₦airaland Forum

actiondrilling:
First Second son of the late Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Emeka Ojukwu Jnr, has explained that his decision to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) was not for selfish aggrandisement, but to ensure that similar ideals that informed his late father’s action are upheld.

Ojukwu Jnr. added that he was merely walking in his father’s steps by ensuring that his actions are informed by the best interest of Nd’Igbo, recalling how, shortly after his return from exile in 1982, his father joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) rather than the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP).

He said: “I can afford to stay back (in APGA) and wallow in sentimental politics that nkea bu nkeanyi (this is our own), but in the long run, what becomes of our tomorrow and place in the great Nigeria project, for which our forefathers laboured, invested their time, talent and even their blood?


“Which is preferable: to be a big fish in a small pond or a big fish in the ocean? Real champions are never afraid of the big league. That could be why late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, asserted that if you cannot reason beyond petty sentiments, you are a liability to mankind. Nd’Igbo are not better off with emotional politics.”

Ojukwu spoke to The Guardian against the backdrop of recent statement by re-elected Governor Willie Obiano that he considers Ikemba’s son as of no consequence, but has extended an olive branch to stakeholders and co-contestants in the recent Anambra governorship poll.

He said the governor was still playing kindergarten politics, wondering why Obiano and other party chieftains should condemn him for identifying with APC while they struggle to impress President Buhari that they support him for a second term in office.

“So, while they seek to crucify me for joining APC, they express support and solidarity for the APC leader. Which is worse, to walk the talk or pander to politics of deceit and duplicity? What is the essence of being in a party that would rather support the presidential candidate of another party than choose its own?” he asked.

Ojukwu Jnr. stressed that having supported Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan in office, Nd’Igbo have decided to support President Buhari in the spirit of fairness and political goodwill, so that when a president of Igbo extraction emerges, other ethnic groups would reciprocate.

https://guardian.ng/news/im-walking-in-my-fathers-steps-says-ojukwu-jnr/

Yyeske:
You made good points there but this one will be difficult especially around Onitsha, Oraifite and Ezeiweka streets with their high population density just like the rest of Awada, Nkpor, increasingly Obosi, Ogidi, Oba, 3-3 etc are all characterized by 4-6 storey buildings with little or no parking space for the occupants and you know that car ownership rate is quite high in Onitsha. People would have no other option than to park along the streets and roads, this suggestion can only be possible in GRA with its lower population density.

VictorMD:
There’s been a lot of talks recently about secession in the news, not just in Nigeria but all over the world, this forum have rightly decided NOT to echo these sentiments which I can really understand.
That said, am here to offer opinions, ideas and connect with fellow Igbos on this overwhelming feeling and desire for independence.
Let me begin by blaming the Europeans (I will eventually blame everybody), they drew up maps and scrambled for Africa for all their colonial intents, the indigenous people (we) never for one day agreed on the maps they drew up, this is highly ILLEGAL in today’s world and it rightfully should be.

We need to understand that this mess, Nigeria (even the name) was never our intention; we have all lived and thrived peacefully in our regions prior to the Europeans. Now we just live in a world they created.
Okay, now am done blaming Europeans, they have come and they are gone, The next blame falls on the generation of people that took control after the Europeans left, the various tribal groups scrambled for each of their own. Each person building fences around homes, never was a long term plan drawn up for the country, no one made it clear what it truly meant to be NIGERIAN. In summary, that generation failed everyone. But to be fair, the immense cultural, lingual, religious and geographic differences made leadership for them extremely difficult (You simply cannot please everyone).
At this point, you may make an argument that USA is very diverse, yet successful. The USA are a group of European immigrants that pushed away the British colonials, wrote a constitution, decided to become a country, fought a war over slaves and eventually reunited. My point here is that they made a collective decision to unite; most colonized African countries never got this chance.
I’ve established one major fact here; the system failed, right from the start.
Sadly most of our parents and the older generation have very limited global exposure, very confined thinking, and most of all not very skilled and educated.

Now I feel better, I’ve done the most Nigerian thing ever, BLAME everybody! Now on to the real issue, for the new breed of Nigerians, the next generation!

I am Igbo from Anambra, so I feel very passionately about an independent state for my tribe but unlike every other person; I understand that it will all mean nothing if there is no road map. (At this point, if you are non-Igbo, bear with me till the end, I promise; this will all make sense to you too).

