“Abia state is prepared and ready to receive the kind of development and partnerships the Diasporas brings to homeland, it behooves both the lawmakers and council chairmen and every citizens of Abia to joins hands with the Otti’s government to make the new Abia a permanent reality.
By Njoku SaintJerry A.
On the 20th November, the Diaspora Abia State indigenes in the United States will be engaging H.E. Dr. Alex Otti in Houston Texas to discuss on the state of events in God’s own State, Abia.
It takes a leadership with foresight to see the length of road and depth of seas travelled by your citizens to seek for an alternative lifestyle in foreign lands that holds so much promise of a future bright and dependable and seek for avenues to engage them.
More so, It takes an exceptional wisdom to forge a synergy and create means of engagement with the Diaspora citizens overseas and spend some time to hear the stories of their sojourn abroad, their education, skills acquired, exposure and experience in virtually all career fields including leadership and governance
In the course of the campaign for the gubernatorial elections, I remembered a similar Diaspora stakeholder’s engagement albeit virtual. Otti had used the occasion to reel out a development template that will certainly include members of the Diasporas that have acquired the education, skills and experience, finance and the network of partners required for nation building and economic expansion.
Today that promise holds true to remind indigenes of Abia State resident anywhere across the world that nation building is a collective responsibility.
Attempts has been made in the past by various state government to seek for Diaspora’s participation in governance without recorded success as every move is hampered by the sight of a dysfunctional environment and bureaucratic administrative system that are merely designed to bear the semblance of ‘busy working’ but in actual sense are bunch of ‘distractive and selfish time wasters’ with no genuine interest to bring development to their homeland.
It is heartwarming to note here that this was the first challenge the Otti’s administration has to deal with, by completely rebuilding the environment to make it functional and worth doing business with. Secondly, the government under H.E. Alex Otti had to reset the administrative system by weeding off redundant fellows that should have no business in a serious government and created a working environment that is motivational rather than the former frustrating situation of negligence and inexperience found almost at every corner of the state government.
Today, that sincere effort to rebuild the old Abia from its woeful past is yielding so many dividends as Abia state indigenes and other Nigerians resident in the cosmopolitan city of Lagos, Kano even Abuja jostle for space to put up prime properties in the homeland and certainly, the price of landed properties within the Aba and Umuahia region has moved up the value chain.
As a onetime Diaspora leader, I have had the privilege of hosting leaders from the State Of African Diaspora (SOAD) here in Abia State, after a brief tour of both government facilities and certain communities, they felt at home and picked Abia out among other South Eastern state as a region prepared and ready to receive the kind of development and partnerships the Diasporas brings to homeland. Despite some of the members came from other South Eastern states, they were more comfortable with Abia.
As the state makes progress, there will be more work to do and opportunities to explore virgin farmlands that has remain uncultivated for years, Most of the infrastructures being put in place by the government like the Umuahia modernized Transport hub, and the smart transport system being put in place certainly require extensive partnership and commitment to bring development to your homeland.
This responsibility should cut across all boards and should also include the recently elected council chairmen. You should look out for your people in the Diaspora and convince them on the need to join hands with the leadership of their communities to bring desired development home.
The lawmakers not excluded, they should consider setting up policies that will include members of the Diasporas as part of the home government, this is how the Abia State Diaspora Commission was born.
The story of the Nigeria Diaspora participation in government started with the government of former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the Nigeria in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) and it brought so many expertise home, in Agriculture, Health, Education, Finance and Administrations until a law was put in place to regionalize the organization into the Nigeria Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) headed by Mrs. Abike Dabiri today.
Abia State lawmakers should consider regionalizing the Abia State Diaspora Commission into a Directorate that should be domiciled in all the 17 LGA’s and let every member of the Diaspora be directed to those expanse of uncultivated farmlands ready for Agricultural technology development in his homeland, the healthcares, the education, complete rural infrastructures that should make our home a center of development should fall under the responsibility of the Directorate, to look out for means of serious engagement with their sons and daughters living overseas and not merely to receive Diaspora remittance of Dollars, Pounds and Euros which at many occasion ends up in the soup pot, clothes and shoes, and perhaps Tokunbo cars to be driven on very bad road networks leading to nowhere.
There will be no better method of engaging our Diaspora brothers and sisters if the local government do not consider this a responsibility to look out for those influential sons and daughters overseas from their community that has been able to build a wider network of development partners including financiers, healthcare workers and other professionals, perhaps this is what the Otti’s government has begun to implement and now it behooves both the lawmakers and council chairmen and every citizens of Abia state to joins hands with the state government under the leadership of H.E. Governor Alex Otti to make the new Abia a permanent reality.
Njoku SaintJerry A is the State Publicity Secretary, Labour Party Abia
