₦airaland Forum

leke12:
Je ki won mon.... Awon ota aje!

Sincere9gerian:
** [size=18pt]Igbos In Lagos State: My Experience, By Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe
[/size]
Lagos State belongs as much to the ethnic Igbo as to the Yoruba, Ijaw, Hausa, Fulani, Efik, Idoma, Urhobo, Itshekiri, Edo, and so on who live in it, pay tax, identify with it, and settle in it. That compact was made the moment Nigeria became a single nation, and a successor power to the old principalities who were subdued and who ceded their sovereignty for the new commonwealth of Nigeria .
It was pragmatic. The Igbo had the skill and the industry, and Lagos was the seat of the Federal Government of Nigeria and its major port.

The Igbo have lived in Lagos since the 15th century when the Aro and other Igbo first settledin good number in a place we nowcall “Oyingbo” in the era of Benin and the Portuguese trade.

The arrival of Dr. Namdi Azikiwe to Lagos in 1937 from Accra after his studies in the United States, stimulated the political and cultural environment of Lagos as no other has before or after him. Zik literally resurrected the wizard of Kirsten hall from political death. Zik represented Lagos in the western house. The NCNC was the power in Lagos , and not the Action Group. The Igbo were prominent in the governance of Lagos in the Lagos City Hall.

The institutional development of Lagos – the railways, the ports andship yards; the education and research facilities; the Banking and Commodities Exchange, the development of towns like Yaba, Surulere, Ebutta-Metta, Festac Town, Victoria Island, and now increasing the Ajah-Lekki axis, and of course, the ghettoes along the Orile-Badagry axis, have profound Igbo imprimatur.

The circulation of the image of Lagos is to date best reflected in the cosmopolitan Igbo imagination of one of the greatest African writers of the 20th century, Cyprian Ekwensi, a thorough Lagosian if there was any. Igbo have built industries in Lagos and have been drivers of commerce and exchange.

Interestingly, I was born at plot number 8, Okoya Street , Idumagbo- Lagos, while the Ojukwu families were residing at number one to three on the same street. I grew up to know the father of Odumegwu Ojukwu. Chimbizie and Azuka grew up withus on the same street. Even the Chibeze small parking space at the end of Okoya Street is called Ojukwu. I later attended St. Patrick Primary School , Idumagbo, where I had very amiable classmates of Igbo origin in the persons of Azubike Ezenwa and Damian, Ihekuna, both now professors and doctors of today. They were brilliant, resourceful and friendly.

When we were playing bamboo and Tene Felele at Orikoriko at Onola playing ground, the Igbo participated actively. In the area of sports, school football and athletes, Igbo were dominant at Kings College, St. Gregory school, St. Finbars, Akoka, Igbobi College and Ahmadiyya College, Agege. Such boys, Njokwu, George Amu, Stephen Keshi, Henry Nwosu, Patrick Noquapor, Peter Anieke and Sammy Opone were dominant on the field of football, while Asiodu, Empire Kanu were prominent on the field of athletics.

Anytime we went to watch football match at Onikan stadium, my darling team, Stationery Stores and our adversary team I hated most was the E. C. N, where the centre forward, Paul Hamilton, the National Team, Fabian the captain who bit the dust. Our greatest captain was Duru, Oduah Onyenrekwa, Onyeador Onyeali and Opel, the greatest outside right Nigeria ever had, Cyril Azuluka.

So, during my early life at primary school, the Igbo were always there and delightful to watch, both in athletes and on the football field.

When I listened to radio at that time, both the commentary and drama series, the Igbo were there for you. The likes of Chris Ndaguba, Ernest Okwonkwo, Ralph Okpara ‘Alawo Sekiseki the traveler’. The episode will end with – The script was written by Ralph Okpara and edited by Yemi Lijadu.

Anytime I visited where I was born today in Idumagbo at Lagos Island, the entire place is covered by Igbo traders in their thousands. They were never troublesome but decent and accommodating. They have virtually taken over all properties of the indigenes. They succeeded in developing all our properties, married to most of our children even from the royal families. There is no single house you will visit without an Igbo man selling wares there.

So, who is saying something else? Only the strangers in our midst will not notice participation of economic development in our state by the Igbos. Most houses and shops in Lagos Island have been purchased, developed and occupied by the Igbos. The value of their investments in Lagos Island alone is in trillions of naira.

Instead of deporting the Igbos, whose contributions to the development of Lagos state are immensurable, you must keep on praising and encouraging them to keep on developing Lagos State.

•Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe is a former Nigerian minister for Works and Housing.

http://premiumtimesng.com/opinion/143249-igbos-in-lagos-state-my-experience-by-senator-adeseye-ogunlewe.html

xtrorse:
[size=18pt]
Lateef Raji, a public policy analyst, in an article
titled “Dwindling Oil Revenue: What Next for
Nigeria?”[/size] posited that today, despite the pitiful
state of unemployment in Nigeria, ironically, the
nation is still rated as the third destination of
investors and one of the fastest-growing economy
in the world. Raji noted that Nigeria is a golden
land of numerous opportunities for those who are
resourceful, ingenious, creative, innovative,
inventive, groundbreaking, enterprising,
hardworking, focused, visionary and, most
significantly, disciplined.
Consequently, as a concerned Nigerian, I want to
question the role(s) of Yoruba youths in the current
fight against unemployment, starvation and
poverty in Nigeria. 
This question was necessitated
by my discovery through indirect observations that
Yoruba youths are the most lazy, perfidious and
egoistic youths in Nigeria as at today.
I discovered that the pride of an average Yoruba
youth has overshadowed his intellectual
judiciousness, level-headedness and sagacity.
Today, among ten Nigerians submitting their
resumes to multinational corporations eight would
be Yorubas. Folks from my generation in the
Western Nigeria are too lazy to tap from the
abundant opportunities that litter the streets of,
say, Lagos, for primitive accumulation of wealth.
The Igbos, and, by extension, the Niger-Deltans
and the Northerners have indirectly taken over the
control of economy of Lagos, Nigeria’s indisputable
number one centre of success, excellence and
opportunities.
The Apapa wharf in Lagos has virtually been taken
over by the Easterners. The data that I got from
the Nigerian custom services divulges that 63% of
those licensed to transact businesses in Apapa
Wharf are Igbos.
More so, data collected from licensing office
reveals that owners of 56% of commercial
motorcycles in Lagos are Northerners and
Easterners. The lucrative transport business has
been hijacked from the Yorubas.

