By Obiotika Wilfred Toochukwu
The present hardship and bad governance in Nigeria has given the Igbos an opportunity for growth and development. Since after the First Military Coup in Nigeria, the lives of innocent people of the east were sacrificed on the altar of power tussle. Blood of Igbos shed during the Biafran War and several uprising and conflicts have turned into a blessing for the living Igbos.
They have developed character, endurance and resilience from the marginalization and oppression suffered from fellow country men. Even when the government has crippled commerce and trading, the Igbos are still redounding with successful ventures and occupation.
The $20 given to every Igbo man in 1970 for the thousands of pounds they had in the commercial banks which is almost a zero-sum was a testament to their impeccable reputation for industry. The suffering endured by the Igbos both during and after the Biafran war formed the character of persistence, and resilience which helped them withstand the hardship presently witnessed in Nigeria.
There’s no iota of doubt that the Igbos became enslaved in Nigeria with the failure of January 1966 putsch. The likes of late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe were completely betrayed and disappointed with the inordinate ambition of the five army majors. Such became the undoing of every Igbo man, since that time to the present day realities.
For anyone who did not fight the Biafran war, brainstorming on the Igbo Problem of Nigeria would require that you glean from different sources to ascertain the skills of an Igbo man in his own country. Singing and making merry are the hallmarks of celebration. The luxury and flamboyant lives of political leaders have lured many young people to build their lives on the rock of materialism.
We find across the country, a deep economic discontent amongst people in every walks of life. Just like the wasteful expenditures in the presidency, people want more and more things. The highest standard of living enjoyed by the modern man has been truncated by political crisis in Nigeria where people consume chemicals and concoctions due to food crisis and hunger.
The poverty in Nigeria is a renewed catastrophe which those in the dark periods did not forsee. Most elites in the country become disingenuous, when the interests of the Igbos are brought to limelight. We can count or recount when an Igbo man was the president, vice-president, senate president, speaker of the house of representatives, chief justice of Nigeria, controller of customs, chief of army staff, inspector general of police, minister of petroleum, minister of finance, minister of works, and the list goes on and on.
The common Igbo man has the gumption to rescue himself despite the altercations from political bigwigs. The suffrage enjoyed by the Igbo man was just to score cheap points amidst oppression and neglect. If only other ethnic groups in the country could grok at the system and attitude of the Igbo man who develops his host community, makes everywhere he finds himself a home, relates with his neighbours as brothers and sisters; then, they would hardly throw down the gauntlet for the Igbos. It would really be fatuous to remark that the Igbos are progressive and enterprising when the machineries of government are often used to cripple their endeavours and aspirations.
Nobody likes hard times but the unpleasant experiences of Ndi Igbo during the war acted as a catalyst for a stronger character which is still taking them through the slavery status in Nigeria.
The basic leadership strength and critical success factor which is the gateway for other traits such as empathy, authenticity and integrity are completely extinct from the presidency and other political offices. The political class and the governing elites have ossified the wasteful system of leadership, countermanding policies that could benefit the masses.
There’s unrest in the world as economies are crumbling,markets crashing and economic depression seems imminent. But the condition of Nigerians has got the propensity to make a sane person mad – big markets are set on fire, travellers are kidnapped with immediate demand for ransom, prices of staple goods are not within reach, government keep increasing spending on luxuries, farmers could not get back to farm, SMEs, MSMEs find it extremely hard to operate, livestock farmers can’t buy feeds again, helpless people become doomed and the voices of opposition are neglected.
The Igbos, like the Israelites preparing to leave Egypt, have been given a tailor-made climate and environment to protect them from the harsh conditions. We can authentically acknowledge that these worries and fears affect us all. Some would wish they had wings to fly away like a dove and be at rest.
A parade looks very different from a helicopter than it does from street level. One needs to have travelled to developed countries of the world to be able to have a discomfiture of the daily struggles of hardworking citizens. Every slave has a day of freedom and that’s the hope of every Igbo man in Nigeria.
Obiotika Wilfred Toochukwu writes from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Awgbu, Anmabra State, Nigeria
