₦airaland Forum

I have been away from this forum for a while and it is good to see Ndi Igbo show a passion for our homelands within and outside the five states in SE.

We must reverse the current trend in Igbo land where there is a sustained outflow of resources from Igbo land. The ultimate saviour of Igbo land will be independence from the clutches of Nigeria because Nigeria is designed to emasculate the Igbo at home unless they seek opportunities from elsewhere.

Most of the graduates and young men, who really are the back bone of any society, are leaving in droves in search of opportunities and it is only a matter of time before we end up as a society for the elderly. Florida is reputed as an elderly society but they have an enormous industry in tourism which brings in endless funds but we are not in that position.

All the airports in the north are designated as international airports, while Owerri, the de-facto number four airport is still a local airport. Enugu airport is still number 6 closely behind Kano despite the closure to traffic last year. There are opportunities around us and we need to harness them for growth.

1. We already have a proven market of at least 30 million, extending to 60 million or more if you include our immediate catchment area so we must strive to maintain this market and expand. To make this workable, government must invest aggressively in inter connecting ring/loop highways and comprehensive rail networks.

2. To make Enugu airport thrive as an international hub, the region must come together and float our own airline. The airline should make technical stops in Abuja and Lagos and also extend services to Port Harcourt to maximise profits with Local connecting flights to Asaba and Owerri. When we grab a big share of the market, it will force other airlines to use Enugu as well and our tourism industry will open up as well.

3. To make sure that both the Onitsha and Owerrinta or Obuaku or Oguta River ports work, we should also float a shipping line and waterways maintenance company.

4. The individual states must have R&D or innovation centres properly funded to carry out research in household equipment, software and apps development, aviation and energy developments. Apple’s worth is approaching $1 Trillion today, Apple is richer than Nigeria! You can imagine if we are able to develop an App that brings in $40 - $50 million a year. We should have our own home made TVs, refrigerators, cookers, ACs etc by now. We have the talents to accomplish those simple tasks.

5. Most of our cities are already laid out in reasonable grid system, therefore we should be thinking of developing a major gas supply line to pipe our abundant gas to homes. This will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. If we are able to make just $10 per household per month from about 10 Million households excluding industrial users, that is at least $1.2 billion right there. Osisioma industrial area of Aba is already being supplied with gas so it is not impossible to achieve.

6. Float our own civil engineering construction companies to do our own rail tracks and roads and to also bid for federal government jobs. We don’t need Julius Berger or the Chinese for those. We only need them to build one Kilometre of rail tracks for us to serve as training for our own in house engineers who will take over and complete our projects.
The crux of the matter is that we need to find a way to exist as a country within a country.

Those of you rejoicing at the thought of a war in the east do not know anything at all. There will be no war in the east, at least not in the east alone.

If you are expecting a face me I face you type of war where bombs will rain in the east alone while you sleep peacefully outside the east; you are very naive. This time around,when pushed, it will be fought in pockets so don't imagine you will be reading about it online with glee while Biafrans suffer offline. You will also be as unsafe as Biafrans.

Igbo people especially do not want to be part of Nigeria and all we ask for is simple referendum and not war, but Nigeria may end up learning civility by force.�

ikpeazu2015:
i will get his manifesto and post it here for all to see. you are right about the airport. owerri airport can still serve abia state, what i think okezie will focus on from 2015 is to expand our industrial base/smes etc strengthen our economy by pumping infrastructure into aba. aba needs all the infrastructure it can get because that is the bane of the town. okezie as nwa aba can do it for his people.

Ok, I will wait for his manifesto, so that we can hear from the horse's mouth. Just be aware that I am going to ask a lot of questions about "hows" and whys

B2mario:
Brother i think we need it not just because of the reasons you gave above but for the money it will generate for our state.

How much are we expecting to make from it and over what period of time? Owerri airport is actually nearer to Aba than the Umuahia airport, so why would someone in Aba prefer to Use Abia airport ? I think the airport is a misplaced priority.

Do you know that the government can actually make more money by restoring and expanding the water system in Abia than embarking on a huge financially tasking project like an airport? I hope he has set enough money aside to complete the airport before he leaves, otherwise any right thinking person taking over from him would simply put the project on hold.

customized13:
Face I see you viewing.

