Travelling East for Census 2023

Contrary to a growing popular opinion, travelling from Lagos to the East to be counted in Census 2023 is not a very good idea for Ndi-Igbo. Although Lagos and Ndi-Igbo are the focus of this intervention, it equally applies to non-Igbo living in any place in their country where they are considered “non-indigenes.” It is true that politics involves everything we do but the decision to travel is using politics to address a socio-economic challenge. The proper advice for those pushing this idea, to use a street slang, is to take a chill pill.

At surface reading, it appears like a clever idea, but is not when subjected to deeper interrogation. At the root of the proposition are two remote and one immediate causes. Policy inconsistency is one remote cause, while the struggle for power by Lagos power-seekers is the immediate cause. I shall leave the second remote cause for last. There is also a fourth but merely sentimental cause, which is a desire to make “our state” earn more from monthly federal allocations.

Take the remote cause of policy contradictions. While the Nigerian Census rejects counting people on the bases of religious and ethnic affiliations, governments (federal and states) push them back up while allocating positions, privileges and social welfare. To illustrate, one’s ethnic origins does not count in the census. After the census, however, it is made to count in school admissions, government employment, and so forth. An Enugu child born and bred in Yobe where her parents live will be denied Unity School admission with a score of 200 in the common entrance examination. Meanwhile, her school-mate in the same primary school and class will gain admission with a modest score of eight! Both children not only attended the same school but were also taught by the same teachers.

It is a silly country we continue to birth and nurture. But is travelling East for the sole purpose of census a solution to the discrimination in school admission, public sector employment and other policy-constrained provisions of welfare services to “non-indigenes” nationwide? I would like to hear an argument that supports such a notion.

Then there is the immediate cause, for those living and working in Lagos, the self-styled Centre of Excellence. The March 18, 2023, governorship election, according to the proponents, showed how much non-Yoruba, especially the Igbo, are resented in Lagos. The proponents point to ethnic intimidation, non-Yoruba voter suppression and physical assault unleashed during the election. Today, we are also growing post-election violence through arson attacks targeted at Igbo-dominated trading areas. But is all this evidence of deep-seated Yoruba resentment of the Igbo? Or are they outcomes of pernicious propaganda that exploits for political gain an age-old but harmless Igbo-Yoruba superiority contests? No matter what anyone believes, how is travelling East for census 2023 a solution when the registrant is not planning to relocate?

It is important to recognize and situate what happened in Lagos on March 18 in a proper context. This was simply the outcome of the desperation by rent seekers intent on retaining their powerful hold on Lagos. And without a doubt, the rent seekers are not exclusively Yoruba. In other words, the people responsible for turning Lagos State from the Centre of Excellence to the most primitive enclave in Nigeria can be found among the major and minor ethnic groups. These conspirators are united by their worship in a non-religious denomination pastored by the Jagaban. Thousands of Lagos Igbo throng this centre every day to drink from the Jagaban’s milk of human kindness. Among them are public intellectuals, top businessmen, technocrats and those I would describe as closet Joe Igbokwes, a very special breed. For the closet worshippers, who has failed to connect their actions to a couple of recent public dance from the throne of an Eze Ndi-Igbo or in an Ibom Air flight?

If we recognize what happened in Lagos on March 18 as a political problem, a political solution is more appropriate than a risky ineffective family trip. It will be clear that travelling East for Census 2023 is an emotional investment that does nothing to address the political challenge that people will return to face. Viewed from political lenses, it may be counterproductive through loss of population strength. The strength that non-Lagos Yoruba and other ethnic nationalists deploy to win elections in Lagos will be lost if this decision is followed with also changing voting centres from Lagos to states of origin. At the same time, if any family changes census registration location without changing voting centre, this cannot affect the choice of a right candidate in the state of origin. For the Igbo living in Ojo and Amuwo Odofin, for instance, this is a case of heads you lose, tails you fail. Not travelling East for census does not affect anyone who wants to contest an election anywhere in Nigeria. During voting, where you were counted for census will not change the attitude of a Lagos bully who wants to suppress your vote or physically harm you.

