PEACE in the South-East Project, PISE-P programme, a brainchild of the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu was birthed with a lot of hope by the people and residents of the South-East region which has been bedeviled by insecurity.

The programme raised their hopes for improved security and peace of mind, and their hope was well placed considering the political clout of the person pushing the project.

The project, according to Kalu and his team, is aimed to negotiate for peace and security in the troubled South-East region. The project was therefore applauded by well-meaning Igbo and non-Igbo alike who are genuinely concerned by the security crisis in the region. PISE-P was therefore welcomed with a lot of hope and expectations.

Kalu and his group went further to market the project in a big way when they invited Vice-President Kashim Shettima, notable Nigerians and eminent Igbo traditional rulers, and other prominent Igbo leaders, to his home council area of Bende, Abia State, to inaugurate the programme.

Essentially, PISE-P?s eight pillars include education, agriculture, commerce/industry, infrastructural development, culture and tourism, sports/entertainment, governance/leadership, and reconciliation/rehabilitation/reintegration. Kalu also said the operational plan would address socio-economic challenges, enhancing security and peace-building, stakeholder engagement, strategic implementation, resource management, monitoring and evaluation, communication, and awareness, to be handled by experts to achieve and promote the desired sustainable development goals.

Additionally, he said that a town hall meeting with all lawmakers across the five South-East states of Abia, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, and Enugu would be held to deliberate on strategic lawmaking and conflict resolution.

Ten months after it was birthed with much hope, rather than the situation getting better in the region, things are getting worse in all parts of the region. The enthusiasm the people had when the project was unveiled had waned. Many people do not even know what the project is all about, not to mention how to use the platform to solve the problems facing the people of the South-East.

How far has the project gone in bringing the much-desired peace to Igbo land? Are there visible actions or steps so far taken by PISE-P to achieve the noble idea of restoring peace in the region?

Nothing much should be expected from it ?Professor Dike

A professor of political science, Evaristus Dike, while analysing the activities of the project in Awka, said that nothing much should be expected from it because it started on a faulty foundation. To him, the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives felt it was an opportunity for him to announce his relevance in the political arena, and so, he started it.

He said: ?I am not sure the major stakeholders in the region were consulted before the project was unveiled. Were the governors, traditional rulers, security agencies, youth and women organisations of the region consulted by the prompter before announcing it?

?I believe that if properly planned, the project will serve a very good purpose for the people of the South-East. There is a need to look for easy ways of accessing education and healthcare in the region before launching it. ?Our concern should be how to empower and build capacity for the youths to turn them away from crime and cultism.

?Whatever plan to be executed should be with the cooperation and assistance of the governors. As it stands, the governors of South-East seem not to be interested in Benjamin Kalu?s PISE-P.

?Because the five states are not controlled by one political party, those whose states are not in Kalu?s party, the APC, would see it as a political organisation that is meant to promote the interest of APC in the region.?

We?re yet to see any impact ?Igbo youths

Igbo youths under the aegis of the Coalition of South-East Youths, COSEYL, said that they are yet to see the impact of PISE-P.

President-General of COSEYL, Comrade Goodluck Ibem, said if there is any programme at all that Igbo youths are not being carried along it is this initiative.

He said that those behind the initiative should restrategise and be more proactive for the initiative to achieve the desired result.

He said: ?We have not seen any impact of PISE-P in the South-East. The killings in the South-East are still going on. There is no peace yet. We are yet to feel the impact. If there is anything like PISE-P, we don?t know. As the apex Igbo socio-political organisation, we are not being carried along.

?We are not aware of any initiative by PISE-P to address the crisis we are facing. If they are serious about peace in the South-East, they should re-strategise and carry along every necessary stakeholder.?

Peace In South East Project (PISE-P) is a mirage ? Igboke

The convener of the Office of the Citizens and leader of Civil Society, South-East, Comrade Igboke Onyebuchi in his assessment of the project, expressed skepticism about what the programme can achieve in bringing peace to the troubled South-East region. He simply described the project as a mirage.

Igboke said up till this point, there have been no tangible steps taken to demonstrate that the project is genuinely aimed at restoring peace in the South-East or addressing its underlying issues.

?We acknowledge his effort to set up the PISE-P project to restore peace in the South-East and bringing a whole Vice- President to inaugurate it, however, one would have expected that by now, we should be seeing some practical steps on how to restore peace or even how to address the issues that cause the instability in the South-East zone.

?So, we have not seen it in clearer terms and we classified this project at this moment as a mirage unless he has another hidden approach to it.

?When we talk about inequality, are they going to give us another state, are they going to release Nnamdi Kanu, are they going to give Igbo the chance to produce the next president of this country? Is Benjamin Kalu using his office to push for these agendas or just making a show for eye service to the current administration to show he has capacity which is only on the internet? We do not see anything on the ground that suggests that.

?We are yet to see anything serious about the programme which received so much hype when it was birthed. We are still waiting to see what the project is all about,? he said.

What we don?t have in South- East is security?Ohanaeze chieftain

The National Vice-President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, said there is peace in Igbo land, what the people want is security which he said the Federal Government can provide by releasing Nnamdi Kanu from detention to restore peace and security in the region.

We?re doing a lot?PISE-P

But PISE-P has done much to cater for the families of fallen security operatives across the southeast and beyond.At various times, it has given cash and food items to victims? families, including house-hold items.

Damian Okeke-Ogene, said there is peace in Igbo land, what the people want is security which he said the Federal Government can provide by releasing Nnamdi Kanu from detention to restore peace and security in the region. (Vanguard)

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