Today, the major work of average Yoruba youths
on the streets of Lagos is to collect royalty, due and
charges from the Hausas and Igbos, using their
motorcycles to make cool cash from their land.
Ninety-five percent of transport, travel and tour
firms operating in Lagos are owned by the
enterprising and hardworking Easterners.
The Yorubas stay at various intersections harassing
hardworking people transacting their legal
businesses in the name of collecting charges and
dues for the local government. I also discovered
that majority of the few Yorubas riding commercial
motorcycles in Lagos are locally-trained
automobile engineers that have abandoned their
workshops.

Furthermore, the popular Ladipo and Owode
motor spare parts markets in Lagos are now solidly
in the hands of Igbos. As usual, the Yoruba youths
are in the market collecting dues for their local
government chairmen and the Iyaloja General of
Lagos. Yaba, Oyigbo, Sabo, Oshodi, Agege, Alaba,
Idumota, etc. markets have been taken over by the
Easterners and Northerners who are
predominantly youths.
Let me also assert unequivocally that the Igbo
youths are now becoming more prosperous in the
entertainment industry than the Yoruba youths.
Today, the Yorubas hardly tune their DSTVs to the
Yoruba movie channel of the satellite television;
rather, they watch some other movie channel that
show English movies with actors and actresses of
Igbo extraction. Why? Because most Yoruba movies
are short of creativity.

I can also articulate that 85% of the CEOs and
executive directors of commercial banks operating
in Nigeria today are Igbos and Hausas under the
age of 50. They are very talented in boardroom
politics, unlike their Yoruba counterparts, and they
assist each other with an amazing ease.

Educationally, the Yorubas are no longer in the top-
three. According to the National Universities
Commission (NUC), Anambra, Imo and Enugu have
the highest number of professors and doctorate
degree holders in Nigeria. Ekiti and Ondo states
that used to top the list have been demoted to
number four and six respectively.
In 2014, the reports of the West African
Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National
Examination Council (NECO) revealed that the
Yorubas have been upturned by the Easterners in
terms of academic performance. Ekiti, a state
known as fountain of knowledge, was number 34 in
2013.
The Yorubas are also missing in the sports sector.
The Golden Eaglets, Flying Eagles, Super Eagles,
Flamingoes, Falconets, Super Falcons, D’Tigers,
other national teams are dominated by the Igbos
and Hausas. The team that won the African Cup of
Nations for Nigeria in 2013 was tagged Biafran
national team by some columnists and social
commentators, including myself.

Politically, the Igbos and Hausas are more united
than the Yorubas. The result of the 2015
presidential election is a point of reference. The
Hausas voted massively for General Buhari of the
APC, while the Igbos extraordinarily voted for
Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP.

Sadly, the Yorubas had no bearing during the
election. Jonathan’s inner circle members
are currently blaming the Yorubas for their son’s
expected defeat. Victorious Buhari’s
teammates are reportedly saying that the Yorubas
contributed little or nothing to the success of their
kinsman.

In conclusion, I want to impel my generation in the

Western part of Nigeria to wake up and begin to
act. The nation of Nigeria that I am seeing today is
hemorrhaging. I suggest we put ourselves in
strategic positions. The bitter truth is that our
leaders only think for themselves and their
children.

www.naij.com/441183-yoruba-youths-have-lost-influence-respect-of-nigerians.html

vani86:
Oh my gosh. See lies.


Pls go and research on When the 1st telephone call was made.

Pls how did electricity come to lagos in d period stated above whe. Even all parts of america do not have electricity yet. How was it generated.

OP so you sat down and formulated a bunch or lies, and of course dumb idiots like d one that commented above me will swallow this shite.


To counter me the only thing that will make me swallow my words is if you post your source of the article

chaseTE:
The first Yoruba lawyer Christopher Alexander Sapara Williams Christopher Alexander Sapara Williams all foreign names, please what are his yoruba names.

First Igbo lawyer, Sir Louis Mbanefo, Igbo name so no argument here.

7.Again the first Yoruba medical practitioner, Dr.
Nathaniel King, Please where are his Yoruba names, Dr. Akannu Ibiam, Pure Ibo names.

