For the Records: EXCERPTS OF GOVERNOR CHUKWUMA CHARLES SOLUDO’S REMARKS (EXTEMPORE), AT THE SOUTHEAST ECONOMIC AND SECURITY SUMMIT, HELD ON SEPTEMBER 28, 2023, IN OWERRI, IMO STATE

Your Excellencies, my colleague Governors of the South East, the President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, all protocols duly observed.

Let me make a few remarks, just to say a few things since I have five minutes, and just five points to make

The first is gratitude to the organising committee, gratitude for Ohaneze Ndigbo and gratitude for our host governor and chairman.

I think he actually spoke on behalf of all of us, the Imo state governor, we donated our own time freely to him. Thank you very much for hosting this summit

This was scheduled by all of us and I am very delighted to be here. I want to thank all of you for coming, for answering the call of this summit scheduled by the 5 South East Governors. That’s my first point, gratitude and thank you.

The second is, of course, which is the most important reason why all of us, the five South-East Governors are here. And that is to let our people know of our unwavering, unalloyed commitment to this project.

I want to say on behalf of myself, the government and great people of Anambra state, that we are committed to this south east agenda.

It is not just talk, we have already started demonstrating this, the way we are already conducting ourselves.

This is really a new dawn in the South East and for those I hear and see on television talking and admonishing the south-east governors to come together and unite, we are and I am very delighted to be part of this very particular group.

When we had our first or second southeast governors Forum in Enugu, we demonstrated that by all of us being in attendance as it were. And today we are here and part of that commitment to show that wherever in igboland, we are together.

Ideally, this kind of summit should have been held in our political capital Enugu but here we are in owerri, demonstrating that commitment and solidarity with one another.

I want to thank the governor of Enugu who a few days ago, hosted the truth, Justice and Peace commission that I set up last year and all the security advisers of the five Southeast governors were there and you guys met. I have received the report and I want to believe our governors will consider it in due course.

A new dawn, a new team, now give us the agenda. And that brings me to my third point, which is, we need a plan. We all have ideas but for the organizers of this summit, what we need and will very much cherish from all of you is not just a two-year or five-year plan but a Vatican plan for centuries. Give us a 100 year plan for the South-East.

In Anambra, we developed a 50-year plan, vision 2070. My manifesto derived from that 50-year plan. We are intentionally, deliberately implementing that. We need a plan because if you don’t have a destination in mind, any road will take you there.

I want to believe that by the end of this summit, we have a working group that will give us a South-East plan and an agenda.

The next one is Homeland consciousness. What will it take to implement this plan? If we don’t have the Homeland consciousness, we don’t believe in ourselves, this will not be achieved so let us believe.

I have heard the speeches given and books of lamentations. It’s very good to lament but I rather like to see the glass as half-full than half empty. The South-East is ready for business, the South-East is ripe for business and we must believe in our ability to turn things around and get the South-East going again. That must be the outcome of this particular summit.

We can lament about the insecurity and so on and so forth. This is not the most insecure place in the world. Other places are thriving inspite of their own insecurity.

When I arrived in Anambra, eight local governments were totally under siege by these hoodlums. They are all gone, we are settling into business. They would not deter us, Anambra, the South-East and all of us. We must be determined to move our place forward in spite of the challenges.

South-East indigenes must not wait for all the problems to be solved by the Governors before they can come to invest in the zone. If they don’t stop seeing the only gloom and doom, this place will be a desolate homeland.

The South-East renaissance should not stop at self-belief, the region should also partner with the rest of the country, the diaspora and the international community.

We need not just ourselves, we need Nigeria. Ndigbo needs Nigeria and Nigeria needs Ndigbo. Ndigbo needs Africa and the world, and the World and Africa need Ndigbo. As an itinerant people, we cannot be an intolerant people.

We need the partnership of everybody, partnership of the rest of the country, partnership of the diaspora and partnership with the international community.

Thank you and God bless!