Arise, O Compatriots (2)

By Chukwudi Ohiri

07052415807

The events of the South African xenophobic attacks and the threat by the Oba of Lagos, though already doused ought to remain a wakeup call for all Nigerians everywhere. There is the urgent need to reflect on why Nigeria as a country is sardonically referred to as a giant with clay feet to the extent that those we were hitherto ahead of in the race to nationhood are now the ones urging us to wake up. The incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari must as a matter of urgency, do whatever it can to reposition the country to a respectable position among the comity of nations before we sink into the abyss of obscurity. 

Narrowing down this discourse to the purported ‘ingenuity’ and ‘sagacity’ of the South Easterners (Ndigbo), one begins to wonder what has happened to the people once idolized by the world for their bravery and tenacity during the Nigeria/Biafra civil war years. The people were once compared to the Jews, who up till today hold the ace in industry, economy, commerce and to an appreciable extent, the politics of the United States to the point that America cannot do without them. Could it be said that the Igbo people are now dwelling in past glory? It can’t be far from the truth otherwise, how come the tribe has so depreciated in valuegeometrically within the last few decades such that they have become unwanted elements at home and in the diaspora.

Recall the great speech of the Late Biafran leader and warlord while addressing the world in a press conference and I quote: “In the three years of the war, necessity gave birth to invention. During those three years of heroic bound, we leapt across the great chasm that separates knowledge from know-how. We built rockets, and we designed and built our own delivery systems. We guided our rockets. We guided them far, we guided them accurately. For three years, blockaded without hope of import, we maintained all our vehicles. The state extracted and refined petrol.Individuals refined petrol in their back gardens. We built and maintained our airports, maintained them under heavy bombardment. Despite the heavy bombardment, we recovered so quickly after each raid that we were able to maintain the record for the busiest airport in the continent of Africa. We spoke to the world through telecommunication system engineered by local ingenuity; the world heard us and spoke back to us! We built armoured car tanks. We modified aircraft from trainer to fighters, from passenger aircraft to bombers. In the three years of freedom, we had broken the technological barrier. In three years we became the most civilised, the most technologically advanced black people on earth.” Could this ascription made of Ndigbo be a mere propaganda?

If Ndigbo achieved this much in three years under very excruciating hardship and circumstances, why can’t the feat be re-enacted now that there is relative freedom, wider opportunities and to a large extent, an almost assured international support which was obviously lacking during the war years? Now, more than ever, the Ndigbo need to reappraise its position in the affairs of Nigeria. We must go back to history in order to dig up those things that made the Igboman outstanding when others were merely standing in order to re-invent them. There is need for Ndigbo to do a soul search in history to also discover where the nightfall began to eclipse its ingenuity, doggedness, foresightedness and above all, the spirit of oneness which  has be the most conspicuously identified bane of the Igboman in recent history. This self and holistic appraisal is very pertinent in order to launch ourselves back to reckoning again in Nigeria and in the entire black world?

The starting point for this self-reappraisal and self-rediscovery will be tocommence a search and identification genuine, committed and selfless leaderswho will steer the ship of re-launching the Ndigbo into the mainstream of affairs in the Nigerian political space, at least, for the time being. It has dawned on every discerning mind that the big vacuum created by the demise of the late sage, Chukwuememka Odimegwu Ojukwu has not been filled till date. It will be a mockery of our collective sensibilities to contemplate or admit that we don’t have bona fide Igbo sons and daughters in the ‘spirit and likeness’ of Ojukwu. This is far from the truth, just that the mechanics have so confused us that we can no longer differentiate between them and the mad men. However, if we look deeply, ‘testing all spirits’ (as the Holy Books say), we will find them. They abound because God Himself has richly endowed the Igbo race with all shades of characters that will lead us to our promised land.

Talking about leadership, this discourse will lack merit if it fails to appraise and address the quality of political leadership that has been bequeathed to the South East geopolitical zone since the inception of the new democratic dispensation since 1999. It appears that in rating, vis-à-vis other geopolitical zones who are supposedly our rivals, we have not fared better. From Anambra to Imo, Enugu Ebonyi and Abia, there seem to be a general consensus that the development indicators have almost perpetually tilted towards the negative territory. As mentioned in the part one of the series, apart from a few intermittent flashes of good governance in one, or maybe two States, the rest have been adjudged poor and reproachful. The South West and South South have a number of States adjudged as making some progress whereas the South East lags distantly behind. This is appallingly unacceptable and smacks of a complete dearth of the leadership we all seek.

In looking at the soon-to-expire dispensation in the South East, one discovers with utter bewilderment, the irony of appraisals. It is quite surprising that while the outgoing governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Orji has garnered quite a number of available laurels for good governance in Nigeria and even in Ghana(in spite of the hue and cry bellowing from his State to the contrary of his performance), the governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has barely gotten any (whereas the thinking, especially outside the zone is that he has been outstanding in performance). Ironically again, both of them won the recently concluded elections to the various positions they sought after. The confusion as to the real performance of these two case studies still lingers.

One fact remains sacrosanct. Most regional leaders emerge from the sub-platforms based on the credentials they are able to create for themselves at the lower levels. Among the governors that have governed any of the five South East States since 1999, can we boast of any as a true leader based on credentials? The answer to this will surely be a subjective one and so we leave it to posterity for judgement.

We must all arise, O compatriots for this onerous task of re-inventing our various states, region and the nation at large. Ndigbo needs to re-enact the feat of the civil war years in a more positive way. That ingenuity, that dexterity, that bond of unity, that resoluteness and that creative and innovative mind-set which now rules the world needs to be re-awakened for the general good of all. 

If Ndigbo cannot, for time being attain the status of Nigeria’s President (which is not even a laudable achievement in itself as history has shown), they ought to at least have the equivalents of Dangote, the Alakijas, the Dantatas, the Otedolas, the Adenugasetcetera in areas of setting up businesses that can outlive the owners. As I mentioned in part1, Igbo business model must change to something more durable and futuristic in line with emerging global realities and changing technologies, else, we are heading to outright oblivion.