——- Says the credibility of the SEDC would be measured not by press conferences but by roads constructed, industries revived, jobs created and communities empowered.

Public Affairs Analyst and Secretary, Guild of Public Affairs Analysts of Nigeria, Enugu State Chapter, Dr. Chikezie Obasi, made this known while speaking on a topic “SEDC 2026 Stakeholders Conference in Enugu: A Postscript,” on Freedom Square, a programme on Solid FM, 100.9, anchored by Uchenna Cyril Anioke.

Dr. Obasi, called on the South East Development Commission (SEDC) to avoid becoming what he described as a “talk show commission,” urging its leadership to focus on tangible and measurable development across the South East region.

He stressed that the people of the South East are eager to see concrete projects rather than endless meetings, media briefings and policy dialogues without implementation.

According to him, “the South East Development Commission has already looked as if is another talk show. What they have done in the past one year and what has actually happened at the conference and the bills we saw emanating from the conference are not quite impressive. Some of us are not quite impressed that the major work which should have bothered us are some dilapidated infrastructures not taken to the front burner. We are still talking about recurrent expenditure, purchases that we know is saddled with corruption and that cannot just be far fetched. If you take a look at the names of the people who made up the committee. I must give kudos to the young man Mark Okoye whose father was instrumental in the development and planning of Abuja at his early 30’s. I must give it to him. He is quite young but we are not really impressed with what we are seeing in the budget they seem to be carrying out. A situation you could see that the conference they carried out in Enugu is up to 460 million. That alone was not impressive, I must tell you, because if we begin to look at that figure alone, if we begin to look at it we may not find out the implications of what it wants to achieve in terms of developmental infrastructure, ecological and other things. Though, we have not really looked at what we saw at the Senate Committee because the Senate Committee actually took a very big swipe on them when they brought their budget breakdown. But I must tell you that there are two areas that they relatively did well. The first one is bringing the governors of the South East together to begin to think like one bloc. The conference we had in Enugu, we saw the governors and they made their presentations. We saw the Former ministers come in to discuss and made their presentations which is quite good. Secondly, we also saw in this years budget where the commission was saying that each state has committed 5 billion into the cofers of SEDC. So they are looking at the states being part of funding the budget. The total South East States should contribute 25 billion added to the 140 billion they are expected to have in this year’s budget. Trying to bring the state governors together, I give it to them.”

Dr. Obasi noted that the establishment of the Commission presents a historic opportunity to address longstanding infrastructural deficits, youth unemployment, erosion challenges, industrial decline and other socio-economic concerns facing the region.

“The South East Development Commission must not be reduced to a platform for speeches and ceremonial engagements. Our people deserve real development. This is the time for action,” he stated.

Dr. Obasi emphasized the need for strategic partnerships with state governments, private investors and development agencies to accelerate growth and rebuild confidence in public institutions.

He stated that residents and stakeholders across the South East have continued to express hope that the SEDC will serve as a catalyst for economic transformation and regional integration, ushering in a new era of sustainable growth and prosperity.

He therefore urged the Commission to ensure transparency, accountability and inclusive stakeholder engagement in executing its mandate