KWENU: Our Culture, Our Future

Reconstructing Igbo political capacity in Nigeria (2)

ACHO ORABUCHI

Dallas, Texas, USA

aorabuchi@netzero.net

Thursday, February 24, 2005

I encourage everyone to work judiciously and diligently toward finding a solution to Igbo problems. History will remember us well as those who sacrificed personality for the future and collective benefit of Ndi Igbo. This is just the beginning. It took commitment and sacrifice for PNF USA to organize this great event.

We cannot keep dwelling on our lost glory or in our past mistakes. This is a new day filled with hope, optimism, and abundance of opportunities. If we can utilize only 50% of the opportunities we have now, 90% of our problems will be solved. We know what our problems are. As a matter of fact, we have plethora of articles enunciating Igbo problems in the Nigerian body polity. Please permit me to say that the Igbo and her political survival in the mainstream of the Nigerian body polity are in danger. If corrective actions are not taken immediately, our place in the Nigerian history would be obliterated. We should realize that for what will be tomorrow's history has its makings in today's activities. The Igbo problems are many and complex due to societal socio-cultural hegemony.

Problems:

Our problem could be reduced to lack of constructive, transformational, and unselfish leadership. South-East Zone has suffered an immense economic dilapidation for a long period of time because of lack of constructive, transformational, and unselfish leadership. Unlike Dr. Akanu Ibiam, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. M.I. Okpara, and others, our current leaders are practicing politics of self-interest. Our current leaders should imbibe politics of collective interest. Leaders should serve the people. As a result, we have to make the current elected and appointed Igbo leaders accountable to the people they serve. Ndi Igbo should come up with sanctions against leaders that are not transparent and accountable. We should not let individuals that do not serve the interest of Ndi Igbo to represent us. We need to reform the electoral process to be able to carry out some of our actions. We also need to design ways to groom new leaders.

Lack of Unity: One of the important factors that negatively affect the Igbo as a people is lack of unity. The Igbo do not have anything that serves as a rallying point-anything that unites us. Our culture and language no longer serve as unifying factors for Ndi Igbo. As a result, we lack shared vision and common purpose. In the absence of the unifying factors, the Igbo are in disarray.

Lack of Collective Economic Base: The Igbo do not have viable, sustainable, and collective economic base. As a result, the Igbo control no sector of the economy. For instance, the South-East Zone lags behind in infrastructure necessary for investment and economic growth. We are nowhere to be found in the ownership of mass media.

Lack of Ideology: Due to the fact that we have lost sight of our culture coupled with our quest for money, all our activities are devoid of ideology. Operationally speaking, ideology comprises of all the beliefs, ideas, attitudes, and doctrines that are held by the members of a group. Ideology inherently guides individual and collective decision of a group. In its absence, the group becomes dysfunctional.

Lack of Agenda: It is generally believed that either the Igbo do not have a clear agenda or they have one that lacks the collective vision and purpose of the people.

Plausible Solutions

The Igbo must adopt an integrated approach to solving our problems. Lack of constructive, transformational, and unselfish leadership; lack of unity; lack of collective economic base; lack of ideology; and lack of agenda cannot be solved in isolation. They must be tackled simultaneously. We must have a working collective strategic plan to deal with amorphous situations arising from the nascent democracy. Since history shows that the political climate in Nigeria could be characterized as turbulent and unstable, Ndi Igbo must have a dynamic, but constructive plan that has series of options for uncertain situations. We should be proactive in our actions and not reactive for the most part.

Constructive and Ideological Igbo Agenda: Let me begin with this quote by an unknown author, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." First of all, the Igbo have to systematically through the grassroots reconstruct Igbo agenda replete with ideological underpinnings. To contextually understand an agenda, one has to look at its components such as program, plan, outline, list of items, schedule, and schema. Schema has to do with scheme and representation. Under the scheme, one will have system, plan, method, format, idea, proposal, and design. These variables are essentially important in understanding, constructing or defining, and implementing Igbo agenda. It is imperative that we begin now to articulate constructive, dynamic, and lasting Igbo Agenda, enshrined in ideology, but suited for Nigeria's socio-economic and socio-political environment.

Constructive, Transformational, and Unselfish Leadership: Constructive, transformational, and unselfish leadership will only thrive in an environment where there is a shared vision and common purpose. In a situation like that the leaders would know their responsibilities to the masses. Accountability of elected and appointed officials would be the norm.

Unity Among the Igbo: The presence of the Igbo agenda provides the opportunity to focus on a shared vision. In this case, the agenda becomes a unifying force and a guide for present and future behavior. In a nutshell, Igbo agenda will create the absence of dissonance. We cannot continue to be on different tangents. The rule of the game should be convergence to the center-Igbo Agenda!

Expand Economic Base in South-East Zone: It is essentially important that we invest most our resources in South-East Zone in order to expand the economic base of the area. It is my opinion that Ndi Igbo have invested most of their resources outside our zone. What does that say about us? We exhibit the attitude of "ONE NIGERIA" to a much higher degree than any other ethnic group. Our wholehearted acceptance of one Nigeria does not translate into equal and fair treatment. In essence, economic power is a necessary condition for political power. The Igbo will not have economic emancipation without a focused agenda. In the same token, the Igbo will not be emancipated politically without economic emancipation.

Active Participation in the Mainstream Politics: Ethnic politics tend to create an incendiary political atmosphere thereby making it impossible for some to focus on ideology for direction. One cannot win a national election under what is considered an ethnic party. It should be the goal of the Igbo to actively participate in the national/mainstream politics in an equitable fashion in Nigeria. The Igbo should significantly participate in the national policy making decisions in ALL areas and in their implementations. The Igbo should significantly participate in deciding ways and means of distributing national income, including who gets what.

Re-Orientation: Some people always find it difficult to adjust to change. Also, change is a gradual process. In order for us to accomplish our objectives, we have to change our attitude toward those social factors that inhibit Igbo progress.

The time to act on formulating Igbo agenda replete with ideological underpinnings is now if we sincerely want to reconstruct our political capacity. We could not defer acting on the factors I have enumerated above any further. The time for action could not have been more urgent! I call upon all Igbo indigenes, Igbo organizations, civic and political leaders, and church leaders to have a common vision in order to work collaboratively to achieve a common purpose and common goal so that history will remember us kindly. We are in an era of finding and implementing solutions. As a result, the era of bickering and blame is behind us. The work ahead may be difficult and burdensome. However, the burden is lessened with love and unity among us. We are marching on!

· These were the excerpts of an address delivered by Iheanacho "Acho" Orabuchi, Ph.D. National Chairman of Pan Ndi-Igbo Foundation (PNF USA) at All-Igbo Political Summit held in Texas, USA in 2003.