These are my proposed phases for the Igbo restructure:

Human resource assessment: We need to globalize the Igbo story by bringing together all Igbo professionals and experts from all over the world and have them on one platform where their expertise is easily accessible.

Natural resource assessment: With the expertise in hand, we need a full detailed report of the natural resources that the Igbo’s have. Oil and Gas, Coal, Gold, Iron-ore, Limestone, Arable land e.t.c. We have to quantify these resources, estimate their full commercial viability and impacts of exploration.

Geographic/Demographic assessment: Next we need to immensely study our geography and demographics. Figure out access to seaport (Abia state), what the different Igbo states are already good at doing e.t.c.

Research, research, research: This phase is the most crucial, we need a full detailed report on the current state of affairs of the Igbo people, all aspect of the Igbo life. The culture, finances, education, healthcare, everything! Then a corresponding research is to be carried on all the economic models of more successful countries, e.g China and Singapore. For all aspect of the Igbo’s life, we need to find a model that works well. The end goal is to find every means that will give every Igbo person the highest standard of living that the rightfully deserve.

Experimentation: Next we need to carry out multiple small scale experiment for all the models we come up with. We will pick a region with a demographic representative of the entire Igbo population, this way we can quickly validate the models that works and discard the ones that don’t.
The research and experimentation phase will create fully staffed bases in all strategic locations across IgboLand and will serve as the preliminary intel infrastructure for future planning (Headquaters will be in Enugu for historical/geographic reasons I will explain later)

Defining moment: At this point we have to define what it means to be Igbo and hopefully all the research would offer us this insight. If we cannot define what it means to be Igbo then it’s back to the drawing board.

Unification: With a blue print in hand, we need to start a unified the Igbo states through a political party. This party will represent everything Igbo, eliminate all the state lines and truly bring the Igbo’s as ONE people, Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, and Abia. The Igbo bu ofu concept will be highly promoted by this party. This party will form a united Igbo states and a truly unified government.

Execution: With the unification process complete, These 5 new leaders will work as one unit (Igbos traditionally have no kings and this arrangement will work perfectly as it does in Switzerland) with one blue print. Their jobs will solely be to execute this blue print. All 5 will pull all of its resources together, eliminate waste, and minimize duplication of services and infrastructures.
• Enugu will mine its coal and power the region’s economic growth, it will serve as an administrative and intel area. The brain of the Igbos will reside here, the best and the smartest. Every possible research and development will be carried out here. International conferences and key policy decisions for the region will be made here. It will be home to the world class Amahadum (university) where the minds of young Igbos and Africans will be nurtured. Enugu with natural mountains will be the easiest to defend. One of the two major airports will be here.
• Ebonyi will be the agricultural hub, it will be home to all agro-based and biochemical industries, and this region will be heavily mechanized and ready to feed the whole of West Africa and beyond.
• Anambra will serve as the commerce and financial center. On a side note: The current apprentice model of business training will be upgrade to be more organized like a Master’s in Business, the apprentice will get hands-on and formal training with a focus in global trade.
• Abia will become heavily industrialized and serve as the manufacturing hub with a world class airport and seaport.
• Imo will become the technology and technical hub, Igbos will get world class skills here. This will be a hub for start-up companies (like silicon valley in the USA)

Infrastructure and investment: With an eager labor force, unified governments and the Igbo spirit, an era of infrastructural and massive investment will follow. This region will become very attractive for Igbos and investors from all over the world. The role of the government is to regulate, reinvest and plan.

Economic force: The Igbos can smartly and quickly become a regional force with great influence. This can be done cheaper while the Igbos remains part of Nigeria.
(((((For Non Igbos, once your tribe/regions see’s the success of the Igbos, you will try to follow, this will create competition among the regions, which is a very good thing))))

Back to the Igbos:
Nationhood: Once the Igbo model has been executed successfully, with all Igbos out of poverty, well skilled and educated, then we can begin a true conversation for independence. This will make our case very easy and highly achievable.
Conquest era: Next on the agenda is regional expansion and spread of the Igbo model across Africa.
I will end it here for now.

Footnote: This piece was too long; I may have not reviewed for grammatical errors. I have more detailed ideas and concepts for IgboLand, if you guys are interested I can create a website and we can discuss further about this topic (I've done my homework).

Ikengawo:
Great concept @Cjrane,

Owerri can't survive without a real industrial base. I have been playing with this concept for a while. If the eastern people know anything about themselves it's the fact that we can take an ordinarily complex idea, simplify and make it accessible to the average person. We did this with movie production, international trading, crafts like in Aba, and we can do the same for manufacturing.


