Drawing a line from the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu who had continually warned Ndigbo to come home and invest in their towns and villages, Ramas told our correspondent in this exclusive interview of his tears and pains at the colossal losses of Igbo people in Nigeria, especially in the Northern states since independence.
“I was present when the late Ikemba of Nnewi, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was invited to the commissioning of the International Trade Fair on Badagry Road in Lagos. The business community and core investors in the complex being mostly Igbo people, they had thought Ojukwu will sing and praise their efforts, but Ikemba cried and told the Igbo people to their faces that he was totally disappointed in them.
“He warned them that in the end, they will regret all these investments they are pouring into Lagos State because in a matter of time, only with a pen through one legislation will Lagos State legislators will write off their property. They will forfeit all their homes and investments they have sunk into Lagos State and they will go back home and start struggling again in their old age until they die. Ojukwu had told them it happened before, and it will happen again.
“Since the past ten years I have been talking to Igbo people in Nigeria and in the Diaspora to look back home, to move their massive investments, industries, commerce, even intellectual properties to their own people, but nobody is listening; the successful Ibo business class think only them know how to reason, that only them have first class brains, but let us borrow a leaf from the former Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio.
“Apapa wharf is not the only hob of business in the country; there is also the Warri wharf and the Calabar Wharf where Ibos can go and invest and I tell you, both wharfs can be as good as Lagos tin can. I don’t know what so attract Igbo people that they commit all that they have into Lagos State and other parts of Nigeria without remembering that they have towns and villages lying empty with youths and elderly people languishing in poverty. My people should adhere to the adage says, East or West, Home is the best.’
Ramas pointed to some five star hotels and estates owned by Igbo business men and lamented that the spirit of Lagos has taken everything away from his people.
‘Rock View Hotel in Apapa, Lagos, for example, was built by the owner of Young Shall Grow transport; yet this man is one of those who made the building of our Anambra State airport impossible till today. All those transporters, according to my personal investigation, are the brains behind infrastructural failures for decades since Anambra became a State, so much that we could not build even an aerodrome where a helicopter or small planes will land in the State.
“Since I was in Lagos in 1980, I heard about Ogbar airport, but till this moment, there is no clearance and no progress; there is another airport they are trying again but nothing has come out of it. Igbo transporters as well as those generator merchants that sabotage power flow in Nigeria believe there is no development coming to Anambra, so they enrich other states and kill their own fatherland.”
The industrialist and traditionalist also frowned at the slow pace of his own state government in grassroots development.
“I left Lagos city and returned home to develop the grassroots; helping my native people and developing my community; helping the widows, people abandoned in hospitals in the state and outside, championing the course of youths and empowering both young and old, yet the state government does not even acknowledge efforts of people like me.
“What is the hope of our future generation if all our labour becomes the prosperity of other states and other nations? Look at all the years Anambra spent in litigation fighting autonomy in our local government areas in our own Nri kingdom; it is only recently government yielded to that demand after some 22 years! Freedom is sweet; freedom is development, like the Local Government for example, because its creation will now usher in development to the grassroots.”
Ramas is not alone in this view; the overview of a unified Ndigbo as a people or Nigeria as a nation as assessed by a member of the highly esteemed Enugwu-Ukwu Traditional Council and lecturer at the Madonna University in Anambra State, Dr. M.C. Nwafor, falls far short of optimism.
“You can see that there nothing united in this nation at all, except perhaps, the game of football which itself has been politicised and tribalised; now players have to be brought in from all the geo political zones, which is not the spirit of soccer. The fate of this country as one nation is as good as anyone’s guess. Culturally we are not the same; in religion we are not the same. Now your son cannot do his youth service in the North.”
Buttressing the pains of Ramas on Igbos in the Diaspora, Nwafor pointed out:
“Consider seriously: how many Northerners own any property in Enugwu, Anambra or other Eastern States for example? Apart from one they call Baba Enugu, no single Northerner owns anything worth calling a property; no Yoruba man will invest and own a property in the East; it is only the Igbo man that is nationalistic; wherever he goes he invests and converts it to his own home and moves in with his entire family: no other tribe does that.
“From all indications I am not too optimistic about this country continuing as one sovereign nation, except God Almighty intervenes,” Ramas concluded.

........

How do you gauge failure"

You hv said it all. Onye nwere nti na nuru.

Never use the word "Igbo" and "failure" together in same sentence..
For We are achievers

Igbos Bring your investments back home as it is now Obvious no one wants you in their land.