Good work bro

ikpeazu2015:
i want to see very massive drainage system that can have at least 2meters diameter/width. this will go a long way in evacuating flood water down to ogborhill. he should set up a taskforce to make sure that anybody that is caught emptying refuse in the drain is charged to court. strict penalties are required to tame aba people.

The fall/gradient of a sewer system is actually more important than the size. I get your drift though; you are saying that you want a more effective drainage system and I want that as well, but has Okezie mentioned anywhere that he would tackle the drainage problem in Aba or is it something that you are hoping he would do as an Aba boy? I have looked at his website and it is too bland without any specifics about his visions.

There is a lot of multiple taxation going on in Abia, especially the waste and environmental fees, therefore people expect that there should be outlets for the waste they generate. There should be no need for a task force if there is an efficient waste collection/disposal system. Would you blame you child for failing at school if you did not provide him with the materials to enable him succeed at school?

Moving on:

There are several markets, SMEs, artisans and industrial areas in Aba. How does he intend to harness the potentials of the city and sustain/expand the comparative advantage Abia has over other states and neighbouring nations?

ikpeazu2015:
i mean being an aba boy will give him an edge and push him to do more his fatherland. that aba is the dirtiest town today in nigeria is partly because of the mentality of our people. we have to do the little we can but here nobody does anything than worsening the situation. okezie has done it before and he will do it again to restore aba. another challenge in aba is the topography of the town- it is flat, so government need to do more on big urban drainage to take away flood water because most roads are usually covered with flood each it rains coupled with drainages stuffed with refuse.

Ok, you have pointed out that he would do more on urban drainage, which I think is a good idea, but what does he intend to do with the drainage and how would he prevent the people from displaying their die hard mentality?

B2mario:
We have almost everything except seaport and Airport but believe me by February next year our airport will start working.

I do not think that we have a pressing need for an airport in Abia State. No part of Abia state is more than 70 kms from an airport and I do not go about wishing there was an airport in Umuahia, when ever I use Sam Mbakwe airport. I live about 40 miles/64km and 70 miles/112KM fro heathrow and Gatwick respectively and I get to them in no time at all when the roads are free. I think we should focus on regeneration of our areas and consolidating on our comparative advantage which is SMEs

ikpeazu2015:
okezie is a train expert on environmental issues. if he take over as the gov he will tackle aba headlong. he is an aba boy who knows all the holes in the town. beside that he cannot fail his homeland or he will face the aba people. let point out that even if the roads in aba are repaired today, if the people do not change their mentality of dumping refuse all over the place the problem will continue. we have suffered enough.

I have headed the environmental health division of my local authority, which comprises of wastes, street scenes and parks amongst other areas and I did not have to be an "Aba boy" to execute my job. Apart from being an Aba boy, what does he identify as the environmental challenges facing Abia and how does he intend to tackle them?

On the issue of people and their mentality; mentalities are not changed overnight without commensurate solutions or reprieve to encourage a change in mentality. How does he intend to make people change their "mentality" and what would he do if they refused to change?

ikpeazu2015:
problem of aba is their mentality. do you know that once the sky change, the peopl will start pouring refuse inside the drainage. how is that orji's fault. my people should learn how to live a healthy life. that was what okezie came to change though he was the deputy but he still did a marvelous work.

Ok, let's move on from the problems and on to solutions:

What are the environmental challenges facing Aba/Abia and how does Okezie intend to tackle them?

ikpeazu2015:
the problem we have today in abia started with ouk. ta orji came and they influenced aba people to insult him despite all the good works. okezie is the right man for the job because he is an aba boy. if he fail us we shall burn his house in aba.

Being an Aba boy is not the sole/most important qualification needed to regenerate Aba area, but we would get to that in a moment.

Good works are hot hidden. There are nearly 2 million people in Aba metropolitan area and I think that you give very little credit to their ability to reason for themselves when you say that one man influenced them to bad mouth Orji. Could you name the good works he did in Aba and environs please?

ikpeazu2015:
okezie must rescue abia. abia has been reduced to a laughing stock of nigeria. no road, no nothing. abia state has been reduced to a jungle by ouk. if he fail us we shall burn down his father's house in aba. abia needs all the help it can get to come out from this deadly situation.

