Vision 2020: Ohakim, Utomi sue for peace in Niger Delta

Ikedi Ohakim, governor of Imo State stated this yesterday in Lagos while delivering a lecture to mark Aka Ikenga Week. "Nigeria’s ambition of becoming one of the biggest economies by the year 2020 is feasible if only we can join forces together to ensure internal harmony through the restoration of peace and security in the Niger-Delta region of this country which produces the vast resources we use".

The presence of peace, harmony and security in the region will give confidence to foreign investors who might have been sceptical on investing into the country as a result of insecurity which is evident in the vandalism of pipelines and the incessant kidnapping of oil workers.

Ohakim also said that "if we must be relevant in the vision 2020, we must be counted first as people who provide solutions to Nigeria’s problems, we must therefore, invest massively in the knowledge industry.

Similarly, Pat Utomi, a political economist and the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the 2007 general elections called on the Nigerian leadership to re-brand the Nigerian state by making it suitable, attractive and convenient for foreigners to invest into the country through the provision of adequate infrastructural facilities and an enabling environment for investment.

He commended the probe panels taking place presently in the country and emphasized that a transparent economic policy and leadership will give the Nigerian state an edge in the attainment of the vision 2020.

Former president of the Senate, Ken Nnamani, who was among dignitaries present at the event, laid emphasis on the need for Nigeria to re-brand to avoid being marginal or operating at the periphery of the emergent economy in 2020.