Is Igbo The Problem Of Nigeria?

Made In Nigeria Vehicles By Innoson Motors, Nnewi, Nigeria

  The arrest of the director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has generated media headlines for Biafran agitators at home and internationally. In a recent newspaper headline phone in programme by Nigeria Info FM Station Abuja, callers from certain sections of Nigeria were calling in repeatedly lampooning Igbos in general because of the Biafran campaigners, insisting that "Igbos are the problem of Nigeria, let them go jere!". I was unsuccessful after several attempts to correct such negative perception about one of the most vibrant races in the world.

And I began to ask myself; are the Igbos really the problem of Nigeria? Is there any Igboman that has ruled Nigeria for one year in the past 55 years of the country's independence and was part of the past heads of state that institutionalized corruption and maladministration that has made Nigeria the poster face of a failing nation? Is it an Igboman that was military head of state and stole over $20billion that several years after his death European and US banks are still returning the money he stole? Is it an Igboman that was former head of state and when he emerged civilian president in 1999 with only N20,000 in his bank account left office eight years later becoming one of the richest men alive today in Nigeria, having hilltop mansion in Abeokuta and elsewhere? Money that could have been used to liberate Nigerians from the shackles of poverty! Is it an Igboman that was former head of state that lives in his own hilltop mansion in north central Nigeria which cost was more than the budget of the country for two years? Is it the Igbos that has between 2009 and 2015 killed close to 20,000 Nigerians in North East, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Niger and elsewhere in the country and rendered over two million homeless and creating the biggest internal refugee crisis Africa has ever witnessed? Is it the Igbos that have sacked farmers and villagers in Benue, Taraba, Plateau, Nasarawa states among others creating internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Jos, Makurdi, Jalingo with no solution in sight even as food scarcity looms in years ahead? Is it the Igbos that has sacked the ancestral village of Tor Tiv, the chairman of Benue State Council of Chiefs, that the monarch dare not visit his ancestral home anymore? Is it the Igbos that is committing genocide in parts of Kaduna and Plateau states where whole villages have been burnt down and families exterminated? While we are in the subject of genocide, is it the Igbos that committed genocide against Odi and Zaki Biam in Bayelsa and Benue states while the world watched in silence? Is it an Igbo that in his religious biogtry hacked to death serving British soldier on the street of London and brought opprobrium to his race and Nigeria? Is it an Igboman that put bomb under his pants to bomb American airline on Christmas Day and signposted Nigeria as a nation that breeds terrorists and threat to world's peace? If it is not the Igbos that did these terrible things against fellow Nigerians and to the image of Nigeria, how are they Nigeria's problem? In any case in the few positives about Nigeria, have the Igbos not been at the forefront of it? Is it not mainly the Igbos that gave Nigeria, Africa and the world, Nollywood-the third largest film industry in the world? Is it not the Igbos that gave Nigeria and Africa the best writers from Christopher Okigbo to Achebe and Chimamanda among others? Is it not Igbos that gave Nigeria the JJ Okochas and Kanus of this world that set European leagues on fire, so much so that when Obasanjo visited Germany in 1999 it was JJ Okocha's jersey that was presented to him by German Chancellor in recognition of Okocha's impact in German football? Is it not the Igbos that has given the world renowned scientists and physicists including computer wizards like Philip Emegwali? Is it not Igbos that is at the centre of technological revolution in Nigeria where any automobile part can be fabricated and manufactured at Nnewi? Is it not Igbos that are producing made in Nigeria cars, buses and jeeps like Innoson Motors is doing at Nnewi, Anambra State thereby proving that what the Whiteman can do Africans can also do, if not better? Is it not Igbos that own 80 percent of hotels in Abuja(National Bureau of Statistics) and significant numbers in Lagos thereby rescuing millions from poverty and unemployment? Is it not the Igbos that are paying the highest rents for shops along major streets in major cities across Nigeria thereby empowering the landlords of their host communities? Is it not the Igbos that are producing the best tailors in Nigeria whose ‘finishings’ can be compared to the best tailors around the world and tailors from other parts of Nigeria are going to Aba, the commercial capital of Abia State, to learn how it is done thereby empowering other Nigerians and adding value to tailoring business nationwide? Is it not the Igbos that are creating Computer Villages all over Nigeria and spreading IT knowledge to all Nigerians? Given all these positives and more that were not recounted here, the big question remains; in what ways are the Igbos problem of Nigeria? Or is it the case of envy as pointed out by Columnist Femi Aribisala in his highly recommended article entitled: “Nigeria Cannot Survive Without The Igbos” published in his columns in www.premiumtimesng.com and Vanguard respectively!