The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, has said sustainable infrastructure lays the foundation for the prosperous economy of any nation.
He stated this at the centenary celebration of Dr. Michael Okpara leadership awards book presentation and lecture in Abuja, pointing out that Nigeria needed more people of impeccable character to be role models for Nigerian youths so as to inspire them to greatness.
Onu who was the chairman of the occasion, said the leadership qualities of the late Okpara, was visionary and a “gift of God” to the people of the South-East and by extension Nigeria as a whole.
The minister further said the Buhari administration was taking a positive cue from the visionary leadership qualities of the late sage, by building sustainable infrastructure to lay the foundation for a prosperous economy for the nation, adding Nigeria could grow to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world and that the application of human capital resources would add value to the country’s socio-economic growth.
Onu went down memory lane to honour the late Okpara, for his selfless service to the then eastern region, which was described as one of the fastest growing economies in the world in the 1960s according to World Bank index.
The scion of the Okpara family Chief Uzodinma Okpara, who gave the welcome address at the event, said the late sage built one of the fastest growing economies in the world while at the helm of affairs of the eastern region.
He stressed that his father was determined to end unemployment in the eastern part of the country and by extension Nigeria as a whole, adding farm settlements were built across the region modelled after the Israeli Kibbutz farming system.
The centenary lecture was delivered by Chief Obiora Okonkwo, chairman of United Nigeria Airlines, who said the late Okpara made the benchmark for good governance in the country and proposed enormous plans in agriculture.
