By Prof. B. Chima Onuoha
As an academic that should have a better, broader and unbiased perspective on issues, and development activist, I deliberately avoid engaging in tribal and ethnic write ups. This implies that I hate ethnic profiling of any hue. While acknowledging that no ethnic group is perfect or infallible, the characteristics of all ethnic groups in Nigeria are in the public domain – particularly, those who struggle to earn their livelihood and those prone to entitlement mentality; those that embrace handwork, resilience and delayed gratification; and those idling away in their “whatever” belief or orientation, hoping that God will come down to solve their problems or give them wealth.
For decades, some politicians, political jobbers, hatchet writers, lackeys, tribal and religious bigots, etc., have given themselves onerous, inglorious, albeit devilish task of propagating *Igbophobia* in an already fragile nation called Nigeria. Instead of uniting the various ethnic groups in the country in their speeches and writings, they are entrenching disunity, bigotry, distrust and hatred. Regrettably, few academics like Prof Ahmed Bako, have joined (or are joining) this pitiable group.
Honestly, when I read the advert of Prof Bako’s inaugural lecture, I knew from the onset the outcome. Look at the tittle: “The Igbo Factor in the History of Intergroup Relations and Commerce in Kano: Opportunities and Challenges Revisited.” Predictably, the lecture came out to be full of innuendos, tantrums, half-truths, and falsehood, including editorial flaws.
Like I said earlier, this is going to be a laconic response. Dissecting the entire lecture will not be necessary, and will be a pamphlet. A group – The Forum of South-East Academic Doctors (FOSAD) has expressed its dismay in one publication titled: “FOSAD Decries Anti-Igbo Narratives in Prof Ahmed Bako’s Inaugural Lecture at Usman Danfodio University”. I have just read Prof Chidi Anselm Odinkalu’s brief reaction to the said lecture. I guess he didn’t want to waste much of his precious time on the watery, non-rigorous and unintellectual lecture.
Having said that, Igbo intellectuals owe our children and future generations the responsibility of stating the correct records and making them public. So, we must bring out quality time to do so. Anti-Igbo narratives must be confronted head-on, irrespective of who or the group involved. Igbo intellectuals must talk and talk loudly. How about Igbo politicians? Truth be told, majority of Igbo political elites are lackeys of Igbo oppressors.
I will therefore pick few aspects of the lecture that are of interest to me and address them, making references to hate speeches and an avalanche of anti-Igbo policies and programmes by successive administrations in Nigeria.
Before I go into few details, if a Professor of History, and at his age, can be so brazen in distorting facts and records, or make himself a tool for incitement, his students and society are in real mess. This clearly is one of the negative aftermaths of applying quota system in and politicization of the University system. See my article: *“Nigerian University System and Political Exposure” (June 30, 2022).*
1. Prof Bako wrote that *_ab initio,_* the Igbos have the agenda of dominating the country. If Prof Bako and persons of his ilk are honest to themselves, and to the present and future generations, they ought to know that Igbos have the mindset, tendency and practice of developing anywhere they find themselves. In other words, naturally, they are development agents. What is their rewards for helping in developing their immediate environments? They are: envy, hatred, killings, destruction and/or expropriation of their businesses and assets. All these have happened periodically in Kano, Jos, Sokoto, Bauchi, Kafanchan, etc. There are on-going campaigns of calumny against Igbos in Lagos.
