IT IS IN NIGERIA’S INTEREST TO LET THE IGBOS GO.

1. Introduction The restructuring discourse and debate has now been on-going in Nigeria for about a decade. The issue for me in this article isn’t about the propriety or germaneness, or even the benefits of restructuring for Nigeria. I really couldn’t care less for what’s good or bad for Nigeria; that’s for non-Igbo Nigerians, as far […]

JACOB ODULATE, THE MAN WHO INVENTED ALABUKUN POWDER.

The story you are about to read is about a Nigerian who shook the whole world and the pharmaceutical industry in his days. However, his constituency-Nigeria forgets him. But let’s celebrate him today because if he had been alive today, he would probably offer solution to covid 19. Enjoy your reading and don’t forget to […]

NNAMDI AZIKIWE’S SPEECH ON THE THREAT BY THE NORTH TO SECEDE IN 1953.

“I have invited you to attend this caucus because I would like you to make clear our stand on the issue of secession. As a party, we would have preferred Nigeria to remain intact, but lest there be doubt as to our willingness to concede to any shade of political opinion the right to determine […]

NORTHERN EMIRS, RULERS FORCED ME TO ANNUL JUNE 12 ELECTIONS, IBB OPENS UP, IMPLICATES DAVID MARK, ABACHA, EMIRS.

They will kill me; they will kill the President Elect, Chief MKO Abiola if I went ahead with the election and announced the winner of the elections which we all know to be Bashorun, Chief MKO Abiola. ”I know so; I am not daft. He won; he tried. I feel bad about the whole matter. […]

BACKGROUND TO AZIKIWE-EYO ITA MISUNDERSTANDING.

(Excerpted by Casimir Agbakaja from the book, Zik, Ndigbo & their Southern Neighbours by Uchenna Nwankwo) Igbo relationship with the Eastern Minorities was largely defined by Azikiwe’s relationship with Professor Eyo Ita, the foremost political practitioner from the area at the time. Eyo Ita was a vice president of the NCNC and the leader of […]

ADESINA: GUILTY AS CHARGED.

The African Development Bank’s helmsman, Nigerian-born and America-trained Akinwumi Adesina has been in the news recently.Strangely, this time, there are unpleasant allegations being leveled against him. I say strangely because those who are knowledgeable about international development will readily agree that the name Akinwumi Adesina is synonymous with stellar accomplishments. So naturally, much more than […]

ARCHIVES: NIGERIAN SENATE AND PALM GREASING FOR MINISTERIAL CONFIRMATION. By Emeka Anyaoku

“The President then told me that he wanted me to join his new government. I was so surprised that I said, “But, Sir, I am not a politician.” He, however, quickly replied, “Nor was Henry Kissinger a politician.” In reply to my question about the other characters he hoped to have in his new government, […]

NNAMDI AZIKIWE’S ADDRESS AT THE 1949 IBO ASSEMBLY AT ABA.

Harbingers of a new day for the Ibo nation, having selected me to preside over the deliberations of this assembly of the Ibo nation, I am conscious of the fact that you have not done so because of any extraordinary attributes in me.I realize that I am not the oldest among you, nor the wisest, […]

COTTAGE INDUSTRIES IN EASTERN NIGERIA – KEY TO RAPID INDUSTRIALIZATION. By Livy-Elcon Emereonye

Anyone who had traveled around Eastern Nigeria especially Southeast, would be marveled at the number and types of buildings scattered in every nook and cranny of the zone. People compete to build edifices. Without mincing words, it could be out of place to say that there is rarely a village without a millionaire as seen […]

JEFF BEZOS TRILLIONAIRE TALE AND NIGERIA E-COMMERCE – By Aliyu Yakubu.

America’s Jeff Bezos, founder of e-commerce giant, Amazon, is becoming a trillionaire in the midst of COVID-19 global pandemic. This is both good and bad news. Good news because it is the reward of foresight and tenacity. Bad news because in the midst of the same pandemic, his e-commerce counterparts in Nigeria are counting losses. The difference is not in […]

COVID-19: REINVENTING YOURSELF AFTER THE LOCKDOWN.

COVID-19 lockdown “It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself that determines how your life story will develop.” Dieter F. Uchrdorf (A German aviator). The Nigerian economy nay world economy would never be the same again. The advent of COVID-19 came so sudden and caught everyone napping and panicky. Even the world powers were very much […]

COVID-19: THE SABOTEURS AND THE UNBELIEVERS – By Dan Agbese

Federal and state governments need to be more serious in enforcing the regulations aimed at chaining COVID-19. It is a matter of life and death. No nation can joke with that. The co-ordination between the federal and state authorities appears ragged at the moment. I thought the primary responsibility of the presidential task force was […]

HISTORY OF THE ALMAJIRI SYSTEM IN NIGERIA.By Cheta Nwanze.

