From Right, Hon. Dominic Ezerioha of Imo House of Assembly (Oru West) in a handshake with Barr. Success Obioma Akagburuonye, during the regional conference.
From Everest Ezihe, Enugu
Worried by lack of infrastructural developments and transformations of South East geopolitical region of Nigeria by the Federal Government, Barr. Success Akagburuonye has canvassed for an accelerated development of the region, using the newly created South East Development Commission, SEDC and Federal Ministry of Regional Development as spring boards for advancing the region.
Akagburuonye makes the demand recently in Enugu during the South East Communities Development Regional Conference organized by South East Communities Development Association, SECDA and South East Communities Development Association Cooperative Union with the theme: Our Great Expectations From South East Development Commission and Federal Ministry of Regional Development as the Distinguished Chairman of the well attended historical occasion held at a prestigious hotel.
The Chairman in his opening remarks extolled President Ahmed Bola Tinubu for listening to the age long yearnings and aspiration of the region as he sang melodious Igbo christian song that says” Rejoice God answers prayer” noting that the creation of South East Development Commission and Federal Ministry of Regional Development is an answered prayer for the geopolitical region and organizations like South East Communities Development Association, SECDA and patriotic South Easterners.
He pointed out that the creation of the Commission and the Federal Ministry were catalyst that propelled the regional conference and the timely theme.
Akagburuonye expressed gratitude to the organizers of the programme and most especially the conference objective.
He noted that the creation of the South East Development Commission by the Present administration of the federal government required concerted efforts by organizations like SECDA to guard against the marginalisation of the commission in terms of budgeting and funding through effective participation of the members of the region in the activities of the Commission.
“Thus, the regional conference provided a forum for relevant stakeholders of the region to ventilate on prospective programmes and projects that could be most impactful on the communities of the region through the operations of the Commission as well as identify harmonized modalities for the coordination and supervision of such programmes and projects.
“Interestingly, SECDA also has its Cooperative Union duely registered and operational in all the 95 LGAs of the region, hence making it an established and useful medium for stakeholders such as this Commission, our sons and daughters in diaspora, corporate and development partners, etc to reliably reach the grassroots with any type of developmental and empowerment programmes.
Akagburuonye further observed that with the critical stakeholders from all LGAs of the region participating at the conference, a useful communique has been raised requesting for a minimal percentage of the Commission’s budget to directly deal with the developmental and transformational needs of each of the autonomous communities within the region.
He also observed that the conference would enable critical stakeholders in the region to have unity of purpose as a panacea for their future progressive engagements insisting that Igbo land must develop.
Akagburuonye who’s an Ambassador of Philanthropy and Kingdom Investment, pointed out that it’s as a result of his patriotic passion for things concerning Igbo land that he is physically present for the regional conference in view of the fact that it’s barely one week he hosted President Olusegun Obasanjo, the two time Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Federal Republic of Nigeria and Mr. Peter Obi, 2023 Presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP.
These he said were among other global personalities that graced the multi million Naira historical dedication and commissioning of Noah’s Ark Church building, he philanthropically financed and built for his ancestral home church, Assemblies of God Church, Ogbor Uvuru in Aboh Mbaise LGA of Imo State.
” You should be surprised to see me here today, because barely a week ago I hosted the former President in my Ogbor Uvuru village in Aboh Mbaise LGA of Imo State to commission Noah’s Ark Church building.
“I traveled to different countries of this world to look for Noah’s Ark symbol. I replicated same in my village as a Structural Engineer. I brought President Olusegun Obansajo, Mr Peter Obi and Peter Obi said, he heard and that he has come to see, which he posted in his X handle”
Akagburuonye enjoined Igbos to always value what they have, insisting that he is not a typical Nigerian politician but a developer and a preacher of prosperity, justifying his stand by quoting the biblical book of John 3vs2.
The Kingdom Investor further advised the people to jettison poverty no matter their family background and challenges in life and pursue relevance using God’s standard.
He narrated how God used him to wrestle EFCC to a stand still over stringent bail conditions as determined in the case, Engr Success Obioma Akagburuonye vs Federal Republic of Nigeria, On Bail for which he was unjustly detained for 26 months before the Court of Appeal up turned it.
” I took the whole judgement to Obansajo, he read it and said no, I must join you to thank God in your village. To me, this is no mean feat. To me, it’s honestly an achievement and great accomplishment. Don’t ever limit yourself. All of us here are equal before God, the difference is product of opportunity and ability to maximize such opportunity. Whatever opportunity given to you, must be done well because you must certainly account for it. Don’t ever be a bad example” he admonished.
He also reiterated that the creation of South East Development Commission, SEDC should not be taken for granted because alot of infrastructural developments and transformations have eluded the region in the recent past but the Commission will now stand as a bridge and issue of marginalization will be tremendously addressed.
The Philanthropist who’s also the National Coordinator of Hope Rising For Imolites, a sociopolitical Non Governmental Organization recalled his days in Law School Agbani Campus in Enugu State as most students described him as a triangular student and expressed gratitude to God for using him to establish, Assemblies of God Church at the Campus reiterating the need for people to always examine their lives because alot of people are watching them.
In his welcome address, Engr. Isidoe Ehochi, the National Coordinator of SECDA informed that the Association is fully registered with Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria as a non governmental organization platform for grassroot collaborative partnership towards socioeconomic developments and transformations.
Ehochi also said that, SECDA belongs to all the communities in the region and passionately appealed to the leadership of South East Development Commission, SEDC and Federal Ministry of Regional Development to adopt the organization as their strategic partners in reaching out to the autonomous communities.
