Apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide has alerted President Bola Tinubu of a sinister plot to emasculate a federal government agency, the Projects Development Institute, PRODA, Enugu.
The Igbo group raised the alarm at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, where it said those behind the move were hiding under a doctored Oronsaye Report to carry out their evil agenda.
National President of the Ohanaeze Youths, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, who was flanked by other exco members of the organisation, urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to be wary of those hellbent on destroying his government.
He said in line with the Oronsaye Report, what PRODA deserved was proper funding in order to carry out its statutory mandate.
Okwu stated that PRODA has been up to its responsibility, stressing that “anyone in doubt is free to visit the place.”
He said they were taken aback “by a recent doctored report planted by fifth columnists, in which they listed the Project Development Institute, PRODA, Enugu, as one of the agencies of government to be merged or scrapped.
“We received this with great consternation and shock considering the clear provisions of the Oronsaye Report, as well as the report by the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which formed the Government White Paper.
“The SGF report titled: “RE: RESTRUCTURING & RATIONALISATION OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PARASTATALS, COMMISSIONS AND AGENCIES”, clearly provides in Item D that: ‘The Government accepts the recommendation that: a) NASENI and NCAM be merged but with the exclusion of FIIRO and PRODA.”
“With the above, one then wonders the intent and drive of those behind the list being circulated in the media space.
“A little look into history shows that PRODA was a creation of the defunct East Central State Government. It was created through an edict in 1971.
“It was charged with the broad function of generating and catalysing industrialization by carrying out industrial research from the laboratory stage to the pilot plant stage and by rendering consultancy services to the Governments, industries and individuals.
“PRODA is one of the oldest research institutions under the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology.
“When the East Central State was split in 1976, the Federal Government recognized the need not to balkanize PRODA by the emerging states and hence took it over as a Federal Government Research Institute.
“Ever since then, PRODA has evolved under different leaderships, experiencing neglect from one time to the other.
“However, within the last few years, like a human being who miraculously came out of coma, PRODA again became a cynosure of all eyes, with a lot of reforms being initiated to take it back to the glory days.”
He expressed worry that “the same people who held PRODA down over the years are at it again.
“This time, they want to kill it completely for a reason best known to them, but definitely not in national interest.
“Their only interest is that anything associated with Ndigbo must not be allowed to survive. These are people who feel that the civil war has not ended and that anything sited in Igbo land must be emasculated.
“They profess one Nigeria but their actions show a totally different thing.
“They tend to forget that PRODA is not serving Igboland but the nation, and has been clearly positioned to take research and development to another level.
“Nigeria is a nation that totally depends on importation without producing anything, and this is the bane of the economy. Under such circumstances, an agency like PRODA deserves all the attention and funding it can get.
“We, therefore, warn those doctoring the Oronsaye Report to keep PRODA away from their evil agenda, as any attempt to implement the compromised version would not augur well. Enough of this humiliation and insult to the sensibilities of Ndigbo.
“The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council gave President Bola Tinubu their total support during the presidential election and would want the president to succeed. However, he should be wary of those planting seeds of discord and working hard to discredit the government.
“We urge Mr President to discard the doctored report and stick with the original version as contained in the SGF’s letter, dated April 8, 2014.”
The Igbo group reaffirmed their unflinching support to Mr President “as he navigates the country out of the present economic crisis.
“Indeed, this administration shall succeed to the shame of naysayers,” Okwu declared.