Business News: PASCHAL DOZIE HEADS BOARD OF SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA - TopicsExpress



          

Business News: PASCHAL DOZIE HEADS BOARD OF SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA DEVELOPMENT FUND - by Written by Debo Oladimeji A Milestone In South East Economic Integration APGA: YOUR WELFARE IS TOP PRIORITY. RECENTLY, the Board of the South East Nigeria Development Fund (SENDEF) headed by Dr Pascal Dozie, was inaugurated in Enugu. The occasion was witnessed by Igbos from all walks of life. Speaking during the occasion, Abia State Governor and Chairman South East Governors, Theodore. A. Orji who was represented by Prof. Mkpa Agu Mkpa, said that the event marks the end of a long journey, and the beginning of a much longer one in the search for the rapid development of the South East Geopolitical Zone. “The articulation and formal signing of the memoranda of the South East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC), and SENDEF predates my regime as the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum. All along, I and many of my colleagues found enduring merit in the initiative and have always ensured that the idea did not die,” he said. According to him, with the inauguration of SENDEF, the people of the South East Geopolitical Zone have made a bold statement that the task of developing the zone cannot be the responsibility of government alone. The private sector and international development partners have huge roles to play. “However, the challenge has always been how to create a platform that will harness the huge potentials of the private sector to be part of the overall strategy of economic development,” he said adding that the entire world is currently leveraging on the investment concept of public-private-partnership to drive sustainable development. “This has delivered immense success in developing economies and even in advanced ones. It will not be different in our own case both as a country and as a zone. It is also important to note that the investment resources to fill the physical and social infrastructure gap in our geopolitical zone are not trivia, neither is the managerial capital to sustainable deliver such investments to serve the benefits of our people.” He recalled that the role of the government remains that of creating the enabling environment to ensure that institutions that can harness private resources to complement government efforts in this direction. “We will therefore use this platform to build the needed trust to guarantee safety of investments coming from both the private sector and development partners.” Orji recalled that the Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation (ENDC) pioneered the development of several infrastructure in the South East in the 1960s and early 70s. “We intend to replicate those fruitful collaborations between the government and the private institutions in our current drive to address the infrastructure challenges we all face as a country and as a zone.” In his keynote address, Chairman, Interim Steering Board SENEC, Engineer Chris Okoye, said South East State Governors at the South East Governors Forum on February 28, 2011, approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of SENEC, thus officially establishing SENEC with the mandate to create the South East Nigeria Development Commission and SENDEF. “The imperative of regional economic development and co-operation in the South East geopolitical zone is well established. The Eastern Region and even during East Central State recorded phenomenal development. The Eastern Region within eight years, starting from self-rule in 1958 through independence in 1960 to 1966, achieved significant development strides: a cement company at Nkalagu; a university at Nsukka with a campus in Calabar which metamorphosed into the University of Calabar; industrial estates at Emene, Port Harcourt, Umuahia, Aba and Onitsha where impressive manufacturing took place; huge and vibrant markets were set up in Onitsha, Aba, Enugu and Owerri, and these markets catalysed distributive trade entrepreneurship among our people; farm settlements that moved agriculture from a peasant occupation to a full and rewarding commercial enterprise were created. “New crops such as cocoa, rubber, rice cashew and pepper (ose Nsukka) were introduced to farmers; improved varieties of oil palm were introduced, alongside new palm oil processing methods. The urban towns that we have today, Enugu, Onitsha, Aba, Umuahia, Owerri and Abakaliki were almost all planned, laid out and established during the period. In the area of physical and social infrastructure, roads, bridges and social housing were developed by the government and through partnerships; many schools and hospitals were established.” Okoye said the recent outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Nigeria is a reminder that the Eastern Region and East Central State had a School of Hygiene in Aba. “Indeed, there was sustainable development at the time because of the size of the area and the depth and diversity of resources. There is no doubt that the tremendous success outlined above was not by happenstance. It was the result of cooperation on a grand scale involving the private sector, civil society, Municipal, Local and State/Regional Authorities, and coordinated by the Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation (ENDC). The ENDC was a special purpose vehicle (SPV) created to mobilize and invest regional resources and harness them effectively in different economic sectors and endeavors. Eastern Regional gross domestic product (GDP) grew at over six per cent per annum in the 1960s.” According to him, it is disappointing that since