Former two-time Chairman of Oguta Local Government Area of Imo State, Dr. Louis Nonye Obodo, has lamented that Ndigbo are suffering more from self-induced marginalisation, even as he called on them to embrace agriculture as the only way to self-sustenance in food production and economic growth.

The medical doctor and politician spoke during the Economic Summit recently organised by the South East South South Network (SESSNET) which was held at Links Hotel, Owerri. He said that by continuing to depend on food and related products from the North to feed themselves, the South East and South South are making themselves dependent on the North and also building the economy of the North.

He also said that the major problem of the people of the South East and South South is not country’s structure but their attitude towards empowering themselves and becoming self-sufficient.

Obodo said that if the people developed the attitude to cultivate enough food by engaging in agriculture, they would become self-sufficient and depend less on the North for food, thereby building their own economy as more than 95% percent of the people spend more than half of their monthly income on food from outside the region.

Apart from dependence on the North for food, Dr. Obodo who disclosed that he is also a farmer, also said that the people of the South East and South South spend the little savings they might have on religious organisations most of which ferry the money out of the region, leaving them more impoverished.

Accusing the SESS people of committing Mahatma Ghandi’s seven social sins, he enjoined SESSNet to educate the masses on their self-induced marginalisation and need for change of attitude, as it is only when they have gained mass support that they can embark on political change.

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