In his book, America in retreat, the Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist Bret Stephens said that “No police or fire
department would wait until a house is consumed in flames before it
started putting it out." I have been ignoring the recent distraction
urging Ndigbo to “go home” and invest partly because I know that we are
smart enough as a people to individually make forward-looking decisions.
But when a columnist I had followed as a young writer Mr. Ocherome
Nnanna, now chairman Editorial Board of Vanguard Media decided to add
burning coal (rather than a big wedge ) to a fast moving train (with
failed breaks, heading towards a thatched house), I know I had to jump
in as a firefighter and police combined.
In his provoking piece, “Yes, Ndi Igbo ‘go home’” published in
Vanguard Newspaper, Mr. Nnanna wrote that. “Igbos must “go home”,
develop Igboland, build up its economic infrastructure and make it a
destination not only for the Igbos but also other Nigerians and even
foreigners to live, work and thrive. That is the meaning of “go home”.
Igbos will never live in dignity outside Igboland until they have done
this.”
While the piece raises several questions, I will in this rejoinder
focus on what constitutes, “home”, dignity and smart investment in a
globalized village. But first, I must state that Mr. Nnanna’s voice adds
to the seductive but destructive whisper that is pushing Ndi Igbo to
the false comfort zone of isolationism. I am thus not waiting until my
people are pushed into the backward mentality of false comfort of
isolationism before reminding them that we are in the 21st century. How
far can we go in pushing ourselves deep into the mud (individually and
as a group) all in the name of “dignity” and attempt to save ourselves
from imaginary monsters?
Starting with the investment question, I will like to be educated on,
what drives investment decisions? Is it hardcore data about actual
operating conditions or sentiment? If the result of your cost benefit
analysis is telling you that the best location for your investment is
Lagos or Cotonou, will you listen to your heart and move your investment
to Nsukka or Iheagwa? If the investment potential index that is
objective and data driven- labor, infrastructure, economic conditions,
political stability and governance - makes Lagos the best location to
build a private refinery; will you listen to your heart and move the
refinery to Kano or Enugu?
By Mr. Nnanna’s re-definition of dignity, it is only when I
contribute to the economic and infrastructural development of my village
in Nsukka that I will begin to see myself as living in dignity in Kano
or Calabar. Really? How realistic is this redefinition? How many Ndigbo
(‘home’ and abroad) can afford to do this in the present economic
realities of today?
I guess Mr. Nnanna lives in Lagos and may not have gone “home” to
help make Igbo land the “destination for foreigners to live and thrive”
and therefore is most likely not living in dignity in Lagos (by his own
standard). That leads to the question, what is dignity? What does it
mean to live in dignity? Should turning Igbo land to Dubai a
precondition to living in dignity?
To live in dignity, MUST you uproot your business (and soul) from the
coast of one of the busiest commercial centers of the world and replant
them at the banks of the dry river in the hinterlands? Only for you to
make those treacherous and costly journeys back and forth to the
investment hub you just turned your back on? This is a warning that we
should avoid falling into the “false comfort” of isolationism in a
“globalized interconnected world.” As we navigate this complex
socio-political-cultural-religious-ethnic terrain in Nigeria, Ndigbo
cannot shirk the mantle of engagement. We cannot be isolationist. It is
not possible in this globalized interconnected world.
Even though it is tempting to pull back in the current political
atmosphere in Nigeria, we should remain steadfast and positive. The true
quality of a champion is in seeing challenges as opportunities. Faced
with a plethora of hurdles, a warrior does not build walls around
himself. Rather, he engages and develops a positive mental state that
will lead to new discoveries of inner strength. He builds an
intellectual and psychological outlook that enables him redefine goals
and ultimately opening up new doors and windows. Windows that will let
in refreshing fresh air driving away fear and uncertainty.
You can choose to live like a slave in a rented flat in Lagos with
your family your entire adult life while paying hundreds of thousands as
rent per year. Or you can grab that land in Lagos (if you can afford
it), build a comfortable home for your family while investing back
“home” (if and when you can afford it) as a necessary part of “think
home philosophy” we are known for.
Alternatively, you can “go back home” and build a mansion (a vacation
home) where you sleep for less than one year (cumulatively) your entire
life, meanwhile renting it out to local tenants for few thousands per
year (sometimes for free, to make sure it is occupied). The choice is
yours!
First, I ask you to define where your home is? Is it your “Ime Obis”-
a divided house full of sycophant "leaders" that cannot pay salaries in
Owerri and Umuahia? You want to go and invest in such a home? A “home
of 3 days’ work week? How can you get returns on your investment is such
homes? Will going home mean being within reach of your diabolic uncles
and cousins and the pit of hell in your villages. Hell that pushed you
to exile in the first place? Again, the choice is yours!
Let me end this piece on a positive note; after a careful analysis of
latest political development in Nigeria, I can optimistically declare
that Igbos across the globe and particularly in Nigeria are not in
decline and that we must not go “home” in order to live in dignity. Here
is why: in the 2015 national election, PDP through the overwhelming
support of Ndigbo won several House of Representative slots in Lagos
State. One Oghene Egboh, from Delta State, won in Amuwo Odofin, Mrs.
Rita Orji in Ajeromi/Ifelodun, Tony Nwoolu in Oshodi/Isolo and Mr.
Tajudeen Obasa (a Yoruba man) in Igbo-dominated Ojo.
Close your eyes and look around Nigeria and see if such political
feat was achieved anywhere else by another ethnic group. This is a
classic case of standing your ground and insisting that where you are is
your “home." It is also a pointer that positive attitudes can open
doors through political alliances resulting in a stake in governance at
state and local government levels at your domain. If that feat didn’t
make you have a sense of dignity and a feeling that Lagos is your
“home," I hope it at least made you feel like Lagos is your ‘hood. As
Onye Igbo, if where you are feels like a ‘hood but you want to make if
home, what you should do is to sit-in and work it out. NEVER embark on
self-exile by going “home."
You can email Churchill at Churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @churchillnnobi
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PLEASE BE POLITE