I think it is important to start this with the story of a boy, Alhassan.Born in Bebeji, Kano Emirate in 1877, his father, Abdullahi died when he was eight. His mother, Amarya, then left for Accra, and left her children in the care of a slave named Tata. Tata sent young Alhassan to an Almajiri […]

IT’S A LIE: IGBOLAND IS NOT LANDLOCKED. By Aloy Ejimakor.

It’s often said that a lie told so many times, if unchallenged, may – in course of time – begin to pass for the truth. One of such is the terrible lie, institutionally purveyed since the end of the Civil War, to the effect that Igboland is landlocked or that it has no access to […]

NIGERIA’S WHITEWASHED HEADS OF STATE; THE KANO EMPERORS

By Akinyemi Muhammed. On January 15 1966, Nigeria suffered its first military coup. The military coup was erroneously tagged an Igbo coup because most of the coup plotters were Majors from the East (even though most grew up in the north and spoke Hausa better than Igbo), and in July 1966, there was a ‘rematch’. […]

THE SECRET THINGS OF LIFE. By Livy-Elcon Emereonye

With all the secrets in life including the ones we know and those we are ignorant of, at the appointed time we leave the stage and everything associated with it. To everyone born of a woman, there is no permanent position because change is constant. Take a look at the mirror and see how fast […]

POST COVID-19 IMO: HISTORY BECKONS ON SENATOR HOPE UZODINMA.

By Nick Opara-Ndudu Lately, there has been palpable concern over political developments in Imo State, with the spate of unsavoury social media battles that have exposed the fragile nature of the relationships currently existing amongst key political actors. Regrettably, sundry events in our dear state have become the subject of intense public discourse and disagreements […]

OPINION:CHINA’S EXPENSIVE BET ON AFRICA.

Coronavirus crash in commodity prices has wasted $200 billion in investment and loans. China’s commercial activities in Africa, such as investments, infrastructure projects and bank lending, have long attracted scrutiny and criticism. Critics have accused Beijing of practicing a new form of economic colonialism to gain control of the continent’s valuable natural resources by luring […]

CRISIS OF IDENTITY: A VERY TERRIBLE DISEASE

This essay is a rebuttal to the recent publication by Dr Nwankwo Tony Nwaezeigwe making the rounds in the social media. In his write-up, he made several mendacious assertions, which I consider a calculated attempt to deride the Igbo nation and bring its past leaders into disrepute. My task is to clarify and put the […]

THEY CAME BEFORE US

(1) Olaudah Equiano: The Father of American Autobiography In his acclaimed autobiography, Olaudah Equiano told of his early childhood in Iseke, a community in the Igbo nation, southeast of Oshimmri (now the River Niger). He was kidnapped at age 11 and shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas in 1757. One of his American enslavers […]

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AZIKIWE’S OPINION OF OJUKWU/BIAFRA

“Yes. I played a prominent role in Biafra for the unity of the country in order to restore peace and bring about unity of the country. That’s the role I played. I advised Ojukwu. I said well look, you have declared secession. What we should do is to get the elder statesmen and women of […]

DR M.I OKPARA AND THE ECONOMIC BLITZ OF EASTERN NIGERIA.

No one conversant with the history of Nigeria in the I950s and 1960’s will miss the overwhelming impact of Dr M.I. Okpara on the nation. After all by 1964 he was fully in charge of the fastest growing and industrialising economy in the world- the Eastern Nigerian economy. Nothing illustrates the warped sense of history […]

THE POST-COVID-19 SOUTHEAST: REINVENTING THE IGBO POLITICAL ECONOMY

Introduction COVID-19 emerged as one of the world’s worst pandemics with unprecedented social and economic lockdown in history. As a global pandemic, over 212 countries, territories and conveyances have been hit by the ‘super-spreading COVID-19. The effect is the self-evident drift from economic bloom to gloom with every country’s share of the challenge. Covid-19 has […]

SAM MBAKWE OR M.I. OKPARA WHO WAS A BETTER GOVERNOR.

ATTEMPT AT AN ANSWER – by Dr. S. Okechukwu Mezu They lived in different times and clime. Dr. Michael Okpara was the Premier of Eastern Nigeria (Today’s South-Eastern states (Imo, Anambra, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi) and parts of South-South states (Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross Rivers). He was not elected but chosen over Barrister R. Amanze […]