Members of the Association of Enugu State Young Professionals has said that the election of former Power Minister, Chief Bart Nnaji as the next Enugu State governor will accelerate the development of the South East.
The group said that if elected Nnaji will work in tandem with Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State to make the zone one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
The group recall that the defunct Eastern Nigerian Region was one of the fastest developing economies in the world until the military coup of January 15, 1966.
They declared that “Professor Nnaji and Professor Soludo are development-oriented leaders”.
The young professionals in a statement by its President, Dr Nnamdi Nwoye, in Enugu on Friday and Dan Ani, the publicity secretary, noted that both personalities “are development-oriented leaders in the mould of Singaporean, South Korean and Malaysian leaders who operate the developmental ideology.”
The group said, “Both Nnaji and Soludo remind us of our highly educated and farsighted leaders like Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr Michael Okpara who during their days conceived and built the country’s first indigenous university, Nigeria’s first indigenous bank, Nigeria’s first steel company, Nigeria’s first gas company, Nigeria’s first cement company and many other achievements which enabled Eastern Nigeria to have one of the finest competitive economies in Africa and beyond within a very short period”.
The young professionals pointed out that both Nnaji and Soludo have records of history-changing initiatives and possess a pan Eastern Nigerian vision.
They citied the 141 megawatt Geometric Power Plant in Aba to supply quality and constant power to nine of the 17 local government areas in Abia State built by the former power minister at $600m and the Central Bank branches in Anambra and other states in the South East built when Soludo was the Central Bank governor.
They recalled that when Nnaji was the chairman of the Ohanaeze Industrialization and Technology Committee, Soludo was leading the Political Committee.
