By Ikechukwu Odu

Appreciable economic development does not happen in isolation. There must be key factors which would stand as fulcrum to engender its sustainability.

Such factors, apart from friendly government policies and security of lives and properties is also key infrastructural upgrades. These factors attract investors as the nectar attract pollinating honeybees and birds.

In Nigeria at large, the people of South East are known for their industriousness in trade and commerce to the extent that one can safely argue that they are behind reasonable percentage of the economic fortunes of the country. Through this feat, the region which bore the most brunt of the 1967-1970 civil war in the country was able to shake-off the human and economic loses incurred during the war era. This positive economic turnaround was made possible largely through the simple economic blueprint of ‘apprenticeship’ which turned small scale businesses into industries and companies. Today, economic merchants from the region are responsible for most trade relations between Nigeria and other countries of the world to the extent that there is hardly any part of the world where an Igbo man is not found doing one business or the other.

However, what is amiss in this economic fortune is lack of ‘think-home philosophy’ by the Igbos. One can easily point at huge investments by business moguls from this region in every nook and cranny of the world and in Nigeria particularly. The Igbos have been severally threatened to vacate different markets which they developed from the scratch in various parts of the country. Therefore, legacy projects like the Anambra International Passenger and Cargo Airport completed by the administration of Governor Willie Obiano should be seen as the cynosure for key economic and infrastructural development in South East. Projects in this mould should be encouraged in the region to help drive home economic investments to our people and provide good jobs, which would help to position the zone for economic sustainability beyond the crude oil reign.

Governor Obiano had told the elated audience when an Air Peace Boeing 737 aircraft kissed the virgin runway of the airport on April 30th, 2021, that his vision is to make Anambra State an investment destination and the hub of industrialisation and commercial activities. “Seven years ago, we announced that our vision was to make Anambra State the first choice in investment destination, the hub of industrialisation and commercial activities. This airport is a fulfilment of our vision and mission statements. It is difficult to create a new economic corridor without a functional international airport that will serve as a direct bridge between us and the world,” he said.

Also, during an inspection of the facilities installed at the airport, the state Commissioner for Works, Engr. Marcel Ifejiofor, had described the international airport as Class 4F which can take any aircraft.

He also said “The orientation is that aircraft can land at either side of the runway. That was what happened on April 30th, 2021, when we did the test flight, one landed on 024 and the other one landed on 06. This airport has two Runway Air Safety Areas, RASA. This is the only airport in Nigeria with this type of RASA. It has category two light which means that the airplane can land at the worst of any weather in this airport.

“It also has satellite facilities which means that if the light is not working, aircraft can land with the satellite facilities. So, with what we have on this airport, it would be difficult to have a cancelled flight. 

“It is the only airport in Nigeria with this type of satellite facilities. This is the only airport in Nigeria that is current with the Friction Test. Before the airplane landed on the 30th, we carried out the test and got 0.79 which is the highest so far in this country. The height of the Control Tower is 34.5 metres.”

What Governor Obiano has done is a clarion call to Ndigbo to bring home some of their investments scattered in time and space to South East. When this is done, the region can become Dubai or California of Africa, and would serve as an economic hub of Nigeria and Africa at large. It is an action plan for making wealthy Igbo brothers and sisters who reside outside Igboland to begin to consciously, gradually and seamlessly repatriate their wealth back home. In this way, more jobs will spring up and social vices take a nosedive in the region.

It is painful to note that the greatest number of individual wealthy Nigerians are Igbos, yet, this reality has not reflected in the existential conditions of the Igbo men living in the region. This airport, upon completion, would equally save some business moguls doing businesses at Onitsha Main Market, and other major markets in Anambra State and beyond, the stress of travelling out of the state for international travels.

With the airport inaugurated and the certificate of commercial flights operations handed to the state government by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Anambra State has built an in-road into aviation competition with the likes of Asaba, Enugu and Owerri. The state’s plan to be the hub of South East cargo air transport with the state boasting of having the highest number of billionaires in Africa is gaining momentum.

What the administration of Governor Obiano has demonstrated for the people of Anambra and South East states at large, is a resolve to serve, devoid of sugar-coated gimmicks and flimsy excuses which characterise the government of most politicians from this region.

However, another factor which would champion the think-home call of Ndigbo is the dredging of River Niger. This would disentangle the people of South East from the strangle-hold of Apapa Wharf which has turned the thought leaving Lagos State to a nightmare for Igbo business moguls. Influential politicians and other stakeholders from South East Nigeria should make efforts towards drawing the attention of the Federal Government towards actualizing this legacy project for the people of the zone in order to realise total economic emancipation of the people.

This think-home call has become so expedient especially now that Ndigbo which constitute a significant percentage of Nigeria’s population are hated and despised not for any crime committed but for simply being who they are. Recently, the hatred for the Igbos took a sorry dimension with the conversion of the sacred altar of God by a Catholic priest as a launch pad for his vitriol against Igbo congregation in his parish. On Sunday, February 6, Reverend Fr. James Anelu, the priest in charge of Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Ewu-Owa Gberigbe, Ikorodu, Lagos State, abruptly, without provocation, interrupted the singing of soul-lifting Igbo song during a holy mass he was conducting. The visibly angry cleric believed that Ndigbo were dominating other tribes in his parish and must be stopped. Though, he has been placed on indefinite leave of absence for that shameful act, such incident could not have happened in any South East States of Nigeria. However, Fr. Anelu’s action was just an x-ray into litanies of impunities and harassments against Ndigbo in a country where they rightfully belong.

From Kano to Kebbi, Kaduna to Plateau States, and in fact, several other places, Ndigbo are being humiliated everyday for daring to invest and own properties in their own country. Such humiliations and harassments should serve as a clarion call for Ndigbo to repatriate their wealth home and develop the region. For this to happen, our politicians and well-meaning individuals from this zone must find an inspiration in what Governor Obiano, has done and execute projects that would transform the economic fortunes of the people so as to further provoke and harvest the innovativeness and industriousness of Ndigbo.