A group, Igbo Women Assembly, IWAA, has raised the alarm that the South-East region is recording mass exodus of Igbos to other parts of the country and overseas.
The group, which raised the alarm while speaking with journalists in Umuahia, on Wednesday, said that the region was recording mass movement of people who permanently settle or establish their businesses and families away from Igbo land.
The National President of IWA, Nneka Chimezie said that Igbo land could not develop with the continuing decrease in population and concentration of resources away from the region.
According to her, many of those who leave the region were not even interested in coming back to their original homes or having anything to do with the Igbo language and culture.
Chimezie said, “We want to ensure that our men change from importation to production. The only way of getting our people to remain in the South-East and to grow the South population is to build industries.”
She also raised the alarm that the Igbo language was now at a dying stage “as many adults and children now shun the language; the language will go extinct in a few years time.”
The IWA members said they established schools in Lagos State where Igbo studies and cultures were exclusively learnt.
She further said that her organization would collaborate with the Ohanaeze Ndigbo to revive the language and culture of the people.
She begged traditional rulers, church and community leaders to join in the crusade to reverse the ugly trend.
