BY

PROFESSOR B. CHIMA ONUOHA

Majority of Nigerians are not students of history or have been forced to forget history or its lessons. Alternatively, they are made to embrace sentiments, emotions, half-truths, alright falsehoods and cheap propaganda. In the process, they are bereft of conceptual, analytical and diagnostic thinking. The outcome has always been banal reasoning and judgment. They are prone to be easily deceived by politicians and government. They don’t know how to hold their leaders accountable. The outcomes have always been low standard of living, abject poverty, culpable insecurity and melancholy.

The Jews are the most persecuted race on earth, starting from ancient empires and got to the peak during Hitler’s Nazi Germany’s Final Solution, which led to the Holocaust and the killing of about 6 million Jews. If these were not bad enough, Israel had been under siege since its creation thus: at its birth in 1948; the 1956 war with Egypt; the 1967 Six Day war; and the 1973 Yom Kippur war. There is an on-going conflict/war in Gaza. Despite all these, they prevailed. Read Okechukwu Okeke’s book, “The Middle East Since 1917 (Chapter 7)” for more on Arab – Israeli conflicts since 1948. Today, Israel is a world power, eliciting fear, envy, and/or emulation. This was achieved out of the dint of hard work, harsh discipline, high quality education, perseverance and patriotism. Likewise, the Igbos are the most persecuted race in West-Africa, particularly in Nigeria.

Let’s go into history… After the pogrom of Igbos in the North in 1966, the Aburi Accord (in Ghana) suggested some form of confederation and its implementation would have prevented the looming armed conflict or civil war. Regrettably, Britain and USA advised General Gowon not to accept or implement it, hence, the civil war broke out in 1967. The whole of Eastern region (precisely, the present South-East, the major Igbo enclave) was the battle ground for the Nigerian civil war (Biafran war). Till date, it was the only war that the world’s key powers – USA, USSR (at it then was), Britain, France, etc., forgot their differences and spheres of influence, teamed up to suppress the emerging republic. The technological prowess of Igbo engineers and scientists (RAF), scared these exploitative world powers to their marrows. Don’t take my word for it. Go to War Museum, Umuahia (Abia State) to see for yourself. The world powers’ fear or apprehension was real. Under the Premiership of Dr. Michael Okpara, the Eastern region was rated as the fastest growing economy of the world in the early and mid-60s. Adding technological ingenuity/advancement to economic emancipation, would have been too much for them to contend with. They genuinely felt threatened. The original intention of the local and global conspiracy was to exterminate the entire Igbo race. Egyptian pilots were the key pilots bombing villages and towns at low altitude for maximum devastation with the Russian Mig-fighters. And this was to take few weeks and months. But to their chagrin and disappointment, the war lasted 30 full months with heavy casualties on both sides.

Presently, and in the future, Nigeria will continue to beg to buy ammunitions to contain internal security. What will happen if she is forced to confront external aggression? See my article – “What Nigeria Would Have Been Technologically: Missed Opportunities (June 28, 2023).” From all intents and purposes, the defeat of Biafra can be likened to a pyrrhic victory.

Again, the international community looked the other way and encouraged the use of unorthodox and condemnable methods – hunger and blockade as war strategies. It is on record that hunger and starvation did more damage (maximum deaths) to Igbos than the military weapons and the Federal forces. An estimated 3 million people died, particularly women and children. As the battle ground, all basic infrastructures in the entire South-East – schools, hospitals, cities, markets, churches, markets, bridges, communities, etc., were completely destroyed.

After the war in 1970, there were no concrete efforts at meaningful reconciliation, rehabilitation or reconstruction, as it was done after the World War II via the Marshall Plan (named after the US Secretary of State – George C. Marshall) to rebuild the war ravaged Western Europe. Till date and curiously, the United Nations has conveniently refused to declare that the massive killings of Igbos between 1966 and 1970 was a Genocide, and to do the needful – give directive for adequate compensation to Igbos.

But you know what? Between 1970 and 1980 (just a period of 10 years), the Igbos rebuilt all the damaged infrastructures and built more including many rural industries.

