The Aniocha-Oshimili people of Delta State are set to draw up their own economic blueprint for the development of the area.

Already, a non-partisan and non-profit making socio-cultural organisation known as Njiko Aniocha-Oshimili has been convened to organise an Economic Summit to draw up the area’s economic recovery roadmap.

According to the convener of the organisation, Prof. Epiphany Azinge, “An Economic Summit by sons and daughters of our area will be held in Asaba to interrogate issues like targeting more efficient and effective internally generated funds from Aniocha-Oshimili; identifying agricultural potentials of Aniocha-Oshimili axis, with particular attention to institutional and donor agencies intervention and the impact of IT hub on employment and wealth creation in Aniocha-Oshimili.”

Other areas of interest to the organisation include the tourism potential of Aniocha-Oshimili Axis of Delta State; the vision of a model Delta State Capital Territory and prospects for a mega/commercial city; security challenges in Aniocha-Oshimili district and wealth creation and job opportunities through private sector initiatives.

The socio-cultural organisation will also consider the area’s oil sector opportunities with a view to creating the enabling environment for foreign and domestic investment.

To address these issues at the summit, sons and daughters from Aniocha-Oshimili in Nigeria and in the Diaspora have been lined up to lead conversations on these sub themes.

The group will also address the litany of issues that confronts communities within Aniocha-Oshimili.

Some of these include; quality of public education, unemployment, housing, transportation, electricity and security.

The Njiko Aniocha-Oshimili platform aims to work from the community level, by helping to bring citizens and stakeholders together in order to address these issues, while supporting efforts to create enabling environment for the growth and development of the communities.

To implement its mission effectively, Njiko Aniocha-Oshimili will serve as a thought leadership and advocacy group that will work with elected officials in the state and local governments to help address issues that affect the constituents.

The group will periodically invite elected officials to brief the organisation on their contributions and claims of developments in the area, thus holding them accountable as well as work with elected representatives in advocating for legislations that are inclusive and that help address specific issues that affect constituents.

Njiko Aniocha-Oshimili will “provide an online platform for stakeholders in the district to work together and share their ideas and research on the development of innovative solutions that will address pressing challenges within our communities,” Azinge said.

The group will also organise workshops and conferences to address topics of common interest in the district such as Agriculture, Security, Energy, Infrastructure, ICT and Education. “Resolutions from these seminars will form part of the recommendations presented to stakeholders in the Local, State and Federal Governments.”

Njiko Aniocha-Oshimili hopes to foster partnership with similar organisations and agencies at the State and National levels in order to create a powerful network of Institutions devoted to similar goals.

They will equally, “Engage in public opinion surveys that obtain data on the needs of the district, such as level of unemployment and access to basic amenities by citizens and residents. This will allow for detailed demographic analysis and the development of solutions that would address these challenges.”

Njiko Aniocha-Oshimili will rekindle the ‘I can do spirit’ that the district is noted for and provide solutions that will help reposition Aniocha-Oshimili as a prime hub for economic activity, ICT development, and agricultural growth in Delta State and indeed Nigeria.

Update news