By Toby Chuks
Onitsha based journalist tuned gospel advocate, Evangelist Theo Rays Ejikeme has called on the management of the newly created Southeast Development Commission (SEDC) to focus much attention on addressing the problem of poor power supply and water supply as well as initiating development on sport and media mostly football, basketball, track and field, wrestling, boxing, tennis, among other things capable to improve on the living standard of the people.
Speaking to newsmen in Onitsha on the expectations from SEDC, Evangelist Ejikeme who is the Convener of Youth Rendezvous For Greater Igbo Advancement emphasised much on the need to address the problem of power supply as according to him poor power supply is blocking the people from creating opportunities to unleash their potentials to the fullest and also giving room for diseases and sickness mostly malaria and High BP to continue to attack and kill people unabated.
He explained “there is no meaningful Initiative that can improve on the living standard of the people in the Southeast without steady power supply. The people need power to boost their business and also to inspire them to think and create more opportunities to further unleash their potentials. As a resident of Onitsha, I can tell you that a good number of traders have the capacity to move into manufacturing by building factories and industries but they cannot do so because there is no power supply
“Worse so, lack of power supply increases the chances of people to develop High BP, come in contact with infectious diseases and also gives room for mosquitoes to infect people with malaria virus. Whichever way you look at it, lack of power supply is not just holding the people down from making a well deserved progress in business but also exposing the people to killer diseases and sickness, so for me the key underline work to address the challenges facing the Southeast is to generate steady power supply.
He went further to also harp on the need to work on the issue of access to water lamenting that there is lack of access to water both in the cities and villages across the Southeast zone. He added “It is sad to note that people in the Southeast geopolitical zone in Nigeria also known as Igboland do not have access to water in their kitchen and dinning rooms. In Onitsha people use wheel barrow and buckets to fetch water at a long range and also carry the water manually up to five storey building at this age, is that not a shameful thing”
He identified sport as another area to focus on in the Southeast noting that talents and facilities like Rojenny Games Village are wasting away at a time when sport is s major lucrative business in the world owing to lack of activities in sport. “I am sure that there are lots of talented young ones that do well in football, basketball, athletic, wrestling, boxing, tennis, swimming among others who can achieve global feat if giving opportunity so let SEDC go after such opportunity”
On how to develop sport, he harped on partnership with private sector noting that traders and businessmen in major cities like Onitsha, Nnewi and Aba plus those in diaspora are capable to expand into more business if the condition is conducive and mostly risk free adding that what is needed to develop sport is to use government power to back the people in private sector with facilities, favourable polices and protective measures as obtained in Europe and China “And if it takes the management of SEDC to go to Europe and China to borrow ideas and knowledge, let them do so” he added.
