In line with the spirit of bringing development and impacting one’s community, a media and social-development pressure group – Integrity Media Group, has lauded some outstanding philanthropists of Imo extraction for their show of love to their people at the rural communities.
In an independent research conducted in select communities in Imo State, it was revealed that the commitment of few individuals in the development of their communities is quite encouraging.
In a release signed by the Secretary of the Group, Elder Chigozie Uzosike and made available to newsmen, it stated that the report showed that there are still Igbo leaders who are re-invoking the old spirit of the Igbo man, which is spirit of ‘Self-Help’ and ‘Akurulo’ which brought arrays of investment to Igbo land in the past.
“Given that government alone cannot be left to develop all the communities and towns in their states, it becomes pertinent that good spirited individuals should think home and begin to draw visible development to their areas”.
“This development drive must be devoid of sentiment or political considerations. It has to go round through the prism of collective responsibility and approaches that define genuine development “.
The Integrity Media Group has submitted that such individuals too numerous to mention, especially in Orlu, Owerri and Okigwe Senatorial zones should be appreciated and encouraged by all in order to enable them do more.
“We recall recent news reports where individuals from the South East geopolitical zone were honoured by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), for their contributions to education and community development, adding that the Group was impressed by such recognition as it was indeed laudable”.
Uzosike revealed that the group will continue to advocate inclusive development within Igbo land with a call to the South-East state governments to decentralize developmental projects and not engaging in lopsided kind of projects.
It will be recalled that the group has embarked on analyses of community self-help projects powered by either communities or individuals at grassroots level across the South East.
It wants to monitor the level of commitment by people and their communities in response to perceived marginalisation by governments, thereby encouraging self-help activities across the geopolitical zone.
