Ndigbo in Northern Nigeria: practical steps to regain your livelihood as you return


It is no longer news that Igbos have been massacred in the North since the spate of Boko Haram attacks.
It is no longer news that Boko Haram has asked southerners (Igbos included) to leave the North
It is no longer news that the Federal government, northern states governments, and the security agencies cannot guarantee the safety of southerners (especially of Igbos) in the North.
It is no longer news that some Igbos have since relocated out of the North
However, it is also not news that many Igbos are reluctant to leave the North due to factual claims of investments in the North and the massive dislocation of livelihood that such unplanned relocation would bring about.

Many Igbos in the North are business people and their families. Others are federal civil servants, school teachers, university lecturers and staff, bank staff (one of the Mubi Boko Haram victims was a bank manager) members of the security agencies (military and paramilitary), clergy men, students and family dependents. A small population of pr/osti/tu/tes would also be present especially in sharia non-compliant areas.  Since there are likely to be few manufacturing industries in the North, I would wager that few Igbos are employed there in this sector.
For such people who for reasons of investments are unwilling to leave, it is a matter of choice; choice because they are adult enough to take life-changing decisions.
Your return to the south will bring about life-changing circumstances especially for those who were born and raised in the North. 
Sadly, however, the same is true if you choose to remain in the North: your relationship with your Muslim neighbors will never be the same again. And if you survive now, you may not be as lucky next time.

With this background in mind, let us take a look at the endeavors you may pursue in the south (SE) to get back your life. It is definitely going to be slow and difficult, but the nature of the time requires that you start almost from the scratch, with enough patience in your survival arsenal.

Business people returning to the south:

Are you are trader merely buying and selling and you are afraid of competition from the established traders in the SE?
You can veer into other areas where competition is less stiff or you can open shop in rural areas where competition ranges from zero to less stiff.  If you open shop in Aba, Nnewi, Onitsha and other large cities, you may not make it unless you have a good business sense and an exceptional marketing strategy. There are many rural villages in Igbo land or surrounding non-Igbo areas in daily need of 100s of small goods and services.

On a second thought, you do not have to be a trader buying and selling. In Igbo land animal production has somewhat been neglected. Apart from countable commercial poultry farms scattered here and there, there are virtually no sources of meat (cow, goat, sheep, rabbit etc) for the teeming masses in Igbo land to feed on. If Nigeria separates today, how will Igbos obtain their meat? Yes, they could import these things but can the rich Igbo traders who are displaced in the North engage in some form of animal production?  How about engaging in snail farming; how about fish farming; how about bee farming for honey production? Honey is a hot cake that will easily get an export market. Animal production is less land-requiring and less drudgery than crop production (especially if compared on the basis of semi or non-mechanized agriculture). Yes, initially it will not bring the quick money that buying and selling brings, but you are assured of a continuous safety net once you begin to harvest your animals and sell them. How about mushroom farming (takes just weeks to begin to sell your products)? You can set up these things in the confines of your family backyard garden. These days, people do cat fish farming in tanks or small wells (see photo). Tap into one or more of those and with time you see your fortune change.

Like the rest of Nigeria, there are many rural or semi-urban areas in Igbo land with no potable water. So how about establishing bore holes for commercial purposes? Water for domestic use, water for services such as car washes, etc. How about establishing clothes laundry services? Agreed this is something I have not easily come across in Igbo land as most people launder their clothes themselves –using house maids/boys, family members, etc. However, a good marketer can convince rich Igbos (and there are millions of them needing convincing) on why they should not lauder their clothes themselves. Or, how about importing and selling washing machines, something Igbo traders are not into for now?
How about establishing small (corporate) security agencies to man the houses and business of the rich or the 100s of markets in Igbo land? Keep in mind that the Hausas who are the ones currently involved in security of houses and markets would have all returned to the North, leaving this billion naira enterprise for the picking.

Like other parts of Nigeria, there are many villages in the SE without adequate daily and safer (safer than Okada) transport systems to move between them and to the urban areas. How about a bus or taxi service to serve these remote villages?
Like other parts of Nigeria, there are likely some remote villages in the SE without electricity. How about setting up a commercial video center with nice Nollywood and foreign movies where you run your own generator? Okay cost of fuel has just gone up, but you’d be surprised at the patronage you get.

