The 2026 Igbo Day celebration organised by Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has commenced in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, with discussions focusing on Igbo unity, development and the implementation of the Igbo Charter for Strategic Engagement for National Development.

The celebration, hosted by the Abia State Government, began on Monday at the Michael Okpara Auditorium with a lecture, dinner and panel discussions themed “The Igbo Charter and Development of Alaigbo.”

Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, veteran journalist, former Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission and an indigene of Abia, chaired the event, while Professor Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, Chairman of the Igbo Charter Committee for Strategic Engagement for National Development and former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, delivered the keynote address virtually.

Moghalu said the Igbo Charter should remain separate from partisan politics and serve as a non-partisan framework for development, driven by merit, accountability and measurable targets.

He urged Ndigbo to move beyond discussions and focus on implementing policies contained in the charter, while highlighting issues including true federalism, equitable citizenship and devolution of power.

Moghalu also identified the promotion of the Igbo language, development of a digital marketplace, stronger diaspora engagement, improved security and investment, and a shift from dependence on remittances towards productive investment as priorities for Ndigbo.

In his address, the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Senator John Azuta-Mbata, said the annual Igbo Day celebration was intended to mobilise and harness the collective strength of Ndigbo through a unified development strategy.

Azuta-Mbata observed that despite the individual enterprise and resilience of the Igbo people, the group had not fully realised its collective potential.

He recalled that the Igbo Charter was developed by more than 67 Igbo technocrats and business leaders as a framework for engaging the Nigerian state and the international community.

According to him, the charter also outlines measures to preserve Igbo culture, particularly the language. He called for Igbo to be made compulsory in primary and secondary schools across Igbo-speaking states.

The Ohanaeze leader also called on the Federal Government to seek a political solution to the case involving Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra.

Speaking at the event, Governor Alex Otti said his administration was repositioning Abia from conventional trading towards manufacturing and digital commerce in response to changing global business trends.

Otti said the Igbo people, who have historically been associated with trading, needed to increasingly focus on manufacturing and technology-driven commerce.

He explained that developing digital commerce would enable Abia entrepreneurs to access global markets rather than remain dependent on conventional physical marketplaces.

“We must therefore move away from there, starting in Abia. Abia is both in manufacturing and trading. But we are moving from conventional trading to digital trading. That’s where the world is going, hence, we either embrace it or risk being left behind,” Otti said.

The governor also said his administration was investing in digital skills for young people through the TechRise Initiative.

He disclosed that some Abians trained under the programme were already working remotely from Aba for global technology companies.

“When I spend money here training my young people in digital technology under the TechRise initiative, I know what I am doing. Some of them are already working for Google and Amazon from Aba,” he said.

Otti further said the state would continue to support manufacturing while transitioning from traditional physical stores to technology-enabled methods of delivering products and services.

He assured the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo of his administration’s continued support and described the 2026 Igbo Day theme, “Njikọ Ka”, meaning “Unity is Supreme”, as appropriate to the occasion.

The governor said his administration had laid what he described as a foundation for the state’s development and expressed confidence that Abia would continue to witness further transformation.

“We have retrieved and recovered our State and we are going up, which is the only way to go, because once you have laid the foundation, the only way to go is up,” Otti said.

He further reiterated his administration’s focus on manufacturing, saying markets remained important to Abia but that the state was moving towards greater production and digital delivery.

The founder of Gregory University, Uturu, Professor Gregory Iyke Ibe, who chaired the 2018 Igbo Day Organising Committee held in Owerri, Imo State, congratulated Governor Otti and the Abia State Government for hosting the 2026 edition.

In a goodwill message signed by Rev. Sleek Ogwo, Ibe, who was conferred with the Abia State title of “Enyi Abia” (Abia Elephant), described the hosting of the event as recognition of the state’s growing profile under the Otti administration.

He said hosting the celebration could contribute to repositioning Abia as a cultural meeting point for Ndigbo and further strengthen the state’s role in promoting the heritage, unity and development of Alaigbo.