ALTERNATIVE TO BIAFRA by kelechi deca
Alternative to Biafra (1) by Kelechi Deca
It is important that we differentiate between self attracted frustrations, and that with external causes. Nigeria no doubt is on multiple fault lines of which when you scale through one, another rears its head meaning that what you think is the problem may not even be the problem, rather the symptom of the problem. Taking care of the symptom without taking out the problem will amount to a waste of time.
The modern day champions of Biafra are simply looking at the symptom,
they do not even know what the problem is. If you make the mistake of
giving them their Biafra, they will burn it down because then will the
real problem manifest to their utter frustration.
Then will they come to realise that planting JI AWOM WITHOUT FIRST AGREEING WITH THE AGBARA will lead to Agbara nyere nwata ji awom without the Mbazu. That is frustration.
Nigeria is practising a quasi unitary, quasi federalism. This is to the advantage of only the power class because it stifles creativity, openness, industry, and republicanism. The Igbo have not been able to be who they are and who they were meant to be because of the state they found themselves in Nigeria.
Moreso, what we now have with our political class in Igboland is the reenactment of the imposition of warrant chiefs by the colonial masters.Our political leaders from Igboland have been carrying on as if they are an occupying force with aim to just destroy the region.
That is our major problem.......
I have tried unsuccessful in the last 6 years to market to governors of the SE region the way forward but they do not care about developing Igboland.
he way forward is premised on my belief which has been empirically proved that though very little, this little money we get from Nigeria on monthly basis, and the little we get from across our sates as internally generated revenue, that if we had put them to good use since 1999, we would have been far better developed than Dubai.
This is based on the calculations (quite detailed) that the five states of the region has received not less than N16 trillion between 1999 and now. There is little or nothing to show for this humongous amount across the South East, and there has not been any effort by those we handed over the reigns of leadership to develop Igboland within this last 16 years.
The problem is that our governors, our senators, our members of House of Representatives, our members of Houses of Assembly, our Local Government Chairmen,aides to governors, senators, and Reps, have not had any plan nor desire to develop Igboland.
That has been the problem......
Has Nigerian been fair to Ndigbo?
No...and Nigeria has not been fair to anyone. Nigeria has only been fair to its political class and nothing more.
Has Nigerian created the environment for Igbo to ascend political height, no. But those who have scaled the fence have not in anyway bettered Igboland.But that is not the issue.The issue is that Igboland can be all it wish to be if we have responsible leadership in the mold of Michael Okpara.
I have read many places they told you that you are landlocked, and you dont even have answers to that, because of that, some of you have been trying to colonise the Mbamiri people into it so you can have access to the sea?
If you have the right knowledge, you would have known that access to the sea does not on itself develop a country. Our of the 10 fastest growing economies in Africa, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Botswana are landlocked, yet their economies are doing great and Rwanda and Botswana comes top on global Doing Business Report. Yet Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Somalia, Guinea Bissau all have access to the sea, yet they occupy the top positions on poverty table.
I am not for the secession of Biafra, but being landlocked is not a major disadvantage as they make you believe.
Now to landmass....
They told you that you have a landmass that is smaller than Borno State that if all your people return home they wont find places to sit down not to talk of building houses.
That is a lie, and they can only mess you up with that information because you dont even know......
Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area has a population of about 30 million. I have driven round the entire Tokyo area, and it is not even as large as Enugu State.
How many people are in Hong Kong, or State of New York.....that is not an issue, modern development has devised a way of creating space for more people by maximising use of existing space.......
BUT........
The question we should ask ourselves is........
Can Igboland better itself, create the environment where its young men and young women can be the best that God created them to be, where they can harness their God given potentials and be who they wish to be?
Yes.........and we can achieve that with or without Nigeria...........
And It is very simple, but first we must detoxify the victim complex we now wear like gold necklace.
Second, we must look inwards on how we have contributed to our woes, and make efforts to recognise that within our problems are also our solutions.
Third we should stop electing men and women who have nothing to offer, and start electing solution providers.
Fourth, we must link the economies of the SE region and run an integrated economic system that blurs state borders and harness the comparative advantage of each state in the South East.
