The South East Youth Stakeholders Forum (SEYSF) has urged President Bola Tinubu to swear members of the South-East Development Commission into office.

The group commended the President for appointing a former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Emeka Wogu, as the pioneer chairman of the commission adding that his choice would give the commission the much-needed direction when it fully takes off.

The Forum has also appealed to the President to expedite action on the swearing-in of the chairman and his members so that the commission could commence in earnest the work of rebuilding and developing the South East for the good of the people of the region.

The Chairman of SEYSF, Dr Ezenwa Oyinrimba, who stated this in Abuja after his courtesy visit to the President/CEO of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Mr Daser David, described the appointment of Chief Wogu, a prominent leader in the South East and renown former Minister of Labour as the pioneer chairman of the commission, as a welcome development.

According to him, since the Senate has confirmed their appointment as forwarded to them by President Tinubu, the Forum urged the President, to as a matter of urgency, accelerate their swearing in and give them realistic targets within a short time to measure their performance.

He said: “We want to appeal to the President to expedite the swearing in of the SEDC members because we need them to start the work of developing the South East region immediately and work to employ our teeming youth in the region.”

The members of the South East Youth Stakeholders Forum had earlier visited the DBI President to appeal to the institute to revitalize and upgrade the DBI South East campus in Enugu for effective and continuous ICT/digital learning.

The Forum promised to mobilise and engage the South East leadership and especially the South East Development Commission for this purpose.

Describing Wogu’s appointment as a round peg in a round hole, Dr Oyinrimba said the former Labour Minister is a man of integrity, a man of the people and a man of his words who loves youth and people of the South East.

The SEYSF Chairman said: “Emeka Wogu, the Chairman of the South East Development Commission has been a man of integrity. He has been a man of the people and a leader for a long time and one of the mouthpieces of the South East. Also, Emeka Wogu is an agent of change and a man who loves the young people of the South East. We know that he would be willing to collaborate to ensure that the institute (DBI) in the South East functions.”

Wogu was named the Chairman of the SEDC by President Tinubu, while Mark Okoye was appointed as the Managing Director/Chief Executive, along with 16 other members.

Dr Oyinrimba argued that the South East people have suffered neglect for a long time and are eager to see the commission come on board as quickly as possible to start addressing the myriad of problems bedevilling the region, especially in the area of job creation for youths and women.

He believed that the partnership between the DBI and the SEDC would go a long way to addressing the problem of youth unemployment in the South East region, most especially as the world is shifting towards digitisation and artificial intelligence (AI).