A stalwart of the All Progressive Congress (APC) from the southeast, Hon Austin Okezie Meregini, has asked Igbos to hold their leaders responsible for the developmental backwardness of the region, rather than blaming President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Meregini, who spoke in a statement made available to newmen on Tuesday, regretted that elected political leaders from the region receive huge sums of allocation from the Federal Government but have failed to live up to the expectations in the development of the southeast and her people.
He expressed disenchantment on the alleged mismanagement of tranches of bailout funds and the COVID-19 relief materials released to states by the Buhari-led APC Federal Government’s Intervention Fund Programme aimed at curtailing the harsh economic effects posed by the ravaging pandemic in the world, insisted that ndigbo must begin to hold their state governors responsible for the huge funds they collect from the centre and not being deceived to shift all the blames to Buhari.
Meregini stated, “Let us not leave out all the numerous federal projects in Igbo land, and only try to point out the ones Buhari is doing outside our land. The 2nd Niger Bridge with its 7.3km road network from the end of the bridge to the Owerri road interchange, awarded in 2018 at an initial cost of N206billion, is about one of the highest singular projects under this regime, and the cost is being reviewed upwards to enable its completion next year.
“The Enugu international airport upgrade, the federal housing project in Ebonyi state, the Zik’s mausoleum in Anambra state, the modern NSIA diagnostic centre in Umuahia Abia State, newly approved federal polytechnic in Ohodo Enugu State, etc, are just a few of the numerous projects this Buhari govt has brought to Igboland”.
The party chieftain further posited, “rather than all these politicised views of Buhari this and Buhari that, we should begin to look inwards to identify the real problems bedeviling Igbo land. It is on record that no state (including Igbo states) under this regime has been denied its monthly allocation for once.
He queried, “How much of these funds and resources have we bothered to find out how they were utilised in Igboland. We should begin to hold these our Igbo state governors responsible for the huge funds they collect from the centre, and not being deceived to shift all the blames to Buhari.”
Continuing, Meregini concluded, “the NNPC board was constituted just yesterday and an Igboman from Imo State was named the board chairman. I guess those who always want to blame Buhari for all Igbo problems will not like to mention this”.
“Enough of this misplaced energy in Igboland. The earlier we start jettisoning this “blame-them” mentality and start facing issues objectively in Igboland the better for all of us. I am hoping that this Nzuko ndigbo will come up with something different, and not throw us to the old path that seeks to blame Buhari for all our problems in Igbo land”.