Fifth, we must create special trade zones across Igboland to attract the businesses of our brothers in Alaba, Idumota, Ladipo etc back to Igboland to establish global markets for buyers from far and wide, like Dubai.
Sixth, we must establish business hubs where shops, electricity and other amenities will be provided free of charge for the first five years through a fund managed by Igbo people. This will get our young men productively engaged for five years, such that within this period, they will all rediscover themselves, and shun kidnapping, baby factories, and armed robberies.This will be four in number. One will be located around Orji River, between Anambra and Enugu state, the second will be in Okigwe, the third will be between Imo and Anambra in Mgbidi, the fourth will be close to Aba, after Owerrinta.
Seventh we must create the perception of an Igboland that is free of crime and vice, this is aimed at projecting us as a tourist destination with aim to develop our tourist and hospitality industry which will be birthed in Owerri being centre of shopping, hotels, and casinos.
This last will not only have impact on our tourism but on almost every business. It can be created, perception is reality, same way we think the world hates us, we can tweak our brains to belief Igboland is the safest place on earth, and we all contribute towards that.If you achieve that, then we will have what we call reverse brain drain, and reverse investment where investments that left Igboland will start coming back, and our graduates walking around in Lagos will start thinking home again because there is hope that opportunities are at home.
Eight, make Aba great again.
If you make Aba great again, it will rival Lagos. Aba will give us everything we think Lagos is denying us.In the 70's and 80's it is only those who could not find work or business in Aba that go to Lagos. We can do it again.
And this can be achieved through a Special Development Fund created as a special vehicle and contributed to by all states in the South East for the resurrection of Aba.
Aba holds the key to create that economic space we have been yearning for all over Nigeria.
Consider this.......
Igboland has a choice to either to swim in a big pond or in a small pond, either to be in a huge market where there are myriads of opportunities and where their God given entrepreneurial spirit will ensure they are always top dog, or to operate in a smaller local market where everybody will be both sellers and buyers, moreso the disruption and dislocation of moving from Nigeria to Biafra will erode the financial muscles and wealth of majority of Igbo people, the dreamed of gains will never assuage the pain
....the choice is ours to make.
We can better channel this energy we are using to shout Biafra,to put pressure on Nigeria for a restructured nation where every region will be in charge of its destiny through fiscal federalism.
A restructured Nigeria will bring better return on investments than an unknown utopic Biafra.
This is not rocket science, only help elect people with brains not isi aki.
Ndigbo, cheeeeenu uche!
TBC
Then will they come to realise that planting JI AWOM WITHOUT FIRST AGREEING WITH THE AGBARA will lead to Agbara nyere nwata ji awom without the Mbazu. That is frustration.
Nigeria is practising a quasi unitary, quasi federalism. This is to the advantage of only the power class because it stifles creativity, openness, industry, and republicanism. The Igbo have not been able to be who they are and who they were meant to be because of the state they found themselves in Nigeria.
Moreso, what we now have with our political class in Igboland is the reenactment of the imposition of warrant chiefs by the colonial masters.Our political leaders from Igboland have been carrying on as if they are an occupying force with aim to just destroy the region.
That is our major problem.......
I have tried unsuccessful in the last 6 years to market to governors of the SE region the way forward but they do not care about developing Igboland.
he way forward is premised on my belief which has been empirically proved that though very little, this little money we get from Nigeria on monthly basis, and the little we get from across our sates as internally generated revenue, that if we had put them to good use since 1999, we would have been far better developed than Dubai.
This is based on the calculations (quite detailed) that the five states of the region has received not less than N16 trillion between 1999 and now. There is little or nothing to show for this humongous amount across the South East, and there has not been any effort by those we handed over the reigns of leadership to develop Igboland within this last 16 years.
The problem is that our governors, our senators, our members of House of Representatives, our members of Houses of Assembly, our Local Government Chairmen,aides to governors, senators, and Reps, have not had any plan nor desire to develop Igboland.
That has been the problem......
Has Nigerian been fair to Ndigbo?
No...and Nigeria has not been fair to anyone. Nigeria has only been fair to its political class and nothing more.
Has Nigerian created the environment for Igbo to ascend political height, no. But those who have scaled the fence have not in anyway bettered Igboland.But that is not the issue.The issue is that Igboland can be all it wish to be if we have responsible leadership in the mold of Michael Okpara.
