From Ogbonnaya Ndukwe, Aba
Most Rev Isaac Chijioke Nwaobia, the Ecclesiastical Archbishop of Aba Anglican Archdiocese and Bishop of Isiala Ngwa South, Abia State, has said that the last Southeast Economic and Security Summit, held in Owerri, Imo State capital, was a success as it brought together, Igbo sons and daughters, that rubbed minds on how to reposition the region for greater development. Nwaobia, a Board of Trustees (BoT) member of Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF), an Igbo Think Tank grassroots-oriented group, said releasing the incarcerated IPOB Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, will recreate the peace that had eluded the people and shame those benefiting from terrorists activities in the region.
People have looked at the ADF, as an elitist group with little or no impact on the grassroots society in Igboland, in view of its make up. In fact, it is seen as a platform of a handful of already successful academics and high echelon professionals. What is your take on this?
ADF is an Igbo organization, aimed at bringing the total welfare of the Igbo nation into national and international limelight. By implication of its name, Alaigbo, it is a grassroots based organization that accommodates big and small persons of Igbo origin, irrespective of colour, religious background or affiliation. In view of the fact that we are people-oriented, we desire to see that the Igbo nation that has been insulted, has been cheated and maligned here and there, regain its position in the comity of nations. We discovered from what we hear and see that from here at home to Kano, Bayelsa and even Port Harcourt, the Igbo are all there doing their various businesses of all kinds. One would say that if you minus Ndigbo from the rest of the country, there might not be any Nigerian nation as it is today. However and unfortunately, the Igbo have been mostly harassed, mostly insulted and have been subjected to always losing their investments when there are little misunderstandings on the grounds that they are looked at, as foreigners wherever they are sujourning, even in their own country, Nigeria. Further to that, we (ADF), want to anchor on the organization, to ask our brothers and sisters who are investing in other lands, to come home in realizing foremost of being Igbo, ought to invest in their birth place. We want to commend our sister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of World Trade Organization (WTO), in reference to her speech during the recent South East Economic and Security Summit held in Owerri, Imo State capital, where she lamented the dearth of our people investing at home. There are, within Aba and Nnewi, better prospects for a commercial hub for the Igbo nation. Within the Owerri/Imo flank, could be our education hub, while Ebonyi, provides the agricultural hub of the Southeast. As it were, no industry located in any of these areas will fail or lack resources to succeed. They will all thrive and excel and from there can be distributed to other areas. So, I really want to join our sister, Okonjo-Iweala, to ask our people in the diaspora, to come home and invest, “Ka ha kulie” (let them rise to this challenge). Let us join our strength together to expose our people to limelight, industrialise our land and create jobs for ourselves. Let us create enabling environment for visitors to come in and invest as we are being accommodated in other lands.
We are not Yoruba, Igbo are not Yoruba. Igbo are not Hausa. The Igala man that is opening his land for the Igbo to invest, has seen the benefits. A man from “Mba Mmiri” (the riverine area), who told the Igbo to stay in his land, has seen its benefits. If there was no benefit, they won’t allow the Igbo there. We are entrepreneural in spirit and this should be allowed and encouraged to be here in our own land.
What you are emphasizing, may be very difficult to achieve, say in the next decade or two, especially when our leaders in the individual Igbo states, seem to be pursuing different separatist agenda…?
Yes, you may be right but I want to prophesy that I’m seeing a new tomorrow for the Southeast because the type of leaders we’ve got this time to govern, especially after the last elections, are not just career politicians. To my mind, these new leaders, have come to uplift the hands of Igbo sons and daughters, to the next levels of development. For the first time, at the Owerri summit, we had the governors of the five Southeast states, sitting down together, sharing ideologies and persuasions. These persuasions, are at the centre of what the ADF is anchoring on. If implemented, there will be a better tomorrow for the Igbo nation.
On the question of ADF being elitist, as you suggested earlier, I don’t believe that is true. You see poor people like us in the organization. I don’t believe that I am among the high level grade of Ndigbo, or at the lowest rung. I see myself in the middle. I am a religious leader that was accommodated to be a Board of Trustees (BoT) member. They (ADF), don’t ask for money from the members. They looked at my antecedents, background and said that I could fit in their programmes. As a man of integrity, they asked me to become, come over as a BoT member, not just a registered member. So, we are not elitist only. My understanding of your question, is that for instance, when one is talking of grassroots politics, you see people that are hungry clustering to seek offices, who want to involve themselves in collecting what to eat. In Alaigbo, however, the leaders are thinking otherwise, about our tomorrow, the future of the Igbo nation and its entire people, including those at the grassroots society levels. Our leaders, include those that have made their marks in their chosen careers. They are not the billionaires, not all the professors or professionals, as is being said. They are still, not the top or big business moguls, rather those one can see as leaders, in the Igbo race.
Since we are talking about Igbo legacies and good leadership, does it pain your organization, the current deviation of the discipline in the culture of Ndigbo to the new creed of worshipping wealth, financial affluence, irrespective of how such monies are made? Is it part of the “Aku Ruo Ulo” drive?
