Nsukka Today

The Nsukka professionals Group (NPG) has made a fresh case for the creation of Adada State from the present Enugu State.

The group, which comprises distinguished professionals from the Nsukka cultural zone, who are living, working and doing business in Lagos, said that the creation of the state would be a veritable tonic to lift the people of the area out marginalization and neglect.
The group also challenged the people of the cultural zone to take practical steps to uplift their personal circumstances, saying that “the war against poverty, disease and ignorance, factors at the core of the underdevelopment of the cultural zone, can only be waged by the people of the zone for themselves and by themselves.”
A communiqué by the group at the end of a one-day symposium recently organsised at Nsukka, said the creation of Adada State would be a great boost to the growth of the South East and the national economies due to the availability of enormous but untapped mineral and agricultural resources in the area, which will become increasingly resourced and exploited.
The theme of the symposium was Nsukka 2020: Agenda for Zonal Transformation.
The communiqué, which was signed by Dr. Basil Onugu and Sam Otoboeze, President and Secretary, respectively, the group commended the positive efforts of Enugu State government towards the creation of Adada State and urged the people of the zone to do everything possible to sustain the state government’s interest in the project.
The communiqué reads in part:  “NPG also urged leaders in the zone to leverage on the widespread support for the Adada State Movement among the Southeast Caucus in the 6th National Assembly “and continue to project our agitation as the most valid, viable and just.”
“In the light of the neglect, oppression and deprivation that the zone has suffered in the hands of successive governments in the Southeast, from the days of old Anambra to the present Enugu State, owing largely to the people’s political docility, there is need for a paradigm shift from the era of nonchalance and or non-participation to one of proactive participation in politics and governance.
“In other words, it’s time for the people to rise up with one voice and take what rightly belongs to them-politically.”
On the socio-economic development of the zone, NPG said the long years of neglect of the zone has spawned a culture of poverty, ignorance and disease that must be promptly addressed by stakeholders. To that effect, the group called for the creation of a cluster of small-scale industries based on resources in which the zone has comparative economic advantage in the Southeast and Nigeria as a whole, such as honey, Ose (pepper) Nsukka, palm oil and kernel, among others.
“Since Nsukka is largely a cluster of agrarian communities, with fertile land and plenty of natural resources, efforts must be geared towards developing this enviable agricultural potential as a means of creating wealth, thereby empowering the people,” it added.