Former Minister of Education and Health, Professor Ihechukwu Madubuike, has strongly emphasized the need for collaborative efforts among South-East leaders to drive development in the region. He urged governors to unite and work as a team for the collective interest of the zone, lamenting the prevalent lack of cohesion and cooperation among Igbo leaders.
Professor Madubuike expressed his disappointment over the absence of a communiqué from the widely publicized South-East Economic Summit held in Owerri in 2023. Despite numerous intellectuals presenting well-researched papers at the summit, the governors failed to pursue regional integration.
He stated, "There was an economic summit which was properly advertised and several people, including academics, submitted very well-researched papers. Our darling sister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala made remarks at the summit. She said that the bane of Ndigbo was partly in-fighting and also partly self-inflicted."
Highlighting the summit's unproductive outcome, Madubuike added, "It will surprise you that up till today, there is no agreed communiqué from that highly advertised economic summit. Recently, during a paper presentation in Enugu, I bemoaned the lack of cohesion and cooperation among our governors. Everyone is dancing and wanting to be applauded. Our situation in Igbo land is more than individual championships. We need a group championship if we are going to survive. We must survive as a group, not as individual states."
Madubuike described the current state of affairs as a tragedy, questioning the direction and legacy of current leaders. He remarked, "What we have now is a tragedy. It is as if we are headless. I don’t know where most of our people at the helm of affairs want to go or what they want to be remembered for. Leadership is all about legacies. I can look back today and see what I did when I was Minister for Education in the Second Republic; how I initiated Open University, how I initiated the University of Science and Technology, etc."
Reflecting on his tenure, he noted, "There were no private or state universities until I became Minister of Education under Shehu Shagari. All the 13 universities then were federal universities and only one, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was in the South-East. But within the short period I was in office, I brought the Federal University of Technology, FUTO, Owerri. We also had one in Yola, and the University of Agriculture Makurdi, among others."
Madubuike criticized the current tokenism in leadership positions, saying, "But today, what we have is pure tokenism. We occupy positions in this country as if we don’t deserve them. But for the quota system, nothing will be given to us, and that’s why Tinubu Presidency will give us only five ministers and everybody kept quiet."
His remarks underscore the necessity for unity and collective action among South-East leaders to achieve sustainable development and meaningful progress in the region.