During the presidential media chat on Wednesday 30th December 2015, Nigerian President Muhammed Buhari said that Igbos were not maltreated, and should stop screaming marginalization.
Speaking of the continue protests and struggle for the realization on Biafra Republic in parts of the South East and South South, the former miliary head of state said:
“Why does it have to worry me, when I have militants, Boko Haram and other. They said they are being marginalsed but they haven’t defined the extent of their marginalisation. Who marginalised them? How? Where? Do you know?,” he queried.”Who is the minister of state for petroleum, is he not Igbo? Who is the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria? Is he not Igbo? Who is minister of labour, science and technology? What do the Igbos want?”
And now, Obi Nwakanma, a Poet, journalist, biographer and literary critic, has written an article in answer to the question, “What do the Igbos want?”
Enjoy:
In Biafra, under three years, they were making their own rockets and calculating its distances; distilling their own oil and making aviation fuel, creating in their Chemical and Biological laboratories, new cures for diseases like Cholera, shaping their own spare parts, and turning the entire East into a vast workshop, as Ojukwu put it.
At the end of the war, the Ukpabi Asika regime brought together these Biafran scientists and set up PRODA. The initiative led, in the first five years between 1970-1975 under the late Prof. Gordian Ezekwe and Mang Ndukwe, to designs of industrial machinery models and prototypes for the East Central State Industrial Masterplan, which remain undeveloped even today. The Murtala/Obasanjo regime took over PRODA in 1975 by decree, starved it of funds, and basically destroyed its aims.
2ndly, Federal government policies centralized all potentials for innovation and entrepreneurship. Before 1983, states had their Ministries of Trade and Industry. These were charged with local business registration, trade, and investment promotion, and so on. But today in Nigeria, if you wish to do any business, you’d have to go to Abuja (it used to be Lagos) to register under the Corporate Affairs Commission. It used to be that local business registration was state and municipal functions. The concentration of the leverage for trade utterly limited Igbo entrepreneurs, particularly in the era of import licensing, once your quota was exhausted, you could not do business.
This affected the old Igbo money in Aba and Onitsha, who were the arrow-heads of innovation and traditional partners in the advance of Igbo industrial economy. It is remarkable that as at 1985, a least by a book published by the Oxford Economist Tom Forrest in 1980, The Advance of African Capital, the Igbo had the highest investment in machine tools industries in all of Africa, and the highest depth of investment in rural, cottage industries. In his prediction in 1980, if that rate of investment continued, according to Forrest in 1980, the Igbo part of Africa would accomplish an industrial revolution by 1987. Now, by 1983/85, Federal government policies helped to dismantle the growth of indigenous Igbo Industry through its targeted national economic policies. As I have said, there is a corollary between industrial development and innovation.
3rdly, the severe, strategic staunching of huge capital in-flow into the East starved Igbo businesses and institutions of the capacity to utilize or even expand their capacities. There were no strategic Federal Capital projects in the East. There were no huge infrastructural investments in the East. The last major Federal government investment in Igbo land was the Niger Bridge which was commissioned in 1966. Any region starved of government funds experiences catatony and attrition. Private capital is often not enough to create the kind of synergy necessary for innovation. Rather than invest in the East, from 1970 to date, the Federal government has strategically closed down every capacity for technological advancement in the East and stripped that region of its capacity.
By 1966, the Eastern Nigerian Gas masterplan had been completed under Okpara. But in its review of a Nigeria gas masterplan, the Federal government strategically circumvented the East. Oil and Gas are under Federal oversight. The Trans-Amadi to Aba Industrial Gas network linkage had been completed in 1966, to pipe gas from Port-Harcourt to Aba. The Federal government let that go into abeyance and uprooted the already reticulated pipes. The East was denied access to energy with the destruction of the Power stations during the war.
The Mbakwe government sought to remedy this by embarking on two highly critical area of investment necessary for industrial life: the 5 Zonal water projects, which were 75 completed by 1983, and set for commissioning in 1984, which was to supply clean water for domestic and industrial use to all parts of the old Imo state, and the Amaraku and Izombe Power stations, under the Imo Rural Electrification Project. These were the first ever massive independent power projects ever carried out by any state government in Nigeria which would have made significant part of Igbo land energy independent today. The supply of daily electricity was possible in Imo as at 1984. The Amaraku station had come on stream, and the Izombe Gas station was underway, when Buhari and his men struck.
