*Urges Ndigbo to invest in the zone

By Ebun Sessou

A socio-political organisation, ThinkEast, has challenged the people of South-East and South-South Nigeria to invest back home to develop the two regions, and make it the industrial hub of Nigeria.

In a statement by its chairman, Prince AzubuikeUwandu,  in Abuja, yesterday, the body urged the people of the old eastern region to invest in the areas of infrastructure, Information Communications Technology, ICT, property and manufacturing.

According to the statement, “we in ThinkEast are calling on all Ndigbo in the North and their South-South brothers to think home. We want them to invest at home in the areas of infrastructure, ICT, rail-connectivity  and in property. This is the way to boost the industrialisation of the two regions.

“With determination, the people of South-East and South-South have the capacity to make the region an industrial hub of the country and doing so will curtail the exodus of the people of the  zones to Northern and Western Nigeria.”

ThinkEast challenged the state governments and people of South-East to pool their resources together to dredge the Oguta Lake and River Niger as the two waters are not far from the Atlantic Ocean.

“The distance from Oguta Lake to the Atlantic ocean is just 18 nautical miles. This is doable. Whether the Federal Government wants it or not, we should do it so that goods manufactured in Nnewi and Aba can be moved out through the international waters for exports.

“The moment we have our own seaport, we have our rail, there will be lots of cottage industries in the South-East and that would result to creation of thousands of jobs and tremendous increase in the IGR of the states of old eastern region.”

The statement noted that the wealth of Lagos State that boasts of high internally generated revenue was because of the vast contributions of the Igbo resident and doing businesses in the state.