How about currency exchange services? Most Nigerians living abroad are Igbos, yet most if not all foreign currency changers (even in Igboland) are Hausa.

So you see, life is not only about buying and selling; there is a myriad of things you can do.

For civil servants, how about asking for transfer to safe places?  How about asking your governors to help push this? For bank staff, how about asking for staff swap? Or are there no northerners working in banks in Igbo land?

For primary and secondary school teachers, how about seeking for teaching appointments in Igbo schools? If no spot for you, how about you pooling with others to establish private schools that parents can bring their wards for extra mural lesson? Agreed you cannot do any practical science under such conditions, but you can very well do text book-grooming (theory-only studies). You can rent church buildings or village civic centers for this purpose. With time you can, working together, establish a more befitting, government-approved school.

For university lecturers, I do not believe that Igbo state universities or federal universities in Igbo land are overstaffed. There must be a spot for you somewhere.

For the students, [/b]how about applying for transfer to southern universities? If no chance due to university carrying capacity-issues, how about studying in other African countries (if you cannot afford studying in the developed countries)? It is common knowledge that Nigerian universities (all of them) rank below many other universities in Africa. Over many years, no Nigerian university makes the first 30 in any conceivable ranking methodology in Africa. So you lose nothing studying in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Sudan Togo, Benin, Cameroun, Tanzania (most, if not all, countries with universities rated better than any in Nigeria) among others. You will be surprised that the tuition and overall cost of living are less in some of these countries than in Nigeria. Moreover, you gain some international perspective studying outside of Nigeria. You learn some useful French too, if in francophone country.

[b]For doctors and nurses, there are 100s of 1000s of sick Igbos that need your services. How about moving your equipment down south? If you were not the owner of your facility in the North, you can start off in Igbo land by setting up a small cottage health facility with the most basic of equipment to offer basic health services. You can then make you existence known to the media and to charities and NGOs anywhere in the world. You’d be surprised how CNN, FOX News MSNBC etc will carry your story and bring help to you with the understanding that you are helping humanity with almost nothing, having lost all in northern Nigeria.

For the family (your young ones), how about bringing them home? That way, you not only save their lives, but you make them to begin to learn and appreciate their own culture.

For those unemployed [/b]who for reasons best known to them must live outside Igbo land, how about obtaining visas to any other country? How about sneaking out to other countries (hopefully you don’t get caught in the process)? How about applying for asylum? Just anything to take you away from northern Nigeria?

[b]For pr/osti/tu/tes, are there no Igbo men to tango with?

[b]For soldiers and policemen [/b]of Igbo origin, you are armed. How about watching your back and shooting your way to safety? Or you declare AWOL and return home safely.

There is an Igbo saying that life is greater than what it requires to live it. Take heed of the warnings. Sell off now that you can still do so and run away, far away, from the madness that northern Nigeria has become.

Photo of a small scale yet lucrative catfish farm somewhere in Eastern Nigeria (exact location withheld for personal reasons).

Please help educate our people. Circulate far and wide. Thanks.

Oh! I forgot to add that Igbos are sports and entertainment people, so some of the displaced can find employment in sports, Nollywood and some can lend their talents in music. Oliver the Coque, Osita, Osadebe and Warrior among others need replacements

And the Igbo armed robbers, if any in the North, should please remain in the North and rob them silly. You are armed so you can fight. No need to return home

Nchara, God Bless you. May your days be fruitful and abundant.

Chyz*:

Nchara, God Bless you. May your days be fruitful and abundant.

You too, bro. Just doing my public-service bit. Igbos in the North have no excuse really to remain there except they know they can defend themselves. There is so much they can do in Igbo land. I agree it will be tough at first, but given the Igbo spirit, they will make it with time.

My message again: sell off and come back home.

bump

Nice one Nchara! E ge bi ndu. You are hitting the nail on the head. I just wish ohaneze and co, even our governors would take practical steps to help our ppl relocate. I know nobody likes to stay in a place where they are hunted but its very very hard to leave everything you have built and worked for.

God bless you more Nchara. Onye nwere nti, ya nuru.