For me those are slaves that where dumped on the coast of Lagos. They might be from any tribe in Nigeria or anywhere from Africa.

tonychristopher:
This piece was prompted by what I saw as benign ignorance amongst some of our Ibo folks and because such ignorance is music to the ears of some other people and Yoruba in particular. In more than one occasion my friends and other Ibo have advanced the argument that if Ibo was that smart, how come Yorubas dominated the commerce industry in Nigeria? What they meant were the domination of Yoruba in the banking, insurance industries, Coco Cola and some other surviving industries. In one particular occasion a friend revealed to me that he recently discovered that the reason why some Yoruba are so wealthy is because they were smart enough to invest their money in corporate stocks and bonds (not realizing that Yoruba actually stolen those corporations) while Ibo is busy engaging in buying and selling. The Yoruba will like people to continue to believe that story, that it was because they were smart that they were able to do all these great investments in the commerce industry. One relevant question that I always managed to ask my interlocutors is whether they were aware of the indigenization decree of 1972, master minded by Awolowo and the Yoruba and the ramifications of that policy, as will be expected, the answer ranged from, I have heard of it but does not understand what it actually meant to I have not heard of the policy. Listening to this ignorance induced perspective from my friends made my heart to skip a beat, realizing that the task of bridging this information gap is not going to be a child’s play. What is disconcerting is that some in their benign induced ignorance believe that the effect of indigenization is inconsequential at this time because it happened about forty years ago. This piece is therefore for those that are educable and for those that have the capacity to appreciate the magnitude and most importantly for those that can relate that gigantic economic event that reshaped the economic foundation on which Nigerian economy settled on after the British/Biafran war and as well as relate our present economic malaise to that economic foundation engendered by indigenization.

There is no doubt that most people, particularly those that do not have either basic or international economics background are overwhelmed by the subject of INDIGENIZATION OF FOREIGN COMPANIES IN NIGERIA because of their inability to understand the economics of it and the efficacies to make the necessary connections and relate it to the present economic doldrums, some simply brush it aside or worse, simple minimize its far reaching implications particularly on the Ibo. In so doing, majority of us dabble into analysis of how terrible Ibo has managed their affairs since after the civil war, while leaving out a huge chunk of the elements that need to be factored into their analysis. The unspeakable effect of the policy of indigenization on the Ibo was wicked and dastardly. The economic damage on the Ibo is impossible to calculate. The psychological toll on the Ibo is still reverberating amongst the Ibo today and creating identity crisis. Some folks will argue that we should drop the subject because it happened forty years ago, which is equivalent to saying that because slavery, Jim crow and the holocaust happened years ago, and for that reason, they have no relevance in today’s analysis. How can any credible analysis of American history not include slavery and its implications, or how can any Jewish history not include the holocaust and its implications and effects, but that is what some folks want us to do, to avoid or forget one of the most devastating economic policies that changed the economic landmark of Nigeria, second to the genocide of more than a million Ibo committed by the same man, Awo, and still arrive at any meaningful analysis. I believe that the incredulity that any ethnic group is capable of visiting such devastation on another is still an obstacle that the subject is struggling against and must overcome. It is not that most people do not know what happen, it is simply that they do not what to believe that it happened because it is mind bending. I also believe that if we do not tell the story over and over, the Yorubas will not tell and neither will the Hausa tell it, as a matter of fact they always wish that it will go away. So whether they like it or not, we must continue to broadcast what happened until people start to understand the effect of the policy not only on the Ibo but on the nation as a whole. Suffice to say that after Awo and the Yoruba succeeded in executing the indigenization decree and became overnight millionaires, many Ibo packed their bags and left Lagos to the east –ala Ibo, where they shortly died out of heart break because some of them also suffered the deprivation of their properties due to abandon property policy in Lagos and Port harcourt.

WHAT ENGENDERED THE INDIGENIZATION POLICY?

It is no more news worthy to point out that before the civil war that Ibo out of their capacity for honesty, to work hard, to produce, to innovate, to manage, create and persevere were able to penetrate all facets of Nigerian endeavor, when the British used merit as a yard stick. It is an irrefragable fact that even Yoruba would not dare challenge that fact, if not, what started the Yoruba hate, envy and jealousy against the Ibo in the first place, Yoruba and Hausa claimed that Ibo was dominating everything in the country but what they will not acknowledge publicly was the fact that the British were making the decisions about who to hire by their own standard and not by Ibo standard and that Ibo was good at what they did and better than them. The Yoruba and Hausa wanted not only equal opportunity they also wanted equal outcome regardless of effort and everyone knows that that is impossible.

There is one very important fact in my analysis that I want everyone to get, and that is that before the civil war, Nigeria as a nation did not have an economic of its own. Let me say it again, that Nigeria as a nation before the British/Biafran civil war did not have an economy of its own. I emphasized that point in other to say that whatever seemed like Nigerian economy were British owned. Put differently, if you excluded few of the regional cooperatives and some joint ventures businesses which were mostly British engineered to make buying raw materials easy for the British, ever y other aspect of the economy were owned majorly by the British, even the military, given the fact that almost every military supply came from Britain. It is then save to say that British investment in Nigeria amounted to a great totality of Nigerian economy or that Nigerian economy was at that time synonymous to the total investment of the British.

Below, courtesy of Africa today are the list of some of the companies that constituted Nigerian economy before the war that the Yoruba stole in one swoop, spanning the insurance companies like Lloyd’s of London and all the banks in Nigeria owned one way or the other by the British. This is but a partial list of what constituted the British investment in Nigerian economy.

