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Ibusa elite lament perpetual power outage in community

By Bertram Nwannekanma and Odita Sunday
02 October 2015   |   3:47 am
WORRIED by the lack of government’s presence in the once cherished Ibusa community and the need to rediscover their homeland, Ibusa sons and daughters last Sunday gathered at the Lagos Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja to set agenda for sustainable peace and development of the Delta community.
IBUSA

Hon Barrister, Pat Ajudua (left), Mrs Florence Izagbo, Nzele Austin Abua, Mrs Regina Olisemeka, Chairman of the occasion, Ambassador Ignatius Olisemeka, Gladys Halim and President General, Ibusa Community Development Union (ICDU), Worldwide, Professor Tony Arinze, cutting the cake during the special gathering of Ibusa sons and daughters PHOTO: OSENI YUSUF

Seek government intervention
WORRIED by the lack of government’s presence in the once cherished Ibusa community and the need to rediscover their homeland, Ibusa sons and daughters last Sunday gathered at the Lagos Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja to set agenda for sustainable peace and development of the Delta community.

At the event which attracted Ibusa indigenes from far and near, the elites under the auspices of Ibusa Think Tank called for the provision of electricity for the community grouped under the Delta State capital territory.

They noted that the perennial problem of power outages in Ibusa for upwards of six years had caused a lot of economic and social upheaval leading to insecurity of lives and property as well as social and economic hardship.

To the community, therefore, only an immediate intervention of the state and federal governments can reverse the downturn of the once- enterprising town.

According to the chairman of the Think-Tank Committee, Dr, Austin Izagbo, Ibusa Think-Tank in collaboration with Ibusa Community
Development Union (ICDU) has put up a security outfit to stem the tide of criminality in the community.
The outfit, he noted, has become a model in community policing in Nigeria and has recorded a lot of successes with its establishment.

He, however, craved unity among the indigenes in order to bring government’s presence to the community.
Also the Obuso of Ibusa, Obi (Prof.) Louis Chelunor Nwoboshi, who was represented by Chief Austin Abuah, urged the community to embrace peace and unity to drive the development of the community.

He recalled with nostalgia, the internal bickering that threatened the new dawn brought about by the creation of the Ibusa’s Kingdom in 1995, urging a reinvention of Ibusa town without division and tranquility.

For the President General of ICDU, Prof. Tony Arinze, the gathering has provided another opportunity to reinvent the community, whose image has nosedived- no thanks to the high level of kidnappings, armed robberies and other social ills in the community.

He noted that although, Ibusa is blessed with an array of professionals and human resources, “discordant tunes have failed to bring them together for the collective good.”
Professor Azine urged indigenes to eschew bitterness, leadership tussle and make the resolve to be united.
“With unity among the ranks of who-is-who in Ibusa, nobody can override us,” he noted.

In his address titled: “Our Once Famous Town,” the chairman of the event and a revered diplomat, Ambassador Ignatius Olisemeka, said Ibusa community which was once characterised by common basic decency, instant and instinctive recognition of what was right and wrong, has lost its glorious past.
“In spite of individual efforts, some of them impressive, we are still left behind compared to the progress recorded by our neighbours.”

A society in severe moral decline, unruly youths openly flaunting their lack of respect for elders.A town full of filth in material, moral and spiritual terms, cultists, a people whose lands have been taken over by smart neighbours who out-manoeuvre them, seize their lands without firing a shot while they squabble among themselves,he lamented.

On what should be a plan of action to bring about the new dawn, Ambassador Olisemeka said the ICDU must spear-head the renaissance to change from being a social club to becoming a development union as much emphasis had been on frolicking and socializing.
“We must reverse the concept and trend. Every meeting, every gathering must have a serious purpose. We must work in teams in well coordinated teams planting our influence solidly and irreversibly in the hearts of our people.”
“We must draw up a cabinet of serious-minded men and women willing, knowledgeable, passionate, able and devoted volunteers, with specific duties and responsibilities assigned to them,” he declared.

He also listed some action plans subsumed in the communiqué of action to restore Ibusa to its past glory, which include among others:
. That we shall endeavour to recreate a united, indivisible community, placing at its disposal our God-given talents, energy, efforts and resources towards the uplift and development of the land of our birth for the benefit of our people.
. That we shall motivate our youths and rekindle in them a sense of industry by example, discipline, hard work and honest enterprise, bury forever, the unjustified stigma wrongly ascribed to us through the activities of a few, maybe well-meaning but clearly misguided individuals.

Some of dignitaries at the event, which was rounded up with the cutting of the unity cake, include Mrs. Pat Ajudua, a member of Delta State House of Assembly, renowned film director, Mr. Zik Zulu Okafor, Dr Henry Nzekwu, Dr Nosike Agokei and Mr. Mike Ajukwu amongst others.

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