Mark Okoye Is On The Right Path With SEDC.

JAMES EZE 

I read the negative reactions that trailed the recent presentation and defence of the South East Development Commission’s 2026 Budget at the Senate Committee on South East Development Commission with great concern and anxiety.

Senator Tony Nwoye who represents Anambra North Senatorial Zone in the red chamber had made a brilliant submission, advising the Commission to focus more on developing infrastructure in the region than its plan to host conferences and town-halls. His input chimed in with the mood of the people who had felt that the South East had waited long enough for the anticipated concrete evidence of the many promises of the commission. In response, the Managing Director of the Commission, Hon. Mark Okoye had offered insights into why town-hall meetings, conferences and consultations had ranked high in the commission’s reckoning. He cited the peculiarities of the region as marking it out for increased dialogue with people nursing different degrees of grievances and anger against the Nigerian state. Mark’s defence was, as has become his trademark, brilliant. Sadly, that appeared not to have gone down well with many social media commentators who felt that the N400m budgeted for that subhead was a waste of money.

While the skepticism over talk-shops and conferences and even visioning projects is valid and quite understandable in the Nigerian context on account of past experiences, no strategy can replace dialogue and consultation in a democracy. In fact, Mark Okoye has shown extraordinary foresight and commendable leadership skills in nudging the board of the commission to throw its weight behind the commission’s recent Vision 2050 stakeholders’ forum in Enugu. Not only did that initiative position the commission as a leader among its recently formed peers in terms of ideas and visibility after a comatose existence for two years, it also marked the very first time that the people of the region would gather together under one roof to discuss how to develop together as one people under the careful watch of the Federal Government. No other agency in the South East could have successfully pulled that through except SEDC under Okoye’s visionary leadership.

And what’s more, the recent announcement by the governors of the five states of the South East of N25bn subvention to augment the commission’s budget for 2026 is a powerful validation of the commission’s recent Vision 2050 Stakeholders’ Forum. It is extremely unlikely that the state governments would have remembered the commission in its financial projections this year if the commission had not forced the attention of the region on its existence with the Forum. With this gesture, the political leadership of the region has symbolically taken ownership of the commission. That is a massive win for Okoye and his team!

The truth is, people who complain about the commission’s attention to consultations and town-hall meetings must remember that the South East is not like any other region in Nigeria. We are a people who are known for asking troubling questions; we are not led by the noose. Yet we are a people famous for our incredible communal spirit, our love of consensus and community. For when the Igbo ever agree on anything at the community level, they get it done. That is the model SEDC is pursuing under Mark Okoye without making much noise about it. It is anchored on a deep understanding of the people and what they expect from a responsible leadership. Nobody can decide for Ndigbo on a whim. You must consult and ask for their permission to act on their behalf, even if you have their interests at heart.

In my mind, I can already see the magic which holding a town-hall for the Igbo Diaspora in strategic locations in the US, UK, Canada, Europe and Asia would create. Our people are ready. They just need to be persuaded into taking ownership of the commission. Thankfully, our governors have taken the lead with the N25bn subvention. The Igbo Diaspora will chip in more when properly consulted and adequately informed on the overall importance of the commission as the greatest development initiative since Okpara. That mobilization is critical to the survival and viability of the commission as we have seen that the federal government can be annoyingly slow to act sometimes.

Another point we must not run away from is the fact that even when the region is in a hurry for development, proper consultation will save the commission the error of wrong investments or prioritizing what does not rank high in the people’s hierarchy of needs. Indeed, every kobo of investment must matter to a people who have suffered criminal neglect for more than half a century!

Ndigbo, we have waited so long for this commission to come into existence. We can wait a little more for the commission to get its bearing right.

Let’s give Mark and his team a chance to run things their way first before we weigh in with corrections.

@James Eze