I have seen the Osundu editorial and it is very tastefully
done. It is a must read from start to finish. I encourage
everyone to find time to read it and the other articles in
the Osundu website. I thank the editorial board for seeing
hope where others see despair and for seeing opportunity where
others see failure.
For the first time in our Nation's history, Ndiigbo now have
a platform that cuts across tribal lines and that platform
is the PDP. It is the sort of playing field that is most suited
to our strengths as a people. We can make Nigeria the Igbo
man's playing field and I believe that it can be done in three
fronts and in this relative order of importance. First, using
the platform presented to us by the PDP, we must work tirelessly
to outlaw all the practices by governmental entities that
treat Nigerians differentially on the basis of tribal origin.
This is roughly masked by protectionist laws that bar governmental
employment, restrict trade, and restrain property ownership
on the part of Nigerian citizens who are otherwise foreign
to those states. The Igbos are most hurt by these laws. Those
laws abound all over the place and prevent young Igbo men
and women from pursuing employment opportunities outside Igbo
land. When we get Igbos there, we keep them there. There is
no reason why an electoral district encompassing the Sabon
Gari districts should not be drawn to allow an Igbo man speak
for Igbo interest in the State Houses of Assemblies of the
Northern States or in the Yoruba states where Igbos live and
trade. Only the Igbo man can do this and this is the type
of game we should be playing.
Secondly, realizing that to get the non-Igbo states to disavow
laws unfavorable to the economic pursuits of foreigners to
their states - meaning mostly Igbo people, will take time
and sustained efforts, we should and must get the various
Igbo states to throw these laws out with immediate effect
so that we can begin to forge a regional economic powerhouse.
Igbo's political unification rides on Igbo's economic unification
and not much attention has been paid to the latter. The Igbo
state governors should caucus together and actively cooperate
with one another so that Igbo wealth circulates pervasively
among the Igbos before it gets redistributed to other parts
of Nigeria. Roughly one third of Nigerian's wealth circulates
around Lagos-Ibadan axis, another one third ciruculates around
Abuja and the remaining one third circulates around the rest
of the country. We are clearly disadvantaged and our governors
should work hard to do their best to lessen the impact of
those disadvantages.
Finally, the great equalizer - the reason why our people are
not more impoverished today than they should have been is
us. By us I mean Igbo professionals situated outside the country
earning money and pumping back their disposable economy to
the Igbo nation. In a sense, if you add our economic output
to the economic output of the Igbo nation, you will begin
to see why, after decades of marginalization, our people have
still managed to survive. The problem with the money that
we all generate and send back home is that it is spent in
a decentralized fashion and not often so distributed that
it yields lasting economic impact. Moreover, not only are
we an economic resource, we represent an intellectual resource
of great magnitude.
Organizations such as Osundu represent one of the many ways
we can harness the intellectual resource we have to effect
a change in the social and political processes that set us
back. We need to be more involved at the grass root level.
To that extent, please allow me to commend Dr. Okenwa Nwosu,
one of the members of Osundu Inc. for doggedly carrying his
message of hope and opportunity for the Igbo nation to different
fora. I thank Osundu, Inc and I wish it well in all its endeavors
on behalf of our people.
