AT the backdrop of seeming in ability of the governments in the South East to articulate and drive economic development for the region amidst insecurity, some leading members of the private sector from the zone have taken up the initiative.
Using the meeting on the fourth quarter economic outlook for the region as a platform, they resolved to create a roadmap for economic development of the region which would address security and governance challenges, while advocating for private-sector-led initiatives.
They also discussed how to leverage the region’s citizens in diaspora (local and foreign based) for investment in the zone as well as establishment of an Eastern Economic Summit to provide a focused platform for regional development and advocacy.
Present at the meeting includes President/ CEO of Coscharis Group, Dr. Cosmas Maduka, Managing Director/ CEO of Cowry Assets Management Ltd, Mr Johnson Chukwu, CEO of Impact Investors Foundation, Etemore Glover, Director, Lagos Business School, Prof. Franklin Ngwu, amongst many other private sector leaders and entrepreneurs.
Opening the discussions on the regional initiative, Ngwu who moderated the session, hinted of the massive development needs of the region despite huge human capital and material resources available but untapped.
He also indicated that the session was anchored on building the consciousness and resolving to take actions towards realizing the potentials. He said the private sector initiative has become imperative at this time when it appears that the governments at all levels especially in the region appear to be battling with too many distractions from the task at hand.
It’s time to invest in homeland —Chukwu
Leading the discussions, Mr Chukwu gave some details of the region’s potentials while also hinting on the need for the entrepreneurs and other citizens of South East to initiate investment actions to tap the potentials and develop the zone.
He likened the circumstance of the South East to that of Jews in dispersal and scattered all over the world but were forced by existential threats in foreign lands to seek for a homeland and collectively they re-established their nation in their fatherland.
According to him “the Jews decided to go back to the place they call Israel together, and they decided to invest whatever they had in the homeland. And by going back to invest, they have gone ahead and established one of the world’s most progressive country”.
He said he has already started investing in building a business in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry in several cities in the South East despite the security challenges. He stated: “I know the challenges in the South-east, and I know we have insecurity, but we won’t die here.  That’s a fact”.
He said the private sector should lead the charge in asserting the capacity to transform the zone despite the security situation, adding that the same security challenge pervades the entire country.
He stated: “There are three factors that drive insecurity in the South-eastern part of the country. One is political exclusion; Two is economic deprivation, economic issues; And the last is the general governance failure in the whole country”.
For solutions he stated: “We could reduce the factors that bring insecurity in the South East by creating employment. Those people employed in the investments and businesses will not go and join IPOB or unknown gunmen. 
“So if all of us who have the capacity to create wealth can go and set up businesses, the investments will create positive impacts.
“In fact, investments are not just about profit, it could also be to impact the social structure to reduce level of poverty, to improve the environment and improve living standards.
“Assuming many of us try to create investments, businesses in the zone we are going to take away from the number of people who are currently in crime and insecurity, be it IPOB or whatever. I’m not saying the agitation is not right. I’m just saying the violent part of it can be moderated.
“So we need to create more goods and services. We need to create more jobs. And then we will be able to recruit all the people who are currently in the bush into normal economic activities.
“I think that’s where private sector leaders come in, and when we continue that way, we are going to propel   public sector responsibilities and investments in the zone”.
There’s need for South East Economic Summit — Coscharis
Dr. Maduka, President of Coscharis Group, who arrived at the venue of the meeting on  Okada  (motorcycle) to beat the traffic, said he greatly believe in the need for South East Economic Summit to create an integrated regional agenda and strategy to be properly articulated and pursued by all stakeholders.
Reacting to the presentations of the zone’s economic potentials by Johnson Chukwu, Maduka stated: “To create and host eastern   economic summit where this kind of picture will be presented is now very imperative, because a lot of us are not well informed about the potentials that is in the zone.
“With more information on the potentials and capacity of the zone presented to all stakeholders in the Economic Summit, the people will understand that Rwanda, as a country, is less endowed in natural and human resources compared to the South East, but they are doing far better than us.
