How Igbo Traders Control Critical Sectors In 31 States, FCT

Traders at Aguiyi Ironsi International Market, Ladipo, Mushin Local Government Area of Lagos

Outside the five states that make up the South East geopolitical zone, traders who are of Igbo extraction are controlling critical sectors in 31 states and the Federal Capital Territory, reports by our correspondents reveal.

Reports from the South West, South South, North West, North East, North Central and the FCT, showed that investments of Igbo traders, cutting across all sectors dot the state capitals, LGAs, major towns and villages in other parts of the country.

The South East geopolitical zone is made up of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states. At a time, agitation for secession is being spearheaded by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Igbo traders enjoy peaceful, uninterrupted trading in other parts of the country.

'Igbos own 73% of Abuja property'

In Abuja, Igbo traders dominate the nerves of businesses in the city centre and the area councils.

Reports by our correspondents showed that the Igbo control housing and hospitality businesses just as they exclusively dominated spare parts and building materials trade in Deidei, Zone 5, Apo, Zuba and Mararraba.

During his tenure as minister of FCT, Malam Nasir El-Rufa'i, declared that the Igbo have acquired about 73 per cent of landed properties in Abuja.

"Sixty-eight per cent of the land allocations in the FCT belong to the 19 northern states, but in the actual land ownership, 73 per cent belongs to the Igbo with the most aggressive in land ownership belonging to the indigenes of Anambra State, while Ebonyi lags behind," El-Rufai said in 2007.

Sources in major markets in the FCT said most of the shops are owned by Igbo traders and investors.

An Abuja native in Kubwa, Mr Sunday Gazazhin, said no Nigerian would be comfortable with what Biafra agitators are doing to northerners in the South East.

Gazazhin, who is a youth leader, said Abuja indigenes have sacrificed their land willingly to Nigerians when the same right is being denied to other Nigerians in the eastern part of the country.

An Igbo trader who is a former chairman of Abuja Building Material Market in Deidei, Comrade Anthony Chukwuneke, told Daily Trust that he is in support of Biafra agitators and denied their involvement in attacking northerners in the South East.

When alerted about the Igbo's huge investment scattered in the North, in the event that they seceded, he replied, "The only thing that the Igbo trader should expect, is a special tax imposition against his business".

S/East traders dot 44 Kano LGAs

In Kano, the Igbo are going about their normal business with several investments in the commercial centre of northern Nigeria.

The spare parts and construction products market at Kofar Ruwa is one of the market areas in Kano where the Igbos dominate or play a significant role in the business of the market. While they are not the only tribe involved in the market, they control the highest volume of trade in it.

It was observed, however, that during the sit-at-home order of the IPOB recently, business activities in the market went on as normal.

Similarly, at the popular Sabon Gari Market (Abubakar Rimi Market) in Sabongari area of Kano, the Igbo and other non-indigenous tribes go about their day-to-day businesses peacefully with their hosts.

Daily Trust reports that aside from the major business interest, there is hardly any village in Kano's 44 local government areas that an Igbo man or woman would not be seen conducting his/her business and living amicably with their hosts.

Beyond the markets and other business interests, the Igbo are similarly heavily invested in the multi-billion Naira properties business across the state with a concentration in the Sabongari area of Kano metropolis.

While several individuals of Igbo extraction in Kano approached for comment declined on the basis of the sensitivity of the issues, Daily Trust recalls that the Eze Ndigbo of Kano, Igwe Boniface Ibekwe (Ide 1), had in a recent press release on behalf of the Association of Igbo Traditional Leaders in Diaspora, reaffirmed their "unalloyed support and commitment to the sustenance of a strong and virile Nigeria, where peace, unity, justice and equity prevail."

In Taraba, south-easterners dominate commerce

Igbo traders have dominated the building materials, spare parts, pharmaceuticals and other businesses in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital and other major towns in the state.

Findings revealed that 95 per cent of building materials, spare parts and pharmaceutical shops in Jalingo, Wukari, Takum, Gembu, Zing and MutumBiyu are owned by Igbos.

At Jalingo main mechanic village, almost 95 per cent of spare parts shops are owned by the Igbo. They also form over 65 per cent of the total motor mechanics in Jalingo and other towns in the state.

Similarly, most of the big pharmaceutical shops along Palace Way, Barde Way and other locations in Jalingo as well as in other towns and villages across the state are owned by the Igbo.

