With elections due next year, surely Ohaneze Ndigbo should be telling all the candidates that they will only urge their members to vote for a party that has policies which look like this

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Upon assuming office, you must immediately announce the creation of a South East Industrial Directorate (SEID) with a mandate to turn the geo-political zone into one huge manufacturing hub. Kind of similar to Germany’s Ruhr Valley

[2] Within a week of assuming office, you will release Nnamdi Kanu from detention and appoint him as the chief executive of this new agency. You will obviously also drop all charges against him and decriminalise Ipob

[3] As part of this programme, your government will also float an Ogbunigwe Industrial Bank that offers interest-free loans to traders looking to make the switch to manufacturers from retailers. At the moment, too many Igbos are importers and distributors and need to make the transition to being producers. The federal government would own a 25% stake in this bank

[4] SEID will also help with drawing up a national plan to eliminate ethnic mistrust across Nigeria. Ndigbo have always been at the centre of ethnic tensions in Nigeria because apart from the fact that they are everywhere, their success in the retail sector makes them highly visible. This SEID will publish a social responsibility pact guaranteeing that all Igbos will always provide social amenities in their host communities

[5] As head of the SEID, Nnamdi Kanu will be charged with finding private investors to build two high-speed rail links connecting the southeast geo-political zone with Lagos and Abuja. Travelling from say Enugu to either of these cities should not take more than two hours by rail

[6] Under these plans, Nnewi will be turned into Africa’s Detroit. This SEID will set itself the task of attracting every automobile manufacturer in the world to Nnewi to open a car assembly plant/manufacturing facility

[7] Onitsha port will be dredged and rehabilitated to a point whereby it can rival Apapa. Other nearby ports like Warri and Port Harcourt should also be expanded through private funding arrangements

[8] This SEID will also attract private investors to build Africa’s first underground railway tunnel at the Asaba-Onitsha crossing. This facility will be unprecedented as it will include three six-lane overhead bridges, an aquatic shopping mall, a one mile long aquarium and Africa’s first underwater restaurant. A global masterpiece

[9] SEID will also work to convince the Igbos in Rivers and Delta States to create Orashi and Anioma states with Omuku and Asaba as their respective capitals. They should both agree to be part of the southeast geo-political zone, so Ikwerres, Ndokwa, Aniomans, Ikas, Etches, etc for instance can stand as bonafide Igbo candidates in elections. This is vital because of land hunger in the current five southeast states. There is simply no room for economic expansion, commercial agriculture or building new cities

[10] This SEID will get every local government area in the southeast geo-political zone to construct a power distribution plant that can meet local needs. Under this audacious Igbo power programme, the provision of electricity will become the responsibility of local government chairmen

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