Leader of the apex Igbo
socio-cultural group in Nigeria, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, John Nwodo, has maintained
that restructuring remains the only way forward for Nigeria.
He faulted the belief in some
quarters that the north would be doomed if the country was restructured.
He stressed that rather, the
North, with right agricultural policies, would be the richest part of the
country, if Nigeria is eventually restructured.
Nwodo made these submissions when
he spoke yesterday at the Chatham House, in London, where he delivered a paper
on “Next Generation Nigeria: Accountability and national cohesion,” at an event
put together by the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
According to him, “The example of
Netherlands in Agriculture is also relevant here. The Netherlands is the 18th
largest economy in the world. It has a land area of about 33.9,000 square
kilometres. Niger State, one of Nigeria’s 37 administrative units has about
74,000 square kilometres. Netherlands earns over $100 billion from agricultural
exports annually, contributed mainly by vegetables and dairy. Nigeria’s oil
revenue has never, in any one year, reached $100 billion. Northern Nigeria is
the most endowed agriculturally in the entire country. Its tomatoes, carrots,
cabbages, cucumbers, tubers, grains, livestock and dairy feed the majority of
Nigerians in spite of its huge reserve of unexploited export potentials. In a
restructured Nigeria, the North, with the right agricultural policies, will be
the richest part of Nigeria,” he said.
He also frowned at the
designation of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist group by
the Federal Government, saying that they were the most loyal ethnic group in
the country.
He added, “We invest and
contribute to the economic and social life of the committees wherever we live.
We are proudly Christians, but very accommodating of our brothers of other
religious persuasions. We are grossly marginalised and still treated by the
federal government as second-class citizens. No Igboman, for instance, heads
any security arm of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Our area is the most heavily
policed as if there was a deliberate policy to intimidate us and hold us down,”
he added.
“Our present constitution was
written at a time of unprecedented increase in national revenue, following the
massive discovery of oil in Nigeria and its global reliance as a source of fuel
for mechanical machines. It had, as its centre piece, the distribution of
national revenue and national offices, using states and local governments as
units for division. It constructed a federation in name, but a unitary
government in practice, following the pattern enunciated in 1966 from the
inception of military administration in Nigeria,” he said.
He also came hard on the ruling
All Progressives Congress (APC) for dilly-dallying over the issue of
restructuring, which “it willingly promised Nigerians during the electioneering
in 2015”, just as he insisted that the continued neglect of the 2014 National
Conference report would spell doom for Nigeria.
“To achieve a national consensus
on this subject requires a national discussion; regrettably, the ruling party,
APC, which promised restructuring in its manifesto, after two years and four
months in office, is still appointing a committee to define what sort of
restructuring it wants for Nigeria. To make matters worse, none of the other
political parties have come up with any clear-cut route for achieving a
consensus on this matter.
“The National Assembly itself is
a reflection of the deep ethnic divisions in the country, and the Northern
majority conferred on it by the military makes it highly unacceptable to
Southern Nigeria. Recent resolutions made by it on devolution of powers have
not helped the situation. Happily, the Senate President has promised to revisit
the subject matter.
“The only hope for change in
Nigeria today is the rising call for restructuring pioneered by the Southern
leadership forum, supported lately by ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, former
President Ibrahim Babangida and leaders of the Middle belt, including Dan
Suleiman and Prof. Jerry Gana.
“Our expectation is that now that
our president is fully recovered and back to work, he should address the situation
by constituting a nationwide conversation of all ethnic nationalities to look
into the 2014 National Conference report and the trending views on this subject
matter so as to come up with a consensus proposal that the national and state
assemblies will be persuaded to adopt. To continue to neglect a resolution of
this impasse will spell doom for our dear country,” Nwodo, added.
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GO ON, SON. LION OF IGBOLAND. YOUR PLACE IS WELL FAVOURED IN IGBOLAND. YOU ARE THE MESSIAH OF ALL. KEEP SPEAKING THE TRUTH TO POWER. THOSE OF US WHO KNOW YOUR HISTORY AND CAPABILITY ARE PROUD OF YOU. YOU ARE THE SCION OF THE DYNASTY. WE HAIL YOU. MEN MAY DIE BUT IDEAS LIKE DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. THE IGBOS MUST SPEAK LIKE YOU WITH ONE VOICE. Jay 2, Abuja.
ReplyDeleteSAGACIOUS LEADERS ARE BORN NOT MADE. DR JOHN NNIA NWODO HAVE DISTINCT HIMSELF FROM THE REST OF IGBO LEADERS. HE 'AV RESURRECTED THE DEAD OHANEZE NDIGBO, AND TAKEN IT TO THE CLIMAX.
ReplyDeleteSIR, MAY ALMIGHTY GOD BE UR SHED, KEEP U FOR US IN A GOOD HEALTH, AS U'AV BOLDLY CHOSEN THE TRUE PART.