An Anambra business magnate, philanthropist, and the founder of a humanitarian service organisation, Joseph Onuorah Foundation (JOF), has joined other foundations, civil society organisations, and well-to-do individuals in Southeastern Nigeria (Igbo) in calling on Ndigbo to come back home for this year’s 2024 Christmas and New Year celebrations, assuring them of adequate security put in place by governors and community leaders in the region.
The founder and chairman of the Foundation, High Chief Joseph Onuorah, who gave the assurance in a statement he signed and made available to journalists in Awka on Friday, said that irrespective of certain isolated events, the South East is still largely peaceful, according to recent statistics by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and will remain so even after the season celebrations.
According to him, “We are encouraging our people living outside of the south eastern states who wish to return home for this year’s 2024 Christmas and New Year celebrations to do so in the interest of the already existing traditions of family love and oneness, established by our forefathers. We can’t run away from our ancestral homes. Most of the high level of insecurity reported about the region in the pages of national dailies is not true. There are certain risks but also adequate security already put in place by the five state governors of the region, especially in this festive season.”
“The South East is a relatively peaceful region. What we urgently need at the moment now is encouragement. We need to encourage our people to contribute to peacebuilding.
“The region needs peace to thrive as a strategic economic hub of Nigeria and Africa at large.
“Every Igbo man and woman must work towards this peace and security to ensure the South East region sustains its enviable commercial and industrialisation status in West Africa.
“The region can’t be allowed to be in disarray or left to the whims of very few non-state actors while other regions seem to enjoy peace and security, even though they also grapple with their challenges.
“We must encourage our people to return home for this year’s Christmas and New Year celebrations.
“We must not allow the economic or security situation to make us lose very critical cultural ties and the preservation of family bonds and societal values in our local communities.
“The criminals would be emboldened if people decide to stay away from their various communities.
“The problems that beset the south east region are found everywhere around this part of the Sahara, and they will require locally crafted solutions to take back the villages town by town.
“Sufficient attention should also be paid to structure investments in activities to harness youth talents and passions like sports, education, craft and skill centres, financial literacy, etc.
“I call on successful Igbo entrepreneurs to also do more with capital returns to the South East region to drive the needed economic buoyancy.
“The elected representatives of the people at the National Assembly should also cure themselves of the “giveaway” malady and do more to attract federal government and state presence to their local communities, which is a more sustainable wealth creation strategy for the nation’s development,” the statement concluded.
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