As a result of the above, I have been campaigning in writing and public speaking or lectures on the need for the Igbos to further embrace the *_aku-rue-ulo_* business concept. See my article: *“Intensifying the Aku-Rue-Ulo Business Philosophy by Igbos” (August 15, 2023).*
2. Prof Bako, in support of his domination narrative by the Igbos, wrote that they (Igbos) started educating and sending their children abroad – notably to Europe and America, for higher education from 1950s. Luckily, they were sending them with their hard-earned money; they did not depend on governments. My innocuous question – Are they not still sending them till today? Who are the majority of diaspora Nigerians in some institutions like Ivy League, Ivy League Plus, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, key tech hubs, major corporations and laboratories, hail from? They are Igbos. I guess that Prof Bako knows that of the 63+ years of Nigeria’s independence, the North has been in government for 45 years? What have those leaders done to educate their children, or reduce the multidimensional poverty in that region? I have a lot of statistics or data in this area, but let me drop few here. For instance, Northern Nigeria has 15.23 million out of school children, while Southern Nigeria has 2.58 million. A further breakdown shows out of school children across the six geo-political zones thus: North West – 8.04 million; North East – 5.06 million; North Central – 2.12 million; South West – 1.15 million; South-South – 769k; and South-East – 664k. In addition, by ethnicity, Northern Nigeria (made up largely by Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri) has a total of 12.4 million out of school children, while there are 797,000 Igbo (including Delta Igbos) out of school children. Specifically, the figures are: Hausa – 8.11 million; Fulani – 3.31 million, Kanuri – 982k, Yoruba – 856k, Igbo – 797k, Tiv – 216k, Ijaw – 132k, Ibibio – 120k, Edo – 99k, and Others – 3.19 million *(Source: Statisense; UNICEF, 2023)*.
Has he investigated the role of religion and the Feudal system in discouraging Western education? What is the meaning of *_Boko-Haram?*_ He should not blame anyone or race for their self- inflicted malady. Okay, remove the penchant of Igbos sending their children abroad for schooling. How about domestic/national schooling? How many secondary schools were in entire Northern Nigeria of NPC by 1960? Check out these facts: the entire North had 41 secondary schools while the entire South had 842; majority of them in Eastern region, the Igbo enclave. Is it not on record that the Eastern Region under Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr. Michael Okpara was the only government in the world that set aside 45% of her annual budget on education between 1954 and 1965? High budgetary allocation on education, helped the region to build and equip many solid secondary, vocational and technical schools. Was University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) not the first indigenous university that kick started the study of professional courses in the country? It is only a *_bingo_* in all ramifications that will not know or appreciate that all these investments in human capital development will result to positive outcomes, visibility and national/international recognition and respect. Can Prof Bako compare the service delivery when well trained, educated and patriotic technocrats populated the public sector in the 1950s/1960s and presently with quota system public servants? Can one give what he/she does not have? The lawyers fondly say, *_“Nemo dat quod non habet.”_* Why is Prof Bako and peers not interested in finding out why a child from South-East will be required to score 130 and above to be admitted into Federal Unity Schools or government colleges, while a child from his geo-political zone needs to score below 10 to enter the same schools?
How about general security or insecurity – crime rate, kidnapping, fatalities, and armed robbery? The records are all out there for everyone to see. For example, the Ministry of Police Affairs puts the number of kidnapping cases by zone in Nigeria as at last year (2023) thus: North West – 759; North Central – 476; North East – 408; South-South – 216; South-East – 191; and South-West – 99. See the records of general crime rates across the six geo-political zones as at 2023… The same Ministry of Police Affairs puts them thus: North West – 1,527; North Central – 1,236; North East – 969; South West – 703; South East – 624; South South – 588.
Furthermore, across zones, the Nigeria Child Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) shows higher poverty in North East and North West, and lower poverty in South East and South West. Specifically, across zones, the Child MPI shows higher poverty in North East and North West, where over 90% of children are poor, and lower poverty in South East and South West, where it’s 74.0% and 65.1%, respectively (Source: Nigeria Multidimensional Poverty Index [NMPI], 2022).
I will deliberately not like to go into health-related challenges or afflictions that are prevalent in northern Nigeria, for the sake of the hapless and oppressed people. Is Prof Bako’s North-West not leading in all negative or poor development indices? Available data reveal that the North West region is among the worst hit in terms of deprivation across four pillars, namely: Health, Education, Living Standard, and Work & Security Shock. Specifically, the region suffers deprivation relating to nutrition, food security, access to healthcare, school attendance, years of schooling, water, sanitation, housing materials, employment, and security *(Source: National Bureau of Statistics [NBS], 2022).* All these issues should have been his major concern.