Bayelsa's economy under Igbo traders' control

Over 80% of businesses operated in Bayelsa State are owned by Nigerians from the South East region, our correspondent reports.

The Igbo traders see themselves as part and parcel of the state. Finding shows that many supermarkets, filling stations, eateries and clubs as well as other petty businesses are operated by Igbo people.

Checks at Swali Market, the biggest market in Bayelsa State, indicate that people from the South East are operating in the market peacefully with the people of the state.

A popular supermarket in Yenagoa, the state capital, belonging to an Igbo businessman is said to be the pioneer supermarket in the state.

Some Igbo traders' union leaders who spoke with Daily Trust said they have been operating in the state even before the creation of Bayelsa State.

Why we are leading in Akwa Ibom -- Eze Ndigbo

In Akwa Ibom, the Igbo are leading in the food market, household goods and supermarkets, electronics/electricals and auto/mechanical. They are in the majority in the automobile market called the mechanic village in Uyo, among other businesses.

They have continued to thrive even in the face of insecurity that is not just threatening Nigerians, the nation's territorial integrity but also the economy.

The Eze Ndigbo in Akwa Ibom, His Royal Highness, Eze Dr CYC Umeakuka JP, attributed the knack of the Igbo to thrive in business despite insecurity in the country to the peace they enjoy in the state and the hospitable nature of the people.

Umeakuka, who is also the President General of Eze Ndigbo in Nigeria and the Diaspora, said their risk-taking streak was a contributory factor to their success in business.

Igbo businesses thrive in Lagos

Despite the agitation led by the IPOB for an independent nation for the eastern region, businessmen from the area are thriving in Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria.

A visit to major markets in the state indicated that they are doing their business without any hindrance.

Some major markets in the state, such as Alaba International, Jankara, Ladipo, Oyingbo, Computer village are dominated by people from the eastern region.

At Alaba International Market, which is the largest electronics market in Nigeria, they said there is no discrimination against them.

A visit to the Apapa ports also revealed that they are very active in clearing goods. In the hospitality business, a good number of hotels in the state are owned by Igbo businessmen.

Some of the businessmen who expressed confidence in the unity of the country claimed that the president and his men promoted the agitation in the region. They claimed that President Buhari has always shown his alleged dislike for the region through his utterances.

Collinson Oha, an electronics dealer in Alaba International Market, who has lived and traded in Lagos for over 12 years, said the people asking for separation are not happy with the way the government is handling things in the country.

Another trade, Chinozo Ebere, said the agitation in the South East has not affected his relationship with traders and customers from other regions.

However, some of them said if the agitation for Biafra succeeds, they would be willing to continue trading in Nigeria while they relocate the headquarters of their business to the new nation.

By Ismail Mudashir, Hamisu Kabir Matazu, Adamu Umar (Abuja), Clement A. Oloyede (Kano), Magaji Isa Hunkuyi (Jalingo), Bassey Willie (Yenagoa), Iniabasi Umo (Uyo) & Abiodun Alade (Lagos)

Article was first published at the Daily Trust, June 30, 2021

Rep. Sam Onuigbo Donates Examination Materials To Schools In Abia

Sam Onuigbo. Image: Facebook.

BY LINUS EFFIONG

The member representing Umuahia North/Umuahia South/ Ikwuano federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Chief Sam. Onuigbo has donated examination revision materials to students in his constituency. Onuigbo made the donation of examination revision materials to students in his Constituency, at Kolping Event Centre, World Bank Housing Estate, Umuahia.

Speaking at the event, held he said it was in fulfilment of the promise he made to the youths and it was meant to improve their studies. “I have always been interested in the provision of quality education for our young ones. That is why my journey through life has always been highlighted by the offering of several scholarship opportunities to young people from primary, secondary, tertiary, and even post-graduate levels,’’ he said.

The lawmaker said since 1999, he had facilitated the construction of a block of three classrooms at Obuohia Ibere Community Primary School, which was followed by the establishment of a secondary school in his community.

“My conviction is that a conducive learning environment will help our young ones do better and continue to excel and maintain Abia State’s enviable position as the state that has consistently come first in the country in the West African Secondary School Examinations over the years.

According to him, this year, he has procured registration forms for students who wanted to sit for the West African Examination Counci l(WAEC) and Joint Admission and Matriculation Board(JAMB) examinations.

