JOHANNESBURG, July 8 (Reuters) - Tata Motors (TAMO.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), India's largest vehicle maker, is looking to set up a vehicle assembly unit in South Africa later this month, the company said on Friday.

"The ... assembly plant in South Africa has been in the planning for a while, and we are at a point that this has now come to fruition," Tata spokesman Debasis Ray said.

He said more details would follow at a formal launch on July 22.

The report comes at a time when demand for new vehicles in South Africa appears to be rising.

As the sun shines brighter at the east and sets dimmer in the west; home will always be the best. Home is where the heart is and therein is the treasure. The World Igbo Congress (WIC) is an entity which has been nurtured through the years just like Igbo People’s Congress (IPC), have matured to what it is today. WIC may have noble intentions, with their humongous treasures buried in the south eastern region of Nigeria, but their home seems to be in Diaspora – United States of America. This ambiguity with a shade of abnormality gingers a need for rethinking.

After another convention which ended September 4, 2006 in Boston, this body which some of their objectives are: to unify Ndi-Igbo everywhere; promote, protect and advance Igbo culture and civilization, promote progress and development in Ala-Igbo, promote and cultivate political awareness and civic responsibility among Ndi-Igbo, etc. has really come of age. However, its activities have shown to be more for the Igbo elites and its impact nominal in continental Igbo land. What explanation could be given that an organization which supposedly should be an umbrella for all Ndi-Igbo (both those in continental Africa and Diaspora); since its inception in Houston, Texas has had all its conventions in United States of America. One should start asking; where are the bulk population of Ndi-Igbo? Are they all living in United States of America or at the south eastern region of Nigeria? While kudos should be given to WIC for propagating the interest of Igbo internationally and sending echoes around the globe for the socio-economic advancement of Ndi-Igbo, they should think inwardly on how to get the common man in Igbo land involved. The only way to achieving that would be by hosting some of their annual conventions in various towns in south eastern region of Nigeria.

In the tone of the old school rhyme that says; summer is the season when students are so merry with a long vacation; for Igbo elites, politicians, nouveau riches and every person of substance, summer is the period to converge or retreat into ‘Camp David’ in United States under the canopy of World Igbo Congress. While WIC has provided a cornucopia for the rich and powerful to retreat in America and renew their contacts with the hope of advancing the Igbo course. But to millions of grass root Igbo in Nigeria, little or nothing is known about this Hercules of international symbolism. This is due to little or no impact WIC has made in the local Igbo communities. Even with the numerous teething problems buffeting ‘Ohaneze’ which if not well handled will lead to its demise, ‘Ohaneze’ an Igbo think tank has a wider grass root acceptance than WIC. Today, it seems that the beleaguered ‘Ohaneze’ and the elites are depending on the strength of WIC to resurrect the crawling remnant of the Igbo aspirations within the realm of political survival in the polity of Nigerian terrain.

It costs about $300,000 to organize an annual World Igbo Congress convention in American cities. The Igbo attendees that come from all corner of the globe spend close to $4m dollars annually to grace the convention. Yearly American cities where these conventions are held receive big economic boost. While it is good to support international friendship; imagine what good it will do to the people of Enugu, Imo, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Delta and any other Nigerian states, if the sum of $4m dollars and more are injected into their revenue through the annual convention of WIC. WIC would not only have helped in the economic development of the people she claims to speak for , but also will generate awareness among the grass roots who are the prime reason for the existence of that body. After all, charity should begin at home.

The gathering of the Ndi-Igbo during the conventions organized by WIC has drawn more towards building political blocs and seeking for panacea to heal the wounds of the marginalization of the Igbo people in Nigeria political system. It falls on the Igbo to work themselves vigorously back into the Nigerian political system by presenting themselves trustworthy, united, staunch, willing and ready. The generality of the work to achieve these tasks falls on the Igbo politicians, elites and chieftains. No other body but WIC seems more organized to foster this action. As important as this may be, WIC has not come out with structures – political, economic and social that would reinvigorate the collapsing foundations of her people and position them for the new trend.

Swami Vivekananda, a 19th century Hindu holy man, once said that every nation has a "special genius" and that of India’s is religious devotion. For the Igbo’s, theirs are tenacity and patience . Those characteristics should be transformed into action if the Igbo should become relevant in the political navigation of Nigeria. Unfortunately, the general claim has been that the Igbo have been marginalized by the federal government of Nigeria, but internally the Igbo elites, politicians and the rich have in various ways marginalized their own people and that is the worst.

This could be a proper time for the evangelism, revival and salvation of this ethnic group who have been dubbed the "Jews of Africa’. How correct this is, only time will tell. There’s an urgent need for the Igbo to have an agenda which is democratic in nature and shun its misconstrued republicanism. The political image of the Igbo man in Nigerian psyche should be rebuilt. When an Igbo man or politician is asked: Got a brother to betray? And his answer is No, then all other regions of Nigeria will have no reason not to give massive support to the much sort Igbo presidency which has remained elusive for now and which is one of the major concerns of World Igbo Congress.

Sunny Oputa is a Senior Fellow and a Political Analyst on Nigerian Affairs at Afripol.Org

Polio has been identified as one of the most damaging diseases which can snatch away a child’s physical, mental and emotional stimulus to lead a normal, healthy and happy life. This is why; countries across the world have been working together closely to develop a strong Public Health Campaign for complete and total polio eradication since 1988. In most parts of the world, particularly the western nations, the devastating complication of polio is rarely seen today. Even when poliovirus infection occurs in these areas it is the least harmful strain of poliovirus. In addition, there is adequate vaccine to protect against such poliovirus infection. In contrast, less developed countries including Nigeria, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Egypt, the strain of poliovirus is the wild harmful type.

In countries such as Nigeria, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Egypt, thousands of innocent children have been crippled for life due to the transmission of the wild polio virus (Paralytic poliovirus). The strain of poliovirus often may lead to the complications of temporary or permanent muscle weakness, paralysis, disability, and deformities of the hips, ankles and feet. In some cases, the deformities caused by poliovirus infection can be reduced with surgery and physical therapy. Such expensive and intense treatments are not readily available in developing nations where polio is still endemic. As a result, most persons who survive death from polio often live with severe disabilities and low productive lives to even support their families. However, proper and timely immunization campaigns, however, especially in India have helped in reducing and controlling the spread of this life changing disease.

Even though all it takes is to vaccinate each and every child under five with the polio vaccine to achieve global polio eradication, this has not been the case especially in Nigeria due to lack of funds and disjointed running of the immunization campaign. In the recent past, however, Nigeria has shown evidence of a reduction in polio cases thanks to the selfless and commendable work done by the ‘Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’, a joint venture by Microsoft Founder, Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda Gates.

In a meeting recently, the Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan publicly expressed his gratitude for the outstanding work done by Bill Gates and his wife in delivering better healthcare services not just in Nigeria but all over the world. He further admired the contributions made by them both in terms of time and money which has resulted in a drop in the number of polio cases from couple of hundreds in 2009 to just a about three cases this year.

Today, Northern Nigeria has emerged as the only place in the world that has seen so much progress in its goal towards polio reduction and subsequent polio eradication in such a short span of time.

 Author: G. Stanley Okoye, M.D., Ph.D. , Chief Medical Correspondent, Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center (Afripol) and St. Jude Medical Missions ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).