9th October, 2013
By Mac Durugbo
Whatever else is ascribed to the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) in terms of character and virtues, courage must take the lead. Aside the honesty, commitment and passion with which he approaches issues, be they social, political or religious or even issues of development and so on, he does not lack the courage to say it as it is or do it as he deems fit anywhere and at anytime.
It is this courage, no doubt, that lies behind the tremendous achievements he has made in governance in the last six years. It is this courage that makes him formulate and implement rather audacious policies and take on ambitious projects which have today put Lagos at the apex of infrastructure development in the country.
That courage came to the fore on Thursday, 26 September, 2013 at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island as he confronted Igbo elders and told them to their faces the fundamental truth which, perhaps, no one else has been able to tell them.
The occasion was the Aka Ikenga 25th Anniversary Symposium. He told them, in no uncertain terms, to go home and develop their homeland in order to stop the seeming uncontrolled migration of Igbo youths to Lagos.
Of course, he did apologise to those who have tried to make a political issue of the recent repatriation of some fourteen Igbo destitude to Onitsha for their misunderstanding of that government action. But he reminded them immediately that the apology does not take away the fundamental reason underlying that action.
I find very fundamental some of the questions he posed to that Igbo socio-cultural group of professionals, made up of such personalities as Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, former Nigerian Foreign Minister, General Ike Nwachukwu, Professor Pat Utomi, Ambassador George Obiozor and numerous other prominent Igbo sons.
Permit me to quote some of those lines: “There are questions that caused the misunderstanding and it is those questions the Aka Ikenga must address if it must continue to fulfil its purpose. Is there one part of this country that is less endowed whether with human or natural resources? Is that the problem? Is it the case that, perhaps, some parts are so endowed and not well managed? Those are the honest debates that we must have.”
It was the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Gary Nnachi, that actually provoked the question of Igbo under development when, in his goodwill remarks at the occasion he made a comparison between “the Igbo in Lagos and the Igbo at home”, pointing out that there was need for those in Lagos to bridge the wide developmental gap between the two sets of Ndigbo. His words: “When I came in here and saw all of you, I remembered the Igbo at home. I do not say you should leave Lagos and relocate to home but you must extend what you have here to those at home. You must go and develop the homeland.”
Taking it from there, Governor Fashola continued, “As he (Ohanaeze Ndigbo President) began to distinguish between the Igbo in Lagos and the Igbo at home I knew there was a real issue; that those at home don’t look like those of you here and you don’t look like them.
They are questions that I think the Aka Ikenga should address.”
Then he delivered what I may call the real clincher: “How can development be so difficult in the part of Nigeria that gave us Ike Nwachukwu; that gave us Chinua Achebe, Azikiwe, Odumegwu Ojukwu, Ekwueme and so on and so forth? How can development be so hard in that part of this country? I think those are the real issues, and as I listened to talks about Ndigbo, perhaps, we should reflect deeply more about the issues that Bishop Kukah’s speech has provoked here. Are we more Igbo than Nigerian or are we more Nigerian than Igbo?” Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, the Bishop of Sokoto, was the Guest Lecturer at the occasion.
In order to appreciate the import of all these, it is important to examine the real issue dispassionately. I think we should start by repeating to ourselves that question: “Are we more Igbo than Nigerian or are we more Nigerian than Igbo?”
The truth of the matter is that the Igbo man is everywhere in this country developing, (except, perhaps his home state) and driving the national economy through manufacturing, agriculture, import and export trade, investment in real estate and other profitable ventures which develop the host states and create jobs for their citizens. I will cite just one example. In 2010, I was travelling to Enugu by road from Lagos.
As I got close to 9th Mile, I saw a rusty signboard atop an equally rusty steel gate enclosing a large expanse of land at the left side of the road. What attracted my attention was the name on that signboard. It read, “Auto Spare-parts Machinery Dealers Association (ASPAMDA)”. My mind went immediately to the ASPAMDA situated at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex on Lagos-Badagry Expressway. That Lagos project which came about as a result of the problem the Igbo Auto parts traders encountered in Idumota, is a multi-billion naira project. It is a fully developed business estate by Igbo Spare parts traders who left Idumota as a result of the constant clashes with Area Boys. It took off with about 96 units of 78 shops each complete with roads, water, electricity, banks and other facilities that drive business.
Ironically, the signboard I saw along Onitsha – Enugu road was meant to signpost the same project in Enugu. But from the look of that signboard and the gate as well as the walls that enclose very tall grasses and shrubs, the project must have been started some 10 or more years back but abandoned soon after.
