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Dear Mr Mark Okoye! Apologies if addressing you as mister offends your titles. You know we love titles. Well, I am addressing you today not as an individual, but as a voice echoing the collective sentiments of Southeast youths. These young men and women from Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia, and Ebonyi states have long placed our hopes in institutions like the South East Development Commission (SEDC) to close the gulfs of underdevelopment that have plagued our region for decades. However, it is with profound disappointment that I must convey our dismay regarding your first budget at SEDC. That your budget, which we had anticipated would be a blueprint for transformative change, instead appears mired in frivolities that do little to address the pressing needs of the people.
Permit me to begin by acknowledging the context in which you assumed your present role. The establishment of the SEDC was a hard-won victory. SEDC was born out of years of advocacy and agitation for equitable development in the Southeast. Our people celebrated your appointment because they saw in you a representative of our generation. They saw a young man who they believe understands the frustrations of Igbo youths. They saw in you, Mark, an embodiment of the promise of a new era: educated, dynamic, and seemingly committed to breaking the cycle of neglect that has left our roads crumbling, our industries stagnant, and our communities isolated. We believed you would prioritise the infrastructural deficits that have hindered economic growth, such as the absence of reliable power grids or the underdeveloped agricultural value chains that could turn our fertile lands into engines of growth and prosperity.
Instead, your first budget at SEDC reveals a troubling emphasis on ephemeral activities that drain resources without yielding tangible benefits. An examination of the allocations exposes this misalignment. Significant portions of your budget are dedicated to conferences, roadshows, talk shops, retreats, and entertainment events. These items represent a betrayal of the trust the Igbo people placed in you. For instance, the proposed funding for multiple international conferences on investment opportunities in the Southeast strikes as redundant in an era where digital platforms can achieve similar outreach at a fraction of the cost. Why allocate millions of naira to lavish gatherings in foreign capitals when our local entrepreneurs struggle without basic infrastructure? Roadshows intended to attract investors seem like performative exercises when the very roads leading to potential investment sites are impassable during the rainy season. Talk shops and retreats, often held in upscale venues with all the trappings of luxury, do nothing but foster endless discussions without action. And entertainment budgets? These appear as outright indulgences that fund dinners and cultural showcases that, though they may preserve Igbo heritage, should not come at the expense of life-altering projects.
Mark, your budget’s focus on the superficial is particularly galling given the historical context of the Southeast’s underdevelopment. For too long, politics has been the bane of our progress. Successive federal administrations have marginalised our region and channelled resources to sustaining political structures and making the irrelevant, relevant, while we grapple with the consequences of systemic and systematic exclusion. I must remind you that the Igbo youth of today are not the passive observers of yesteryears; they are educated, tech-savvy, and globally connected. They will demand accountability and results because they are fed up with the dearth of infrastructural development that has forced many of Igbo’s brightest minds to migrate to Lagos, Abuja, or abroad in search of opportunities.
Your budget, Mark, perpetuates this cycle by prioritising optics over outcomes. It dwells too much on these frivolous subjects used to siphon funds that could revitalise our economy into black holes of bureaucracy and self-promotion. Please, consider the human cost of this misallocation. In Anambra, there are young farmers in different communities watching their harvests rot due to poor transportation networks, yet your budget earmarks funds for “investment drives” that involve flying delegations to Europe and Asia. In Enugu, where coal mines lie dormant while power outages become a signature, youths aspire to industrial revival; instead, you want to funnel available resources into retreats where officials discuss abstract strategies in air-conditioned halls and return with new travel bags and gadgets as souvenirs. Imo’s oil-producing areas suffer environmental degradation without commensurate development, while you want to spend on talk shops and debate policies that never materialise. Abia’s textile industry, once a beacon of self-reliance, has crumbled because entrepreneurs lack access to credit and markets, but you want to spend on overseas roadshows rather than fund skill-building programmes. Mark, do I need to tell you that Ebonyi’s mineral-rich lands remain underexploited, with unemployed and disillusioned youths donating themselves to crime and criminality, while you want international conferences to take precedence over feasibility studies for mining infrastructure?
Bro, as a representative of the forward-looking Igbo youth, you bear a unique responsibility as a symbol of their aspirations. The Igbo people have always prided themselves on ingenuity. You doubt? think of the Aba-made or the entrepreneurial spirit that built Nollywood from scratch. But they are fed up with politics dictating their fate. Your role at SEDC was meant to change this narrative and creatively channel resources into projects that empower Igbo communities. Sadly, your budget suggests a continuation of the status quo, where leaders prioritise personal networks and international acclaim over grassroots impact.
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Sorry if I am harsh with words, but I must warn that your failure will be more resounding than the fall of an iroko tree. The iroko, that majestic giant of our forests, stands tall for centuries, its roots deep and its canopy vast, symbolising strength and endurance. But when it falls, the crash reverberates through the jungle, shaking the ground and leaving a void that takes generations to fill. Similarly, the expectations pinned on you are immense. If you squander this opportunity on frivolous expenditures, the disillusionment among Southeast youths will echo far and wide. They may not quietly accept it; social media, protests, and civic engagements will amplify their voices. Your legacy could be one of transformation, but missteps now could topple it with a thunder that history will remember. To correct oneself is humility. It is not too late to think through your budget again.
I can only implore you to redirect the people’s money toward projects that have a direct economic impact on their lives. Invest in road rehabilitation. Think of linking the five state capitals by rail. Look at completing the Second Niger Bridge. Fund electrification initiatives. Partner with the private sector and states to establish power plants, solar farms and mini-grids that power rural communities and small businesses. Support agricultural mechanisation through subsidies for tractors, irrigation systems, and storage facilities. Turn Igbo youths into agropreneurs and techprenuers.
Develop industrial parks in Aba and Nnewi for light and heavy industries, and back them with reliable utilities and incentives for manufacturers. Create new agro parks or farm estates in Ebonyi, and look at Owerri as the new hub for the leisure, tourism industry and business conferencing. Establish vocational training centres focused on digital skills, coding, and renewable energy. These are investments that create jobs, boost GDP, and foster self-sufficiency. You should have had enough of investment conferences and talk shops by now. Use virtual platforms for global outreach, and reserve physical events for high-impact deals only after foundational infrastructure is in place.
Also, conferences should be lean, outcome-oriented, and tied to measurable deliverables, not excuses for per diems and travel allowances. Retreats must produce actionable plans with timelines, not just photo opportunities. Entertainment budgets could be rechanneled into cultural tourism projects that generate revenue, such as upgrading the National War Museum in Umuahia or promoting Igbo festivals as economic drivers.
Mark, I believe that Igbo youths are hopeful that you will prune the frivolities and prioritise the people’s needs. Let your tenure be the era when the SEDC truly ignited development in our region, not another chapter in the archives of missed opportunities. The future of the Igbo nation depends on leaders like you making the right decisions today. Remember, Dr Michael Iheonukara Okpara needed neither roadshows nor international conferences to make Southeast the fastest growing economy in the world in the 1960s. Dee Sam Onunaka Mbakwe, PhD, did not need retreats to build the old Imo state before the military stopped him. Read their mind.