SOURCE: DAILY TRUST

Imo Community To Abolish “Osu” Caste System December 27

Illustration courtesy of Jones Archive, Southern Illinois University

BY JUDE AGUGUO OWUAMANAM

OWERRI, IMO (DAILY TRUST)--History will be made on December 27, 2019, when the indigenes of Abba community in Nwangele Local Government area of Imo state will meet to put a final seal on the abrogation of the Osu, Ohu/Ume caste system in the area. The caste, a social stigmatisation system, which had bogged down the Igbo race for centuries, tends to segregate individuals on the basis of birth.

It is an ancient practice in Igboland, which discourages social interaction and marriage with a group of persons called ‘Osu’ and the freeborn called Nwadiala. The Osu, people said to be dedicated to deities, are considered as inferior beings to freeborn.

The ceremony, which will also culminate in the celebration of Abba Day, is being held under the auspices of Abba Ama Ano Community Development Union (AACDU) led by Chief Paul Ozigbo and Coordinated by Barrister Stan Chike Ofoma.

The journey to the ceremony, which started on November 2, with a sensitisation programme to all the four autonomous communities of Umuokwara, Umudurunna, Ekitiafor and Ogwuaga, and the daughters of Abba (Umuada), culminated on December 3, with the rites of abrogation performed by the traditional title holders (Ndi Nze na Ozo and Oji Ofo) and witnessed by a delegation from Nri Ancient Kingdom, said to be sphere of religious and political influence in Igboland. A statement signed by the Chairman of traditional title holders, (Ndi Nze na Ozo), Dr. CKC Anyanjo and the Public Relations Officer, Dr. Okechukwu Akogu, described the rites as an uphill task, but expressed satisfaction that they were able to pull the process through despite all the challenges littered along the way.

The statement said, “The culmination of this whole process into the epoch and historic abolition proclamation by Onye Ishi Nze Abba amano (Nze ( Dr) CKC Anyanjo), at 4:35pm of 3/12/2019, after a sixteen cannon gun shorts and its reinforcement by Ndi oji ofo and another 21 cannon shorts in the four autonomous communities between 5pm to 6:15pm in ala Abba was symbolic – bringing to finality the end of Osu, Ume and Ohu cast system in Abba clan.” Speaking on theevent, the traditional ruler of Ekitiafor, Ekiti II, Eze Ononenyi Uzoma, said that it was the agreement of all the people of Abba that the system must come to and end. He described it as a encouragement to other communities in Igbo land that still practices the system to end it because it has no place in modern times. Queen Mother of Ekitiafor, Her Royal Majesty, Ugoeze Uzoka, who spearheaded the whole process, described the practice as obnoxious and vexatious, stressing that it is incongruous for any person to see another as an outcast, when there is no outward sign or insignia on the face designating them as outcast and others as freeborn.

Full Marks, Onyema/Dabiri

Ifechukwu Onyema

BY WOLE OLAOYE

Few things bring out the fellow-feeling in humankind than adversity. Nothing trumps the feeling that a fellow mortal has got your back, even when you think your back is against the wall. Ever fractious Nigeria stood up as one to show unparalleled empathy with their countrymen and women caught in the maelstrom of xenophobic hate in South Africa, and no two individuals epitomise this outpouring of love and charity than Allen Ifechukwu Onyema, businessman and owner of Air Peace, and Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chair of the Nigerians In Diaspora Commission. 

Onyema volunteered an aircraft from the fleet of Air Peace to ferry home his compatriots free of charge. Such noble spirit at a tie when hundreds of his countrymen with private jets, including billionaire pastors, business moguls and politicians, looked the other way.

Touching ground in Nigeria was like entering paradise for those who had virtually seen death face to face in South Africa. Nobody needed to preach to anyone that home was where you would find solace even if the whole world rejected you. The passengers are indigenes of various parts of Nigeria. All that had not mattered in their hour of distress as the enemy did not distinguish between Hausa or Igbo or Yoruba. In the aircraft too, adversity united them as they sang as one.

In a spontaneous show of gratitude they belted out a song in Igbo: “Onyema, Onyema! We go forth with him in his journeys; hither and thither, its Onyema we shall follow”. They followed that up with a rendition of the Nigerian national anthem, at which point it was all too much for the Air Peace boss and he burst into tears.