On the economic front, going to register in the East will not give admission to any child or ward that does not score what policymakers arbitrarily allocate to “state indigenes,” nor will it enhance their employment opportunities after they are done with schooling. The only thing that looks like a reasonable argument is that going East to register for census could improve federal revenue allocation to one’s “state of origin.” This is, however, not a very sound argument. Population is only one of the five principles in revenue sharing and not a strong one at that. The principles include equality of states (40%), population (30%), land mass/terrain (10%), internal revenue effort (10%) and social development effort (10%).

This is why the argument is faulty. A state like Lagos will out-earn my native Enugu at federal allocations not only because of its population but also the last two items on the list, which are competitive matters. These two items are the reason that Lagos population continues to grow in leaps and bounds. In other words, any state that improves on its revenue generating capacity will attract more population, given that this improvement often correlates with improved economic and social development. It is, therefore, more important for the Lagos Igbo to do more to encourage their home state governors to improve the economic landscape than to do something that gives them the money that they would sooner steal or fritter away on frivolities.

The second remote cause of this temptation to go East is the Nigerian Civil War. It should be obvious by now that one is not an advocate of Igbo leaving their places of work to return to their places of birth to be counted. However, it is important to understand the context of this constant push to “go home” when it looks like Igbo are under threat.

I was a child at the time but I retained a keen sense of what happened to Igbo living outside the old Eastern Region at the outbreak of hostilities in 1967. They suffered a lot in the homelands where they fled to seek refuge from the wrath of those hunting them down and murdering them in Northern Nigeria. The exodus had a massive impact on life in the then Eastern Region where they fled to. My sharpest memory of this era was of my father chasing me out of my room in our village to sleep in the living room. I shared this space with my siblings and 10 other young relatives who parents brought to our home. My father gave my room to his youngest brother whose family was displaced in Kaduna. The family of four crowded into my room and remained there until everyone fled into the forests when “enemy” bombs began exploding close to our home. The forests were our first IDP camps in Nigeria, but not the traditional camps we know. We simply settled down to continue farming and hunting in the thick forests for what to eat, although it was difficult to survive without other necessities.

This experience taught an unforgettable lesson to Igbo living outside the South-East region. The desire of every Igbo living outside the South-East is to construct a home in their places of birth. It does not matter that these homes are locked up for 11 months of the year, to be opened in December when families return for Christmas and New Year celebrations. What matters is that there is a place to run to if tomorrow Nigeria becomes too hot for the Igbo, as it was between 1966 and 1967. The village “home” provides a psychological comfort that makes the Igbo fear no foe where they live or do business. It is this “home advantage” that attracts those considering the advisory to travel east for the census.

However, going East for census is equally a psychological acceptance of defeat that is alien to the Igbo spirit. This sense of defeat is bound to be extended and consolidated among the people. The tagline of the 2023 Census is “You Count. Be Counted.” Everything that happened to the Igbo during the last governorship election is a recognition that the non-Yoruba population equally counts in Lagos. Not being counted in Lagos will affect future participation of non-Yoruba in Lagos politics. It is important to remember that pirates do not rule the ocean in perpetuity.

At any rate, no one is being counted based on where they worship or where they originally came from. The census enumerator does not care that you are Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba as they count your family in Ibadan, Enugu, Kaduna or anywhere else. Census officials are interested in the economic profile of the individual living in an area, whether they are engaged in an occupation, with or without dependents, their living conditions, and economic circumstances. The world needs this information to be complete and accurate. Lagos State government needs the data to provide for citizens in their areas of need. Businesses need the data for marketing purposes. Tertiary institutions need information for research that draws attention to the needs of citizens and communities. Philanthropies need population data to recognize people and communities that need assistance. The examples can be multiplied.

If, therefore, the Igbo decide to depopulate Ojo, Lagos, during this census, for instance, they will return to an area that nobody will reckon with, development-wise. At the same time, they would have given South-East governments a false idea of their infrastructure and social welfare needs. Common sense should, therefore, dictate otherwise – that Ndigbo in Lagos should not fall victim of propaganda by a group of disgruntled non-Lagos Yoruba struggling with everyone else for ownership of Lagos real estate. For this group, the easiest access to this real estate is political power, which is why they are prepared to throw everyone under the bus to get it.

To the non-Yoruba in Lagos, therefore, kindly stay put and be counted in Lagos. It is the only way to begin the process of scrubbing off the dirty, primitive tar that politics splashed on your dear state.