3. In the area of business relationships, it is important to note that all business relationships are mutually beneficial to all parties involved. They are not dependent on non-business factors such as religious and tribal sentiments, or entitlement mentality. On displacing Hausa traders in Kano and other places in the North by paying higher rents… what did he have to tell his shylock Hausa brothers/landlords who quadrupled the rents? They were both insensitive and wicked to their fellow poor Hausa traders and exploitative to the Igbo traders. Whichever way the culprits were the Hausa landlords. *_Simplicita!_* By making Kano his case study, Prof Bako has obviously reminded us about the 1953 Kano Riots where Igbos were the main targets and victims. His message should be taken seriously.
There are many Northerners doing businesses in the South generally, and South- East, specifically. Except Bako meant that Igbos should just hand over their resources to non-Igbos, in the name of collaborations.
Going into historical records, once again. Which region had the highest registered business enterprises by 1963? Which region was rated as the fastest growing economy in the world, far ahead of BRICs and Asian Tigers in 1965 by reputable global magazines and development agencies? He should know as a historian.
For centuries, the Igbos have a veritable and reliable method for wealth creation, distribution and redistribution. It is called the *Igbo Apprenticeship System (IAS).* The IAS is also known as *“Stakeholder Capitalism,”* which is often described as the “Largest business incubator system.” How many of Bako’s youths are willing and ready to serve an *_“Oga”_* for 7 – 10 years before being settled or assisted to start their own business? What has Bako done to educate the youths in his region to imbibe the spirit or mindset of delayed gratification? The Igbo culture abhors laziness, begging, dependency syndrome and instant gratification. Simultaneously, Igbos are public spirited, charitable and philanthropic. They believe and sponsor noble causes. They love community development. These attributes are the major reasons why more than 70% of amenities in South-East are sponsored or financed by individuals, families, groups and town unions. Like the popular Chinese proverb, Igbos don’t give fish, they teach people how to fish.
It may interest Bako to know that IAS is currently being studied at Harvard University, a notable Ivy League university. But down here in Nigeria, the originators, due to envy, are being loathed.
4. The funniest or the most laughable aspect of Bako’s lecture is labelling the Ohaneze Ndigbo (a Socio-cultural group) a separatist group. He conveniently overlooked the hard fact that some senior members of AREWA and Arewa Elders Forum, who ordinarily should be uniting elements, have been making inciting or divisive statements. Are some of them not openly supporting Boko Haram and bandits; negotiating on their behalf; seeking recognition for them; or shamelessly asking Federal government to negotiate with them? He is too bias as an academic. I guess his inaugural lecture was not just an intellectual exercise, it goes beyond that. People, particularly South-East/Igbos should see it as such. There is a build-up. It calls for vigilance and precautions. I see predetermined and sinister motives in the sudden increase in *Igbophobia.* Nigerians started embarking on hunger protests occasioned by severe economic hardships from last quarter of 2023. I wrote an article: *“On-going Hunger Protests: South-East/Igbos, Please Steer Clear”* (February 23, 2024). Of course, no town or State in South-East participated in the series of hunger protests. The non-involvement of Igbos in the protests became sources of concern and disappointment to paid anti-Igbo agents. They complained openly and bitterly. One of them was Prof. Usman Yusuf. According to him “I honestly don’t know why the South-East is quiet, uncharacteristically quiet, but the President needs to find out.”
Some *Igbophobic* persons including government officials also tried futilely to drag Igbos into the just concluded *#EndBadGovernance Protests* (August 1 – 10, 2024). Again, wisely reading the handwriting, the Igbos refused to get involved. After all, if they survived the Nigerian Civil War and other well-targeted retarding policies/programmes, they will also overcome the current hostile economic situation. Luckily, the present harsh economic conditions do not segregate on the basis of tribe or religion. They are pervasive.
Students of history will readily remember the Berlin Conference of 1884 – 1885, where the major European powers officially partitioned the African Continent to themselves. It will not be wrong to state that immediately after the Nigerian Civil War in 1970, there was a political and economic agreement or arrangement between the North and West. While political power (by all standard material) was handed over to the North, the commanding heights of the economy, via the Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Decree (NEPD), popularly known as the *Indigenisation Programme,* was taken over by the West. South-East and Igbos were left completely stranded. They started from ground zero. They started buying and selling, haven been schemed out from political/economic mainstream of national life. In other words, they moved from populating the public sector (in the 50s and 60s) to operating on the periphery, yet people are not happy, continuously making them scapegoats.
