EXCLUSIVE : Iroegbu Emenike Leadership Round-Table’s Recommendation To Abia Govt

COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AFTER THE INAUGURAL EDITION OF THE ‘ IROEGBU EMENIKE LEADERSHIP ROUNDTABLE’ HELD ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2020

 

The inaugural edition of the Iroegbu Emenike Leadership Round-table held on Saturday September 12, 2020 under the theme: Imperatives for Building a New Abia. The event, which was hosted online via the Zoom conferencing application, was used to mark the birthday of Emenike Jason Iroegbu, front-line media entrepreneur, social activist and Editor-in-Chief of Afnews.ng (formerly Abia Facts Newspaper).

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The Round-table featured notable Abians of diverse professional backgrounds as lead speakers and a cross section of participants who joined from various parts of the world. Among the lead speakers were Mr. Tony Kalu, a US based human resource development specialist; Mr. Don Norman Obinna, journalist and human rights activist; Chief Oby Ndukwe of Citizens Quest; Comrade Uche Aguoru, journalist and public affairs analyst; Pastor Dike Nwankwo, Dr. Nelson Nwafor of FENRAD and Mr. Steve Nwazuo, Chairman of Maduforo Youth Movement. Other contributors included Hon. Mike Ukoha, Hope Akwarandu, Ezra Dansars and Uzoma Amaechi. Participants generally expressed delight at the opportunity to voice their concerns and proffer solutions to the issues facing Abia State.

With the theme in focus, sub-topics included human capacity development, leadership selection process, infrastructure development plan, improvement of the main economic base, et cetra.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Following exhaustive and very engaging deliberations, the Round-table made the following recommendations:

Considering the exigent need to upscale the profile of human capital development in the State, it is imperative for government to embark on more practical skills acquisition and entrepreneurial development schemes aimed at getting youths off the streets and meaningfully engaged. In this regard, government is advised to explore Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives that would make such schemes expansive, sustainable and more rewarding.
Youth-focused value reorientation drive has become an absolute necessity which should be structured to run alongside the human capital development scheme(s), especially to refocus the attention of youths who now see politics as a profession and refuse to equip themselves with skills for economic sustenance.

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All patriotic Abians must join hands towards ensuring a credible process of emergence of political leaders at all levels. In particular, the Abia Charter of Equity which was adopted before the creation of Ebonyi State needs to be reviewed in tandem with current political realities for it to be respected indisputably by all as the instrument to guarantee political inclusion, reduce tension and guide the process of selection of leaders at the apex level, without prejudice to established constitutional processes.

The Abia State government should, as a matter of necessity, develop a pragmatic short term, medium term and long term infrastructure development plans that would be part of a holistic development plan. While it is understood that the State shares responsibilities with the Federal Government on infrastructure maintenance, the State government should endeavour to arrest the decay of basic infrastructure within its purview and be seen by Abians to have done its part. Furthermore, it would be apt to consider an Infrastructure Development Summit that would factor-in the full spectrum of physical, social, economic and environmental infrastructure needs of the State, over and above what may be contained in political party manifestos.

Government should go beyond the rehabilitation of roads in Aba, being the major economic hub and source of internally generated revenue for Abia State. A well-planned, total urban renewal and recovery scheme is needed to reposition Aba as the most resourceful city in the South East in terms of business and technological innovations.
The Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) profile of Abia State should be improved by digitizing revenue collection system, following reliable data harvest and analysis, to forestall leakages in the current IGR mechanism. This would in turn boost government’s efforts at infrastructure maintenance and servicing of the basic needs in the State.

 

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The State government should institute a targeted approach towards coordinated partnerships with Abians in the Diaspora who are keen to contribute to the development of the State physically and otherwise. This is very important because not a few Abians in the Diaspora, including those who spoke at the Roundtable from Spain, Canada and the US, have expressed serious concerns over difficulties in securing effective attention of the State government regarding brilliant and innovative ideas for which they seek government partnership to promote, for the benefit of Abians.

Without security of lives and property, no meaningful development process can be sustained in the State. In this regard, the creation of the Abia State Ministry of Homeland Security by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is laudable. The Ministry should however be well-equipped to complement the services of security agencies in the State, especially at the grassroots levels. The Ministry would appear like a paper tiger, unable to make any impact, unless it is totally equipped to deliver on its mandate.

The Roundtable condemned a growing phenomenon within the Abia media space, identified as ‘journalism of praise singing’, and called for capacity building programs on media and information literacy, to help sanitize the media space in Abia State and promote responsible media practice, especially journalism.

 

Abia State is 29 years old in 2020. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is urged to put his name in the good books of history by facilitating the implementation of the foregoing recommendations, such that by the time Abia State shall be marking its 30th anniversary, he would not only have enriched his leadership scorecard, but he would also be presenting a solid and impeccable blueprint for all-round sustainable development of the State in the years ahead.

Signed

Iroegbu Jason Emenike
Editor-in-Chief, Afnews.ng and Convener,
Iroegbu Emenike Leadership Roundtable