Ala, Obodo, and Emigration Among the Igboid: Reflections on the Mass Self Deportation of a Great People (Part 3)
Posted by Factnews | 7 years ago | 2,468 times
Written By Prof. Ikechi Mgbeoji
Mass migration has severe economic consequences. Land space is almost nothing without the human component. The decline of Africa started with the mass capture and sale of Blacks from Africa to the rest of the world. By the time the White enslavers were done with the horrible trans-Atlantic slave trade, Africa had been hollowed out. It was then easy for the colonial encounter to be decided in favour of the Western world. Africa, till date, has not recovered from the slave trade.
In like manner, the mass self deportation of the Igboid, though not as severe as the slave trade, has palpable economic dimensions. In the Nigeria, allocation of money and other resources is premised on two factors, land mass and population. The latter defers to the former. Population, whether manufactured, faked or real, is the primary factor. The more you are in numbers after a head count, the larger your share of the national cake. The population of the Igboid in Lagos, for example, is enough to create at least one additional state in Nigeria. Ditto, Abuja. In effect, the billions of naira which would have been allocated to the Igboid areas are shifted to Lagos. Further, every local government area in Nigeria gets financial allocation from the centre.
The Igboid in Lagos, for example, are enough to constitute at least 15 local government areas. If all the Igboid in Nigeria residing outside Igboid territories were accounted for, the loss of monetary allocations would be in the hundreds of billions per annum. I am often puzzled by the determination of Biafran separatist movements to scuttle or frustrate census programmes or discourage voter registration in Igboid areas. Who is hurting who? Who is fooling who? The Igboid understand money, at least, they enjoy that reputation.
Money is not wealth and the Igboid understand that very well. 43 million dollars in an apartment is money, but it is not wealth. The Igbo word for wealth, AKU, is instructive. When you separate the "a" from the "ku", it becomes clear that the Igboid believe that wealth has to be planted, earned, nurtured, and in many cases, eked out. Money, which the Igboid call ego/okpogho/ikpegh/nwa ohuu. et cetera is a different case. A fool can make money but no fool can make and keep wealth. Wealth encompasses cash, assets, good health, good relations with people, credit, pedigree, learning, wisdom. The mass self deportation of the Igboid is arguably a depletion of wealth. Consider this: Lagos State generates more than 50 billion naira per month in Internally Generated Revenue. In fact, a well-informed professional colleague asserted that the latest figure is closer to 400 billion naira. No state in the Igboid areas has ever crossed the 5 billion naira threshold.
But the fact of the matter is that the Igboid in Lagos account for at least 44% of the real estate in Lagos, more than 40% of the retail business, et cetera. In other words, the Igboid in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, etc account for at least 25% of the wealth in those parts. And what does this mean for the agitation for Biafra? No separatist movement is sustained on anger and outrage.
The French revolution was funded by the merchants of Marseille. An army marches on its stomach. If your stomach is in Lagos and Abuja, you cannot march to Nkpor, Aba, Owerri. No way. Obviously, the Igboid men and women of money have voted with their feet. Where a man's wealth is, there his heart is also. If Nigeria were to go up in flames today, the Igboid, like Lot's wife, are bound to look back to the conflagration and probably, rush back to put out the flames. The Igboid elite, rightly or wrongly, has called a truce with the troubled Nigerian state. And the Biafran agitators should be smart enough to recognize that fact. You cannot be investing billions of naira in Nigeria and simultaneously demand a divorce from Nigeria.
The economic devastation wrought on Igboid areas is a direct fallout of the mass self deportation of a people. A few decades ago, the United Arab Emirates was just a dry, fishing outpost. Its main tradition and income was pear-fishing. But with vision, Sheik Al Maktoum, realized his dream that if he BUILT a modern state in the desert, that many is will go to to Dubai, and other federating emirates in UAE. In his words, "if we build it, they (meaning the outside world) will come."
Ikechi Mgbeoji
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