AT the just-concludedNdigbo and Entrepreneurship Summit & Honors NESH, renowned entrepreneur and public affairs commentator, Nnaemeka Onyeka Obiaraeri, delivered a blunt message to leaders and citizens of the South East, insisting that the region’s underdevelopment is a product of poor leadership and collective complacency, not external sabotage.
In his keynote remarks titled“Ndigbo Gburugburu: Important Food for Thought,”Obiaraeri dismissed long-held narratives that federal neglect was the stumbling block to Igbo economic prosperity. He argued that the South East has the natural capacity and technical know-how to establish river ports, international gateways, and industrial clusters, but is being held back by “selfish and incompetent men and women” in political offices.
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Citing examples from his experience as Adhoc Executive Secretary of the Depot Owners Association in Warri, Koko, and Oghara, Obiaraeri explained that river ports in Orashi (Imo), Azumini (Abia), and Onitsha (Anambra) could handle the same 30-ton capacity vessels that berth at Tin Can Island Port in Lagos, if only the political will and proper Public-Private Partnership (PPP) frameworks were put in place.
He pointed to the Koko River jetty in Delta State, which already receives large vessels via a narrow channel from the Atlantic, as proof that such projects are feasible. He further highlighted Brazil’s Manaus Port, located about 1,450km from the Atlantic through the Amazon River, as a global model of inland river port-driven industrialisation.
Obiaraeri dismissed the argument that successive federal governments blocked the region’s development, noting that Igbo leaders held prominent positions under former President Goodluck Jonathan without translating that influence into regional transformation.
He contrasted this with Lagos State, where governors mobilised the private sector to build the Lekki and Badagry Deep Sea Ports, underscoring that what the South East needs are leaders with vision and competence.
Obiaraeri also decried the insecurity in the region, blaming it on “wild beasts in the bushes,” allegedly funded by diaspora agitators, which creates an atmosphere that allows electoral malpractice and sustains incompetent governance.
He called for a return to the kind of visionary and selfless leadership embodied by the late Dr. Michael Okpara and Dee Sam Mbakwe, insisting that only such leadership can unlock the region’s economic potential and turn the South East into the“Singapore of Africa.”