Those marginalising the South-East

The article published in Sunday Sun newspaper of November 20, 2016, titled Pain, agony over deplorable federal roads in South-East, aroused me in no small way. It made me reflect on the issue of Igbo marginalisation that has been in the front burner since the end of the Nigeria civil war in 1970. Over this period, a lot has been said about marginalisation under different administrations in Nigeria without respite. My thoughts went into different directions to question who is responsible for the marginalisation.

Without prejudice, the truth is that the Igbo equally share the blame for the marginalisation of Igbo land as the Federal Government. The South-East has been abandoned by those who should build it. Both the Igbo and the Federal Government have played negative roles.

By marginalisation is meant that several necessities of life which are supposed to be located or established in the South-East are instead taken to other parts of the country while the zone is left forlorn. The result is that the South-East, which is supposed to be a most vibrant economic sector in the country, given the enterprising spirit of the Igbo, is in pitiable state.

The Sun article did a good job by, once again, exposing the bizarre condition of the so-called federal roads. The roads were qualified as “federal”, to show that the Federal Government is the culprit.

According to the newspaper, the roads include the Enugu-Onitsha expressway; Enugu-Makurdi expressway; Owerri-Port Harcourt road; Owerri-Aba road; Owerri-Umuahia road and Owerri-Okigwe road, among others. The heart-dropping pictures of these very important highways are indeed depressing. Not even during the civil war did the roads degrade to this level. During the war, the Public Works Department (PWD) was fully operational, maintaining all the roads that facilitated the movement of people and goods.

As far as the above inter-state roads are concerned, the Federal Government is answerable for the deplorable state of the roads. The tragic neglect of the roads has been there since the end of the civil war. After the defunct Biafra, now comprising the five states of the South-East zone was ravaged by the war, it was imperative under internal best practice to rebuild the zone. It was on that principle that former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, who prosecuted the war, declared a post-war period of rehabilitation, reconstruction and reconciliation (RRR) that was never implemented in the South-East.

One of the key issues involved in post-war reconstruction was economic rehabilitation and development. Reconstruction, essentially, involves restoration of physical infrastructure and facilities (roads, bridges, highways, etc); re-establishment of social services, creation of appropriate conditions for the private sector development. None of these things was done for the war-ravaged South-East.

Instead, the reconstruction effort of the Federal Government focused on other parts of the country. Lagos, for one, benefited immensely, as most of the landmark infrastructure in the city were built by Gowon during the period. The iconic flyovers that define Lagos, which greatly enhanced transportation, were built in post-war Nigeria.

Against that backdrop, the Federal Government has a lot of blame for the abject condition of infrastructure in the South-East. But I would have been happy if the state and local government roads in the South-East were anything better than the federal roads. Unfortunately, the non-federal roads are even in worse condition across the states. With the exception of Anambra State, which has outstanding record on roads development, no other state can boast of anything better.

Although, Imo and Enugu states have of recent, made some progress, at least in the state capitals, there is little to write home about Abia and Ebonyi states. The condition of most roads in the South-East has not changed much from what they were in 1960. Like in other zones, there are more state and local government roads in the South-East than federal roads.

Most of the rural roads were better in the 60s as a result of regular maintenance than they are today. Why can’t the state governments do their own roads while waiting for the Federal Government? Therefore, the blame on roads degradation goes to both the federal and state governments.

While blaming the Federal Government for abandoning the South-East roads, among other things, the people of the South-East must also be blamed for abandoning their homeland in preference for other parts of the country. This curious Igbo mentality is not found anywhere in the world.

The Igbo say, Onye ajuruaju anaghi aju onwe ya. Meaning the one who is rejected cannot reject himself. Even if you are hated, you cannot hate yourself. Self preservation is the first law of nature.

What the Igbo have done against themselves since the war ended is unprecedented and incomparable anywhere in the world. Not even the Indians, who are equally enterprising and migratory; they don’t invest their wealth abroad forgetting their homeland.

Among the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, the Igbo are the most hateful of themselves and their homeland. They are their own enemies. They are what the Igbo call Okammanama, one who feels better outside than at home. There is no other ethnic nationality in Nigeria that has this warped and twisted mentality as the Igbo.

The pre-independence era saw millions of Igbo who migrated to all parts of Nigeria and established there without looking back home. In the wake of the civil war in 1967, as the pogrom ensued in the North and West, they ran for their dear lives abandoning all their buildings and investments. Many returned home without a roof over their head.

When the war ended in 1970, it was thought that the Igbo had learnt their lesson. But alas! They never did. Once again, the Igbo trooped out to different parts of Nigeria. Being highly enterprising people, they, once again, began to prosper. But instead of investing the wealth in Igbo land, they started to invest and build mansions all over the place. The homeland is abandoned.

There is no exact figure of how much wealth and investment that the Igbo invested outside Igbo land. They run into trillions. Could anyone imagine how Igbo land would have been if all the Igbo investments that are outside Igbo land were in the South-East? It is the Igbo that will develop the South-East and not the Federal Government. Lamenting federal neglect when the people have abandoned their homeland is senseless.