“Pharmaceutical Nigeria Plc ,May and Baker Nigeria Plc,Vitafoam Nigeria Plc,Wahum Nigeria Limited ,CAP Nigeria Plc , International Paints of West Africa [IPWA], Berger Paints Nigeria Plc, Berec Nigeria Limited, Kabelmetal, Nigeria Bottling Company Plc, Leventis Nigeria Plc ,West African Portland Cement Company,[Lafarge ],Wema Bank Nigeria Plc, Scoa Nigeria Plc ,CFAO Nigeria Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Wemaboard Estates, Odua Group, Livestock Feeds Nigeria Plc , Nigerian Breweries Plc, new nigerian Bank, Batta, Kingsway Stores, Crittal Hope (Nigeria) Limited, Mushin, Lagos State. Dunlop (Nig.) Industries Plc, Ikeja, Lagos State. Galvanising Industries Limited, Ikeja, Lagos State. Nigeria Construction & Water Resources Development Company Limited, Ibadan, Oyo State Nigerian Wire & Cable Plc, Ibadan, Oyo State Nigerite PLC, Ikeja, Lagos State Nipol Limited, Ibadan, Oyo State Odu'a Textile Industries Limited, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State Soleh Boneh Overseas (Nigeria) Limited, Ibadan, Oyo State Vono Products Plc, Mushin, Lagos State Wema Bank Plc, Marina, Lagos West African Portland Cement Plc, Ikeja, Lagos State Great Nigeria Insurance PLC, Ikoyi, Lagos State Glanvill Enthoven & Company Limited ◦Guinness (Nig.) Plc, Ikeja, Lagos State. ◦International Breweries Plc, Ilesa, Osun State. ◦Macmillian Publishers (Nig) Limited, Ilupeju, Lagos ◦Nestle Food (Nig) Plc, Ikeja, Lagos State ◦Nidogas Company Limited, Lagos State ◦Niger Mills Company Limited, Calabar, Cross River State ◦Nigerian Aluminium Extrusions Limited, Lagos ◦SKG-Pharma (Nig.) Limited, Lagos ◦Tower Aluminium (Nig.) Plc, Lagos ◦U. A. C. of Nigeria Plc., Lagos etc.

The necessity of inserting this partial list of the companies/assets that existed before the war was to give the reader a sense of the extent of what the issue is all about and who owned what and when. The Yoruba hardly owned much of anything or any of these assets listed above except in some regional joint cooperative ventures with the British.

The story went like this, before the war the Ibo dominated the economic work force followed by the Yoruba, when British/Biafran war started, Ibo, for their safety left their jobs in different parts of the country to return to the east, the Ibo land. After the end of the war, the Ibo went back to seek for their jobs that they left for security reasons, the Yoruba who took advantage and occupied the positions that Ibo left decided that they will not relinquish those position because according to the Yoruba, Ibo abandoned their positions and do not deserve their position back, reminiscent of the abandon property thievery in Port Harcourt River State and Lagos. However, a dynamic developed as Ibo every morning dressed up and went and occupied the lobbies of their different offices that they used to work in. Tell me, if this is not manifest bravery of the highest order ever exhibited by any group in Nigeria and we are talking about days and weeks immediately after the war was declared over. But the final say as to whether or not the positions that Ibo left for dire life was going to be declared abandoned rested on the British that owned these companies. As the back and forth went on, the British started angling to make an economic decision because they understood the difference between the Ibo worker and the Yoruba worker and the three years of the civil war made that difference even more crystal clear to the British, if not, why would the British bother to accommodate the Ibo after such a long time? What became clear to the Yoruba was that the British were willing to make extra provision to re-absorb the Ibo any way possible. Yoruba was not ready to tolerate any of that because they knew that it was a matter of time before the wheat will be separated from the shaft that Ibo will assume their prominent positions. In order to prevent the British from re-absorbing the Ibo into these British owned companies, the corporate Yoruba decided to solicit the help of Awolowo who was then the finance minister and chairman of the federal military council.

This is where a plan was hashed to wrest the control of these companies, consisting of banks, insurance companies, corporations of different kinds and types from the British. The best way Awo and his cabal found fit was to convince Gowon and the military leadership who in all probability have never had the word indigenization in their lives to promulgate the INDIGENIZATION DECREE in 1972 that stipulated that every foreign owned venture must transfer majority ownership to Nigerian indigenes within a year of the promulgation of the decree or they will forfeit the assets of the company to the Nigerian government. (Emphasis within a year) As expected, the British were caught off guide, not understanding the motive behind the policy, the British thought it was a dream or a joke that will go away, particularly given the fact that they just won the war against the Ibo for the Yoruba and Hausa. After exhausting six months out of the one year in their bid to reverse the decree, the British became frantic and concluded that they could not reverse the decree and went about trying to salvage whatever they could. What was worst was that the British did not even have enough time to evaluate the worth of their ventures because of the limited time the decree allowed, courtesy of Awo and cabal. The situation gave chaos a new name because the British were in chaos. So the first problem the British ran into was limited time that they couldn’t figure what the value of majority of their ventures were, they could not tell how much to sell them for. Mind you that this was happening within a year after the end of the civil war. At this time the Yoruba was running every conceivable federal ministries, departments and agencies plus all the corporations listed above and more that the British owned. It is important to point out that the north had little or no presence in the commerce economy of the country before the war and after the war except in the military leadership and infantry. The economy of the country was dominated by Ibo first and Yoruba second before the war. In order to solidify the economic dominance that the Yoruba attained during and after the war and to make their position even more potent in acquiring the British spoils, Awo as the finance minister and chairman of the federal military council and his Yoruba cabal decided to economically emasculate the Ibo understanding

a) That Yoruba was fully running every conceivable federal parastatals

b) That Yoruba was running every conceivable corporation that the British owned or had majority ownership as listed above.

c) That Yoruba was managing all the Nigerian banks, insurance corporations, National shipping line, Nigerian airways, Nigerian’s Ports authority, Nigerian Railways and all the ministries, Departments and Agencies conceivable.

