The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has said people will soon be able to travel home without fear, saying his mission is to transform Igboland.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Iwuanyanwu said this when he led members of the group on a courtesy visit to the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representative, Benjamin Kalu, in Abuja on Friday.
He stated, “We have decided that every Igbo man must have a market in Igboland. We are going to build an international market at Umuahia, Aba, Owerri and Onitsha,” adding that the leadership of Ohanaeze had designed an interstate railway line that would connect all the South-East states with Port Harcourt, Abuja and Lagos.
He said the project would be taken over by private individuals, adding that the states in the South-East needed a functional international airport.
He said at least one European airline would be landing in Enugu and other states in the region, adding that from the research he commissioned, which was submitted to him, the report on agriculture suggested that 50 per cent of land in the region had not been tapped.
He added, “The gas plant at Aba will be touched. We have limestone and we can establish up to five cement companies there. The coal in Enugu is about the best. I am over 80 years old and I have seen there is hope, all hope is not lost. I have people like you (Kalu) who will take over.
On the mounting insecurity in the region, he urged the Federal Government to release the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, adding that every effort must be made to release him, which he said would reduce agitation and make things easy for the group.
He added, “Very soon, you can be coming home without fear. We are not poor in the South-East but our people have not been able to harness the resources.”
Kalu said his sense of commitment and hard work was why President Bola Tinubu decided to consider him for the post of a deputy speaker in the 10th National Assembly. He said in spite of the current challenges in the country, Nigeria would remain one, adding that rather than separate, “we will look for smaller countries to join Nigeria to make it great”.
He added, “The parliament that I lead as deputy speaker believes we should be thinking of a regional economy integration policy that will involve all the states in the South-East to collaborate on rail lines. We need peace in the South-East project and security agencies have accepted the proposal for this initiative. Security is not only at the state but also at the local government level.”
He called for a regional political leader that would make the region play national politics the way it should be done.
Commenting on the sit-at-home policy in the region, he described it as a lazy man’s approach to agitation, while urging the people to reject the sit-at-home illegal order.
