(From Left to Right) Ebonyi State Governor, David Nweze Umahi; Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu; Deputy Senate President,  Ike Ekweremadu; and Enugu State Governor, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; at the South East Economic Forum in Enugu

Three South East State Governors, including David Nweze Umahi of Ebonyi State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, and Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State; and the Deputy Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, were among the prominent persons that gathered at the South East Economic Summit to chart a road map for the development of the South East region.

While declaring the Summit open, the Executive Governor Ebonyi State and Chairman South East Governors' Forum, Engr. Dave Umahi, described the South East Economic Summit as the platform upon which the economy of the region will be jump-started. 

The Summit which held in Enugu from 11-13 November 2017 focused on addressing the poor ease of doing business environment, amongst other key issues, in the South East states. The Summit was used to set a regional agenda to return the South East to its rightful position as a leading economic hub of Nigeria. Participants at the summit were drawn from Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states.

"I am happy that after these past three days of intensive deliberation, for the first time, the SE region seems to be getting it right, in terms of developing a road map for the development of the region. We have had extensive deliberations and we and have arrived at some clear definitions on where the SE will go in terms of Infrastructure, Agriculture, Health, Media, Education and essentially, Ease of Doing Business. I am happy that we have been able to identify the challenges facing the SE and the bottle necks that confront doing business in the SE and we have been able to come up with solutions for the resolution of those challenges." - Prof Simon Uchenna Otuanya – DG South East Governors' Forum Secretariat

It featured presentations of some blueprints on key regional initiatives like power supply, rail network, gas pipeline, medical resort hospital, Enyinba industrial city, Empower free zone and youth employment. Other presentations and discussions were around sources of funding and enabling environment for economic growth in the region

Prof Bart Nnaji, former Minister of Power, Federal Republic of Nigeria, and Chairman of the South East Regional Economic Development Company (SEREDEC) said that the region does not have to wait for constitutions to be amended, laws to be passed or for the Federal Government to intervene to get on and start developing the region. He said, "Almost everything could be achieved through the collaboration and commitment of the five South East States acting together." He added that SEREDEC is undertaking several projects - rail network, South East gas transportation, infrastructure and regional hospital among others, which were later presented at the summit.

Richard Ough, Head of DFID Nigeria’s Economic Development Team in his remarks noted three areas that can help the South East create more jobs, namely; make life easy for your businesses; nurture, harness and unlock private investment; and learning from the successes of each other in the South East and other places.

ronment of the states in the region, and to set a regional agenda to return the South East to its rightful position as a leading economic hub of the country. "In preparation for this summit, DFID PERL Programme had supported the South-East states and the region to assess the business environment with a view to identifying the subsisting bottlenecks to the ease of doing business in the states and the region; as well as to identify the successes, recorded by the states, that others need to learn from." He said, "Some of the bottlenecks identified include entrepreneurial capacity, inadequate access to credit, insecurity, poor infrastructure, unfavourable land tenure and multiple taxation. 

Mazi Sam Ohunbunwa, while making the keynote address, said that critical to repositioning the South East for rapid development are education revolution, re-enactment of the spirit of enterprise, return to the basic-agriculture and industry and industrial revolution.

At the end of the summit action plans for key areas of focus, namely Ease of Doing Business, Agriculture, Health, Infrastructure and Media were developed for implementation with timelines.