10 targets Ohaneze Ndigbo’s newly-elected leadership should set itself over the next two years

Ayo Akinfe

(1) Get the APC and PDP to both agree to field presidential elections of Igbo extraction come the 2023 polls

(2) Establish the Ogbunigwe Industrial Bank that will offer 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

(3) Coming up with a national plan to eliminate ethnic mistrust. 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. Central to this is Ohaneze launching a charm offensive to address the irrational fear many Nigerians have of Ndigbo. In return, Ndigbo need to publish a social responsibility pact guaranteeing they will always provide social amenities in their host communities

(4) Find 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

(5) Nnewi must be turned into Africa’s Detroit. Ohaneze should set itself the task of attracting every automobile manufacturer in the world to Nnewi to open a car assembly plant/manufacturing facility

(6) Onitsha port should be dredged and rehabilitated to a point whereby it can rival Apapa. Other nearby ports like Warri and Port Harcourt should also be expanded

(7) Ohaneze should attract private investors to build Africa’s first underground railway tunnel at the Asaba-Onitsha crossing. This facility should be unprecedented as it should include three six-lane overhead bridges, an aquatic shopping mall, a one mile long aquarium and Africa’s first underwater restaurant. As a masterpiece, this crossing should rival the pyramids of Egypt and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

(8) Ohaneze should 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 Ikwerre’s 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

(9) Get every local government area in the southeast to construct a power distribution plant that can meet local needs. Under this audacious Igbo programme, the provision of electricity will become the responsibility of local government chairmen

(10) To combat the incessant erosion in the southeast, more Igbos simply need to be relocated to other parts of Nigeria. I want Ohaneze to think the unthinkable and enter into arrangements with states that have huge land masses like Adamawa, Niger, Borno and Taraba to make this a reality. Under this plan, large swathes of these states will become Igbo enclaves in exchange for investment and job creation