun is benefitting from that, Rivers is the oil hub, we know all that; what about states like kano kaduna kwara being ahead of us?
What is holding the southeast back from putting up the machinery in place so as to increase our IGR?

We need to ask for better governance in southeast.

davear:


Akwaibom kwara kano and someother states had change of government yet their IGR improved alot.

our IGR didnt start falling today, check the table below

@ davear

Have you come across this breakdown?

BUDGET- Nigeria's 2017 CAPITAL BUDGET as ALLOCATED to the Regions.
South East and South South, it's not even up to North West.
North Central N209 Billion
North West. N73.7 Billion.
North East N46.69 Billions
South West. N48.97 Billion.
South South. N35.31 Billion.
South East. N28.22 Billion.

Do you still disagree when I say the current federal structure decides who develops and how well?

The FG is investing nearly ten times more to develop the NC than it is investing in the SE.
This has been the pattern since the foundation of Nigeria.
Yet a few years from now, you will wonder why the NC's IGR has skyrocketed, and the SE's IGR continues to plummet.
These are the big issues the FG doesn't want you to discuss, preferring to rivet your attention by telling you to 'demand good governance from your governors'. We will continue to demand better accountability from our politicians, no doubt. But these meagre projects in the SE will never produce the developmental boom we want. Embrace that sad reality, davear.

passion007:
@ davear

Have you come across this breakdown?


Do you still disagree when I say the current federal structure decides who develops and how well?

The FG is investing nearly ten times more to develop the NC than it is investing in the SE.
This has been the pattern since the foundation of Nigeria.
Yet a few years from now, you will wonder why the NC's IGR has skyrocketed, and the SE's IGR continues to plummet.
These are the big issues the FG doesn't want you to discuss, preferring to rivet your attention by telling you to 'demand good governance from your governors'. We will continue to demand better accountability for our politicians, no doubt. But these meagre projects in the SE will never produce the developmental boom we want. Embrace that sad reality, davear.

Right on point!

Too many people think like babies.
If they invest all the money in the north and nothing tangible in the SE, it shouldn't be surprising why tbose areas are doing better.....Meanwhile the same people implementing the wicked agenda against the SE are the first to deceive our people that the reason the SE didn't develop is "good governance".

No place on earth will develop without adequate resources allocated to it. Even if it had the best governance and use bishops as government officials.

The lack of development in the SE is because its starved of resources.

@ passion007

The low allocation in capital budget to southeast may be one of the reasons why our IGR is low but it does not explain why the IGR of Enugu State dropped significantly.
The current Nigerian structure has obviously handicapped easterners at large and its a big impediment to our growth, however our leaders at the state and national are the primary culprits.

Was it not yesterday (14th June) that Amaechi revealed how our leaders goofed under the past administration?
When Jonathan was spending billions in constructing Abuja-Kaduna railway, it did not occur to them that we also need such projects in the east?
Do you know the kind of revenue the east would be generating if Uncle Jonathan had construted a railway linking Asaba- Onitsha- Enugu- Abakaliki- Ogoja- Calabar? Mind you the distance between these cities is roughly thesame distance between Kaduna city and Abuja.
Our leaders had the highest access to the president (between 2010-2015) yet they did not initiate any massive project (apart from upgrading akanu-ibiam), "ordinary" 2ND Niger bridge they couldnt complete.

Passion please tell me the efforts that were made to restructure the country into 6 geopolitical zones or into 3-4 regional governments under the past administration. The fact that restructuring the country will lead to growth of the southeast does not mean that we should not start making progress/ putting things in place.
FG has neglected the southeast in capital projects but onye ajuru aju anaghi aju onwe ya.

List the investments and capital projects the immediate-past Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SFG) brought to our region. Do you realise that his local community in Ebonyi state has no portable water supply.
There is an endless list of blunders our leaders committed when they had the chance to make the east better, they rather used that opportunity to fill up their personal pockets.

My take is this, While one group along side other regions are pressurizing FG for restructuring the other should impel our state government to sit-up.

hopeless and worthless chino alias schematics i can see you are viewing this educative post.


better behave while viewing. enugu gwabanu niru

@ davear:

I'm glad we found a common ground.
I agree our time under GEJ turned a lost opportunity. Jonathan did not favour Ndigbo per se, rather he gave us our fair share of the proverbial national cake. He treated us as co-equals in the Nigerian project, and for once, we had a sense of belonging, seeing as our people were recognised for their talent and given headship of critical sectors of the economy. Then we developed a soft spot for the man, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Today, we are back to the days where we are thought to have a sense of entitlement if we dared to ask for our fair share.
We missed opportunities under GEJ, but even his native East-West road was uncompleted. Calabar port was drowned in bureaucracy, nor could he attract more refineries to the region as he had promised. It almost sounds as if I'm saying that because his native South-South weren't much better off at the end of his tenure, we shouldn't have expected to be much better off either, but I am in fact disappointed at these shortcomings, and also disappointed that we are only expected to have a say when it is our son who is president.

Our politicians are selfish; all politicians are. But our Igbo leaders, more than anyone else, should know the benefit of seeing critical projects to completion, and attracting critical projects back home. We will continue to ask our politicians to sit up, and demand they invest our limited resources wisely, and continue to prod them to attract investments back home. Even I have always been highly critical of my senator, Gil Nnaji, openly expressing my disappointment that he had been unable to bring the FG's attention to a critical interstate road in his constituency. Imagine my surprise when I found the Makurdi-Obollo-Ikem-Ehamufu-Nkalagu road captured in the 2017 budget. This is a road project that will improve Enugu's productivity, by creating an export corridor for our produce, and is part of the FG's meagre investment in SE infrastructure. Imagine how our region would turn around if we could only have our fair share.