I want to engage you on some issues, but I need to know whether you are Okezie, his representative or just someone who supports him and with a good knowledge of his visions for Abia, but before we take this further, if he cannot accept that Orji had 8 years to correct those things you blame OUK for, how are we sure that we would not be going round in circles in 4 years time still blaming OUK?

pixs

New timber shed

More pic

pictures

More pix

more pix

Umuahia.

Museum. After Col Shittu terrorised my villa with his MIG, he was shot down in recompense maybe by my uncle de Mart. RIP though. Several pixs from here

Biafran RAP engineers did well under pressure. I did not realise that they designed and mass produced several fighting vehicles until I visited the museum.

A trip to one of the war museum sites; there are two sites

ishi court area and others

Library Avenue, forest reserve, ohokobe estate (my villa) and ceramic area

My Villa area

pictures

pix

Inner streets Umuahia

umuahia

Good street layouts, proper planning and alignments.

Umuahia

Jonathan and FG are fighting against the survival of our businesses in Abia State. When are they going to repair the federal roads leading to Umuahia and Aba? The same applies to Akwa Ibom and Imo federal roads as well.

We are a trading and manufacturing state and rely on people from neighbouring states to sustain our businesses. The bad road sections are not up to 80km in total; so is Jonathan saying that our votes are not worth up to 80km of road repairs?

When is Jonathan going to rein in Sambo and Emeka Offor and allow Bart Nnaji to supply Aba with reliable electricity, having invested billions of dollars? Geometric power station has been lying idle since completion in 2013 because Jonathan is allowing another person to reap where he did not sow. The multi billion dollar further investment in Aba by General Electrics and Geometrics has been put on hold due to the incompetence, insincerity and unreliability of the FG.

We in Abia state have not gained anything from the FG and if things remain the same until December, I shall use my own resources to make sure that he loses a significant portion of votes in Abia (at least Aba and Umuahia) and Owerri.

As business owners who have invested millions; there is only so much we can take, especially when we can hold someone to account.

Let’s face it, GEJ's administration is sub mediocre.

There are several reasons why the South East zone (Abia and Imo state especially) should not vote for him in 2015, but the opposition are actually swaying the SE to do the opposite. I will give a few bullet points on why the SE should dump him and the reasons why he would be voted for again in the SE due to the actions of the opposition and lack of credible alternative.

Reasons why he should be dumped:

Irresolution: Jonathan is not a resolute leader and his decision making ability is highly questionable. He has wavered on several occasions and gone back or stayed action on his decisions due to minor opposition which come with job.

Example Number 1:

Going back on total removal of fuel subsidy and lack of will to prosecute those involved in subsidy scam. He was indecisive and buckled under pressure from opposition and subsidy scammers and allowed status quo to remain. The end result is that we have continued to lose money to scammers and the refineries are still not working.
The low point of crude oil in 2012 was about $85/barrel and it is trading at about $98 today. The exchange rate in 2012 was about $1 to N145. This simply means that the amount required for subsidy has increased on two/three fronts i.e. cost of refined product, weaker Naira and increased demand and usage. JEG’s lack of leadership is to be blamed for this situation

Example Number 2:

It is the CIC’s responsibility to take actions to safeguard the security and lives of everyone within the country. He has shown tremendous weakness in dealing a decisive blow to Boko Haram insurgency. He allowed Boko haram to grow because he did not want to upset the applecart. He let the opposition interfere with his job as CIC and Boko Haram has grown in operation, confidence and strength. He dropped a successful General in the heat of battle and allowed the enemy to regroup, counter attack and gain territory.


Self-preservation in preference to loyalty to common man:

He has shown time and time again that he is more inclined to appease the rich and powerful than to work in the overall interest of the nation.

Case in point; Bart Nnaji was doing very well as the power minister and it was no secret that he had interests in the power sector before he became minister. In fact, he became a minister due to the success of his power supply scheme in Abuja and ongoing multi-billion dollar power project in Aba. He sacrificed this man because of the VP’s interests in Enugu DISCO and the need to keep Emeka Offor happy. Power generation has gone south since the exit of Nnaji and the blame is squarely on Jonathan’s shoulders.