Nchara:

And the Igbo armed robbers, if any in the North, should please remain in the North and rob them silly. You are armed so you can fight. No need to return home

u are very evil. Pretty much as evil as the boko boys. Only difference is the boko boys have the guts to execute their evil and u dont (nl is usually u solace seeking and chest beating zone. Boko boys dont talk much). U really dont have any justification to speak ill of the boko boys.

emmke:

u are very evil. Pretty much as evil as the boko boys. Only difference is the boko boys have the guts to execute their evil and u dont (nl is usually u solace seeking and chest beating zone. Boko boys dont talk much). U really dont have any justification to speak ill of the boko boys.

Boko sympathizer. Are u with boko haram? If so, we need to know why you all are so mad?

Nchara, thank you my brother

Good one Nchara,
Igbos should learn to form partnership businesses.A group of Igbos [ 4 or more ]leaving the north and who know/understand themselves can pool resources together and set up good businesses.Get a good,reputable law firm in the east to draft all legal framework/agreement for the partnership so that the interest of all partners can be protected.
I prefer to have a 10 percent stake worth 7 million dollars in a very big company than own 100 percent a company worth 500 million naira [ 0.5 million dollars].Returnee Igbos should embrace parnership business model and take it to a higher level in the east.They can contribute a lot to devt in east,Igbo associations should facilitate the return of Igbos to the east.

Nchara:

And the Igbo armed robbers, if any in the North, should please remain in the North and rob them silly. You are armed so you can fight. No need to return home

stayreal:

Boko sympathizer. Are u with boko haram? If so, we need to know why you all are so mad?

just becos am against Nchara's suggestion that igbo armed robbers rob the northerners silly doesn't make me a boko sympathizer. Igbo armed robbers robbing the northerner silly. That would be the day.

@ emke,
you can give suggestions based on the topic of this thread if you are interested,dont focus on that Ncharas Igbo armed robbers bit.That is just humour from Nchara.I for one will not want any Igbo armed robbers to come back to the east,they are like outcast or people who have been banished from the village.They should not come back to the east,they are not wanted.

^ pardon me. Didn't know it was a joke.

^ pardon me. Didn't know it was a joke.

I hope onitsha port and other ports in the niger delta become fully operationalThis will create a lot of jobs in the east.

@nchara i appreciate ur advice 4 our people, may GOD give u wisdom to guide people to the right direction. Its a good advice and a nice option u gave ndigbo. Mama ikwesilu igwa ndi na ezu oshi ka ha cheghari, ọbụlọ igwa ha nọlụ gbuwe ndi ugwu.

[size=16pt]Igbo people should bears arms that is the solution. You cannot stop man from being migratory. Man has always migrated, pushing the frontiers are part of human DNA, What Ndigbo should be fighting for is the right to bear arms and defend themselves. It is a fundermental human right especially in countries with little or no security[/size].

Why the north is afraid of ibos because soon they know the people in the north will assimilate the ways of the ibos this is what they are scared of.

Am so sory my braza !!!

TAKE NOTE :
Life time mistake is done only once & d repay is everlasthing

@bombay, innovations always trample over ignorance. Of course someday northerners will see and appreciate LIGHT.

Nice tips. Thanks Nchara.

Nchara
And the Igbo armed robbers, if any in the North, should please remain in the North and rob them silly. You are armed so you can fight. No need to return home

Nice one Nchara. In fact all S-E Governors should grant amnesty to death role inmates(only murder and armed robbery convicts) in prison and send them fully armed to the core Northern Nigerian States, while granting them at least 6 years of non-entrance to any SS or SE states.
Bakassi boys (Butcher Squads) should be set up in the communities of those that refuse to leave the north to ward off those aboki haram.

^Indeed.

@ OP nice suggestion, very thoughtful insight, GREAT IDEAS, you sure did you homework. I'm so glad that you took the time to do a great writeup. One word, AWESOME.

chima12:

Good one Nchara,
    Igbos should learn to form partnership businesses.A group of Igbos [ 4 or more ]leaving the north and who know/understand themselves can pool resources together and set up good businesses.Get a good,reputable law firm in the east to draft all legal framework/agreement for the partnership so that the interest of all partners can be protected.
    I prefer to have a 10 percent stake worth 7 million dollars in a very big company than own 100 percent a company worth 500 million naira [ 0.5 million dollars].Returnee Igbos should embrace parnership business model and take it to a higher level in the east.They can contribute a lot to devt in east,Igbo associations should facilitate the return of Igbos to the east.

