IPOB should seek an audience with the Ag President Yemi Osibanjo.
This will offer both sides, (Biafrian agitators and the Federal Government) a chance to speak without preconditions. Ag President Osibanjo wont shoot his own citizens because they exercise their constitutional right to peaceful assembly.
Everyone wants to have a stake in a project….its strategic myopia to assume because citizens say they want Biafra.. ..they actually want Biafra….Biafra is a call to Aso Rock to address the strategic imbalance inherent in Nigeria.
Consider this, If not for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan the South East wont have an international airport. What exactly did it take to make Enugu Airport an International airport? NOTHING…so why did it take 50 years for the South East to have an international airport?
Today in Nigeria, the South East is the only region with 5 states. This has strategic implications in revenues allocation, executive appointments and legislative representation…..
Today in Nigeria the South East is the only region without any Steel manufacturing infrastructure even though the South East has the largest SME cluster in Africa in Aba, Africa only homegrown car assembly factory in Nnewi and Africa largest trading cluster in Onitsha. Does the Nigerian Federation not see a need to have even a modular steel infrastructure in the South East to boost SME manufacturing?
These are not token charges of marginalization, No! these are strategic imbalances that hurt both the South East and Nigeria….
The obvious response is that the South East fought a civil war, and thus these strategic imbalances are vestiges of a lingering security mindset by the military leaders that ruled Nigeria…..but the civil war ended in the 1960s…..five decades ago!!!
The Igbos that dominate the South East have demonstrated a loyality to Nigeria beyond measure by migrating , living and contributing economically in all Local Government Areas in Nigeria, for decades, peacefully. Nothing in the near picture will change that, not even IPOB.
“One does not own a house and then proceed to sleep outside in the rain”….is an ancient Igbo proverb…its translated as Nigeria cannot have the potential of the South East and proceed to import toothpicks…..Mba!
Onitsha has been transformed today to a “tropical Hong Kong” without a drop of Federal money…..Imo Airport was built without Federal money…should these be things of pride to the South East or a missed opportunity by the Nigerian federation to grow its own economy?
Nigeria must begin to look inwards….
If Biafra could refine crude oil during the civil war then modular refineries can be licensed to refine 1,000 barrels a day in small holder refineries across the South East to create a local petrochemical industry supplying SMEs across the nation with inputs that are presently imported.
If Aba SMEs can make quality shoes then they can receive a special CBN intervention funds to transform Aba leather cluster to Africa’s destination for leather shoes exports using hides and skin from the North of Nigeria . Aba is already a export market ….link Aba to tanneries in the North, create local jobs, add significant local value, export earn forex.
If Innoson Vehicles Manufacturers in Nnewi can assemble a bus and supply the Nigerian Airforce with a parts for her Alpha Jets, then Innoson can be declared as a strategically important company and given priority to access foreign exchange to grow Innoson the same way Nigeria has strategically recognized Dangote Refinery as strategically important in reducing imports and forex demand in Nigeria.
These policies benefit Nigeria, they increased local jobs, boost fiscal revenues, reduces imports…makes everyone wealthy……
Try this FGN….offer upfront at no cost to investors all necessary regulatory approvals and current infrastructure including existing Federal railways in the South East with negotiated right of way for land to build a new railway to link Onitsha (small) port to Enugu, Owerri, Aba and Nnewi….Put zero cash down, offer investors a sovereign dollar denominated revenue bond linked 100% to the railway project not the Federal Budget…offer the bond at 4% for 20 years. the South East diaspora and local investors will raise the money and build the railway….who takes the glory? Nigeria.
Aso Rock must not see the South East or IPOB as a threat…..rather answer these agitations not with bullets but targeted laws and policies that speak to the natural republican and community based economic model already in place in the South East….grow wealth…..agitations will stop
Its our problem…….we can fix it
