“The economic wellbeing of Abians and its city of commerce will be dependent on what is sustainable, from our political culture, administration and citizenship participation in governance”
During question and answers session in a recent event organised by a group known as Abia Think Tank in Lagos Country Club, Ikeja
A middle aged man walked up to the podium, grabbed the microphone and screamed “Tell Alex Otti that Igbos in Lagos wants to return home, we are orphans, we want to return to our own home”, He stared across the hall, clears his throat and continued; “When I say Home, I mean Abia State,”
The crowd erupted in a mixed reaction, why the word Orphans, Why must it be Abia.
The Talk Workshop had presented commendable efforts of the Otti’s Government to rebuild the Abia from its days of infamy in governance, and infrastructure decay to a region that has gained the status of attraction of Nigerians and the International community but had thrown a critical question to the Abia indigenes and the Otti’s government.
The question bothers on sustaining the new lease of political leadership that has been introduced into Abia and sustaining the economic – development cycle that has been unveiled.
Abia in previous years appears almost completely and deliberately abandoned in the fold of systemic political culture of negligence, nepotism and sleaze, the previous administration appeared to have deliberately drawn a circle of influence and comfort that completely disconnected the citizenry from their government.
The sovereignty of the state belongs to the people whom constitute its strength and economic impact and the moment that understanding is challenged, the idea of infrastructural development will become secondary while the state fumbles in the struggle to appease those in the circle of political influence.
This is one of the hard battles the Otti’s government has faced in recent months, taking back what belongs to the people from the hawks and Crabs in Abia State politics and distributing it to the citizenry.
The government has been returned to the people, majority whom have had their dream fulfilled in a political leadership that have come to rescue the majority from the quagmire of environmental dysfunction.
This is the concern of many Abians at home and in the Diaspora; sustaining the legacy of a government that has borne the torchlight that has driven away the years of darkness, economic woes and complete deprivation of the people and their homeland.
This is not the job of the government alone, every indigene, every resident has a role to play and contributions to make, However, the cries of the man holding the microphone would be justified but for the use of the word “Orphans” it is likened to a jump out of a cage
Prior to the emergence of the Otti’s Labour party government and the unfortunate incidence of the 2023 general elections against the Igbos in Lagos alone, there is a general feeling that the Igbos are not Included in the sphere of environmental planning and development of Lagos, therefore they’re always compelled to locate the swamps, sand –fill it and develop entire region and once that is completed the government of the day will come up with one policy or the other to chase them away or perhaps push them further to completely underdeveloped areas and the Igbo businessmen resumes another series of reconstruction until the state government comes for the properties and the cycle continues.
That man at the venue of the event might have cried out to the Otti’s government based on these frustrating experience in Lagos, as it applies anywhere else the Igbo businessmen are dominant, whereas about 80% of the thriving businesses in Lagos alone are owned by the Igbos, not to mention Abuja, therefore, relocating a good number of those businesses to a region that has raised the bar in governance and welfare of its people will be the appropriate thing for any business owner to do to contribute to the Development of South East Nigeria
You can’t be talking of national issues sitting in Lagos while your state, your region is underdeveloped. Abia is home to the largest Textiles industry in West Africa, the same textile industry that has projected the economy of Bangladesh above its previous poorest economic ratings and today Bangladesh is a major importer and I am not surprised Igbo businessmen goes there to import textile materials back to the country.
I wore made in Aba shoes to my first trip to China and almost every Chinese in my place of work desired both shoes and shirts I wore to the office every day, they all had the “Opanka’ Made in Aba labels. Not Louis Vutton, not Gucci but proudly ‘Aba made’ until bad governance killed the business and frustrated the young artisans out of town in their stark ignorance.
The economic wellbeing of Abians and its city of commerce will be dependent on what is sustainable, from our political culture, administration and citizenship participation in governance, this is what the Otti’s government has unveiled and has been engaged in and it is not asking for too much but complimentary to ask every Abia State indigene to key into that commitment to nation building as the governor invites Vietnamese Investors to consider partnership with local businessmen in the Textile industry to revive the once largest and most thriving business in West Africa – Made in Aba!
In a closing statement by Etigwe Uwa (SAN) “Good things give way to better things and better things should give way to the best, Abia people should not relent, as the Otti administration has extended activities towards Entrepreneurs education and most importantly in ICT, a key to economic sustenance, a key to the future. This is the best welcome home message from the government to her citizenry willing to return.
Njoku Jerry Ajike is Nigerian Ambassador State of African Diaspora (SOAD), He writes from Lagos