This is the VERY IMPORTANT part, for some reasons, I have studied the Igbo business model, I often say it's lacking. I remember there there was a time Ezeuche posted a thread about this, about three months ago, from the response of the thread, most Igbo were happy to have their own business rather than expand to be a larger business/corporation. I used Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, anyway, the sooner we begin to appreciate other partnership/cooperation mentality, the better it is in the long run.

emmke:

u are very evil. Pretty much as evil as the boko boys. Only difference is the boko boys have the guts to execute their evil and u dont (nl is usually u solace seeking and chest beating zone. Boko boys dont talk much). U really dont have any justification to speak ill of the boko boys.

Poor soul with no sense of humor. How drab can your life be?

bump

Nchara:

Ndigbo in Northern Nigeria: practical steps to regain your livelihood as you return


It is no longer news that Igbos have been massacred in the North since the spate of Boko Haram attacks.
It is no longer news that Boko Haram has asked southerners (Igbos included) to leave the North
It is no longer news that the Federal government, northern states governments, and the security agencies cannot guarantee the safety of southerners (especially of Igbos) in the North.
It is no longer news that some Igbos have since relocated out of the North
However, it is also not news that many Igbos are reluctant to leave the North due to factual claims of investments in the North and the massive dislocation of livelihood that such unplanned relocation would bring about.

Many Igbos in the North are business people and their families. Others are federal civil servants, school teachers, university lecturers and staff, bank staff (one of the Mubi Boko Haram victims was a bank manager) members of the security agencies (military and paramilitary), clergy men, students and family dependents. A small population of pr/osti/tu/tes would also be present especially in sharia non-compliant areas.  Since there are likely to be few manufacturing industries in the North, I would wager that few Igbos are employed there in this sector.
For such people who for reasons of investments are unwilling to leave, it is a matter of choice; choice because they are adult enough to take life-changing decisions.
Your return to the south will bring about life-changing circumstances especially for those who were born and raised in the North. 
Sadly, however, the same is true if you choose to remain in the North: your relationship with your Muslim neighbors will never be the same again. And if you survive now, you may not be as lucky next time.

With this background in mind, let us take a look at the endeavors you may pursue in the south (SE) to get back your life. It is definitely going to be slow and difficult, but the nature of the time requires that you start almost from the scratch, with enough patience in your survival arsenal.

Business people returning to the south:

Are you are trader merely buying and selling and you are afraid of competition from the established traders in the SE?
You can veer into other areas where competition is less stiff or you can open shop in rural areas where competition ranges from zero to less stiff.  If you open shop in Aba, Nnewi, Onitsha and other large cities, you may not make it unless you have a good business sense and an exceptional marketing strategy. There are many rural villages in Igbo land or surrounding non-Igbo areas in daily need of 100s of small goods and services.

On a second thought, you do not have to be a trader buying and selling. In Igbo land animal production has somewhat been neglected. Apart from countable commercial poultry farms scattered here and there, there are virtually no sources of meat (cow, goat, sheep, rabbit etc) for the teeming masses in Igbo land to feed on. If Nigeria separates today, how will Igbos obtain their meat? Yes, they could import these things but can the rich Igbo traders who are displaced in the North engage in some form of animal production?  How about engaging in snail farming; how about fish farming; how about bee farming for honey production? Honey is a hot cake that will easily get an export market. Animal production is less land-requiring and less drudgery than crop production (especially if compared on the basis of semi or non-mechanized agriculture). Yes, initially it will not bring the quick money that buying and selling brings, but you are assured of a continuous safety net once you begin to harvest your animals and sell them. How about mushroom farming (takes just weeks to begin to sell your products)? You can set up these things in the confines of your family backyard garden. These days, people do cat fish farming in tanks or small wells (see photo). Tap into one or more of those and with time you see your fortune change.

