A group, working under the umbrella of Igbo for a Progressive Nigeria (IPAN), has blamed political leaders and other office holders of Igbo extraction at various levels of government for under-development of the South-East geo-political zone.
Its President, Lawrence Onuzulike, who issued the blame in Awka, Anambra State, at a press conference, yesterday, vowed that IPAN would keep them on their toes till they become accountable to the people.
Onuzulike, who lamented the alarming level of under-development in the region despite the staggering budgets, which he blamed on the mismanagement of resources by elected and appointed officials in the region, alleged that the five southeastern states had received a cumulative federal allocation of about N3.46 trillion as at September 2020, while a total of about N800 billion was allegedly collected as internally-generated revenue for the five states between 1999 and 2019.
“The Local Government Areas in the zone received N1.88 trillion in federal allocations from 1999-2017. This is not inclusive of their internally-generated revenues.
“When these staggering numbers just mentioned are juxtaposed with the current state of development in the South-East, it paints a clear picture of serious mismanagement of resources by elected and appointed officials in the region,” he noted.
He regretted that many public infrastructures, such as roads, hospitals, schools and so on, are in very deplorable conditions, lamenting that no state in the South-East can boast of a working public water supply scheme, or asking if any state was seriously embarking on a social mass housing scheme for the very low-income earners.
“Public transportation is nothing to write home about, with no discernable plan by any of our governors to modernise and standardise public transportation in any of the states.
“Many of the past and present governours in the South-East have only succeeded in impoverishing the states they were elected to develop.
“These governors end up taking up other political posts to continue pillaging the resources meant to develop the region,” he added.
IPAN, therefore, warned those concerned, including the elected representatives in the National and State Assemblies that ‘enough is enough’, saying: “It won’t be fun as usual! All of these cannot continue. And to the Igbo everywhere, this is the time for us to begin to demand comprehensive accountability from our leaders.”
