Set agenda for Southeast socioeconomic transformation, academics urged

University scholars and holders of doctorate degrees of Southeast extraction have been charged to focus on and prioritise efforts that would advance the socio-economic development of the region.

They were tasked to be agents of transformation of the Igbo nation by promoting unity, peace, stability, equality, justice, quality leadership, and good governance through their personal and collective engagements, academic activities, and research.

The call was made at the maiden International Conference of the Forum of South-East Academic Doctors (FOSAD) held in Owerri, over the weekend.

Speaking, the Keynote Speaker and Vice Chancellor of Maduka University, Enugu, Prof. Charles Ogbologu, Imo State Commissioner for Education, Prof. John Cliff Nwadike, and other resource persons including Prof. Michael Mojekeh of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, Dr. Marcel Mbamalu, Publisher of Prime Business Africa Newspaper, and Dr. Lucy Apakama among others, said that Igbo PhD holders should use their expertise to champion causes for the collective good of the Igbo people.

They insisted that until stakeholders of the Igbo extraction began to explore every avenue, including the media, to enhance visibility, capacities, and continually showcase the inherent potentials of the South Easterners, viable socio-economic and political gains may continue to elude them.

The academics were also urged to genuinely partner with the managements of tertiary institutions in the region to fashion out ways towards addressing the obvious anomalies in the system for the desired educational growth and development.

Earlier in their speeches, the President and Secretary General of the Forum, Dr. Stephen Nwala and Dr. Uzor Ngoladi, respectively, disclosed that the conference, which had over 350 participants, was designed to bring together distinguished academics, researchers, and professionals from various disciplines to share knowledge, ideas, and experiences for a better Igbo nation.

According to them, the conference also provided a platform for networking, collaboration, and capacity building among the participants, and charged them to monitor LGA administration and ensure the effectiveness of grassroots governance.

“In this conference, a call for the establishment of regional media that will announce South-East to a global audience was made, and management of tertiary institutions in the South-East was charged to improve the working and learning conditions in their respective institutions through ethics and ethical values reorientation,” Ngoladi said.