Cruelty to genuine private investors, Aba, Abia state and Imo state:

Aba is a major hub for large scale industries and SMEs, which require steady power supply for sustainable growths in all business sectors. Bart Nnaji and financers invested billions of dollars and Geometric Power Aba has been ready to supply Aba with uninterrupted power supply since November 2013 but cannot do so because Jonathan wants to let VP and Offor to reap from the sweat of another man. The Enugu DISCO awarded to Offor and cronies, who have no known record of Power management was packaged to include the already ring fenced Aba zone and it has created a stumbling block to the starting of uninterrupted power supply by Geometric Power despite billions of dollars spent by them.

Major federal roads leading to Aba are in very poor state and affecting the growth of businesses. Aba-IK, Umuahia-IK and Abia-Imo section of Enugu PH, Owerri-PH roads are in very poor states and he still wants our votes? These keys roads are less than 150Km in total and I am not even talking of other bad federal roads in the SE.

Incompetence:

From inability to restore the refineries to full working capacity, to not equipping the army with the necessary tools like attack helicopters to end boko haram insurgency, to inability to stop subsidy scam, to poor international relations; he has shown himself to be incompetent to lead the nation.

Despite all the glaring reasons why the SE should not vote for him, events and the opposition line up are definitely going to sway the SE votes his way.

His saving grace:

1.The brutal bloodshed that followed the 2011 election results in the far North and the tacit support for the brutality by refusing to condemn the killings is still very fresh in the minds of SE. Yes, southerners from other regions also lost their lives, but our history has made it very necessary that we do not forgive the shedding of our blood or any blood even if our own share of the bloodletting is in the minority. The actions or inactions of those in whose names the gruesome acts were committed define how we interpret the heinous crimes and who to blame

2.Initial sympathy for Terror: There was tacit approval and initial support for Boko Haram and rather than condemn Boko haram for terror, some northern politicians and opposition members were clearly unapologetically in support of them and advocated for amnesty payments, which would have helped to further their campaign of terror. The Boxing Day massacre and other events helped the SE to resolve to stick with Jonathan because it was made clear that the reason why the terror was escalating was because of Jonathan’s presidency. Well, there are other ways of showing disapproval and terror only served to reinforce peoples resolve to stand by him regardless of his inadequacies

3.Protection of equal rights: The insistence of the north that they were robbed of their right to rule is a driving force behind our resolution to insist that the rights to the presidency belong to all qualified Nigerians.

4.Insincerity of opposition: We can see through the opposition and can confirm that they are without scruples. There is no clear vision of where they want to take Nigeria and the members are the same people that keep changing parties without any ideology. Their actions are more or less akin to school playground gang-up and we are not buying that type of opposition

5.Self-preservation: GEJ was elected by all Nigerians, but some people from some regions are quick to point to SE as the culprits behind his election and act like there is some retribution awaiting the SE for daring to vote for him. Well, we do not succumb to blackmail and do not ignore threats and would rather assert ourselves than bow to blackmail

6.Finally, there is no credible alternative out there amongst those who are expected to fight for the presidency. The good ones do not have the financial muscle and would not be given any chance by the old bags.

My take:

We have not gained anything by sticking with Jonathan. He has had enough time to do things that would be of benefit to the common man in SE.

The opposition are a bunch of corrupt and vindictive people without morals.

We should neither walk with Jonathan nor with the current opposition.

We should abstain from voting anyone from the current pool of people including Jonathan. The worst that can happen is that the winner continues to neglect SE as Jonathan is also doing; no one is going to start bombing SE for not voting.

We have to look inwards and start holding our people responsible for our misfortune. For example, who is your local Government chairman? How many bills have your reps sponsored and what have they been doing with the constituency allowance they have been receiving?

Finally, the federal system in its current form is never going to work for us. The SE states need to become transparent and robust in their accounting and revenue collection procedures. They need to vote at least 10% of their revenue towards regional development in order to have the financial muscle to provide much needed infrastructure for rapid development; to take on federal responsibilities where necessary and forward the bill to FG.