Governor, Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has charged the people of Imo State and South East in general to make more investments in Agriculture, saying that it remains the main-stay of Nigerian economy.
Governor Okorocha made the call on Tuesday, August 15 through his Deputy, Eze Madumere who represented his at this year’s Iri ji Mbaise Cultural festival at Chioma Ajunwa Stadium in Ahiazu Mbaise local government area of Imo State.
Okorocha said: “We join our brothers and sisters of Mbaise Nation to celebrate the chief-crop of our land. Yam is the main-stay of agriculture in our traditional Igbo society and is worthy of being celebrated.
“You may have heard of the demand for yam from the foreign lands. The projection has it that it will yield proceeds running into billions of naira annually. This calls on our people to invest more in agriculture as its benefits are many.”
He also pointed out that celebration of Iri ji (yam festival) has the value of bringing people together to put heads under the same thinking cap, with a view to finding ways of developing communities in the traditional spirit of Igbo community development.
Okorocha also said his rescue government in Imo State recognises Mbaise people as his very good friend, and enumerated some of the projects his government had executed in the area which he said are strategic to the development of Mbaise nation.
Okorocha added: “The government has often remembered Mbaise in its planning and reckoned with you in every scheme of things. As you can see, this government remembered Mbaise by appointing some of your sons and daughters to key positions in the State. “The University in Mbaise and Ngor-Okpala is a case in point. The Imo cargo Airport near Mbaise is being expanded at an amazing speed. There are road constructions in the rural areas, the 305 classroom storey- building, the hospital projects of the rescue mission, the Youth millionaire, the women empowerment of the rescue mission agenda, all of which Mbaise benefited from.”
He therefore called on Mbaise people to support his government, promising that the government will continue to do all within its power to position the nation on a progressive path.
Okorocha described Mbaise Nation as very strategic in the development of the State because of its natural and human resource.
He stressed that strength of the rescue mission does not lie in force or might but in the love, cooperation and massive support it receives from the people.
Earlier in his address, the Deputy Chairman of Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Chidume Okoro described Iri ji Mbaise National Cultural festival as tourist attraction, which draws visitors across and beyond the shores of Nigeria to Imo State.
Okoro said it has become a unifying factor for the people, which affords them the opportunity to discuss and decides on plans to bring about developments in the communities.
He thanked Okorocha for his effort in the development of Mbaise Nation especially in the area of free education from primary to tertiary level, commending him for the citing of Ngor-Okpala- Mbaise campus of Imo State University.
Chairman of the occasion, Okey Eze, berated those politicising Mbaise Iri ji festival, warning for the danger of disunity it might cause. He hailed the custodian of cultures and traditions of Mbaise for not allowing their culture to die.