Or probably, it may have been left there to be developed later as a retirement settlement for the present Lagos ASPAMDA members. Whatever reason that informed the abandonment of that project in Enugu must be fundamental to the sorry story of the Igbo man in Nigeria today. The Igbo man cries to high heavens of being marginalized, of lack of federal presence and so on and so forth, but what has he done to attract federal presence?
If ASPAMDA were developed in Enugu, for example, instead of its present location, of course, the numerous customers that troop daily to the place will have no choice but to find their way to Enugu. They will, of course, encounter the bad roads and help us shout about it. The government will surely be attracted when it becomes obvious that the place has become economically viable. Aside this, just think of the job, both direct and indirect, that can be generated in that community and the whole of the state.
Many of the young men and women hawking merchandise on the expressways and streets in Lagos will most likely find things to do there instead of having to travel all the way to Lagos where they have no place to lay their heads.
All the women whose husbands have retired or died but who continue to stay in Lagos trading on foodstuff and other petty trading will relocate there and service the numerous customers that would come. It would boost the hospitality industry as well and this in turn will expand and be able to improve their services and take on more qualified workers.
It is a whole lot of economy that is capable of transforming that state and by extension the Igbo states around it. And that is just one example. It is the same story in Port Harcourt, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Kaduna, Jos, Bauchi, just name any state in Nigeria and you will find the Igbo man building big businesses and creating jobs for citizens of the states. Perhaps, this leads to another fundamental question which the Ohanaeze Ndigbo President posed.
How come the Igbo man, who gloried in and was better known for his academic achievements in the not too distant past, is now more known as a trader? Today, go to any markets in Lagos and other states of the federation and you find Igbo youths, largely uneducated, “doing business”. And as a result of their lack of education, they carry on in a manner that portrays them, most times, as desperate and lawless people.
“I Before Others” (IBO) is a growing synonym among our hosts depicting this character. Across the country today, but especially up North, the Igbo man is abused and treated like second class citizens. They are killed in their scores and are made to suffer so much deprivation. But they keep hanging on there as if they have no choice. It is simply pathetic.
I have long stopped reading about killings in the North because the victims are almost always Ndigbo. Perhaps, lastly let me touch on the goodwill message of President Goodluck Jonathan as read on his behalf by Senator Anyim who represented him at the occasion. Among all other things Mr. President said, “For 25 years, you have successfully negotiated the interface between your dictates of care for the Igbo nation and the duty of your unflinching loyalty to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Remarkably in doing so, you have found and learnt to respect the precarious balance between power and principles, between personal ambitions and group obligations, between professional interests and political intrigues.
This explains why this group has never had any confrontations with the authorities or even any internal squabble that come to public light. It is, therefore, not surprising that in a short period of 25 years, Aka Ikenga has emerged as one of the most respected and articulate socio-cultural think-tank.” Whether this is the language of the President or a case of the voice of Jacob and hand of Essau is not of interest here.
What is of interest is the interpretation of the whole thing. Taken from the beginning to the end, the President is saying “Thank you for being an obedient and dutiful citizen in spite of all”. Well, that is all well and good but where does it place the Igbo man today.
The Aka Ikenga, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and other Igbo socio-cultural and political groups seem largely to be self-centred. The general motto seems to be “Don’t rock the boat” as long as our interests are protected. Whose interest, one may ask. That has always been the approach of Ndigbo to matters of national interest. Take for example the issue of rotational presidency.
The last time I checked, the slogan was “Igbo President In 2015”. In fact it was the high point of negotiations for the support of Ndigbo for the Presidency of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Today, while the Northerners and other parts of the country are agitating that power must shift, the Igbo elders are silent.
In conclusion, I wish to repeat my appeal to Ndigbo to please rally around the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, in his innovative move to change the conservative stance of Igbo politics. Irish Novelist, Poet and literary critic, Clive Staple Lewis, obviously out of frustration over the situation in his country and eager for change, told his countrymen, “It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird; it would even be a jolly sight harder for it to learn how to fly while remaining an egg.”
We are like eggs at present. And we cannot go indefinitely being just an ordinary decent egg. We must hatch or go bad. If the present political leaders in Igbo land really love the people, I mean the ordinary masses of the Igbo nation, it is time to change the dance steps and that is what Owelle Rochas Okorocha, the Governor of Imo State has done.
The average Igbo man has suffered a lot since the war ended some forty years ago. While the rest of the nations that make up our country are identifying with the progressives to free their people from political marginalization, leaders of Ndigbo have continued to identify with people who have mortgaged the destiny of their people and made them second class citizens in their own country. I think the time has come to make a political u-turn.
•Durugbo, a socio-political commentator, wrote from Lagos.