South East, regional integration and mounting insecurity

Precisely in 2017, governors of states in the South East region came up with a laudable and noble initiative to forge a very strong and reliable regional integration. Five years down the lane, nothing serious has come out of the initiative, rather, insecurity is staring the faces of some of the states menacingly and if […]

Precisely in 2017, governors of states in the South East region came up with a laudable and noble initiative to forge a very strong and reliable regional integration.

Five years down the lane, nothing serious has come out of the initiative, rather, insecurity is staring the faces of some of the states menacingly and if nothing is done, as a matter of urgency, the states may slip more dangerously into situations like some of the Northern states, especially the North East and North West.

The urge for regions across the country to come together and forge economic integration was increasing at geometric progression, and this provoked the interests of South East governors to join the moving train.

Regional integration, which is simply the joining of individual states within a region into a larger whole, is now the vogue.

This arrangement tends to achieve the following functions; to strengthen trade in the region; to create an appropriate enabling environment for private sector development; to develop infrastructure programmes in support of economic growth and regional integration; to develop strong public sector institutions and good governance.

The urge for a stronger regional integration by the South East governors was basically informed by the prevailing economic realities in the country. In the South West region, the governors in a continued search for regional integration of the zone under the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) then resolved to work together to address security challenges confronting the region and foster economic growth and well-being of the people.

In a meeting attended by governors of the region and their representatives then, critical attention was accorded to issues such as kidnapping and menace of the herdsmen.

There were enough early warning signals and one could attribute the present security situation to inability of our security agencies to sample their competence on intelligence.

Really, we are sitting on a keg of gun powder and the detonation may be more imminent than we expect. On this note, let the South East governors revisit the earlier regional integration, fashion measures to collaborate and tackle this menace called insecurity headlong.

Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu writes from Abia State