Ex-Anambra Commissioner urges S’east Governors to seek regional self-reliance

By Praise Necherem

Former Anambra State Information Commissioner, Sir Paul Nwosu, has issued a stark challenge to Southeast governors: abandon dependence on federal government handouts and collaborate to unlock the region’s vast economic potential, transforming it into “the Dubai and Singapore of Africa.”

Nwosu, speaking ahead of a June 19th development roundtable he is convening in Awka, strongly criticized the prevailing practice of state governments “go[ing] cap-in-hand to Abuja, begging for handouts.”

He argued this stifles the Southeast’s progress despite its “abundant human and material potentials,” urging leaders to instead dictate their own development pace through regional cooperation.

Nwosu decried the “bunch-up mentality” of holding back capable regions for weaker ones, likening it to delaying a child’s development for a struggling sibling.
He pointed to Dubai’s desert-to-metropolis transformation and Nigeria’s First Republic era as proof of autonomous regional success. Under Premier M.I. Okpara, the Eastern Region was once the “fastest developing region in the world.”

He lamented the region’s decline since then: Malaysia now exports palm oil products back to Nigeria (using nuts originally sourced from the East), Saudi royalty once sought medical care locally, and former “Asian tiger” importers now dominate global markets while Nigeria neglects its plantations.

While acknowledging the new SEDC, Nwosu emphasized its limitations as a federal structure tied to Abuja’s budget and blueprint. He stressed that true progress requires proactive collaboration among Southeast states themselves, using the SEDC only as a supplement.

Nwosu urged governors to embrace the Igbo philosophy of ‘Igwebuike’ (collective strength): Prioritize regional progress over party ideologies. Identify and support states with comparative advantages.

He proposed concrete examples: Pool resources to fund an intra-regional rail network via institutions like the African Development Bank, forcing eventual federal integration.

Implement a unified security strategy across states to make the entire region “unconducive” for criminals, rather than letting them shift between borders.