The first order of business under the Buhari govt in January 1984, was to declare all that investment by Mbakwe “white elephant projects.” They were abandoned, and left to decay.
Ground had already been acquired and cleared on the Umuahia-Okigwe road to commence work by the South Korean Auto firm, Hyundai, under a partnership with Imo for the Hyundai Assembly plant in Umuahia, to cater to a West African market. The first order of business under the Buhari government in January 1984, was to declare all that investment by Mbakwe “white elephant projects.” They were abandoned, and left to decay. The equipment at the Amaraku power station was later sold in parts by Joe Aneke during Abacha’s government. Some of the industries like the Paint and Resins company, and the Aluminium Extrusion plant in Inyishi were privatized, and sold. Projects like the massive Ezinachi Clay & Brick works at Okigwe are at various stages of decay, as memorial to all that effort.
4thly, you may not remember but Odumegwu Ojukwu founded and opened the first Nigerian University of Technology – the University of Technology Port-Harcourt in 1967, under the leadership of prof. Kenneth Dike. He had also compelled Shell to establish the First Petroleum Technology Training Institute in Port-Harcourt in 1966. All these were dismantled. The PTI was take from Port-Harcourt to Warri, while University of Tech, P/H was reduced to a campus of UNN, until 1975, when it became Uniport. You will recall that for years, up till 1981, the only institutions of higher learning in Central Eastern Nigeria were the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, IMT Enugu and Alvan Ikoku College of Ed, in Owerri. There is no innovation without centers of strategic research.
Mbakwe and Jim Nwobodo changed all that in 1981, when they pushed through their various states Assembly, the bills establishing the old Anambra State Univ. of Tech (ASUTHECH), under the presidency of Kenneth Dike, and the IMOSU with its five campuses under the presidency of Prof MJC Echeruo. The master plan for these universities as epicenters of research and innovation in the East were effectively grounded with the second coming of the military in 1984, and the diminution of their mission through underfunding, etc. As I have said, I have given you the very short version. After a brief glimpse of light between 1979-83, Igbo land witnessed the highest form of attrition from 1983- date, and the destruction of the efforts of its public leadership to restore it to its feet has been strategic.
Some have been intimidated, and the Igbo themselves have grown very cynical from that experience of deep alienation from Nigeria. I think you should be a little less cynical of Igbo attempts to re-situate themselves in the Nigerian federation: starved of funds, starved of investments, subjected to regulatory strictures from a powerful central government which sees the East in adversarial terms, and often threatened, the Igbo themselves grew cynical of it all. You may recall, the first move by the governors of the former Eastern Region to meet under the aegis of the old Eastern Region’s Governors Conference in 1999, was basically checkmated by Obasanjo who threatened them after they called for confederation in response to the Sharia issue in the North.
Their attempts to establish liaison offices in Enugu and create a regional partnership was considered very threatening by the federal government under Obasanjo, that not too long after, they abandoned that move, and that was it. If people cannot be allowed to organize for the good of their constituents, then it only means one thing: it is not in the interest of certain vested interests in Nigeria for a return of a common ground in the Eastern part of Nigeria because establishing that kind of common ground threatens the balance of power. It is even immaterial if such a common ground leads to Nigeria’s ultimate benefit. There are people who just find the idea of a common, progressive partnership of the old Eastern Region threatening to their own long term interests. This is precisely what is going on – its undercurrent. This of course cannot be permitted to go on forever. A generation arises which often says, “No! in Thunder.”
The Trans-Amadi to Aba Industrial Gas network/linkage had been completed in 1966, to pipe gas from Portharcourt to Aba. The FG let that go into abeyance and uprooted the already reticulated pipes.