It is important to mention that since 1970, there have been repressive policies against the Igbos by successive regimes and administrations in Nigeria. Some of them include:

1. The £20 policy, which led to the pauperization of 100% of Igbos;
2. The Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decrees (1972 – 74) – put differently, the Indigenization Programmes, transferred the commanding heights of the nation’s economy to other tribes, completely excluding the Igbos. Highly disadvantaged, and virtually without anything, they started operating at the periphery of the economy as traders before entering into manufacturing and other sectors, and made huge success out of this injustice, to the Glory of God;
3. Abandoned property policy, which led to the confiscation of valuable Igbo assets and properties in some cities;
4. Having the least number of states and local government areas in the country;
5. Discriminatory and non-merit based admission and employment criteria;
6. Periodic killings or massacres of Igbo people and wanton destruction of their properties/businesses, in many places, particularly in the North;
7. Sponsorship of campaigns of calumny/hate speeches – resulting in self-serving ethnic profiling;
8. The zone having the most deteriorated federal road networks and near zero federal presence;
9. No seaport in the area to serve the large numbers of importers;
10. Being under constant security siege, with regular extortion of motorists thus making travelling in the South-East hellish;
11. Deliberate ceding of oil wells in South East to neigbouring States;
12. Arbitrary boundary adjustments in favour of neighbouring States;
13. The only geo-political zone that have never been allowed to produce the President of the country;
14. Concrete efforts were made to disenfranchise Igbo voters in Lagos in 2023 elections;
15. There are on-going demolitions of shops and destruction of Igbo businesses in Lagos;
16. Refusal to reabsorb top Igbo public servants into their positions and organizations after the war; Do I continue?

As a gifted race, the Igbos are hardworking and development oriented. It is important to note that their ugly experiences during the civil war, all the anti-Igbo government policies, international evil collaborations, and envy-induced campaigns of calumny, have toughened them. They are more resilient than any tribe and therefore can survive any situation, no matter how unfavourable. Not expecting anything or getting very little from government made them to take their destiny into their own hands. More than 90% of amenities in South-East are individually, family and community sponsored and coordinated by the various town unions (home and abroad).

The current economic difficulties were predicted. It is pertinent to note that the economic woes of this country started some decades ago. In other words, the present woes did not start with the present administration. Rather, due to recently poorly thought-out policies, wrong-headed programmes by the federal government, manipulations and sabotage by insiders and vested syndicates (some people call them cabals), praise-singing political and public service climate, worsen the situation. Were there no predictions by economic experts at the beginning of the year that one Dollar will exchange for N2,000 and that fuel will sell for N800 or more before Easter 2024? Are we not there now? Why will government allow politicians and top government officials to brazenly turn Dollar into a legal tender in this economy? Were Nigerians not at some point buying Naira? Can the prices of goods produced by our manufacturing firms be competitive at the present price of diesel? Didn’t cement producers attribute the recent skyrocketing prices of cement to unbearable high costs of energy? Why are many manufacturing firms closing shop and a good number relocating to neighbouring countries? Why wouldn’t we have high youth unemployment rate when many companies are wobbling, closing down or parking up? Is there any reason on earth why Nigeria cannot address the perennial and shameful challenge of electricity generation and distribution, once and for all? Any time this economy gets enough and cheap electricity, costs of doing business in the country will reduce by 45 percent, and standards of living will enhance reasonably.

I therefore wonder why Nigerians were/are not prepared for these realities, leading to untold hardships hence became the catalysts for hunger demonstrations or protests here and there. The Igbos are used to hardships occasioned by deliberate persecutions and have fully adjusted. It is really unfortunate that Prof. Usman Yusuf woke up one day and was making fruitless attempts to drag the Igbos into the on-going protests, due to economic difficulties. According to him “I honestly don’t know why the South-East is quiet, uncharacteristically quiet, but the President needs to find out.” Discernable Nigerians, especially the Igbos, saw this outburst as purposeful effort to incitement to achieve predetermined satanic goal. Naturally, the Igbos ignored his outburst and him. They wondered when Yusuf became their spokesman or “messiah.”

