Youth wing of apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has urged President Bola Tinubu to sack the Managing Director of the South East Development Commission, SEDC, Mark Okoye, as well as other members of the Board.
It could be recalled that Okoye and his team appeared before the Senate Committee days ago, during which questions were posed over its management of resources released by the government.
The Senate was not satisfied with how N4 billion was expended from its budget without any concrete project in the South-East.
There was also uproar over reports that the commission spends N153 million each year for a modest office in Abuja, even though it has its main headquarters located in Enugu.
Reacting to the development, the National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike said the SEDC under Okoye had shown lack of capacity to deliver on the mandate given to them by the President.
Okwu, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said the SEDC was established to meet the yearnings of the people of the South-East in the area of addressing infrastructural imbalance.
He, however, regretted that “that dream is being eroded, as the Commission has shown a total lack of focus, lack of ideas and lack of a clear vision on how to drive the agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“When Mr President swiftly signed the SEDC bill into law and inaugurated the Board, we were all delighted, hoping to see an immediate action in the area of infrastructure intervention.
“Unfortunately, the only thing we have seen in workshops, seminars and well coated speeches that do not in any way translate to a tangible project for the desirous people of the South-East.
“It is most shocking that the government released N16 billion to the Commission, yet they had earlier claimed that no kobo had been made available.
“It is also unthinkable that a whooping sum of N4 billion has been wasted from that sum just for holding talk-shops.
“What it means is that they are not representing the President’s interest; rather they are making things worse for the government in the South-East.”
While describing the situation as unacceptable, Okwu pleaded with President Tinubu to reconstitute the Board with men with clear vision.
“The Board as presently constituted cannot drive Mr President’s vision, and this is why we urge the President to dissolve them and appoint people with capacity.
“We did celebrate the appointment of a youth as the MD of the SEDC, but the reality on ground has proven that the Board under him cannot see through the vision behind the establishment of the Commission.
“Our people are tired of rhetorics, they are tired of talks without action.
“What they want to see are projects that have direct bearing on their lives, and presently not a single of such can be attributed to the SEDC in any of the South-East states,” Okwu stated, urging President to dissolve the Board “in the interest of the people of the South-East and save the government more embarrassment.”
