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The controversy around Akachi, the massive 50-foot monument of a hand pointed heavenwards located at Naze Junction, Aba Road, surely signposts many yet to be unveiled emotional outbursts that may greet any perceived “toe stepping” actions and strides of any governor to change the face of Imo State.
Significantly, the “baleful” rage against the Akachi infraction, which many people erroneously attributed to be the handiwork of Governor Emeka Ihedioha, seems to me a clarion call on the new governor and his media team to sit up in areas of policy interpretation, management and delivery of set goals or agenda.
The flood of emotional outbursts over the Imo situation beyond the Akachi monument, if not well managed, will short-circuit the well-intentioned actions of the governor, enthrone distractions and create a needless Ihedioha-Okorocha dichotomy. Indeed, I am convinced that the Red Sea of emotions on the Imo affair must be strategically handled to enable the parting of this flood to enable investors and lovers of Imo State not just the natives to navigate through the dry land in order to rebuild and offer Imo the needed outreach of desired help and intervention.
Let me also state here that Okorocha, through some of his misplaced “mistakes” and vicious “emotional” destruction of Imo heritage and culture, simply laid a trap for Ihedioha. Herein, indeed lies my very intervention in finding a very clear path for the restoration, intervention and marketing the “confluence” of Imo State as the authentic hub of Igbo culture and tradition.
Honestly, I do not have the space to recount some of the very sad and deliberate destruction visited on cultural sites and monuments in Imo under Okorocha such as Eke Ukwu market, Ahajoku Centre, Mbari Cultural Theatre and Imo Achieves/Library, among many others. These were doomsday actions that not only devalued the cultural tourism value chain in the state but also a elevated emotional ignorance against the history, tradition of the Imo nation.
At the height of the Herodic madness, our brothers from other parts of Nigeria watched in disbelief at the uprooting of what makes a people stand out and united and wondered if Akachi (hand of God) was ever behind it.
I recall some of my trips to museums in Taiwan, Thialand and in Germany and wondered if Imo’s Mbara Museum could ever be transformed and repositioned for global interpretation on the very unique socio-economic and religious way of life of the Igbo progenitors around the Imo River confluence.
Let me again restate that Ihedioha should advance the quick revival of Imo’s economy and unity among the people through culture and tourism activities, hence the need to create and empower culture and tourism development agencies that would harness, develop and market the numerous but neglected hospitality/cultural offerings of the people.
Luck and providence have given Ihedioha’s administration the natural hospitality bearings of the Imo people, which unfortunately, have been eroded through absence of a centralised laboratory of knowledge, exposure and sustenance. The sad neglect of the Mbari culture on account of ancient tales of evil was a challenge of poor historical interpretation and delayed reaction to societal changes, particularly religious positions.
Same dilemma fuelled the destruction of cultural institutions and communal engagement platforms across the land. The unique moonlight and traditional dances, wrestling, farming and other socio-cultural ecosystem unique to the state are no more. On Nigeria’s cultural map, Imo State sadly cannot be found. At the last National Festival of Arts and Culture in Rivers State, Imo State was nowhere near the venue, which was an hour from the state capital, Owerri. When I saw the Ikwerre clan of Rivers State doing the Nwaokorobo dance, there was no gainsaying the historical and cultural affinity of the Igbo of Rivers and Imo. Indeed, I am sufficiently aware that the Ikwerre of Rivers had their cultural root in Imo brethren of Umuekunne, Okolochi, Emeabiam, who live by the waterside of River Otamirin, which empties into the Atlantic waters at the Ikwerre end.
The great Mbaise women’s cultural groups, the diluting and tabletop hills of Okigwe and the food basket kingdoms of the Ohaji, Egbema and the entre Owerri West can be transformed beyond their natural attributes into a visitors’ wonderland, if Ihedioha could ‘patiently’ manage the confluence of emotions in Imo State.
Let me also align with Ihedioha’s dream to partner the federal government to extend the eastern railway through Lagos, Benin, Onitsha to Owerri. This will not only encourage tourism traffic, it would position Imo as a wonderland of business and agriculture.
The 27 local governments in Imo State should be restructured and empowered based on their clearly identified socio-economic value and be bound into a one-local-government-one-cultural-tourism-product destination. Imo is dead on arrival on erosion; so, a holistic, people-to-people campaign to embrace tree planting and respect for nature would do Ihedioha’s administration a lot of economic good and enthrone it as a key partner to global concern on nature and national resources management.
There is no denying the fact that Imo State is heads above other South East states in natural endowments such as forests and rivers, and it should have an enduring local government forest reserve management system.