At this point, let me list few anti-Igbo policies and programmes since 1970:
1. Gowon’s fake 3Rs (Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation);
2. The displacement and removal/sack of top Igbo officials in their jobs in the public sector (Ministries, Departments, Agencies – MDAs and Parastatals);
3. The £20 policy (no matter any amount an Igbo man or woman had – hundreds of thousands, millions, etc. everything was equivalent to £20);
4. The abandon property policy (that confiscated the major assets/buildings of the Igbos);
5. The South-East having the least number of States and Local Government Areas in Nigeria despite being the third biggest ethnic group (with all known consequences and disadvantages);
6. Well sponsored and orchestrated hate speeches against the tribe, constant destruction of their assets and investments in many towns and States;
7. High tariff walls for goods imported by their business men, multiple taxes;
8. Constant harassments of Igbo traders and business men and looting of their goods in Lagos and other cities;
9. Unfavourable revenue formular (using landmass instead of population density in revenue allocation);
10. Discriminatory admission policies and strict application of quota system;
11. Non-development of the seaports in South-East and South-South, etc.;
12. Well-funded campaigns of calumny to create disaffection between the Igbos and other tribes (peoples) in the country. The list is endless. How many tribes can survive this myriad of deliberate choking policies/programmes?
In conclusion, I will refer Prof Bako and other anti-Igbo minions to Miriam Novak’s breathtaking speech at the United Nations General Assembly recently, where she was extolling Jewish contributions to society and humanity… after numerous schemes against the Jewish race, including the holocaust. Likewise, the Igbos are the most persecuted race in Nigeria, yet they have given very good accounts of themselves, due largely to their God-given attributes which make them to be wealth creators and emancipation agents. Nigerians should love them and learn from them, in their own interest. The Almighty God is their only strength.
Nigerian leaders and their imperialist advisers or supporters claimed that the Nigerian Civil War (1967 – 1970) was to keep the nation as one strong, prosperous and united country. Unfortunately, real efforts have been made (still being made) to exclude South-East/Igbos from the mainstream of the nation’s life. If Igbos are the main irritants, in nation building, as being routinely indicated/mouthed by notable tribal and religious bigots, is it not possible to give them the Singaporean treatment? Recall that Singapore was a Province in Malaysia. Like the Igbos, Singaporeans like competition and merit-driven policies. They became unpopular among the other Provinces as a result. They and their leader – Lee Kuan Yew, didn’t encourage or believe in unnecessary or backward concessions as we have in Nigeria. Unfortunately, in this country, standards or cut-offs are routinely lowered to accommodate un-prepared, unserious or favoured groups. This is our bane of development. No nation develops on mediocrity. On August 9, 1965, in a full session of the Malaysian Parliament, Singapore officially separated from Malaysia. In other words, Singapore became a country unprepared and if you like, initially disadvantaged. They took their destiny into their own hands. And with strong and selfless leadership, they went to work. Today, while Malaysian per capita income (nominal) is estimated at $13,315 (2024 and 67th in the world), that of Singapore is estimated at $88,447 (2024 and 5th in the world)… See the huge difference!
I hope that Prof Bako’s warped consulting prowess will be available in treating South-East/Igbos like Singapore. They should then sit back and see what will happen in the next 25years. Finally, Northern elites should stop deceiving themselves and their people. They should sit down and comprehensively analyse the monumental developmental and economic challenges in their region and start addressing them earnestly and seriously. They should investigate the nexus between cultural baggage (indeed other baggage), exploitation and their pathetic backwardness. They must leave South-East/Igbos alone and stop passing bulk.
Please take the message and forget the messenger. I come in peace.
*B Chima Onuoha (a Professor of Management and a Development Activist, with 6, including 5 higher Degrees, other professional certifications and serial writer/author) wrote from University of Port Harcourt (September 10, 2024).