Decided to destroy whatever was left of the Ibo and putting a finishing touch to it by

a) Stealing through confiscating all the millions of pounds that Ibo had in all the Nigerian banks

b) Offering every Ibo person £20 pounds regardless of how many millions they had in the Nigerian banks before the war.

c) Militarizing every part of Ibo land.

d) Rendering every Ibo without exception a pauper.

e) Banning every importation of stock fish and used clothes to deprive the Ibo of any economic ability to compete with the Yoruba in buying into the British assets.

When that day of infamy arrived for the British to start selling their assets, Igbo having been disenfranchised and emasculated in any and every way stood on the sideline watching the Yoruba in their glee as they scrambled to obtain loans from their Yoruba dominated banks to make the most minimal of offers to the British as there were no competitions. The British had no choice but to accept any offer as the alternative was losing everything to the federal government. The British lost pretty much all their investment to the Yoruba whose stock in trade is robbing and stealing any and everything they can get their hands on. Thousands of Yoruba became millionaires overnight and there was jubilation and owanbe all over Yoruba land. Yoruba had parties day and night and weekends. They closed streets to display their new found wealth as they partied. That day marked the economic death of Nigeria, that day marked the death of Nigerian’s aspiration to join the civilized world. The implication was enormous and it sent a shock wave throughout the Ibo land, It was a dark history day, it was a day of manifest wickedness and viciousness, Ibo was dumbfounded, the days that followed were days of economic , social and psychological morose and confusion that are still lingering today within the Ibo. It might be hard to accept but Awo got the Ibo good and the country as well, he brought the Ibo to his knees economically at least temporarily and Ibo has never recovered from that one blow seven akpus in any appreciable way but Nigeria as whole is worse off for it. I believe that what was more devastating was that Ibo had no place or body to turn to. To be blunt, Awo decapitated the Ibo leadership and through Ibo into great confusion.

It is important to note that by this singular act of INDIGENIZATION DECREE engineered by the Yoruba, the Yoruba de facto constituted the new economic foundation, the sole owner and manager of Nigerian economy without any rivals. So, for those that have wondered why Ibo became traders, this is the why. The Yoruba will not let any Ibo near the management of any of these stolen corporations, will not let Ibo buy any shares of these corporations for decades following the heist. Now, some people without the capacity to comprehend the full seismic implication of this economic shift and restructuring will want us to believe that this does not matter and I will beg to disagree because it is like everything else, the foundation of everything matters and determines the success or failure, be it a house or business. As time has revealed, Yoruba stealing and forming the economic foundation for Nigeria was a bad idea and a monumental disaster. For the ignorants, all things being equal (in a fair fight) the Yoruba knew it, the British knew it, the Ibo knew it and the world knew it that the Yoruba did not possess the capacity, creativity, drive, perseverance, hard work and the competence to do what some are crediting to it if they did not conspire to steal not only from the British and Ibo but from everybody else that had any assets in Nigeria. The apparent dominant control the Yoruba has on the economy since after the war was not out of great honest smartness or creativity or innovation or hard work or competence but out of share robbery of the British and Ibo sweat and hard work. I believe that the question that the benign ignorant should be asking going forward is what did Yoruba do with all these assets and corporations that they stole? How did the country fair under the Yoruba management of the Nigerian economy? How did the Yoruba managed economy relate to today’s economic malaise. Hope they can make the connections.

My next piece will try to capture the mind blowing implications of that great heist as it relates to Nigerians and Ibo in particular and the flight of international investment from Nigerian for decades.

Fredrick.


http://www.igbofocus.co.uk/The-Biafran-War/The-Greatest-Heist-in-Modern-H/the-greatest-heist-in-modern-history-by-awolowo-and-the-yorubas-.html

klbakare:
Its no news yorubas are the most accomodating tribe with utmost tolerance

xrisdon:
Wrong again!!

S. West being a melting point of Nigeria according to you has nothing to do with yorubas being accommodating.

Your assertion that s. west is a melting point of Nigeria is wrong!
to start with...
is oyo state a melting point of Nigeria.....? ...NO!
is ondo state a melting point of Nigeria...? ...NO!
are osun, ogun, ekiti a melting point of Nigeria...? ..NO!
is Lagos a melting point of Nigeria...? ...Yes! (I don't want to go into detail why it is) does it have anything to do with yorubas? No.

if it is because of yorubas that Lagos is the melting point of Nigeria,
why didn't they replicate it in their former regional capital Ibadan? or any other s.west state?

CyberWolf:
...What I don't like is the way Yorubas keep on shouting that they accommodated Igbos, helped Igbos, bla bla bla is what we can't take anybody. Did any Yoruba man gave any Igbo man land for free? Did any Yoruba man rent any shop to any Igbo man for free? Did the Lagos State government gave any stall for free to any Igbo man for free? The answer is NO.

In 2012/2013, Lagos State government demolished Onigbongbo market in Maryland, Ikeja and rebuilt it. After that, they sold out the stalls each for #4M..Yes I know about this because my uncle bought 3 and also rented 3 from those who also bought. Now one day, one ediotic Yoruba man will come and tell my uncle some bullcrap that he accommodated him, have him food, bla bla bla...After collecting his money? ....Meeeen that Yoruba is a bastard ediot and should go and die..