I have read many places they told you that you are landlocked, and you dont even have answers to that, because of that, some of you have been trying to colonise the Mbamiri people into it so you can have access to the sea?
If you have the right knowledge, you would have known that access to the sea does not on itself develop a country. Our of the 10 fastest growing economies in Africa, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Botswana are landlocked, yet their economies are doing great and Rwanda and Botswana comes top on global Doing Business Report. Yet Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Somalia, Guinea Bissau all have access to the sea, yet they occupy the top positions on poverty table.
I am not for the secession of Biafra, but being landlocked is not a major disadvantage as they make you believe.
Now to landmass....
They told you that you have a landmass that is smaller than Borno State that if all your people return home they wont find places to sit down not to talk of building houses.
That is a lie, and they can only mess you up with that information because you dont even know......
Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area has a population of about 30 million. I have driven round the entire Tokyo area, and it is not even as large as Enugu State.
How many people are in Hong Kong, or State of New York.....that is not an issue, modern development has devised a way of creating space for more people by maximising use of existing space.......
BUT........
The question we should ask ourselves is........
Can Igboland better itself, create the environment where its young men and young women can be the best that God created them to be, where they can harness their God given potentials and be who they wish to be?
Yes.........and we can achieve that with or without Nigeria...........
And It is very simple, but first we must detoxify the victim complex we now wear like gold necklace.
Second, we must look inwards on how we have contributed to our woes, and make efforts to recognise that within our problems are also our solutions.
Third we should stop electing men and women who have nothing to offer, and start electing solution providers.
Fourth, we must link the economies of the SE region and run an integrated economic system that blurs state borders and harness the comparative advantage of each state in the South East.
Fifth, we must create special trade zones across Igboland to attract the businesses of our brothers in Alaba, Idumota, Ladipo etc back to Igboland to establish global markets for buyers from far and wide, like Dubai.
Sixth, we must establish business hubs where shops, electricity and other amenities will be provided free of charge for the first five years through a fund managed by Igbo people. This will get our young men productively engaged for five years, such that within this period, they will all rediscover themselves, and shun kidnapping, baby factories, and armed robberies.This will be four in number. One will be located around Orji River, between Anambra and Enugu state, the second will be in Okigwe, the third will be between Imo and Anambra in Mgbidi, the fourth will be close to Aba, after Owerrinta.
Seventh we must create the perception of an Igboland that is free of crime and vice, this is aimed at projecting us as a tourist destination with aim to develop our tourist and hospitality industry which will be birthed in Owerri being centre of shopping, hotels, and casinos.
This last will not only have impact on our tourism but on almost every business. It can be created, perception is reality, same way we think the world hates us, we can tweak our brains to belief Igboland is the safest place on earth, and we all contribute towards that.If you achieve that, then we will have what we call reverse brain drain, and reverse investment where investments that left Igboland will start coming back, and our graduates walking around in Lagos will start thinking home again because there is hope that opportunities are at home.
Eight, make Aba great again.
If you make Aba great again, it will rival Lagos. Aba will give us everything we think Lagos is denying us.In the 70's and 80's it is only those who could not find work or business in Aba that go to Lagos. We can do it again.
And this can be achieved through a Special Development Fund created as a special vehicle and contributed to by all states in the South East for the resurrection of Aba.
Aba holds the key to create that economic space we have been yearning for all over Nigeria.
Consider this.......
Igboland has a choice to either to swim in a big pond or in a small pond, either to be in a huge market where there are myriads of opportunities and where their God given entrepreneurial spirit will ensure they are always top dog, or to operate in a smaller local market where everybody will be both sellers and buyers, moreso the disruption and dislocation of moving from Nigeria to Biafra will erode the financial muscles and wealth of majority of Igbo people, the dreamed of gains will never assuage the pain
....the choice is ours to make.
We can better channel this energy we are using to shout Biafra,to put pressure on Nigeria for a restructured nation where every region will be in charge of its destiny through fiscal federalism.
A restructured Nigeria will bring better return on investments than an unknown utopic Biafra.
This is not rocket science, only help elect people with brains not isi aki.
Ndigbo, cheeeeenu uche!
TBC
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