“Why can’t we create it; why can’t we make it happen in our land? We have everything that we require to be a great people.
“But, politically, I think we are somehow sabotaged. And then, the next thing is that the people in leadership, some of them are completely oblivious of this fact. They haven’t seen it, or they haven’t believed in it, or personal interests have become what is more important to them.
“If they would appreciate all of these economic endowments within their domain, it’s not going to be a magic in transforming South East into the most prosperous in Africa, but it will be a one economic miracle in the continent, that is the growth we will see in the South-East, if we get all other things that we require to be great right”.
When asked if he has been advising the political leaders in the South East, Maduka stated: “I always do, I make suggestions but the truth is that anything you cannot control, you cannot fix. Also on the part of our political leaders, I will say, if you cannot conceptualise any problem, you cannot provide a solution to it.
“When you have leadership that is so detached from reality of life that is what you get. You tell them there’s no bread for the people, and they say why don’t you give them cake? The assumption is that the people have choice between cake and bread but they don’t understand there’s no food.
“So how do you get a person like that who is in leadership to provide solutions? He’s totally detached from reality of the day. It’s hard, but I am very optimistic as an individual that it’s a question of time that will change.
“Having said all of that, where we are today, what more that needs to be done is to get, to find the right leadership that will create the enabler. Investment capital has no face. It goes wherever it sees the right environment. If you are looking for capital, dress up for it. And if you dress up yourself, it will come, opportunities will come”.
Dr. Maduka also talked about mobilizing investments from diaspora, South-easterners residing in other parts of Nigeria and outside Nigeria, saying: “Today, diaspora people are not those ones that used to come home from abroad and we support them with some money to go back. “Today they have dollar power. The beautiful houses we are seeing today in our villages are built by them.
“But that is our trait, because there is this thing about us that we believe in our home place. We never go out and forget about home”.
According to him, “we have emotional attachment whether you like it or not. It’s not just about profit. There is what we call social enterprises. It could be just to provide a job, you remember that this is where gave birth to you; We don’t just cross and forget home completely.
“So, most of our people still have that intention. What has happened is that because of this seaport and different environmental challenges, we are by nature staying where we earn wealth; We look for frontiers; We are capitalists, we go to look for opportunities. So we have weakened the people at home”.
We should get in diasporas’ capital —Glover
Speaking on the opportunities for attracting investments to South East, Etemore Glover, CEO of Impact Investors Foundation, stated: “It calls us to start thinking differently. How do we take advantage of the diaspora community, both diasporas that are within Nigeria and diasporas of the Eastern region that are outside the country, to deploy capital to the Eastern region? And how do we increase government participation to provide environment for de-risking capital or other forms of catalytic capital that can unlock private sector investment into that region? It’s a whole lot of things. We need to think differently.  We need to think innovatively.
“We need capital that can take more risk, because at the end of the day, capital will not go where there will be no maximum return”. 
Reflecting on the potentials of the region as presented by Chukwu, she stated: “What kind of conversation can we have to see such fantastic presentation to still get some people to say, you know what, I see the potential and I’m going to invest in it.
“We should think more around how we can create a strong economic bloc so that we can mobilise capital, particularly from the diaspora investors. We can have several more from that region who want to invest, but they’re really scared of the security situation.  How do we address that perceived fear of investors?
“How do we forge collaborations that can unlock this opportunity in this wonderful region, I would say. I think one of the things we are doing now is just what we are doing, we are talking, and lots of ideas are popping up.
“The opportunities are immense.
So, when I’m thinking of who else to be partnering to unlock this kind of opportunity. “The kind of partnership I think we should have in that region is PPP, public-private partnership. I mean, it sounds like very simple, but it’s not”.
DevEast provides platform
The meeting was hosted by DevEast, a social impact organization committed to revitalizing the economic landscape of Eastern regions through strategic programs and initiatives.
The convener and CEO of DevEast, Mr Cllins Unegbu, said, “Our mission is to develop the Eastern economy by empowering entrepreneurs  and businesses  and fostering economic collaborations”.