 I have made the point over the years and it bears repeating: No matter the problems in Nigeria — and there are many of them — we shoot nobody but ourselves in the foot when we de-market our country as the worst place on the planet. The social media is full of negative invocations against this patch of earth called Nigeria as if there is one single country in the world that is problem-free. It is not blind patriotism to wish one’s country well. When the chips are down, this is really the only country we can truly call our own. This is where our roots are. We must fix our country to make it a destination of choice for the rest of the world. Forget what prosperity preachers tell you. The road to sustainable wealth is hard work!

 It wasn’t too long ago when foreigners shipped themselves en masse to Nigeria in search of opportunities. We blew our prosperity of the 70’s to the extent that we now export crude oil only to import refined petroleum products. We have the ocean in our backyard but are forced to bathe with spittle. Oh, sure, we ought to do better — and we must. So, let’s stay here to prosecute the developmental battle instead of putting ourselves in a position where we are no better than sitting ducks for target practice by xenophobes.

\ All through the process of documenting the returnees in South Africa, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa was the visible face of the Nigerian government. Her commitment and empathy showed that Nigeria cared for her citizens no matter the situation. This is a new perception of government as the caring mother-hen. The fact that government could so seamlessly collaborate with the private sector to bring home our returnees is something that gladdens my heart. 

The resettlement programme announced to help the returnees rediscover their economic footing is equally commendable. Nigeria’s money must work for Nigerians. Announcing the measures via Twitter, Dabiri-Erewa said, said, “Apart from transport stipend to convey them to their various destinations, they are to receive airtime which would last for well over two months, as well as a soft loan from the Bank of Industry to support those interested in little businesses. A program for reintegration will also be put in place.”

 If every entrepreneur had the heart of Allen Onyema and every government operative had the commitment and efficiency of Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Nigeria of our dreams can’t be too far off anymore. Onyema, by the way, deserves a national award. 

Back to prosperity preachers who have been egging some Nigerians on to perdition in the name of Biblical promises. The more you sow (not the harder you work) the more you reap! Hawking miracles and illusions, they have blurred the lines between homily, motivational talk and 419! One of them, Pastor Benny Hinn, recently confessed that he had misled a lot of people with his prosperity gospel. According to him, “I am correcting my own theology … The blessings of God are not for sale. And miracles are not for sale. And prosperity is not for sale.”

 So, we are back to the good old gospel of how to get ahead in life: hard work, tenacity, honesty, with or without a pinch of luck. With those, you can approach the Throne of Grace to bless the work of your hands. 

If only our political leaders all over the federation would stop looting the treasury and deploy our resources towards the development of our land and people! 

The red carpet treatment accorded the returnees is quite in order. Now, let us roll up our sleeves and work hard to make Nigeria better so that our children will no longer suffer the indignity of being hunted down with cudgels and guns as unwanted foreigners in countries they had, not too long ago, sacrificed so much to liberate. Welcome home, sojourners!


SOURCE: DAILY TRUST

Biafra Conundrum: Time For National Assembly’s Intervention

Nigeria National Assembly

BY MONIMA DAMINABO
Several factors in the country’s body politick have made it imperative that a structured debate be launched in respect of ethnic politics in Nigeria, of which the Biafra conundrum remains the sorest point for now. Much as it may seem fashionable for the country’s elite to play the ostrich which hides its head in the sand when confronted with danger, the imperative for self-preservation amplifies the misread threat value of the country’s present indulgence in complacence, both for the individual citizen as well as the entire country as a corporate entity. It is therefore time for corporate Nigeria to rise up, seek answers to some of the needful questions such as the less known aspects of its origin that define what is happening to it now, and where it is bound hereafter. 

Some recent events on the global stage which have reinforced the untenable postponement of the day of reckoning for corporate Nigeria include the recent diplomatic outrage in Tokyo where persons claiming to be members of the IPOB virtually waylaid President Muhammadu Buhari with the unmasked intention of embarrassing not only him but the entire country, to wit, launching a public attack on him in a foreign land. It took the Japanese Police extraordinary measures to contain the impending diplomatic upset that would have ensued if the IPOB group had its way and met the President face to face.