Igbo population is quite huge, and people who truly know understand that the Igbo constitute the single largest ethnic nation in Nigeria. Much has been made about how this so-called “small” Igbo land space could accommodate the vast Igbo population. But People also forget that Igbo land accommodated Igbo who fled from everywhere else in 1967. So, the question of whether Igbo land is large enough to contain the Igbo is a non-issue. In any case, Biafra is not only the land of the Igbo. It goes far beyond Igbo land. But even for the sake of building scenarios, we stick to Igbo land alone – the great Igbo cities of Enugu, Port-Harcourt, Owerri, Aba, Onitsha, Asaba, Abakaliki, Umuahia, Awka and Onitsha are yet to be reach even 30% of their capacities.
New arteries can be built, facilities expanded; there are innovative ways of moving populations through new transportation platforms -underneath, above, on the surface, and by waterways. The East of Nigeria has one of the most complex and connected, and largely disused system of natural river waterways in the world. New, ecologically habitable towns can be expanded to form new cities from the Grade A Townships – Agbor, Obiaruku, Aboh, Oguta, Mgbidi, Orlu, Ihiala, Amawbia/Ekwuluobia, Elele/Ahoada, Owerrinta, Bonny, Asa, Arochukwu, Afikpo, Okigwe, and so on. The Igbo will be fine. The Japanese and the Dutch, for example, have proved that there are innovative ways of using constricted space.
As for the economy: it is supply and demand. New economic policies will integrated Igbo economy to the central West African and West African Markets. The Igbo will create a new vast export network, unhindered by idiotic economic and foreign policies. The re-activation of the PH port systems will for e.g. open the closed economic corridor once and for all to global trade. As anybody knows, it might take a fast train no more than 45 minutes to move goods from the Warri or Sapele ports to Aba and even in less time to Onitsha. As Diette Spiff once observed while playing golf at Oguta, all it would take to connect Warri and Oguta is just a long bridge, and the vast economic movement will commence between Warri and its traditional trading areas of Onitsha and the rest of the East.
The quantum of economic activity will see the growth of that corridor between Aba-Oguta- Obiaruku down to Warri as the crow flies. The impact of trade between the Calabar ports and Aba will explode. In fact, the old trading stations along the Qua-Iboe River (the Cross River) at Arochukwu, Afikpo, down to Oron and Mamfe in the Cameroons will explode and create new prosperity and new opportunities. I am giving the short version. So, the Igbo will be alright. They would simply be just able to define their own development strategies, deploy their highly trained manpower currently wasting unutilized, and the basis of its vast middle class will create new consumers, and generate an internal energy that will thrive on Igbo innovation, industry, and know-how, which Nigeria currently suppresses. This is exactly one very possible scenario.
So, Tanko Yakassi is wrong. May be if the Igbo leave Kano, the Emir will no longer need to buy his bulb from an Igbo trader in Kano. He will have to buy it either from an Hausa, a Fulani, a Lebanese, or some such person. But those will have to come to Igbo land to buy it first before selling to the Emir. There was a time when all of West Africa came to Onitsha or Aba to buy and trade because it was safe, and those cities were the largest market emporia in the continent. People came from as far away as the Congo to buy stuff in Aba and sell in the Congo. It could happen again, only this time on a vaster, more controlled scale. The network of Igbo global trade will not stop if they left Nigeria. In fact, they will have more access to an indigenous credit system that would expand that trade, currently unobtainable and unavailable today to them, because Nigeria makes it impossible for Igbo business to grow through all kinds of restrictions strategically imposed on it, including port restrictions.
However, although I do think that the Igbo would do quite well alone, they could do a lot better with Nigeria, if the conditions are right. This agitation is for the conditions to be made right; for Nigeria and its political and economic policies to stop being a wedge on Igbo aspirations. And Igbo aspiration is quite simple: to match the rest of the developed world inch by every inch, and not to be held down by the Nigerian millstone of corruption, inefficiency, and inferiority. The Igbo think that control of their public policies on education, research and innovation, economic and monetary policies, and recruitment, control and deployment of its own work force both in public and private sectors will give them the leverage they need to build a coherent and civilized society.
