Vice President Kashim Shettima says the South East matters to the President Bola Tinubu-led administration not as a concession, but as a central pillar of Nigeria’s economic future.
The vice president stated this on Wednesday at the South East Vision 2050 (SEV2050) Stakeholders’ Forum convened by the South East Development Commission (SEDC), held at the International Conference Centre, Enugu.
The event was organized by SEDC in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President, the Ministry of Regional Development, and South East governments.
The summit was attended by Gov. Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi, Governor Alex Otti of Abia, Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra, and host Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State.
Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo was represented by the Speaker of the Imo House of Assembly, Mr. Chike Olemgbe.
The Minister of Regional Development, Abubakar Momoh, members of the National and State Assemblies, traditional rulers, the organized private sector, and other stakeholders also attended the summit.
Shettima said that young people from the South East and Nigeria at large were not spectators in the national journey, but central actors.
“What we are doing in the South East is not an afterthought, and to the young people from the zone, let me speak on behalf of President Bola Tinubu: you are central to our national journey.
“Your energy, creativity, and ambition are essential to the Nigeria we are working to build,” he said.
He described the event as an exercise in rediscovering potential, adding that what mattered was how to organize, structure, and align it with long-term national development goals through coordinated action.
“This is why Vision SEDC 2050 matters.
“This projection is an invitation to think beyond immediacy, reactive governance, and short-term fixtures that deliver headlines but not trophies.
“It asks us to look 25 years ahead and ask what kind of South East we intend to build, and which infrastructure we must start delivering to make the future possible,” Shettima said.
He explained that these questions could not be answered by government alone but demanded collective leadership through partnerships among states, markets, communities, and citizens.
He, however, announced that Tinubu had approved the establishment of the South East Investment Company Limited, created to mobilize resources from the diaspora, capital markets, and development finance institutions.
Shettima said these resources would be channeled into infrastructure and human capital development across the region.
According to him, SEDC was created to address infrastructure gaps in the zone as a result of the civil war.
Speaking, Gov. Soludo emphasized the need for the South East to focus on regional security; highways that connect major cities; as well as gas pipelines and seaports for economic regional integration.
The governor appealed to the Federal Government to ensure full financial funding of SEDC to achieve its set goals.
“To ensure free movement of goods and services, we need a robust agenda for regional infrastructure, and by 2050, the South East will be an infrastructure hub for Nigeria,” Soludo said.
Also speaking, Gov. Mbah said the South East first needed to deliberate and design interstate logistic corridors, roads, rail, inland waterway hubs, and multi-modal systems.
According to him, this infrastructure must be planned and contracted as regional assets, not just state trophies, and security must be treated as regional infrastructure.
Governor Alex Otti, on his part, stressed the need for the zone to invest in energy to drive private sectors and small-scale enterprises from the region.