tonychristopher:
I thank you for seeing what i am seeing, i think the issue with balckman is the inability for us to see the long term, people have placed men in moon and have made great strides intellectually a reporter that went to school is still writing iyaloja in this 21st century. This is pathetic and i feel so sorry for this.
I appreciate your offer to buy me a car but i have cars, just trying to be modest. Tune to BBC, CNN and other international media house you will see countries asking people to come and invest. People go to where there is peace, one thing this has shown is that lagos is not the investment destination as it seems.
Why am i saying this, the other time Ghana peeps left Lagos just because of this, now what is actually wrong with Blackman, when Rhodesia was a country governed by whites it was a top notch economy in Africa, then Mugabe and his co travellers came changed it from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe and now this is it. If lagos doesn’t take time, it will turn to this.
I have travelled and i have seen, no wonder they say travel is the best teacher, in dubai you cant see an Emirati shouting we own Dubai, mehn those Emiratis i respect them, they are busy sending their kids to MIT and oxford. You don’t go to California and see the red Indians or apache Indians shouting they own USA or you go to Seoul and see the Koreans shouting we own seoul. For heaven sake we know that and that is a fact, why disturb us with that. These sane climes are busy attracting investors not chasing them away with one barbaric tradition of iyaloja,omonile and others, not only in Lagos even in Port Harcourt they have imported this mentality calling it marching ground money. I think that energy they use in doing these ill things should be channelled at understudying these dudes in their clime. We call this eclectics...the ability to draw inspiration from various sources. And to me that is not bad.
When a man keeps shouting to his wife and kids that i am the head of family...know that the man has lost respect in that family. Everybody knows that the man is the head of family so why drum it into people ears, what the man need to do is take care of the family and do his responsibilities as a man ..the full respect will be accorded not shouting I AM THE HEAD. This can be likened to Lagos situation and in some degree Nigerian situation.
We have to change our orientation. The other races are laughing at the black race, from Haiti to Somalia even yesterday there was a coup...what the hell is wrong with us?!!!!

amazingspiderma:
To further support your point.
...
Tribalism and ethnicity is not an option for anyone who wants prosperity, it is about synergy,it is about win-win.
We have everything we need in Nigeria, yet we can't see it.
Those who play tribalism might make temporary gains due to sight but those who truely understand diversity are prosperity have vision and insight.
Everybody is free to do whatever they feel, but our actions are without consequences. Good morning Nigeria.

anigbogukelvin:
It was for the sake of One Nigeria we travelled and traded amongst our so-called brothers. God blessed us like the Israelites and we owned unnumbered wealth that generated hatred.
Now, they want us thrown out.
My fellow Igbos, It is God that sees all.
You must act right in your Visiting lands too. Be peaceful and God will Judge in your favor if you do.
However, the truth be told, it has been a long years of work. Its time to retire home.

A lot of us are building our riches back home now. Welcome to the Dubai of Africa.
Invest at home. Ana anyi adiba go mma!

Meanwhile, we have one Storey building in Owerri for sale. Pls call me if interested.
Its business all the way. 07038358859

OfoIgbo:
I don't think I've ever come across any reporting that is as biased as this report.

No attempt was made to narrate the Igho side of the story.
All the people quoted were Yoruba.

Yoruba Journalism has gone to the dogs.

Btw, go to Onitsha, and you will find out that Onitsha's commercial reputation is not bestowed on it, by Onitsha indigenes. It's mainly Igbos from other parts of Igholand that has made Onitsha what it is
As a matter of fact, Onitsha people are mainly into education and are hugely into the civil service both in the private sector and public sector.

vivalavida:
Igbos serving it to them while it is still hot and cripsy.
Good morning ooo

Nobody is accommodating anyone one. If u wanna accommodate,give out your lands for free and before the next ten years lagos will look like dubai cuz i trust umu nnem. But as far as we are paying for these lands,paying out taxes,u aint accommodating us. It is not our fault that yorubas dont travel out. The few ones who dare come to the east can attest to how accommodating igbos are. I have a yoruba muslim as a colleague in the office. He served in ahiazu mbaise in imo state. An igbo family gave him a house free so that he can be able to keep an eye on their granny. This boy and the grandma forged an unbreakable relationship. He always took the grandma to port- harcourt and spends time with the family in port-harcourt. That was in 2009.After service,the family gave him #10,000 when he was leaving. Up till today,grandma and lekan still call each other and lekan is even contemplating travelling to mbaise with me this christmas. That is what we call accomodating.
But as far as you are selling your fathers lands,leasing out properties and collecting taxes,it is purely buisness. Deal with it and stop being emotional.

NewNigeriaMind:
I had to pick a fight with a tee boo miscreant on twitter the other said when he said they assist to make lagos a business hub.

I told him straight, before the yeeboo man knows what trading is, lagos was already a commercial centre.

When awolowo brought coca cola to lagos in 1951, the population of yeeboo in lagos was not up to 1percent.

When awolowo developed ogba,.mushin, ilupeju and ikeja as industrial estates no yeeboo was in lagos.

In fact, when awolowo turned apapa to a business hub, the Igbos where still in their mud house.

That's why they only make that claim in their village meetings and online. I await the day a yeeboo will claim anything in the SW to my face.

Adufetohposh:
Awon omo ale jatijati....

leke12:
wasere omo iya!!! Won ma te gbeyin ni....awon aje okuta ma momi....iya won

simtosul:
The question here really is the role these men
and women played in the current state of
Nigeria.
The List of Top 20 Most Corrupt Nigerian
Leaders (dead/alive) below:

1. Oluesgun Obasanjo – He stole $25
billion from 1999-2007 ($16.4 from power
sector alone)

2. Ibrahim Babangida – He stole $15 billion
from 1985-1993 ($12.4 billion from oil wind
fall in 1990)
3. Abdulsalam Abubakar – He stole $9
billion from 1998-99
4. Sani Abacha – He stole $7 billion from
1993-1998
5. Ahmed Bola Tinubu – He stole and
continues to steal from Lagos State treasury
since 1999 till date. It’s estimated that he
has stolen $6 billion so far.
6. Muhammadu Buhari – He stole $2 billion
from NNPC accounts in the ’70s and the
money was traced to Midland bank (now
HSBC), London. Under his watch as PTF
Head, N25 billion got missing according to
PTF Situation Report submitted to Abdusalam
in 1999.
7. TY Danjuma – He fraudulently got
enriched through oil blocks from the Niger
Delta worth $20 million in the 70s after the
counter coup. Those oil blocks worth billions
of dollars in today’s value.
8. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi – He stole $1.2
billion as CBN Governor from 2008-2014.
9. Bukola Saraki – Through his father,
Olukola Saraki, their bank, Societe Generale
and as a governor of Kwara State
(2003-20111) he stole $1.1 billion
10. Nasir El Rufai – Before he was made the
FCT Minister, El Rufai was broke, homeless
and was looking for loan to import taxis from
the UK. After he was made the minister, he
seized landed properties that belonged to
Nigerians and resold them with huge profit.
It’s estimated that he stole $1 billion from
2003-2007.
11. Tunde Fashola – He is the poster boy of
Tinubu. Boht of them looted Lagos dried and
left it in debt of about N1 billion. Fashola,
among other thing built his personal website
for N78 million, drilled borehole for over N100
million per each and built a kilometre road for
N1 billion. He stole $900 million from
2007-2015. He’ll soon be a minister to
continue the looting.
12. Chubike Rotimi Amaechi – From 2007
to 2015, he stole $700 million and $150
million from that money was used to sponsor
Buhari and APC.
13. Atiku Abubakar – When he as asked by
our reporter how he made his money, he
simply said “he was always at the right place
at the right time.” Atiku is an astute
businessman, but through shady deals, he
stole $500 million from 1999-2007.
14. James Ibori – He stole $150 million from
1999-2007 as governor of Delta State. He’s
serving his term for money laundering in the
UK.
15. Amina Mohammed – This woman was
the founder of Afri-Project Consortium (APC)
that was in charge of all PTF Projects during
Abacha’s regime. About $125 million was
stolen from PTF accounts from 1994-1998.
Buhari has just nominated the same woman
as a minister to continue to stealing.
16. DSP Alamieyeseigha – He stole $120
million and was arrested for money
laundering. He pleaded guilty and long
served his term.
17. Sule Lamido – He stole $110 million
between 2007-2015 and out of that amount,
$50 million was found in his sons’ bank
accounts. He was arrested and detained for
days together with his sons.
18. Rabui Kwankwaso – He stole $100
million as a governor of Kano State. EFCC has
arrested many of his aides and they are
“singing” how they siphoned the money
19. Kashium Shettima – this governor has
stolen about $80 million and still counting.
20. Rauf Aregbesola – he has milked Osun
State to the tune of $60 million.
21. Kayode Fayemi – this former governor
stole $40 million and stashed some part of
the loot in Ghana. He was reportedly bought
a bed for N50 million.
Note: The likes of President Goodluck
Jonathan and key members of his
administration including the former Minister
of Petroleum are missing.

Source: NewsDay

klbakare:
Its no news yorubas are the most accomodating tribe with utmost tolerance

aljharem:
For your information, Yoruba are not the most hateful tribe. The most hateful tribe regions would not flourish they way all Yoruba regions are flourishing. The right question should have been; Why Yoruba's are the most jealous tribe? the answer is this; Misrepresentation of facts about Yoruba. We Will educate many by sharing this historical facts . We must reject in total BIGOTRY in any form...We should celebrate our progress. "By 1872 Lagos was a cosmopolitan trading center with a population of over 60,000 people. Colonial Lagos developed into a busy, cosmopolitan port, with an architecture that blended Victorian and Brazilian styles.The
Brazilian element was imparted by skilled builders and masons who had returned from Brazil. The black elite was composed of English-speaking "Saros" from Sierra Leone and other emancipated slaves who had been repatriated from Brazil and Cuba.
By 1872 the population of Lagos was over 60,000, of whom less than 100 were of European origin.
In 1876 imports were valued at £476,813 and exports at £619,260.
Telephone links with Britain were established by 1886, and electric street lighting in 1898.
In August 1896, Charles Joseph George and G.W. Neville,both merchants and both unofficial members of the Legislative Council,
presented a petition urging construction of the railway terminus on Lagos Island rather than at Ido, and also asking for the railway to be extended to Abeokuta. Lagos history is rich in Yoruba tradition,trade and commerce,infrastructural development and cosmopolitanism." -
EXTRACTED
With the little facts above, I would like to educate
those making stupid assumption from
blind sentiments that they developed Lagos.

1. Lagosians had telephone presence in 1886, Itu
and Calabar got connected to Telephone in 1923,
while between 1946 and 1952, a three-channel
line carrier system was commissioned between
Lagos and Ibadan and was later extended to Oshogbo, Kaduna, Kano, Benin, and Enugu.

2. Communication technology is a major signifier of civilizations and if Lagosians were already making telephone calls more than 70 years before their
daddies, where then did they get the warped idea that they came to develop Lagos?

3. By 1856 Cable and Wireless Company of the UK
had commissioned a submarine cable link
between Lagos and London and In 1851 a post office was established in Lagos; all these before of the emergence of Nigeria as an amalgamatedvcountry.

4. If I may ask again, where did the funny idea that Igbo developed Lagos came from? OR that Lagos was developed with Nigeria's money when Lagos was not even part of Nigeria until
1914.

5. I always feel embarrassed anytime I read and hear even so-called educated people from the East making these sentimental assertions that has no basis in history or fact.

