One side understands that there needs to be peace.. But the other side is just reading and hearing vivid depictions of how overcoming rancor with the Biafran War can be very difficult for Igbo people.

It's like hearing the claim that African Americans just need to get over slavery and the extermination of Native Americans, but yet you can't talk American history without making certain parties look bad. Afflicted parties hate to hear these stories and/or feel uncomfortable or tense talking about it with the generations of the inflicted. So mocking and being jocular becomes the alternative.

I'm reading up and talking to an Igbo-American professor on the generalities of the Biafran War, and then i read the vitriol on Nairaland and I can relate to the true severity of that time in African history. When talking to him, I later learned he was quoting one of his books when he said "many people mistakenly believe the Biafran War was simply another African civil war, only this time in Nigeria, but in reality it was the entire might of the advanced western world against the Igbo people"


~ great chats with Dr. Korieh~

My brother, Igbos are really suffering in the entity called Nigeria. They are at the forefront of almost every sector in Nigeria - education, transportation, informal economy, human capital development, music industry, beauty pageants, movie industry, etc, yet they have continued to be hated by other tribes who mistake their penchant for success, aggressive and over-ambitious nature for 'domination'. The achievement of independence for the very same Nigeria in which they are suppressed in was, by and large, spearheaded by an Igbo man, Nnamdi Azikiwe, at a time when the northerners were not thinking of independence. Today, the one Nigeria Nnamdi Azikiwe so sorely fought hard for has become a baking oven for his own people. Go to the transportation sector, the Igbos dominate the transport industry with several transport companies that ply every nook and cranny of the country, be it Ifesinachi, ABC Motors, Peace Mass Transit (my favourite), Ekene dili Chukwu, e.t.c. Igbos were late entrants into the movie industry of Nigeria, coming in around the 80s, before which the Yorubas were already acting theatre plays since the 60s, the Igbos came in and Nigeria's movie industry knew no bounds ever since then. Today, Nollywood (the English speaking part which started out initially in Igbo language) ranks among the top 3 movie industries in the world, together with Hollywood and Bollywood of India, in both gross revenue and annual number of movies produced.

Nigeria's first Nobel Laureate is Wole Soyinka, who is one of Nigeria's greatest novelists and poets, popular within Nigeria yet hardly known beyond the shores of Nigeria. He has written books, many of which failed to gain worldwide popularity, being popular mostly within the south-west region of Nigeria where he hails from. On the other hand, an Igbo man in the person of Chinua Achebe rocked the shores of America, Africa, Europe, Asia etc with his book, Things Fall Apart, which is a recommended book for reading in many US high schools and universities, and portions of his book have appeared in GRE/GMAT comprehension passages. His book has been translated to over 45 world languages, and his fame in the US knows no bounds. Many people within Africa and US know of Chinua Achebe and have read his book. Wole Soyinka does not come half-close to Chinua's legacy even in the latter's death. Currently, Chimamanda Adichie is another Igbo author breaking grounds in the US, with books such as 'Americanah', 'Half of a Yellow Sun', etc. She is seen as Chinua Achebe's replacement who has taken on the mantle of Achebe's legacy. The black man with the highest IQ in the world is an Igbo man by name Philip Emeagwali with an IQ score of 190. He is a scientist and mathematician. Back in the 1800s, an Igbo ex-slave, Olauda Ikwuano, broke records to the much astonishment of the Queen of England that a black man could write a book when he wrote an autobiography of his life, kidnap, slave years and freedom. Today, his book is one of highly-read books of slave history of the 1800s in US universities. Apparently, Igbos have a long history of book writing.

In education in Nigeria, the Igbos lead in number of students going to and graduating from college and also the people having the highest number of professors. South-west used to have this priviledge in the 1920s and 1930s because of their earlier exposure to western education with the Igbos getting exposed later, but in one sweep of frenzy between 1930 to 1950, Igbos closed on this gap and were everywhere in civil service of colonial Nigerian government - a fact that other tribes did not like and saw as 'dominating' attitude of Igbos. Things led to things and the biafran war broke out.

In trade, just like the Jews who have a long history of trading, the Igbos dominate the informal sector (trade) of Nigeria. In Lagos state, Alaba, Ladipo etc. markets which call the shots in Lagos state are 99% Igbo dominated through years and years of hardwork. Now, some natives of South West under the guise of 'owners of the land', in their penchant for greed, are salivating over the financial prosperity of those Igbo-dominated markets and are attempting to impose themselves as 'leaders' of the markets, even when they have no shops in those markets, so as to enrich themselves by imposing tax on the Igbo traders. In other words, reaping where they did not sow. The Igbos have rejected this apparent act of selfishness and greed and this leadership tussle has been the main issue at hand in the Ladipo market crisis in Lagos state.

The Igbo people have a high tendency to travel out of their regions a lot, often finding gainful employment and being extremely successful in their endeavours much to the chagrin of the natives. Anywhere you go to in Nigeria, you must see an Igbo man gainfully employed in trading and being successful at it. It is often said that you give an Igbo man $100 and he converts it to $1,000,000. By sheer wit, perseverance, dedication, and drive, expect the Igbo man to convert the $1,00 given to him to $1,000,000.

The Igbos come from a culture of healthy competition, ambition, drive for success, healthy aggression etc. From childhood, parents drum into your ears the importance of education, responsibility, being successful in life either through business or education, and the importance of hardwork. There is enormous expectation of Igbo males to be successful in life, to grow up to be real men, which drives the Igbo man for success. The Igbos, being 99% christians, are not limited by religious or traditional barriers, unlike their traditionally-limited Yoruba neighbours nor their religiously-limited Hausa neighbours up north. There is stiff competiton to work hard, be successful in life, and outdo the other. This trait other Nigerians view as 'dominating' behaviour becaue often times, they don't possess to the extent the amount of penchant for success the Igbo man has to stand up to him. The quest to be successful at all costs often drives a few unscrupulous ones into certain acts, which other Nigerians blow out of proportion and choose to focus on as 'the real Igbo attitude', forgetting the millions of hardworking ones who contribute positively to Ngeria's development.

Outside Nigeria, go to China, South Africa, Holland, etc. you will find Igbo people there establishing and running businesses, markets, and doing relatively well. In China for example, Igbos there own clothing factories, with employed staff of chinese people, restaurants and other businesses.

The first indigenous motor company in Nigeria, Innoson Motors, is owned and established by an Igbo man in his state of origin.

There are so many feats of the Igbo I can go on to say but to better understand the Igbo situation in Nigeria, I recommend you to read
Achebe's book: 'There was a country'.

One Nigeria is a joke, as long as other tribes fail to appreciate the positive aspects of the Igbo but choose to focus on the few negative sides of the Igbo, Nigeria will know no peace. Who or which people is without blemishes? None. South East and South South are ever more united now. A separate country of theirs would be the best option, given the current crisis in Nigeria, and observe as this new country would exceed in growth and development in just a few decades. The Igbo and SS have the human capital development for such stupendous development.

Read some Igbo past and present giant-strides here:
http://www.newsexpressngr.com/news/detail.php?news=2547&title=Igbo-scholar-disgraces-Femi-Fani-Kayode-
NY Times had this to say about Achebe: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/world/africa/chinua-achebe-nigerian-writer-dies-at-82.html