By FLORENCE ONUEGBU

Otu Oka-Iwu Nigeria, a body of lawyers of Igbo extraction in Lagos, has urged the governors of the South-East to collaborate and tackle the ongoing sit-at-home conundrum on Mondays in the region.

The President of the group, Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, made the call at its maiden news conference on Tuesday in Lagos.

Unegbu said the sit-at-home was affecting the economy of Igboland, noting that the governors must work together and come out with strategies to tackle the problem.

“The sit-at-home conundrum in Igboland on Mondays is now a norm and people believe that if you go out on Mondays you are on your own as there is no guarantee of your returning home safe.

“We appear to have been abandoned by the government that campaigned that we should elect them to protect us. We are using this medium to call on the government to come to our aid in Igboland,” he said.

He also decried the security challenge in the country, especially in Igboland which is affecting the economic growth and development of the South-East.

“Igboland has been turned into a killing field where no person old or young is safe. It is the responsibility of the government, both at the centre and the regions, to secure the lives and property of the inhabitants.

“We observe with pains in our hearts the wanton destruction of the Igboland economy. Igboland before now was bubbling with activities from the Onitsha-Nnewi axis through the Aba-Orlu axis.

“Today the story is in the past and this has given rise to a comatose economy without direction and no substance.

“We must all do something to bring back those days of old where the young challenge nature to a wrestling contest for ideas where the young in our communities will surely come out victorious.

“We should go back to the drawing board and discover where we got it wrong before it is too late.

“We are a group that believes in the unity of this great country Nigeria. We have no other country to call our own,” Unegbu said.

The president also decried the education deficit in the region noting that the Igboland was a known place for educational activities in the past.

“Today, the children in Igboland appear to have lost interest in education which is signalling a dangerous trend.

“There was a time it was like a competition as to which of the states will take the first position in the WAEC ranking of states after the examinations.

“Today, what we hear is that our children are showing negative trends to pursue education or they are interested in getting rich through fraudulent activities.

“We call on the governments in Igboland to take action to reverse this unwholesome method before things get worse,” Unegbu said.

He, therefore, called for enhanced investment in education, especially in technical skills to boost employment generation.

Unegbu also called on the Igbo to embrace agriculture which had been neglected to boost food security.

“This is an area that has been neglected in Igboland. Before now, the Igbos were into various farms that yielded food for the people and more for sale.

“It appears we have abandoned the farms and as such hunger is staring us in the face. We should go back to our farms in order to feed our growing population,” he said.

Also speaking, Mrs Nneka Chris-Asoluka, 1st Vice President of Otu Oka-Iwu, stressed the need for peace and unity in the country.

“What we want is peace in the country, we don’t have any other country.

“We are sad over the developments in the South-East; we only hope the governors will work in this political dispensation irrespective of their parties they belong to,” Chris-Asoluka said. (NAN)

•PHOTO: L-R; Treasurer of Otu Oka-Iwu, Mrs Anthonia Eke, the President, Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, Mrs Nneka Chris-Asoluka,1st Vice President, at the maiden news conference on Tuesday in Lagos

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