In one of my articles – “Nigeria’s Proposed Military Intervention in Niger Republic: An Avoidable Misadventure (August 7, 2023),” I clearly stated that in the event of Nigeria’s needless military involvement in Niger Republic, that the Igbos and their businesses will be blamed and attacked and not the “busy-body” Nigerian government willing to be lackey to imperialist powers. Are efforts not being made to call “End SARS Movement” an “Igbo Insurrection” against Yoruba people and Nigeria, when none of the key organizers was Igbo? Have we heard of anyone being hurt or killed in these recent protests so far? Can Yusuf and his masters teach their people the techniques or skills of coping with hardships, to stop being lazy/beggarly and to depend less on cheap government resources? Of course, they are suffering from entitlement mentality. Can’t they leave the Igbos alone?

It is therefore foolhardy for Yusuf and persons of his ilk to think that a race that withstood a combination of local and global conspiracy, hunger, deaths, diseases, serial marginalisations, organized persecutions, etc. and survived, will start crying like children over unexpected inflationary trends and little little discomforts which have not even lasted up to six months. My advice is simple. South-East/Igbos, please steer clear of the ongoing hunger protests. They are traps. May I even ask – did the present economic difficulties hinder their massive movements to their homesteads last year August (their usual annual home coming) or the 2023 Christmas celebrations? By God’s grace, economic pressures will not prevent them from performing these rituals this year and beyond.

Regrettably, the Nigerian economy is a petroleum economy. Our personal, business and industrial lives, depend on petroleum products. What can a mono-product economy gain from full trade liberalization, often prescribed by IMF and World Bank? What indigenous goods and services are available for the international markets? Liberalisation can only benefit a country when she has multiple products and services for exports. A mono-product economy is a dumping ground. We were told that we are in a global economy. I don’t understand why the leaders of Third World nations don’t know that the IMF and World Bank are agencies of developed countries to enforce certain capitalist principles that have retarded internal economic development. Capitalism serves the selfish interests of the industrialized nations. In other words, capitalism is the surest path or vehicle to attain that, while globalization is the driver.

Who are those in the President’s economic team? The President may have strong, sincere, and good vision for the economy and nation, but needs to have a powerful and patriotic team who are highly qualified and development professionals and technocrats to drive that vision. Not having such teams, is a lacuna that has always been the albatross of successive Presidents and administrations in Nigeria. The results are poverty, insecurity, gross underdevelopment and global irrelevance. Are our governments through the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) making proper use of the various inputs and recommendations by economic and development experts? They are mere academic exercises, not deserving consideration, talk less of implementation.

In conclusion, and this is in the form of wise counsels – Igbos should remain quiet and resist all efforts to make themselves targets of likely attacks and wanton killings by the nation’s security agencies. Hard times are not permanent. They should maintain their coping and survival strategies. They are already a blessed race. They should concentrate more on their needs, not wants; stop unnecessary trips; shun exhibitionism; forget status symbol/name dropping schools by sending their children to quality but affordable schools; instill in their children/youths the spirit of hard work, entrepreneurship, selflessness, community service and delayed gratification; explore non-police, non-court methods of conflict resolution (that is, using the Umunna option in settling disputes); avoid proxy wars and ego battles, for they always end up in pyrrhic victory; avoid over socialization for it could drain available limited resources; stop imitating others, for you do not know their sources of income (see my article/public lecture, “Managing Rural Economy in the Post-Subsidy Era: The Mbaise Case,” December 9, 2023); embrace the Aku-Rue-Ulo business philosophy (see my article – “Intensifying the Aku-Rue-Ulo Business Philosophy by Igbos” – August 15, 2023; cut off those items they can produce themselves, instead of buying them. For example, when we were growing up, our mothers don’t buy vegetables, cassava, pepper, scent leaves, cocoyam, yam, fruits, palm oil, etc. These items were produced in the compounds/farms. My question – what are you doing with those spaces in your compound? Learn to look inwards to reduce the high costs of living, particularly, by those living in the rural areas. Surely, the Almighty God the Igbos fervently serve will protect and preserve them against all odds, whether environmental or man-made.

I come in peace.

Professor Onuoha, a development activist, wrote from University of Port Harcourt, February 23, 2024.