They point to the example of Biafra, where under three years, they were making their own rockets and calculating its distances; distilling their own oil and making aviation fuel, creating in their Chemical and Biological laboratories, new cures for diseases like Cholera, shaping their own spare parts, and turning the entire East into a vast workshop, as Ojukwu put it, while Nigeria was busy doing owambe, importing even toothpick, and creating new wartime millionaires from corrupt contracting systems by a powerful oligopoly. It is a fallacy much driven by ignorance that Igbo will not thrive and that Igbo land will not accommodate Igbo population if they leave. That is not true. There is no scientific basis for it.
The dynamics of human movement will take great care of all that. It’s a lame excuse. What people who wish for Nigeria to stay together should do is not to make such puerile statements, because it is meaningless. What we should all do is to find the strategic means of containing Igbo discontent by LISTENING to the Igbo, and seeking peaceful and productive ways of fully freeing their energy to instigate growth both of themselves and of Nigeria within Nigeria for everyone’s benefit. Threatening them will not work. It has never worked, and it is important to understand a bit of Igbo cultural psychology: the more you threaten him, the more the Igbo person digs in very stubbornly. Igbo, with a long tradition of diplomacy, thrive on consensus not on threat of the use of force, or the like.
Frankly, those who continue to think that the Igbo have no options are yet to understand the complexity of this movement as we speak. They still look at the surface of events while the train is revving and about to leave the station. We need to work very carefully on this issue. I myself, I prefer Nigeria. I like its color of many peoples and cultures. That in itself is the very condition for growth and regeneration. A single Igbo nation may be more prosperous, but will be less interesting, and that is the more valid argument.
By Obi Nwakanma
OBLONG MEDIA UNLIMITED 
This article is an ever green to many up and coming Igbo sons and daughters. Thanks for this few but comprehensive points in answer to PMB question.
However , l disagree with your submission that ” A single Igbo nation may be prosperous , but will be less interesting”.
Biafra nation will be akin to the nation of Israel , who hated and dispersed by nations surrounding her still a force on planet Earth. Republic of Benin, Dahomey despite their small size exist. Biafra nation will be much better , stronger , and envy of other tribes and nations in Africa if allowed to exist.
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Only if you knew the secret behind Isreal, you won’t speak. Let’s pray for a consensus so we can grow as a nation.
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I have read the comments of some of the respondents who are not Igbo to Obi Nwakanma’s article and come to the realization that because of the inveterate hatred for the Igbo they will be blind to the orchestrated plan by the Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba since after the war to make Ndigbo second or even third or fourth class citizens in Nigeria. The policies of the Federal Government are eloquent testimonies and now the clamour for Biafra is the outburst of system it’s elasticity limit has been exceeded. The statement by Chinua Achebe in his book ‘There Was A Country’ is apt, “Every generation must recognize and embrace the task it is peculiarly designed by history and providence to perform”.
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Obi, you are the Son of your father. A pure breed of the ancient Igbo. You wiped my tears to an extent with your erudite treatise.Those who have ears,let them hear. Time and tide will settle the score.
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Obi Nwakanma need to reconnect ,, great Josite ! This is Jaig..
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Obi Nwakanma,what a great articulated piece,very interesting u really opened my eyes more on my very argument and agitations abt d margilisations of the Igbos’ it’s quite unfortunate that Buhari asked that question when he knows d answers,very mischievous,posterity ll’ judge them all,time shll tell,the Igbos’ must have their freedom!Buhari and d Northern agendas wth d West cannot stop d Igbos,Na’Abba is blaming Eastern Govs.fake person like him,notice his face a deceit!
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My beloved, courageous and selfless OBI NWAKANMA you have added many more years to my lifespan. My fellow IGBO brothers and sisters who think they are making some good money doing retail or franchise Commerce, better wake up because all you think you have make can be given wings by enemy government so long as your root remains undermined as it were and still is.
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Obi Nwanne, your treatise is revelatory of the comprehensive state of calculated conspiracy of successive Nigeria govt especially Buhari and Obasanjo govt to suppress the enterprising Igbo spirit and destroy a nation’s quest for full actualization of it’s potential.
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Ndigbo Kwenu+3..the spirit of Biafra will never die.Biafra will be a much much better country than Nigeria whether they like it or not Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba marginalization of IGBO nation will not suppress our God given rights and supremacy.we are the black Isrealites ,small but mighty..Igbo will emerge strongest in absence of Nigeria ..I AM BIAFRA and Biafra is my root’…Biafra shall Rise
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Wonderfully articulated, oh my God I feel so elevated, biafra will definitely elevate the black race.
