He added that the union from time to time engages in advocacy, particularly in seeking governmental support, and that IGU-Worldwide is yet to get laudable support from the government as most of the projects carried out in the community were majorly executed through self-help and communal help.
Engr. Usiagwu Arthur Osaretin, the President of General of Igbanke General Union (IGU) Worldwide has expressed his readiness, by virtue of his leadership position, to continue steering the ship of IGU Worldwide towards the development of Igbanke as a community, and in that regard urged the collective leadership of other development-focused associations related to Igbanke community to be doing the same as developing the community requires collective efforts, and intensified advocacy.
Usiagwu, who clinched the position through an electoral process where he stood unopposed recalled that his stewardship has witnessed the resolve to sustain the all-round development of Igbanke, and added that whilst the stake remained high that the union’s developmental efforts for the community, will continue to assume a positive trajectory.
He said, “If you will recall, I also painted a graphic picture that expressed the fact that our sub-national communities were basking in the euphoria of melodious songs of developmental accomplishments, and I noted that as the wind of change was blowing across Igbanke land that mini and micro-developmental initiative were the order of the day. That was indeed the soul-satisfying change we all desire as a people of a common heritage.
As the president also noted then, “I did not fail to admit that we were on that positive pedestal, not because my team and I were super competent, but simply because Igbanke sons and daughters at home and in the Diaspora remained dogged in their trust and confidence in us while entrusting the Community and her plight in the hands of God, our divine Providence. At this juncture, let me remind you that we are not resting on our oars to see that Igbanke of our dream, infrastructural and developmental wise, is realized.
While throwing insight into the motivation behind his enthusiastic disposition toward the development of Igbanke through the efforts of IGU worldwide, he said, “In as much as I cannot say that Igbanke is singularly been developed by IGU worldwide and its affiliates, permit me to humbly say that it is expedient to develop the town as a community through communal efforts. Communal effort in this context is the principle that encourages us to embrace the fact that, so often, the sum of what we do together adds up to being way more than we could have achieved individually. I believe we will record more achievements when we come together as one. As it is said in our dialect, “Onukokome Ogbu Ofifi”, interpretatively put, “When the lips unite, they whistle”. Permit me to clarify this point by recalling that in accepting the responsibility of being the president of IGU worldwide more than four years ago that the task I had in mind was that of moving Igbanke forward through collective efforts and responsibility of everyone that has a stake in the community, and also at the time I urged all men and women of honor to step out to be counted in the all-important assignment. The reason for my clarion call cannot be farfetched as I believed that everyone, as long as he or she is an Igbankian, is bound by virtue by his or her “Igbankeness” to be part of the rebirth everyone seeks. I want to assure you that IGU worldwide under my leadership will continue to contribute its quota in terms of developing the community even as we will always urge similar unions or associations to be doing the same. Building the community is a task that calls for everyone’s engagement so as to guarantee quick wins in line with our collective aspiration to take Igbanke to the next level of development.
Usiagwu explained that IGU-worldwide and other community development-focused associations in Igbanke prioritize funding infrastructure in physical and human capital, including education, and youth support. He added that the union from time to time engages in advocacy, particularly in seeking governmental support, and that IGU-Worldwide is yet to get laudable support from the government as most of the projects carried out in the community were majorly executed through self-help and communal help.
Be that as it may, he said he sees Igbanke in the next five years becoming a community that would have a state-of-the-art medical facility, well-equipped institutions of learning, and industries that would attract people from far and wide, more than ever before, even as the communities that made up the town would be linked by tarred road networks, and added that the town would no doubt in the next five years have the trappings that can make a community attractive to investors and visitors alike.