6. The first Yoruba lawyer Christopher Alexander
Sapara Williams was called to the English Bar in 1879 whilst the first Igbo lawyer, Sir Louis Mbanefo, was called to the English bar in 1937.

7.Again the first Yoruba medical practitioner, Dr.
Nathaniel King, graduated in 1875 from the University of Edinburgh whilst the first Igbo medical practitioner, Dr. Akannu Ibiam, graduated
from another Scottish University in 1935.

8. Again I ask, where did the ignorant hypothesis of the
backward Yoruba race who needed development by the superior Igbo race come from?

For the sake of our generation and posterity we need to teach factual history and not just cook up some
cock and bull ego-centric concoctions as facts.
The attitude of recycling long tales steeped in empty arrogance should be discarded before you
miseducate your kids with fictions.

9. Awolowo will continue to be the Yoruba hero not
because of blind followership but because he gave
his people the system of free education, free healthcare and he introduced Television to the Yoruba; making Yorubaland the first region to
have a TV station in Africa and even the Soviet Union all done with revenues from Cocoa. It is crass ignorance and naked buffonery to claim Lagos was built with Nigeria's money.

10. In addition, where did the foolish idea that the Igbo brought civilization to Lagos and Yoruba-land come from?

11. The aim of this post is not to deride any tribe but to correct the dangerous misinformation trending
among some Igbo youths and common in their narratives that Lagos is a no-man's land and that their fathers built and developed Lagos.

Your forebears came to Yoruba-land like every other
settlers and we appreciate their contributions but the stupid claim that Igbo built and developed Lagos is a gross display of stupidity because Lagos was already developed before your
forebears came here from their villages and towns.
The first storey building in Nigeria was built in Marina, Badagry in 1845, long before some of hinterland people gave up the idea of conical mud houses with thatched roofs which some boastfully
called 'ancient mansions.' How can you now claim your grand-sires developed Lagos?
Please if you are one of those spreading the fiction, I
expect you to desist from self-delusion and
collective amnesia forthwith.

12. The first Igbo alphabet-character set and Igbo
primer (Isoama-Ibo) was published by Bishop
Samuel Ajayi Crowther (a yoruba man from
Osogbo in now Osun, States) in 1857. The question is jealousy not hatred.

YoruBanger:
Actually we are accommodating TO A FAULT! Which explains why the Yee.bos can have the effrontery to insult us in our own land. But thankfully our people don dey wise-up to the land-grabbers' antics.

BishopMagic:
As far as I am concerned Yorubas are the most tribalistic bigoted goats in this section.

They started this sh1t and when we fought them back they now had the audacity to call some one like me a bigot.

If there is one thing I can take from NL is knowing truly that Yorubas are highly tribalistic people.

I never used to pay much heed to the political motives of my Yoruba friends which by the way outnumber any other tribe but after coming to nairaland I began to see the same attitude displayed here being revealed slowly to me in my Yoruba friends.

To be honest with you I got sick and tired of their foolish reasons why they thought Buhari is better than Jonathan and how they refuse to see the corruption under their noses but where more interested in peddling the lies handed down to them by Liar Mohammed. It is at this point it dawned to me that the Yoruba mindset is highly sentimental and tribally biased when it comes to political issues and since then I have refused discussing politics or any other issue by the way with my Yoruba friends who are now fast turning to mere acquaintances.

The substance of a man is his character and that character is built on principles and values shaped by ones thoughts and ideologies. I have since found out that the average Yoruba man lacks any real identity but rather is shaped inwardly and outwardly by the collective rhertrioc of his tribe.

And since I do not befriend tribes or nations but only humans it then means I can not be friends to zombie xenophobic tribalists.

Eke40seven:
I was going through an old textbook written by Akin L Mobogunje (prof.) in 1968 titled, "Urbanisation in Nigeria" and stumbled upon interesting bits of information about the population of Lagos which I will like to share here......Other Lagos born Nigerians like me will find it interesting. It shows that Lagos have been multi ethnic and diverse from the inception of her growth to prominence and her rise to the status of a modern metropolis cannot be attributed to a single group.
The following are excerpts from the book.....

“The important aspect of the large number of immigrants into Lagos during this period is the diversity of ethnic groups. Before 1931 no figures are given of Yoruba immigrants, although it is known that they are considerable. Table 37 however, shows that in 1931 and 1950 they were the most important single group of immigrants. Within the Yoruba area, the source region of most of these immigrants comprised the Colony, Abeokuta, Ijebu, Ondo, Oyo and Ilorin Provinces…..”
Check the first and second picture to examine the growth pattern of the Abeokuta and Oyo provinces and contrast with that of Ijebu.
“Nonetheless, although the total number of Yoruba immigrants had risen by 85% between 1931 and 1950, the rise in the case of Non Yoruba had been of the order of 115%. Non-Yoruba immigrants are divided into three classes namely natives of Nigeria, Africans and non-Africans. Among the natives of Nigeria, the most important ethnic group represented in Lagos were the Ibo, the Ijaw, the Edo and the Hausa….”
Check the table in the 3rd picture
“The most striking fact from the table is the phenomenal rise of the number of Ibo from less than 300 in 1911 to nearly 26,000 by 1950. Nearly half of the Ibo came from the single province of Owerri, while less than 15% came from Ogoja and Rivers provinces………………………………………………………………………..it is however noteworthy that the major influx of Ibo into Lagos began just before 1931, about the time when the eastern line of the railway was completed from Port Harcourt, through the Ibo country, to join the western line at Kaduna. Both the Ijaw and the Edo maintained their relative position during the period……….The position of the Hausa immigrants is most greatly curious. Throughout the period they showed little change in their total number although their relative position declined”