Guest Writer
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| By Professor Anya O. Anya |
LET me start by welcoming us all to this epoch making interactive meeting. It is fair to state that never in the history of leaders of our people have so many gathered under one roof in Lagos as we have today. Particular welcome must be extended to those who dreamt and facilitated this meeting. It is as timely as it is important. May I recall that three years ago we held a similar interactive meeting but not on this scale. Since then a lot of water has passed under the bridge. For a start we did not keep the promise we made to ourselves then that this format of interaction should be a regular feature. But as the cliché would have it: it is better late than never.
At this time three years ago Ndigbo were euphoric. We had intervened decisively in the national election as a united voice and succeeded to dramatically imprint our will on the outcome: an Eastern Nigerian was at last at the helm of affairs in the nation despite the vicious obstruction and tackles of those who had presumed it their inherent right to rule. We had high expectations of a commensurate reward in developmental terms to our zone: the South East zone. This after all is our government. Three years later there is disaffection and disenchantment with the system: our expectations have not been met however much we try to put a gloss over it. A situation where the commitment to the South East in infrastructural developments by the Federal Government is less than one sixth of that to the North Central and less than one quarter of that to the North West, the epicenter of the opposition to this government cannot be considered fair to Ndigbo. What is more when the entire national security apparatus has suddenly been predominantly concentrated in one zone with the paramilitary organisations thrown into the mix, Ndigbo Lagos cannot be expected to hail these developments as fair and equitable. The situation is not made more palatable when we observe the emerging scenario in the transport sector where we have been completely excluded. Yet Igbos have been at the forefront of those initiatives that have stabilised and promoted this government. But these are not the times to trade blames on what has been done or left undone. These are times for sober reflection. Are there things we could have done differently or should now do differently? Is there a lesson to learn from the admonition of James 4 v2-4:
You desire and do not have, so that you murder
You covet and cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel
You do not have because you do not ask
You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly.
We now come to the challenge of these times. In less than three months, from now we would be in the year of destiny 2015. The question to ask is: are the choices before Ndigbo today different from the choices we faced in 2011? We would all agree that there has been a tectonic shift in the political equation in Nigeria in the last two years. The question is have these changes offered us new opportunities or new choices or have they posed new challenges before Ndigbo? Some have already answered that the changes have not proffered to us any new choices. What is clear is that our decision in 2015 is even more momentous than the decision we faced in 2011. A wrong choice may foreclose the options for the next generation or two of Ndigbo. So we need to interrogate the situation closely, soberly and realistically. We must not project the image consciously or unconsciously that we are a people who can be taken for granted or who can be turned merely on the emergence of new whims or caprices of those who have never seen Nigeria within the politics of inclusion rather than exclusion. These are times for hard headed strategic thinking and not for mere facile political posturing. The interest of all our people must be paramount. This suggests that this is the time for a fundamental paradigm shift. We must shift from thinking of persons and positions to the alternative paradigm of programmes and policies that will benefit our people and re-initiate the development of the South East. We must therefore develop a long term vision of the South East of our dream: Is it Singapore? Or Dubai or? We must restore deep thinking and the veneration of thought leaders in the affairs of the Igbo land of our new vision. We must leave here with the mandate to put together a steering committee that will see to the
- a) Definition of the political and economic interest of Ndigbo in the emerging scenario of dynamic politics in Nigeria
- b) Mobilisation of our people with new dreams and realistic incentives to harness, concentrate and deliver their political asset with finesse to the emergent new Nigeria
- c) Development of infrastructural and human capacity programmes that will shape 21st century Igbo land to the fulcrum for any political negotiations with those willing and ready to buy into our vision. With these in place we can negotiate with friends or foe and navigate any political waters, rough or smooth which can lead our people confidently into a more glorious future. The time for recriminations or regrets should now be over. This is the time for leadership in Igbo land, in Nigeria and in the world — the kind of quality leadership that Nigeria needs: the kind of leadership that the Igbo value system was designed to provide despite the distortions and the shenanigans or the Nigerian political environment.
Professor Anya O. Anya, President-General, Ndigbo Lagos, presented the speech at the interactive meeting of all Igbo organizations in Lagos with top Igbo leaders in Government, Dover Hotel, Lagos, October 7.
— Oct. 27, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
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