Buhari was to be the chief guest of
honour at the summit, which held in the Enugu State Government House,
according to the programme of the event.
Although the President was expected at
the event — as suggested by several speakers who spoke during the
programme, he neither showed up nor was he represented. Also, ministers from the South-East, who were slated to make presentations at the event, all stayed away.
A pro-Biafran group, the Indigenous
People of Biafra, had, in the build-up to the summit, issued a
statement, warning Buhari to stay away from the South-East — in his own
interest.
IPOB, whose leader, Nnamdi Kanu, is
being held by the Federal Government, accused Buhari of “persecution”,
and threatened “a breakdown of law and order” should the President
attend the summit.
Although no mention of the IPOB warning
was made throughout the opening session of the summit, Buhari’s absence
was a major talking point as several speakers expressed surprise at the
development.
Present at the ceremony, former
President Olusegun Obasanjo, in a presentation on “Sustainable
development: Zero hunger,” said the South-East could become the food
basket of the country if the various states collaborated to develop
agriculture.
He also canvassed cooperation among the governors in the region on other developmental issues.
Obasanjo said, “We have a challenge of
youth unrest which is understandable because these are young people who
have education without employment, and skills without production. So,
you should expect some agitation from them.
“We cannot leave these children. We must take responsibility.”
Chairman of the South-East Security and
Economic Summit, Prof. Barth Nnaji, who is a former minister of power,
observed in his opening remarks, “We have not seen the President.”
In his address, Nnaji thanked the Enugu State Government for undertaking to sponsor some aspects of the President’s visit.
Also, at the beginning of his address,
the chairman of the event, a former Commonwealth Secretary General,
Chief Emeka Anyaoku, drew attention to Buhari’s absence.
“I was going to start by saluting the
representative of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria but I
have not been told of such a person,” the retired diplomat said.
Anyaoku went further to express regrets that Buhari was not present at the event.
Rounding off his address with a call for
the restructuring of the country, he said, “I had hoped that Mr.
President would be here to hear me.
“Like Cato, the Roman senator who always
ended his speeches by calling for the destruction of Carthage until his
call was heeded, I will restate my assertion that if the Nigerian
federation is restructured to have less federating units, this country
will achieve greater stability and faster pace of development, and there
will no longer be a need for the Federal Government to bailout many of
the non-viable 36 states.”
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu,
observed that the programme printed by the organisers of the summit did
not include his photograph and also did not list him among those to
speak at the event.
Ekweremadu also spoke on the need to restructure the country, stressing that the current system was not working.
In separate presentations, the governors
of Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi states, and the Deputy Governor of Anambra
State, drew attention to challenges and opportunities in their various
areas.
They also spoke of the need to work together to develop the South-East.
Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, did not attend the summit, and was also not represented.
Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi,
urged the Federal Government to address the various challenges besetting
the South-East, including the bad state of federal roads, the menace
posed by herdsmen and the need to upgrade the runway and other
infrastructure at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
Former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme was among the dignitaries at the summit.
Source:Punch
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