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It’s worrying when folk like you talk/write about the ‘Igbos’ and then proceed to include non Igbo states/cities in your agitation. Let’s get something clear, irrespective of what you may think or say, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta and Rivers States are not Igbo states. Ergo, not part of your agitation. You may well succeed as an Igbo nation, and we wish you luck in your agitation. But leave us out of it. We are not interested.
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Udeme……… Think Again!!!!!
Wake Up Bro.
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He was not talking about Igbo states, rather he was talking about Igbo towns that were merged with non Igbo towns to form states in order to divide the Igbos. Believe it or not; Port Harcourt, Asaba, Elele, Agbor and Etche were, are and will always remain Igbo towns. If you don’t believe it, travel to those places and hear them speak.
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MR OBI YOUR ARTICLE IS REALLY CAUSING FIRE IN NIGERIA PLEASE FIRE ON, TELL THEM WE CANT BE PLAYED FOOL AGAIN.
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Nice one .I hope more people read this article.
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Everybody knows that the people from the south south and south east are very “special”. This article as beautiful as it is not the first of its kind but the problem is that with all the truth in it, nothing is done about it. The struggle for Biafra is not ideologically that of secession but that of an actual ” One Nigeria ” where there is no bias in the distribution of government, Biafra is always going to be here because being biafran is not about going about shouting causing a nuisance, it is something you can’t alienate from a person born in the region inasmuch as you can’t train an eaglet to be like a chicken. The solution to this is simple, national integration … Ka Chukwu mezie okwu
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d problem comes when the so-called marginalised pple want to forcefully include others without dia consent…when did the ikwerre man agree to be an igbo…when did portharcourt suddenly n conveniently become an igbo city! and of course you would later add UYO n Calabar abi?….it is dis postulations that has continually shown the 419ish nature of your agitations!….and u were referring to mbakwe of blessed memory…what now transpired with your leaders of the current 16 yr-democracy?…stop blaming others for your woes bruvs!
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My brother kunle dt is why we are asking for a referedum so dt people can decide where they want to be. Even in igboland, those who are comfortable wt d present nigeria can even vote against biafra. Without a referedum, no one can actually know what d people want. There present arrangement by lord luggard was not agreed upon, so there was no clear conditions and through successive military rule, d constitution stipulates dt we are a federating republics but now, we are having a unitary system. People should be able to grow and control their resources. People from oil producing states can hv refineries and develop along petrochemical industries while those that hv arable land can develop agriculturally. Right now everyone is a contraction in abuja or ph!
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Is that all you can decipher from this piece. Allow Ikwerre people to decide their ethnicity. Referendum will decide these issues which is making more Catholic than the pope. Unfortunately, referendum to a black man is tantamount to secession
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Nice write-up Obi Nwakanma. The best I have seen so far on this issue. I wish the protesters could be equally enlightened on the cause they are fighting for. Because it is clear that a majority do not know. The protests which are said to be ‘calm’ are not well structured. No message is passed across except “give us Biafra”. The “why’s ” the “what’s ” the “how’s “; none are captured. An outside view will easily perceive it as a threat instead of the peaceful movement for a purpose which it claims to be. If one of the protesters is randomly selected to articulate the aim of the protests, for immediate action, there will be scarcely any tangible point mentioned besides “stop marginalization ” and “give us our nation “.
You made an excellent point when you said:
“However, although I do think that the Igbo would do quite well alone, they could do a lot better with Nigeria, if the conditions are right. This agitation is for the conditions to be made right; for Nigeria and its political and economic policies to stop being a wedge on Igbo aspirations. … I myself, I prefer Nigeria. I like its color of many peoples and cultures. That in itself is the very condition for growth and regeneration. A single Igbo nation may be more prosperous, but will be less interesting, and that is the more valid argument.”
Well done Obi Nwakanma. I hope to see more learned and structured arguments like this from the leaders of the movement, as against disorganized roadblocks and tension packed demonstrations.
