Be diplomatic in your agitation, Nwodo tells Igbo youths

President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, has asked Igbo youths and other pro-Biafra agitators to employ diplomacy in their quest for self- determination.

Nwodo, who said that Ndigbo were not known for violence, advised the youths to continue to maintain decorum and peace no matter the level of provocation.

The Ohanaeze leader gave the advice when he kicked off distribution of Covid-19 palliatives procured by the president of the youths arm of the group, Arthur Obioha, for the young Igbo. The materials which included rice, beans, organic fertilizer and seedlings were meant for distribution to Igbo youths across the country.

At the kick off of the distribution at the national secretariat of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Enugu, Nwodo insisted that Ndigbo should think inwards and create opportunities for the survival of its people, so as to reduce dependence on other parts of the country for survival and development. He said: “There are two kinds of war that face us as a people in this country. They include hunger and ignorance.”

The moment we are able to solve these challenges, we can become anything we want to. If you look at all rich countries in the world today, you would see that one thing that is driving them is knowledge. It is no longer oil. Oil will continue to fall because alternative sources of energy have emerged. If you look at the number of cars bought in the USA at the moment; they have bought more electric cars than fuel oil cars.

“America has drone technology and can go to war without firing a gun. The power of knowledge is the new way. The entire knowledge of the world is inside a computer. This is an area our people must invest resources and time in.

“We have to know that our strength lies in our knowledge and in our capacity to deploy it. We can deploy the same strength and resources used for Biafra in improving knowledge and technology to be able to get our people into gainful employment,” Nwodo said. He praised Obioha for the gesture, stressing that empowering Igbo youths, especially at the time of the ravaging coronavirus would make them shun crimes.

Obioha stated that the palliatives were procured in conjunction with the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and other Igbo organizations.

According to him, the organic fertilizers were procured from Thailand and crop seedlings from Philippines to enable the youths go into agriculture.
“We want to curb hunger and our plan is to ensure that a bag of rice is sold for not higher than N1000 in this country. This is to support the fight against hunger, poverty and unemployment in the Southeast.”