Group wants war-damaged region rebuilt

A committee of professionals of Nigeria’s southeast Igbo ethnic group has demanded urgent steps by President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government to rebuild infrastructures damaged in the civil war that ensued when the region attempted to secede as the Republic of Biafra more than 30 years ago. A statement published by the privately-owned ‘Vanguard’ daily on Thursday and credited to the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Committee of the South-East, said past Nigerian leaders had failed to reconstruct and rehabilitate the region contrary to the spirit of federalism espoused by the country. “It is expected that any meaningful or serious civilian administration would have considered the reconstruction, rehabilitation and reintegration of this area that was ravaged by war 30 years ago in the true spirit of federalism,” said the statement signed lawyer Olisa Metuh, who heads the committee set up by the south-east youth leaders of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party. Alleging that the region has the worst network of roads in oil-rich Nigeria as a result of prolonged neglect, the statement said: “The best response we got from the federal government after much protest is an unserious, diversionary and deceptive emergency repairs of some roads before Christmas.” Emeka Uzo, a member of the committee told IRIN on Friday from the south-east trading town of Onitsha that even some war-damaged government-owned buildings in the region have still not been rebuilt, three decades later. “Go to the federal government-owned University of Nigeria, Nsukka, you will find some buildings damaged by shells during the war which have been left in the same state of ruins till today,” he said. Apart from rebuilding such structures the group also wants “concrete steps” to be taken to develop infrastructure in the region instead of leaving it to communal efforts as it said was currently the case. “We demand that we should be serviced with digital telephone networks, at present existing in only three out of over 100 towns in the region...The federal government should take over the Oba Airport project (near Onitsha) and refund the people of Imo State all monies spent on the Owerri Airport, which is the only airport in the country that was financed by individuals,” the statement said.