Nkemsinachi
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It baffles me wen i hear igbos including other tribes / states dat are not igbos in their biafra agitation, d question is ” can’t igbos stand or secede alone without co-opting other independent tribes or is it dat igbos are envisaging a failed state of biafra without d inclusion of south south states as a result of their landlock territory and small quantity of crude oil in their two states which is not up to one tenth of oil in warri ? What is d tendency dat igbos wil not forcefully dominate & marginaliz other tribes in dre biafra ? If igbos av confidence in demselves, let dem secede on their five states alone. Thanks.
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When an ikwerre man speaks, an igbo man have an idea of what he is saying. The yorubas and hausas lost out completely. When an Ondo man speaks , an ijebu man understands him as well. Should we say that ilaje and Ondos are not yorubas. We know ourselves. Don’t speak for us bro.
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The last agitation put paid to the lumping together forcefully other tribes with the Igbos. They all rejected it including the Anioma elders. I wil suggest the Igbos to go it alone and let others follow on their own accord. To be honest, it will succeed faster and easily.
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You are indeed a sophisticated moron. You are still upholding crude oil in this 21st century of knowledge economy. And what has being a landlocked country got to do with economic prosperity and technological development. The present 36-state structure is fraudulent and artificial – a product of northern monopoly of political power through the military. That you expect the Igbos to accept this five states imposed on Igbos reveals the kindergarten level of your thought process.
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This is a great eye opener o all Igbo’s who may not know our journey so far, kudos to Prof obi.We keep moving no matter what.
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May CHUKWU OKIKE ABIAMA bless you prof. Obi. You said it all. All hail BIAFRA!!!
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Powerfull one, ride on we knw we hv halfcast here that was born by Hausa and fulani here. As bible use to say when my sheep here my voice they will follow me. Olayemi, kunle nd udeme go nd ask your mother to tell you who ur father is ok. And leave Biafrans alone.
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With all due respect to this article and the agitation for Biafra, I make bold to say apart from the eulogy on Igbo people with particular reference to their survival instinct and impromptu war technology, this article fails to answer key fundamental questions permeating the agitation.
Every nation within the geopolitical formation called Nigeria brings its’ own accent, style, culture, creativity, contrbution and inheritance to the table. There is no denying the ingenuity, innovative and dynamic nature of Igbos, but so also the Igbos like others have brought their fair share of damage to Nigeria.
One fundamental question therefore this article fails to answer is what core marginalisation the Igbos have suffered and from what quarters. I will buttress this. An igbo friend of mine asked me why can an Igbo man not be considered to rule Nigeria if not magi agitation? My answer then was, well you have included Portharcourt in your dream Biafra, isn’t Jonathan Ebele Goodluck from there? You can either accept an igbo man was in power and still marginalised igbo people or forget Rivers, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta, Bayelsa, Edo. What is left is no more so juicy even though that will represent the actual igbo nation.
The second question not adequately answered is who is marginalising the Igbos. When there have been Igbos in high positions how have these people used the resources to propel the entrepreneurial and technological instincts and potential of their place and people? I have seen people equate the Igbos to Israel, great idea, but take on board also that Israel has been at war for 60 odd years with no end in sight. Along with cakes and sweets come tooth decay.
There are far more unanswered questions, for instance how Igbos’ development could pan out as a landlocked nation? How their technological products would fair against china’s if they went into manufacturing, the local market reaction to Biafra if they were to opt out of Nigeria? And very importantly, if Nigeria has the capacity to manage a peaceful break off.
In my opinion Nigeria has the potential to be even greater than any breakaway nation, but we must know that Nigeria is only a country state at this moment, and it will take a long time to build us into a nation. A break up will not be easy, and it will set everyone back from the little progress made.
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“When there have been Igbos in high positions how have these people used the resources to propel the entrepreneurial and technological instincts and potential of their place and people”
Your comment reveals your ignorance on how the Nigeria’s commonwealth is shared. Political appointments are not used to distribute Nigeria’s federal revenue and other state allocations. It is the derivation formula enshrined in the constitution and through the number of local governments in each state. Having Igbos in high positions only benefits the occupants. It does not alter the entrenched and unfair distribution formula which is rigged against the Igbos since the end of the civil war.