If the state laying out 2000 tiny factories, it would spark a revolution. Each factory doesn't have to be bigger than one or two shipping containers.

https://www.royalwolf.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/modifications_workshops_05.jpg

And the government can charge the cost of the shipping containers for people to own or rent them. Then next to the industrial zone where they will be clustered will be a large warehouse or two.

https://www.colourbox.com/preview/4862221-interior-of-an-empty-warehouse.jpg


The gov can allow international industrial machine producing companies to rent ground space in the ware houses and sell their industrial machines to the manufactures in the containers. I can be screen printing machines, printers, CNC machines, medical pill presses, electric sewing, iron cutting devices, diamond refining devices etc etc.

the manufactures can buy the machines from the warehouses, stock up their container and have a simple, easy and profitable instant factory in a matter of days


If one container producers the legs for a chain, the other the cushion, the other does the paint and finish, then you can have collaborations pumping out industrial volume chains. If one makes ceramic plates, another paints them there's another product set. If one makes plastic bottles, the other fills them with mineral, another puts the label on them, imagine. You'll create a hyper productive industrial heartland in a simple and affordable way. The government can easily built 50,000-100,000 of these containers in the area you designated alone.

As time goes, successful container owners will buy more containers to increase output. Traders in places like Alaba will buy containers and begin manufacturing their goods since it's cheaper than importing.

The problem with industrialization is we think we need to build massive factories and focus on employment. Really we need small factories geared towards ownership. In a matter of months every market in the zoo with be filled to the brim with Imo products. Why import consumer goods when they're coming out of Owerri-Orlu-Okigwe at an insane volume

nwoke37:
Hmm, I hope that industrial park comes back online. It would be the bedrock of industrilizatiom in the state.

Ikengawo:
jesus, am I safe?

Ikengawo:
https://punchng.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/02201856/noma-disease.jpg

Ikengawo:
magnificent. can you explain this? are these the outskirts of sokoto?

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/fa/96/d2/fa96d2cf60957a149368ad4c684be0cd.jpg
[img]https://3.bp..com/-tdyYgIm8pD8/WVmsS_NQUOI/AAAAAAAACCU/AF_wsgwfGYYloImNbeDA97PzFIE2z-mXwCLcBGAs/s1600/mud-houses-damaged-by-rain-in-sokoto.png[/img]
https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/images/banners/2017-04-05-iss-today-poverty-banner.jpg

Ikengawo:
I'll be going to Sokoto this May for personal matters. I'm interested in getting some images and insight into life in the state.

As we know, Sokoto is a shining example of life under the leadership of the Fulani people of Nigeria. This should be an interesting trip. Please, are there any Sokoto natives here?

legitnow:
One major factor of success in the construction of real Estate, it the inclusion of local shops being equally well built so the residence can find a place to buy majority of wat they need, in cases of emergency without commuting to the market. They should try and include shops in their urban design. I dont mean market but local lock up shops that are built like the houses.

Stingman:
The hotel was given out in 2013 and four years later, the investor is delaying. The government wants an investor who could turn the hotel around quickly. This used to be the best hotel in Enugu, many years ago. They invested $1.2 million and there is nothing around the hotel to show for that.

LasGidiOwner:
Charity begins at home. Go back to Asaba which is the capital of your state build the school. Consider your state first before considering elsewhere.

Orange drugs made his money in Lagos and Onitsha, though he resides in Onitsha with his family where her wife runs a big international school in GRA. There are so many Imolites like that are resident across Anambra and enjoying their peace.

If you want to know how we degenerated to this level of discussion then go back into the thread like 2 pages.

LasGidiOwner:
Tony Ezenna built this school for his wife at Onitsha. It is one of the elite schools in Nigeria for the rich. The worldclass international college is located at road-6 off Niger Drive GRA- Onitsha. Orange drugs and his don't see themselves as Imolites anymore. They got everything they needed here in this great city. Orange drugs does not own anything worthy of mention in his own state of Imo, he hasn't even visited there in years. #FACT.

ChimaAgbalajob:
This thread was opened by a con man.

I hope no mugu seriously wants to buy land or nonexistent properties from him

If you lose your money, it serves you right. People be careful !

Mbediogu:
What they call open grazing of livestock is also open destruction of people's farms.