The Igbo Unification Movement and ‘Ndi Na Asu Bia’ Socio-Cultural Organisation has demanded more Federal Government projects across Igbo land.

The group made the demand after a two-day gathering of the Igbos in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

The demand is coming on the heels of renewed calls for equity, unity, and development by the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria, particularly amid ongoing concerns about marginalisation in federal infrastructure and political representation.

Their position was contained in a communique signed by Kingsley Kainebi, Ofochi Atagana, the President and Secretary/Legal Adviser, and Cosmas Chikeobi Agada, Chairman Local Organising Committee for the Igbo Unification Movement and ‘Ndi Na Asu Bia’ Socio-Cultural Organisation, and made available to journalists on Friday.

It reads, “We, the Igbo, are demanding more Federal Government projects across Igbo land, even as we are calling for greater unity of all Igbos in Nigeria.

“We urge President Bola Tinubu to immediately lift the economic blockade unfairly imposed on the Igbo almost 60 years ago, which closed the main Igbo coastal ports of Port Harcourt, Bonny, and Opobo.

“We appeal to the President to dredge, modernise, and functionally reopen those coastal ports to re-trigger a pole of development in the East, with spillover effects to the Middle Belt and down to Lake Chad.

“Igbo dialects are close, mutually intelligible, and facilitate easy and smooth Igbo interactions.

“The Igbo thank President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the perceived gradual improvements in security nationwide, but a lot still needs to be done. The Igbos are in full support of the quest of Anioma State, for the sake of equity and justice to the Igbo-speaking group in Nigeria.”

The communique stressed on the unity of Igbo-speaking people down to the coasts of Nigeria, and condemned those they described as entities and circles that either sponsor or permit themselves as instruments of Igbo division, dismemberment, and land-locking.

The Igbo Unification Movement and ‘Ndi Na Asu Bia’ Socio-Cultural Organisation explains the historical grievances, regional identity dynamics, and political motivations behind the movement’s communique and also highlights how historical exclusion, geopolitical fragmentation, and economic neglect continue to drive Igbo advocacy for unity and federal attention. (The PUNCH)

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