“In my opinion Nigeria has the potential to be even greater than any breakaway nation,…..”
Nigeria never became great in the time of the Ziks, Awolowos and Balewa. It failed to become great in the time of Shagari’s Soyinkas and Jakande’s. Gowon at 80plus is close to his grave. He will answer the final call without seeing Nigeria great in his lifetime. All the oil-wealth inspired grandiloquent visions he had about Nigeria all crashed in his lifetime. Nigeria, as currently structured will never become great in your lifetime or my life time. It will never become great 100 years from now. A 10-storey magnificent edifice built on the foundation of 2 storey edifice will surely and definitely crack, regardless of the repairs done on it.
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Coming to this blog, I know how ‘very dangerous’ it is to have a dissenting voice. However I must without fear point out a few things. Ndigbo is no doubt a good people. Quite industrious and forward minded. But I must point out that the way they go about mouthing their achievement leaves so much to be desired. Necessity is the mother of invention that old parlance say and I must say there is practically any people who wouldnt be ingenious in the very tight condition the Igbos found themselves during the war. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to play it down but sounding like no one else can but us, is obviously an over hype. In addition to that, I think the blame others syndrome is what actually played on the minds of the restive youths on whose mind the IPOB and MASSOB groups played. Industrial estates, gas plants and pipelines, Hyundai investment and so many others abound in every region. Now for Igbos to make it sound like its a perfectly planned drive by other major tribes to dwarf the Igbo’s development is being economical with the truth and mischievous. We had the country in regions prior to the war, but it wasnt the Igbos who were having the lead especially in the many firsts. I neednt go to details but we need ask ourselves, was the Peugeot in the north not equally run down by politicians and purposeless leaders? What about Volkswagen in Lagos? Perhaps, if Ajaokuta Steel Complex was in the SE region, it would have been included as part of the reason why Igbos were deliberately thwarted.
There are questions to be asked – Are the Hausas better off with them having their tribesmen running the nation in quick succession? Did Obj in his 1st and 2nd coming not favour the north and then the SE respectively much more than his presidency was felt in his home land? Now that we have democracy, are the Igbos denied their allocation from the federation as much as Lagos was even under OBJ? I can bet if Lagos was an Igbo state and Obj denied them fund, it would have been the most grievous sin against the Igbos after the war. No doubt, the ingenuity in fixing the state under Tinubu and subsequently under Fashola would have been an Igbo plus, something only Igbos can do and no one else. More questions – Is there a quantum leap in development that surpasses other regions since their own began to rule them as governors? With increased allocations to the SS, do they fare better in terms of standard of living and development? Is Ibori an Hausaman or Yoruba? Is GEJ not from the Niger Delta, and did he benefit his village much more he benefited Kafanchan? With the favours the Igbos got from him, was the 2nd Niger bridge built? Did any of the politicians from SE remember home? No! They were busy stealing with the Abokis, the Ofemanus and building giant monuments in Abuja, Port Hacourt and Lagos. There are many questions and the answers are obvious.
The bigger problem is leadership. Not necessarily because it is Hausa, Igbos or Yoruba. WHat we need to address is our collective psyche. The depth of our reasoning and the quality of our faculty. We are all guilty of it and the sooner we address that as a nation, the better for us all.
I am not afraid of insults as Igbos often do to dissenting voices, hence I state here that I am a yorubaman from Oyo State and I am proud of my heritage. God bless all tribes in this nation!
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“The bigger problem is leadership. Not necessarily because it is Hausa, Igbos or Yoruba”
Go educate yourself. some more on the one imperative for Nigeria’s cure.. Restructure Nigeria today and you will see the missing leadership appear in a jiffy in all the geo-political units. When politics is no longer financially profitable and instead becomes sacrificial such that you can lose your wealth and life ( public officers cannot benefit from medical tourism.You only use local hospitals when you and your family sick or resign your position if you must travel out for medical help) the true, passionate and qualified leadership will emerge
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I read this paragraph fully concerning the difference of most recent and earlier technologies, it’s awesome article.
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Obi Nwakamma!This is a nice piece. God bless the day you were born.
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Kudos to you
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