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Ojukwu never yearned for outright breakaway of Ndi-Igbo, says Madumere

By SUNNY OGEFERE
03 February 2016   |   1:12 am
Prince Eze Madumere is the Deputy Governor of Imo State. Before his election as Deputy Governor, he was Chief of Staff to Owelle Rochas Okorocha, a position he held both within and outside government. In this interview with SUNNY OGEFERE, Madumere looks at the place of Ndi-Igbo in Nigeria and cautions pro-Biafran agitators against secession.…
Madumere

Madumere

Prince Eze Madumere is the Deputy Governor of Imo State. Before his election as Deputy Governor, he was Chief of Staff to Owelle Rochas Okorocha, a position he held both within and outside government. In this interview with SUNNY OGEFERE, Madumere looks at the place of Ndi-Igbo in Nigeria and cautions pro-Biafran agitators against secession.

Imo officials as betrayals of Biafran struggle

I made it plain that it is the inalienable rights of every citizen to protest and request of the establishment whatever that is due them. Agitation is a means to an end but the issue is what is being agitated for. If you discuss about the welfare of the Ndi Igbo just like other zones have agitated but once it is something out of reach, it would definitely hit the rock.  We are against anything that will break up the country.

Agitation for Biafra was basically born as a result of marginalisation and other issues that bordered on the insecurity of the lives and property of the Igbo. Again, what our leader of blessed memory, Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu yearned for was never outright breakaway of Ndi Igbo but a Nigeria where equity, justice and fairness would reign. He sought for extreme federal system of Government, if you like, confederation, which agitation has refused to go away. The total secession was an option to still preserve the dignity of Ndi Igbo, which I would consider as the devil’s alternative following the incongruous and irretrievable severed relationship among the leaders of the regions in the polity then.

So, our leader, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, understanding the intricacies of what is at stake, called for caution. He did not only stop at that, he initiated a move with his colleague governors of the South East to quell such agitation.  It is unfortunate that we lost some of our children but it is better for Nigeria to remain an indivisible entity and we shall be better for it. All I will advise is for us all to join hands and say no to ethnicity, religious bigotry and fundamentalism, by then we would have achieved 80 per cent nationhood.

Imo workers salaries

Imo State government owes no salaries. His Excellency, the Governor of Imo State approved, before December the payment of arrears of salaries of Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) including parastatals and even paid December salaries in advance. So, whosoever that is still discussing non-payment of salaries does so in bad faith. Again, looking at contemporary states, Imo State is doing so well.

Imo rescue mission and economic downturn

If you do a proper assessment of Owelle Rochas Okorocha-led Rescue Mission government in the last dispensation, you would give him credit for his focus, visionary leadership and passion to develop Imo. We started the idea of 70 per cent capital projects and 30% recurrent. For the first time since our new democratic administration, Imo State had some relief in road construction, road rehabilitation and infrastructural development. Our local governments received appreciable facelift as average of 18 kilometres of roads were constructed in each of the 27 local governments of the state.
We should not lose sight of the fact that we cannot discuss growth and development without making the environment conducive for business to thrive; for investors to appreciate the environment before investing. So, what you see is the vision and passion of a great leader in action. We are not just talking about by-passes but we are constructing the first ever flyovers in Imo State. I must bring to your knowledge the vigour with which the Governor has attacked ecological problems in Imo State, which I believe has enhanced movement and economic activities in many areas.

Dwindling funds and the way out

We appreciate the sad situation in our economy. This is rather a result of complacency on the part of the preceding governments. It is a sad tale of failing to plan and relying wholly on monoculture economy. I am happy that President Muhammadu Buhari came at a time he came to instill discipline and to squeeze out stolen monies. I learnt of the effort of the Federal Government through the Ministry of Science and Technology and its parastatals to begin to look into the areas of import substitution and holistic production of items that we have the raw materials in abundance here in Nigeria. Again, it is painful that we have eternally remained primary producers in the oil industry. Ordinarily, I do not see the reason we should be importing petroleum products. Private enterprises should be encouraged to invest in this sector so as to protect Nigerians from this continual embarrassment of scarcity and wrong pricing even as producers of crude oil. I also believe that diversification of economy is the key to saving us from this embarrassing quagmire.

Imo State as it were, is just a part of the whole and whatever happens to the whole will definitely affect its part. And the way our Federal system of government is structured, you cannot say you are in charge of your state economy. We still believe that this will be addressed in the nearest future. We are looking inward and our slogan has been “job, job, job; industry, industry, industry; employment, employment, employment. We are not saying we shall be building gigantic industries but those cottage industries that are agro-based. It will be small and medium scale enterprise driven and above all, agriculture and agribusiness.

What we fail to understand is that we must as a people work out plans to feed ourselves, take care of the domestic needs and then move ahead with production of surplus for exports. This is exactly what we need to do. Importing things like tooth pick, salt, tomatoes, pencils, plastic product and some others are quite disheartening. By the time we agree to get these things produced within, we would have salvaged the situation while expecting much more from those in Science and technology to lead out in finding solutions to our dire need of machinery and researching out techniques to utilize our raw materials. Imo is ready to contribute her quota to realizing the Nigeria of our collective dream.

Schools sports and development

I thank God for what we were able to achieve between 2014 and 2015 in sports. I have always had passion in youth development, capacity building and above all having a healthy productive population. Sports bring about discipline because there are rules in any sporting event one must abide if you want to do well. Indulging in sports make for a healthy body and a sound mind. It takes the youths off crime because it is said that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Again, there is career and fulfillment in sports. It is in sports that you find young people become very famous at a very young age and earn so much, which changes their social status in the society.  It is also an avenue for creating positive habits in the youth and to make them become conscious of the need to exercise even in old age for healthy living. We were to host the first female football competition but we had to shelve that for issues of strategic importance. God willing, we shall make our youth in sports smile this year in our own little way.

Expected projects this year

Governor Okorocha’s administration has remained consistent since last dispensation in its policy thrust especially in the area education, rural development, security of life and property, road and infrastructural development. Most importantly, we have been able to bring freedom back to the people of Imo State. I will take it this way; the first charge of any government is security of life and property. Another charge is interest aggregation and harmonization and the last charge is creating conducive environment and provision of visible and invisible incentives. For this dispensation that is barely seven months, our focus is on building a productive base for Imo State, which we already envisaged with our Community Government Council. Education is also a priority area of focus.

2 Comments

  • Author’s gravatar

    Madumere is just jesting like his mentor Rochas okoroawusa and his position is idiotic,no one listens to him and Rochas.
    Easterners demanded for BIAFRA SINCE 1967 and cannot go back on this genuine demand.

  • Author’s gravatar

    With the amount of investment wen Igbos get for Lagos and indeed, outside Igbo land in dis Nigeria, one cannot but wonder whether dem nor first think say dem go wan break away again before dem make all dis investment outside Biafra. In all seriousness, the Igbos should stop working against their own future in NiGERIA BY ACCEPTING THE BITTER FATE THAT HAS BROUGHT ALL OF US INTO THIS MESS…AND MAKE THE MOST OF IT!