Following two days of deliberations on issues affecting Ndigbo and Nigeria, members of Oganiru Ndigbo Foundation aka Igboville came up with the following decisions and resolutions.
1. Every Igbo parent must ensure their children learn and speak Igbo language as first language.
2. Igbo governments at all levels should ensure that teaching of Igbo language is compulsory from nursery to secondary as well as offered as compulsory general course in States and Private Universities in Igbo land.
3. Regional integration should be vigorously pursued beyond rhetoric to serve the need of Ndigbo.
4. Igbo business men should be supported with necessary infrastructure and enabling laws to compete and excel. Use of “task forces” to collect levies and multiple taxation should be discouraged while the revenue collection process should as much as possible be digitalized in line with modern practices.
5. Igbo business men should modernize their business systems and hire professionals as well as put in place good succession plans with or without members of their families.
6. Adequate attention should be paid to improvement of roads and other infrastructure to support growth of enterprises in Igbo land.
7. South East governments should work together to protect Igbo sons and daughters serving at the federal level from malicious attacks by competing ethnic groups and interests.
8. The members noted and hereby applauded the plan of Abia State Government to build a sea port around the azumini-Obuaku axis and urge all the south east governments and entrepreneurs to make it a regional priority project.
9. The retreat applauded the actualization of Akanu Ibiam international airport and urge the federal government to accelerate work on new runways and terminal buildings while also calling on Ndigbo to patronize the airport.
10. We call on the Federal Government to show more seriousness with the second Niger Bridge and ensure completion before the end of 2014.
11. The members call on Igbo politicians to eschew divisive and violent politics and use politics as a vehicle for improvement of lives of Ndigbo.
12. The retreat reaffirms members confidence in the federal government’s ability to ensure lasting peace in Nigeria and pacify the rampaging islamic militants known as Boko Haram by all necessary means within the bounds of Nigerian laws.
13. Members of Igboville hereby call on INEC not to post Igbo youth corpers to likely flash points during the next round of elections to avert the ugly events of April 2011.
14. Posting of Igbo youth corpers to restive states in the north should be avoided as much as possible by the authorities at the National Youth Service Corps directorate.
15. We call on all politicians in Nigeria to stop all forms of incitement to violence as well as dragging the military into politics.
16. Ndigbo should fully participate in the coming national conference and representation should include youths, online groups and other stake holders in the Igbo and Nigerian project.
17. Igbo political leaders of thoughts should as much as possible carry along our brothers in other non-core south Eastern states at all times as well as support regional cooperation between the South East and South south regions of the country.
18. Igbo states should take measures to re-discover the years of oil palm revolution through a deliberate policy of palm plantation establishment in all South East states.
19. Efforts should be made to crush the phenomenon of “baby factories” in Igbo land with community-government actions taken to eradicate the malaise.
20. The retreat notes improvements in security in south east states and the reduction in cases of kidnapping and other violent crimes and urge the states not to relent in totally eradicating this evil from the Igbo nation.
21. We wish to urge Igbo state governments, institutions and businesses to establish and support more Igbo owned online and mainstream media as a matter of priority.
22. Educational renewal in the south east must be pursued with vigor with no Igbo child left behind.
23. The retreat urges Ndigbo to ensure that the family unit is strengthened and discipline restored to avert a breakdown of family values that Ndigbo have always been known with.
24. We wish to emphasize the need for improvements in primary and tertiary health care in Igbo land with modern equipments and diagnostic tools employed to ensure the heath of the Igbo family.
25. The retreat urges all Igbo to ensure the sustenance of our positive cultural practices and history as carriers of a our people’s language.
26. The labor of our heroes past should be publicized and taught in Igbo schools as part of civic education and our living legends should be encouraged to interact with and share experience with the young as a matter of delibrate policy of linking the past with the present.
27. Employment of all willing and able bodied Igbo should be taken as a priority and basis for crime prevention and reduction.
28. Science Education should be prioritized in addition to ICT driven learning in all Igbo states and at all stages with a view to positioning Ndigbo as leaders of science and technological innovations in Africa.
29. State of origin and religion should be incorporated in the next census and wide participation of Ndigbo encouraged.
30. We call on the attorney general and minister for justice to publicly issue necessary guidelines to states on the “deportation” of Nigerians from one state to another.
31. To maintain regional balance, the national assembly should ensure the creation of an additional state in the south east region to bring it at par with other geopolitical zones that have at least 6 states.
32. Igbo representatives at the national assembly should help educate our people on how to assess critical federal funds like SURE-P and other facilities as well as help facilitate employment for our youths.
Signed
Members of Oganiru Ndigbo Foundation/Igboville
29/12/13
Note: Members of Igboville medical team treated 236 patients at Aba on 28th December and also offered free drugs.
The group will donate drugs and medical equipment to Abia State Teaching Hospital on the 3rd of January 2013 for use in managing indigent patients.