Like the rest of Nigeria, there are many rural or semi-urban areas in Igbo land with no potable water. So how about establishing bore holes for commercial purposes? Water for domestic use, water for services such as car washes, etc. How about establishing clothes laundry services? Agreed this is something I have not easily come across in Igbo land as most people launder their clothes themselves –using house maids/boys, family members, etc. However, a good marketer can convince rich Igbos (and there are millions of them needing convincing) on why they should not lauder their clothes themselves. Or, how about importing and selling washing machines, something Igbo traders are not into for now?
How about establishing small (corporate) security agencies to man the houses and business of the rich or the 100s of markets in Igbo land? Keep in mind that the Hausas who are the ones currently involved in security of houses and markets would have all returned to the North, leaving this billion naira enterprise for the picking.

Like other parts of Nigeria, there are many villages in the SE without adequate daily and safer (safer than Okada) transport systems to move between them and to the urban areas. How about a bus or taxi service to serve these remote villages?
Like other parts of Nigeria, there are likely some remote villages in the SE without electricity. How about setting up a commercial video center with nice Nollywood and foreign movies where you run your own generator? Okay cost of fuel has just gone up, but you’d be surprised at the patronage you get.

How about currency exchange services? Most Nigerians living abroad are Igbos, yet most if not all foreign currency changers (even in Igboland) are Hausa.

So you see, life is not only about buying and selling; there is a myriad of things you can do.

For civil servants, how about asking for transfer to safe places?  How about asking your governors to help push this? For bank staff, how about asking for staff swap? Or are there no northerners working in banks in Igbo land?

For primary and secondary school teachers, how about seeking for teaching appointments in Igbo schools? If no spot for you, how about you pooling with others to establish private schools that parents can bring their wards for extra mural lesson? Agreed you cannot do any practical science under such conditions, but you can very well do text book-grooming (theory-only studies). You can rent church buildings or village civic centers for this purpose. With time you can, working together, establish a more befitting, government-approved school.

For university lecturers, I do not believe that Igbo state universities or federal universities in Igbo land are overstaffed. There must be a spot for you somewhere.

For the students, [/b]how about applying for transfer to southern universities? If no chance due to university carrying capacity-issues, how about studying in other African countries (if you cannot afford studying in the developed countries)? It is common knowledge that Nigerian universities (all of them) rank below many other universities in Africa. Over many years, no Nigerian university makes the first 30 in any conceivable ranking methodology in Africa. So you lose nothing studying in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Sudan Togo, Benin, Cameroun, Tanzania (most, if not all, countries with universities rated better than any in Nigeria) among others. You will be surprised that the tuition and overall cost of living are less in some of these countries than in Nigeria. Moreover, you gain some international perspective studying outside of Nigeria. You learn some useful French too, if in francophone country.

[b]For doctors and nurses, there are 100s of 1000s of sick Igbos that need your services. How about moving your equipment down south? If you were not the owner of your facility in the North, you can start off in Igbo land by setting up a small cottage health facility with the most basic of equipment to offer basic health services. You can then make you existence known to the media and to charities and NGOs anywhere in the world. You’d be surprised how CNN, FOX News MSNBC etc will carry your story and bring help to you with the understanding that you are helping humanity with almost nothing, having lost all in northern Nigeria.

For the family (your young ones), how about bringing them home? That way, you not only save their lives, but you make them to begin to learn and appreciate their own culture.

For those unemployed [/b]who for reasons best known to them must live outside Igbo land, how about obtaining visas to any other country? How about sneaking out to other countries (hopefully you don’t get caught in the process)? How about applying for asylum? Just anything to take you away from northern Nigeria?

[b]For pr/osti/tu/tes, are there no Igbo men to tango with?

For soldiers and policemen [/b]of Igbo origin, you are armed. How about watching your back and shooting your way to safety? Or you declare AWOL and return home safely.

There is an Igbo saying that life is greater than what it requires to live it. Take heed of the warnings. Sell off now that you can still do so and run away, far away, from the madness that northern Nigeria has become.

My name is [b]Onlytruth, Ndu di n'eziokwu 1 of Igboland, Eze Ndigbo Nairaland.

I powerfully endorse this message.