ChimaAdeoye:


Right on point!

Too many people think like babies.
If they invest all the money in the north and nothing tangible in the SE, it shouldn't be surprising why tbose areas are doing better.....Meanwhile the same people implementing the wicked agenda against the SE are the first to deceive our people that the reason the SE didn't develop is "good governance".

No place on earth will develop without adequate resources allocated to it. Even if it had the best governance and use bishops as government officials.

The lack of development in the SE is because its starved of resources.

Exactly, brother.
I couldn't have said it better.
The northern regions take turns at the lion share of FG investments, while we are expected to be thankful for the crumbs we are offered.
Imagine what a N200b investment in SE infrastructure would achieve!

passion007:


Exactly, brother.
I couldn't have said it better.
The northern regions take turns at the lion share of FG investments, while we are expected to be thankful for the crumbs we are offered.
Imagine what a N200b investment in SE infrastructure would achieve!

Davear wants us to fight our governore and senators, while other regions share national cake.

Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), the umbrella body of all political parties in the country, has appealed to Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State to complete projects abandoned by previous administrations.

Chairman of IPAC in the state, Mr John Nwobodo, made the call on Friday while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu.

Nwobodo said that the abandoned projects, which included the International Conference Centre, started by former Gov. Chimaroke Nnamani’s administration should be given attention.

“Their completion will boost the state’s economic fortune and resuscitate the positive ideas behind them,’’ he said.

He assured of IPAC’s cooperation to ensure that the present administration in the state succeeded, adding that its members were open to collaboration with the government as such would promote more inclusiveness.

Nwobodo lauded the milestone achievements of the governor so far, saying “Gov. Ugwuanyi has robustly delivered effective governance notwithstanding the meagre resources accruable to the state’’.

He expressed the group’s commitment to a new political culture of tolerance and accommodation in the state.

“We are placing the state above personal or party interest because first of all, we are all indigenes of Enugu State before we joined these political parties,’’ he said. (NAN)

Ahead of the take-off of the Federal Government proposed ICT University of Nigeria, members of its implementation committee on Tuesday expressed satisfaction with the state of facilities at the Digital Bridge Institute Enugu, designated as one of the campuses of the university.

The proposed ICT University will be a multi-campus institution of the present Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as located in Abuja, Lagos, Enugu, Kano, Asaba and Yola.

On Tuesday, some members of the Implementation Committee for the Proposed ICT University conducted a physical assessment of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) in Enugu, one of the six ICT learning centers built by NCC in the country.

Members of the Committee in the assessment team were Dr. Henry Nkemadu, Matthew A. Olaniyan and Mr Osita Okechuwu, the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (VON).

Speaking with journalists at the site after the physical assessment tour, Okechukwu announced the readiness of the Enugu campus for the take off of the university, the first of its kinds in the country.

He expressed satisfaction with the state of the facilities at the site, including buildings, road infrastructure, and equipment.

“President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government had mandated the Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu to forthwith set up a University of ICT, in recognition of the continuous frenetic growth pace of Information Communications Technology (ICT) and the huge impact on the economy which country that harvests the technical talents and specialists it can engender,

“In fulfillment of Mr. President’s objective to set up University of ICT, so as to enhance learning environment and create millions of jobs through skilled ICT workforce, the Ministry of Communications set up an implementation committee, chaired by erudite Professor Julius Okojie, former Secretary of National University Commission (NUC) and Dr Amina Sambo Magaji as Secretary.

The VON DG said the committee was further mandated to determine the additional requirements for the University to meet with international best practices.

Okechukwu disclosed that the university would be run on a public/private sector partnership (PPP), stressing that multinational ICT companies like CISCO and motorolla would be involved.

Speaking in a similar vein, Henry Nkemadu, another member of the Committee who represented the NCC said the facilities at the centre were enough to ensure that the university takes off.

enugu ibos are the real ibos other ibos are counterfeits.

nonsobaba:
Excellent! Then be proud of being called Wawa. I don't know why some of you take it as an insult. An Ngwa man is also igbo but he proudly identifies himself as Ngwa.

Chinchi, we have always been very proud of our heritage. We actually wanted our state to be called Wawa State, but the AFRC named us Enugu State instead. The original request for state creation submitted by Chief C. C. Onoh( God bless his soul)was not for Enugu state.

How could you have known? You were likely a toddler at Okpoko Onitsha, when the coal city state was created! You also, in your poisoned mind, never imagined Wawa as names in other countries. Well, i 'm here to always buttress my points with historical facts and profound analysis, all anchored in truth.

@ passion007

We all love our state and the whole essence of this thread is for us to pressurize our state government to do more. Now that we have identified and accepted our past mistakes, and we are on thesame page, my questions are as follows:
1. What serious efforts are our state government, lawmakers and representatives making in other to ensure that the country is restructured?
2. What is the state governments economic plan? and how far have they gone?
3. Is there any PLAN B while we wait for the country to be restructured?
4. What efforts are our technocrats making to ensure that the future structure will not impede our growth like before.

Funny we have thesame sentor representing us, what massive project has Gil Nnaji ever carried out in our district?