the 1970s, the southeast has been burdened by all manner of administrative structures and contrivances designed to meet the challenges of states in the southeast. “The last significant public investments in manufacturing enterprises were undertaken under the Mbakwe and Nwobodo Administrations in old Anambra and Imo States between 1979 and 1983. The successor states did not have a platform to revive Niger Steel, Nigercem, Nigerian Cotton Mill, Aba Textile, Premier Breweries, Golden Guinea Breweries, Modern Ceramics and Modern Shoe Industry. Even the private sector enterprises that partnered with the regional and state governments in the past have been declining. Where are the GMOs, the Eastern Shops, the Michelletis, the J. N. Nwankwus, the O. C. Gravels, the Dunon Furniture, the Ozoekwem Furniture, the Ozokwo Farms, the F. G. N. Okoyes and sons, the Hardel and Enics?” He said that the fate of these once thriving enterprises highlight the current development dysfunction in the South East. “If we recognize the problem, we are obliged to find a solution that will deliver value and restore hope in our youth and awaken our elders to dream new dreams of structural transformation, sustained growth and development.” Okoye added that granted that the majority of states in the Southeast are not oil-producing and their share of transfers from the federation account is rather meager, it is understandable that they lack the financial resources to replicate the successes recorded in infrastructure development, agriculture, road construction and maintenance and improved social services in the Eastern Region, made possible by the ENDC. “In view of the foregoing, there is no gainsaying the need to invest in productive infrastructure and economic regenerative endeavours in the South East so that the region can contribute more robustly to national wealth-creation. It is not difficult to understand why improved internally generated revenue is proving such a difficult task for most in all the states in our region.” He noted that the implication is that without the necessary infrastructure, even the limited investible capital derived from the region has been migrating outwards from the zone. “With insecurity in some parts of the country, these investments are now at risk more than ever before. In areas where security is not a major threat, exploitative taxation and undue harassment threaten such investments daily. There is therefore a need to attract inward investment flow from other regions of Nigeria and beyond through putting in place regional infrastructure and market development policies.” Specifically, he said SENEC is structured as a commission registered to provide the required leadership for the economic development of the Southeast. On the other hand, SENDEF is an investment organ of SENEC. “The main purpose of SENDEF is to articulate projects and programmes and source funds to actualize investment in key infrastructure that will deliver common economic and social goods on a good scale in the region. The second critical objective of SENDEF is to be well positioned to mobilize investment resources from various sources such as the government, the private sector, institutional investors and international donor agencies through an ingenious and creative investment model that will ensure the convergence of profit motives for stakeholders and social and economic development in the zone effectively and efficiently.” On his part, Chairman of SENDEF, Dr. Pascal Dozie said: “SENDEF is supporting or complementing what the south eastern governors are doing. We are supposed to tap private sector resources local and from overseas, giving the support of the governments of this region. For me, the bottom line is how much fund have we raised or are we going to raise funds to supplement the efforts of the southeastern states. Official money is allocated for infrastructural development. We have to discuss among the members of the board, analyse our terms of reference and how to go about it. We don’t need anybody to tell us that there is a gap. Physical gap and funding gap. “First of all, we have to sell our idea to our people in the diaspora. We have to study it. There is no where in the world that you don’t see members or citizen of this region. If you go to any country and you don’t see anybody from this part of the world, you might as well leave that place. “We are a global tribe. Being a global tribe, we work and invest all over the world. What we are trying to do is to tap the resources of the Igbos abroad to supplement what we have locally and what we could get from development finance organization to help develop our place. Because if we don’t do it, we have found that nobody want to do it for us. “It is in our DNA. Wherever we stay, we contribute to the development of that area. What we are saying is that if you are developing elsewhere, help also to develop your country area, because this is the last bus stop. If you are asking somebody for money, you have to make sure that you are transparent. You have to prove to them that you are going to be transparent, there will be integrity in whatever we are going to do. There will be accountability. Our books will be opened so that anybody who is giving us money at any given point in time ask for our books and we would show them. “For me, Nigeria is not even big enough. We want a very strong, robust Nigeria. We want one nation. I don’t like a question of when you give a form, you say name your tribe. Such a thing should be removed from the data we are receiving,” he said. Source: Posted by Okwukwe Ibiam, IgboWorldForum
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 12:31:23 +0000

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