Earlier than the Tokyo affair, was the ignoble case of actual assault on the former Deputy President of the Senate Ike Ekweremadu in Germany, where he went to honour an invitation to an Ibo cultural event. The fact that he escaped with his life by the skin of his teeth tells volumes on the potency of threat of negative diplomatic fallouts when the country’s leaders are targeted and attacked abroad, whenever they travel out and where ever they go to across the world. More insidiously, the assailants may even be unidentifiable until they strike, leading to the possibility that all Nigerians abroad may suffer a stigma of branding as potentially unruly characters. Already a bank in the US has reportedly suspended money transfers through Western Union to Nigeria. The implications of this development if it becomes widespread, are yet uncharted.

By and large, the recent dramatisation of the internationalization of the crisis in Nigeria’s ethnic politics – like what happened in Germany and Japan, has come to deepen the political tensions in the country, following the various readings of the situation from the varying ethnic perspectives with which Nigerians traditionally view matters that affect the entire country. For example, it is for good measure that Ekweremadu was attacked by his fellow Ibo kith and kin. What would have happened if the attack was by persons from another ethnic background? In the same vein what would have followed if President Buhari had been accessed and assaulted by the IPOB elements in Tokyo? Meanwhile these events significantly boosted the country’s woes, along with the underlying divisions among Nigeria’s component ethnic groups, as well as the raging armed conflicts across the land.

As if the foregoing was not enough headache for the country in a short time, there were other sad narratives about the country, like the rape on the country’s credibility in the comity of nations by the US expose’ of Nigeria’s internet fraudsters, who cleaned up bank accounts belonging to unsuspecting American firms, churches, charities and even individuals. Still on cue was the signal that Saudi Arabia had on its death row 23 Nigerians who would be executed by beheading, anytime from now for trafficking banned drugs into that country. Indeed, there may not have been a worse season of anomy for the country, in recent times than now. 

Nevertheless, while all of these aforementioned challenges and others not mentioned here may coalesce into the current headache for the country, the most critical of them easily remains the Biafra issue which with the new found, contrived nuisance value of IPOB in diaspora, offers the risk of forcing our common patrimony to be violated and ridiculed as the proverbial masquerade that is stripped and forced to dance naked in public; and for us, on the global stage. 

In the wake of these developments lies the issue of what the country’s response to the international dimension of the Biafra conundrum will be. And going by the cliché that it is not what happens to a man that matters but how he responds, not a few Nigerians are worried over whether the country will do things in a different way and thereby change the course of events as well as history. For in the final analysis, the situation is steadily pushing the country towards a term many in the country’s power circles today fear to consider – ‘political restructuring’. 

Yet, for the purpose of saving Nigeria as a united corporate entity, or providing a sustainable manner for its eventual restructured state, it is time for the people to talk to each other frankly on the burning issues of the day and in particular Biafra. Many Nigerians may not easily appreciate, the fact that the trending Biafra issue is a conundrum today primarily because much of the impetus driving it lies on a complement of false assumptions, many of which may collapse in the course of structured, rigorous national conversation. 

For instance, except with the instrumentality of a medieval style military conquest to actualize the bogus territorial aspirations of the advocates of Biafra, its emergence today cannot endow it with any territory beyond the five South Eastern states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo. The hellish implications of such a reality may still be lost on many of the new age advocates of Biafra. Essentially, beyond rhetorics can the Igbo nation – with their numerical strength and resourcefulness, actually be confined without severe social tensions, inside the land-locked South East geopolitical zone? The obvious answer which is in the negative to this question, is just one of the primary disincentives for the Ibo elite who are already established in the politics and economy of the Nigerian nation, to be circumspect and hesitant in throwing their weight behind the IPOB pro-Biafra agenda. After all, there is little wisdom in aspiring to rule in hell, than accepting to serve in paradise. 

Perhaps for the edification of the younger pro-Biafrans, the issue of leadership among our Ibo brethren is never a tea party. This author easily recalls the scenario during his days as a student at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, when the defunct East Central State was split between Anambra and Imo States on February 3, 1976. There had followed a mass exodus of newly ‘liberated’ Imo indigenes from Enugu to Owerri – some people travelling on bare foot; with expectations of entering paradise on earth in their new state. Within just one week, most of them rushed back to Enugu in disappointment, only to find their job positions, opportunities and facilities taken over by their erstwhile friends and neighbours. 

So Nigeria, let the Biafra debate commence with the National Assembly leading the charge. That will even be in line with the Ibo proverb that whatever can happen tomorrow, can as well happen today. The net beneficiary will be corporate Nigeria.

SOURCE: DAILY TRUST