This is one of the issues we are campaigning, fighting against. We are campaigning for a return to recognizing people by their integrity, instead of financial affluence which has eroded sincere growth and development of our land, the Igboland. This is among the issues we are tackling when we talk about persuasions in Alaigbo Development Foundation. We are not satisfied with a rogue (Onye oshi), being given a chieftaincy title by Ndi Ichie and Eze-in-Council (King’s Cabinet). It is not healthy. We are also not satisfied that a Church, will call out a notorious person in its membership and honour such a person with award or high office, such as knighthood, eldership or deacon. It is very wrong and we detest the calling of a known criminal for an office in our society to which such person is ordinarily bankrupt. ADF, will keep on fighting this and that is among the reasons you don’t see multitudes in our gatherings. Our group is like a selected few, because of the criteria for becoming a member. When one fails to measure up in the integrity test, such individual will not be allowed to become one of us. We are fighting it day to day. We are set out to work towards providing job opportunities for our teeming youths, to train them in various trades, business apprenticeships to become valuable persons. In the past, you see a big man coming home and taking four, five young boys to train in his type of business and they will serve him. At the end of say seven years, and getting to the eighth year, he will settle and establish them in the same trade. That’s how many rich business men in Igboland that we see and hear of, survived in the past. We want to encourage its return in our land. We don’t encourage 419 (corrupt/fraudulent engagements) or Yahoo Yahoo (Cybercrime) in Igboland.
You’ve harped on people returning home to invest, are there plans or suggestions, on how to secure such investments when established? Again, what about incessant kidnapping, banditry and related acts currently ongoing in the Southeast, are there plans on how they will be stopped to have a secured environment?
When I said that we’ll have a better tomorrow, based on the outcome of the Owerri summit, this includes what we expect it to translate into. When the governors and leaders of the Southeastern states, come together to have a united single voice, to fight insecurity in the land, it will reflect down to the local communities. When they begin to create enabling environment, such as needed employment, idle hands will get jobs and there will be peace in the land. There will be food and people will not go out committing crimes looking for what to eat and we will be secured in the Southeast. So, what will help us to overcome all the challenges that we are currently facing, will begin to be solved. Untrained youths will be discouraged from involving themselves in security matters.
We visited Jerusalem, Israel, in 2012, and saw very young people providing security and when I asked, I was told they get recruited and trained on graduation from secondary schools, just like we have the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), here in Nigeria. We learnt that every Israeli citizen, is a trained soldier. If we replicate that in our land, there will be security consciousness in the minds of our people, not where those that are hungry or are rogues get themselves involved in invading people’s homes. I saw what happened in Ohaukwu Council Area of Ebonyi State, the other day in the news, where people burnt houses, communities, claiming to enforce sit at home. That’s not the type of security checks we want in Igboland. We are talking about consciousness in the people’s mind. People want to watch their environment and perceive when the enemy is coming.
Major Igbo stakeholders and eminent Nigerians from other tribes, have persistently called for the release of IPOB Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, from detention, as part of moves to stem the upsurge in insecurity in the Southeast. What do you see as the government’s fear in not heeding the call?
Yes, I just want to corroborate what the President General of Ohaneze, Worldwide, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, said that the Federal Government, should release Nnamdi Kanu. To me, his release is long overdue, given the fact that the Court had earlier set him free, though government came up with new charges. We say that he should be released because criminals have cashed in on his incarceration to perpertuate trouble in the Southeast. Let’s see what will be their next move, if he is set free. Politically, the President, can say, let there be peace in the Southeast. Government has nothing to fear about his release. Let Nnamdi Kanu, come out of detention. We’ve seen eminent Igbo saying that he (Kanu) should be handed over to them. The President should listen to them, surrender him to such persons, our religious leaders or traditional rulers in Igboland and we will not hear any other noise about insecurity in the Southeast. That will stop the unknown gunmen and militants parading themselves as government agents and those of the people, who are better described as hooligans. Releasing Nnamdi Kanu, is central to achieving peace in the Southeast region and a major desire of ADF.
You led campaigns, protests against bad governance in Abia and after the March 18, elections, a new administration led by Dr Alex Otti, was sworn into office on May, 29th. Three months on, how would you assess the Otti administration, so far? Is it on the right track?
I am not a government mouthpiece but by observation, I may say that I am part of the people that yearned for a change. I am part of the government because it is the people that make the government. We had campaigned for a serious change in Abia and since he (Gov Alex Otti), came into office, we do share opinions with him. We have discovered a paradigm shift from the past in the governance of the state. My own personal thinking is that the change impact has not been as effective as we had expected. However, he is telling us about the enormity of what he inherited, which is in a mess. He said that he was cleaning it, before commencing rebuilding. You know, before building, one must lay a solid foundation. You must lay a very strong, quality foundation and that’s what he is doing, currently. From his talks and promises, we know a better tomorrow is in sight in Abia. If he fails, we will be the first to attack him. Last Monday, October 2nd, members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), prayed for him and the development of the state. We want a speedy development, not a sluggish one.
What is your fatherly advice to the youth, especially in this period of hunger and unemployment in the land?
I want to agree with you that there is hunger in the land and that a hungry man is an angry man. Abia and Southeast youths should be patient for a while. We have been waiting all these years for the governments at the federal, state and local levels, to do things positively. Let us exercise a little more patience while we learn skills that will expose our talents. When opportunities meet with provisions, they will produce successful results. Our youths should not while away the opportunities coming their way. Let them engage in learning some skills that will help develop and sustain them in adult life.
Quote: “One would say that if you minus Ndigbo from the rest of the country, there might not be any Nigerian nation as it is today. However and unfortunately, the Igbo have been mostly harassed, mostly insulted and have been subjected to always losing their investments when there are little misunderstandings on the grounds that they are looked at, as foreigners wherever they are sujourning, even in their own country, Nigeria”