I concur,Igbo's inability to develop their own states and regions is a miserable failure.!

But I can still boldly say that Igbo's are the most patriotic ethic group in Nigeria,

Cus they believed in Nigeria and work so hard to develop it wherever they are,

But what do they get in return for that;Envy and hatred from the same people that preach "One Nigeria".

Like I always say "if you can't harbor them,let them go"

My fellow Nri men have spoken!!!!!

Ramas from Agukwu-Nri
Nwafor from Enugwu-Ukwu


Umu-Nri kachaaa nu!!!!

Ojukwu will sing and praise their efforts, but Ikemba cried and told the Igbo people to their faces that he was totally disappointed in them.
“He warned them that in the end, they will regret all these investments they are pouring into Lagos State because in a matter of time, only with a pen through one legislation will Lagos State legislators will write off their property. They will forfeit all their homes and investments they have sunk into Lagos State and they will go back home and start struggling again in their old age until they die. Ojukwu had told them it happened before, and it will happen again.

This is the destiny of the Igbos in SW.
These Ojukwu's prophesies shall come to pass.

we built this country!!!
but we are not enjoying it at all.
i wish everyone goes back home and rebuild our homes...the mistake has been made already.

Lol...the shouts and screams of "No Mans Land" is now "backfiring".

Whenever we advice igbo people to be peaceful and respectful of their Yoruba hosts, they usually reply boastfully stating how they developed and own Lagos.

Now that reality is now dawning on them and Yorubas have been systematically putting them in their place they all seem quiet and humble on Nairaland all of a sudden.

Well, they have probably gone too far and I don't think the Yorubas are slowing down on their efforts in taming the wild Igbos anytime soon. They need serious home training and we will give it to them.

not surprised! iboes have been foolish since 1967. in fact the most insane tribe in in the whole universe is iboes.
occupying that red mud eroded region.

KELVINXY:
I concur,Igbo's inability to develop their own states and regions is a miserable failure.!

But I can still boldly say that Igbo's are the most patriotic ethic group in Nigeria,

Cus they believed in Nigeria and work so hard to develop it wherever they are,

But what do they get in return for that;Envy and hatred from the same people that preach "One Nigeria".

Like I always say "if you can't harbor them,let them go"

The question is : who's holding/stopping them?

simplycarro:


This is the destiny of the Igbos in SW.

Though you're Yoruba, I've to agree with you on this
What am wondering is why there are no moves to start seizing the properties of my stubborn kinsmen

D igbos will never learn

WIZGUY69:



The question is : who's holding/stopping them?

You and I.
If the yoruba's stop these self righteousness propaganda of theirs and work towards the freedom their own nation bcus I know deep within they want it but scared of their masters(dont ask me whom,cus u know)

Frankly speaking...
Am ashamed of my people the Igbos,the ramas guy is saying the truth but my people are as stubborn as goats!
Though painful, I'd give my moral support to the Ofei' tribesmen in any ploy they'd use to evict Igbos from the West. Our people need to show sagacity in these perilous times kos Nigeria is a country destined for the pits!
The only ally we've in Nigeria are the Mmoño..and its natural we build a symbiotic relationship with them.
All hail the Great Biafran State!

wtfCode:
we built this country!!!
but we are not enjoying it at all.
i wish everyone goes back home and rebuild our homes...the mistake has been made already.

You did not build any country. You merely have traded with other ethnic groups in this geographical expression and made money for your selves. Importing fake goods and selling to other tribes is hardly "building the country". Destroying the health system via fake drugs is also definitely not.
In places you traded in , you have damaged the environment like you did your Aba, Onitsha and almost did Lagos.
In PHC , successive state governments have bemoaned Ikokwu, Ngbuka and the attendant sluminization that follows your dirty urban, degrading motor parts selling.
The current culture in Nigeria where every space is turned into marketplaces come from only one tribe.

Nigerians beware. In their despiration for biafra state, the Igbos(Ibos) are now camouflaged bokoharam, Fulani herdsmen, isis refugees, touts, eze indigbos and trouble shoters all over Nigeria. Do not say I did not warn.

KELVINXY:
You and I.
If the yoruba's stop these self righteousness propaganda of theirs and work towards the freedom their own nation bcus I know deep within they want it but scared of their masters(dont ask me whom,cus u know)

Guy, am waiting for the Yoruba people to give you a befitting answer on this one, because am truly puzzled by your comments. Did the Yoruba people ever tell you they were in bondage? What business is it of yours', if they work towards their own nation or not??! Chukwu biko?!