ODUDU ABASI AND IBIBIOS NARCISSISTIC OBSESSION WITH IGBO : RE-EDUCATE ODUDU ABASI IBIBIOS AND EASTERN MINORITIES ON FACTS THEY FAIL TO KNOW - RE: Fighting against secession: General Ike Nwachukwu's only offence

[Ugo Harris Ukandu]

 

Odudu Abasi,

Why are you and some Ibibio people so obsessed with Igbos and their ways. It seems you don't have better things to do for your Ibibio clan. The uncivil war ended more than 40 years ago and many tribes, people and  ethnic groups in Nigeria have all forgotten about the war and are moving on with their lives. Many of the Igbos defeated in the war are dead and are old now. The is a new generation of Igbos who are doing great things all over the world,  and are moving ahead and in the same token there are many Igbos who have chosen different part out of Nigeria;  and are making living and living life outside Nigeria still achieving success. some Igbos engage in crime and other nefarious activities and this you gloat about constantly as if Ibibio people do not commit crime and criminality when you compare  Igbo population of about 30 million people worldwide compare to Ibibio of 2 Million people.

Even the Middle Belt Plateau ( Gowon people) have moved on from the war  issues, and are now facing their own war and threats of elimination from the jihadist,  Fulani herdmen and Bko Haram who are your partners . Since After the war, the  Middle Belt Plateau people  have even voted for an Igbo man Dr. Azikiwe for Presidency during the NPP and NPN election times in the 80s.

In the former  Eastern Region,  many minority groups like the Ijaws have moved on with their lives and are working with Igbos for a new generation partnership of  rebuilding trusts and  growth. For example, The Ijaw people, Ijaw nation and Igbos are now partners in progress and have recently been having meetings and gathering  for better future for their children. The Okrika people today are also at peace with Igbos. The Ogonis  and  their leader Ken Sara Wiwa made  peace with Igbos before his  execution by General Abacha. Many Igbos neighbors in Southern Nigeria have nothing but goodwill for the Igbos today and cooperation and meeting are being held to move forward positively. The Ananngs have made peace with Igbos. Even the Efiks have made peace with Igbos to the level of naming their only national Airport in Calabar after an Igbo woman (Margareth Ekpo National Airport Calabar) and so on.

Why is it that some Ibibios who are by DNA closest and related by blood with Igbos are the ones so angry and do not want to let go the past. Every misfortune and Ibibio man encounters anywhere in Nigeria even in Akwa Ibom State it is Igbo fault. If an Annang man like Governor Akpabio defeats an Ibibio man in election it is Igbo fault. If the prize of Garri, Rice, Beans, Building materials, Cement, Timber, motor parts increases in Uyo and Akwa Ibom State, Some Ibibio man and woman in Akwa Ibom State will blame the Igbo people everywhere in Aba, Enugu and Onitsha etc.  Why is these types of obsession from Ibibios happening 40 years after the war and 46 years after Eastern Region. Igbos as a people have expressed gratefulness and respect for Ibibios like General Effiong and the sacrifice many Ibibios made before, during and after the war with their Igbo partners. An average Igbo man has nothing but goodwill for their Ibibios but why is this negative obsession with any thing Igbo coming from some and average Ibibio person all the time.

Ibibios have a State of their own call Akwa Ibom State with other tribes like Annags, Ekets, Oron, Efiks etc. and  they should be happiness with Ibibio man, but it seems that most of them blames any of their anticipated  political, economic, social and commercial problems on their Igbo neighbors.

It will be hard for any body to believe that Igbos are defeated in a war, despite the huge loss, massacre and killing of innocent Igbos and these are what ODUDU ABASI IS ALWAYS GLOATING ABOUT. BUT As it is today in Nigeria, Igbos by every measure and indices among the 370 tribes and ethnic groups in Nigeria are EITHER NUMBER ONE OR NUMBER TWO  IN THE FOLLOWING MEASURES OF SUCCESS IN NIGERIA :

(1) Education either number or two

(2) Highest graduating students in schools of higher learning either number one or two

(3) Highest medical Doctors either number one or two

(4) Highest number of Lawyers either number one or two

(5) Controls many sectors of the Economy in all States and West Africa.;

(6) Has the highest and best Women and Girls education and empowerment programs

(7) Has the best and active enterprising Zone in ABa, Onitsha and Nnewi

(8) Igbos Dominates and control commerce and business in all the major markets in Nigeria (Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Jos Port etc.

(9) Igbos are spread out more than any tribes all over Nigeria  building the economy of Nigeria.

(10) The Nigerian Nollywood movies and entertainment  sector is dominated by Igbo in both marketing and production.

(11) Igbos dominates transportation and haulage industry across all states and areas in Nigeria.

(12) Igbo Business and venture are pioneers in computer manufacturing, car/trucks manufacturing, pharmaceuticals manufacturing and massive small scale industries engaging in food production, leaders, shoes, textiles,  small engines, crafts, skills, artisan, motor parts etc. in Onitsha, Aba, Nnewi, Owerri, Ebonyi and Emene Enugu. etc.

Among the 370 tribes in Nigeria, Some  Ibibios should go and measure their own level and as water it has to find its level and stop this Obsession with a tribe that is millions of miles ahead of them despite their gloating of Igbo misfortune.

 Some smaller State and tribes smaller than Ibibios and Akwa Ibom States like Edo, Rivers, Kwara and Ekiti have some of the best schools, education, graduates,  healthcare  and other parameters measuring better than Akwa Ibom state until Governor Akpabio came in and reserved it and changed the State for good and these improvements is what an average Ibibio man like Odudu Abasi should focus his attention instead of this Narcissistic obsession with Igbos all the time.

Ugo Harris Ukandu

On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 7:47 PM, Odudu Abasi <odudu...@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

"Obi should be charging for these history lessons" - Nameless contributor  

What history is Obi Nwakanma teaching you that ought to be paid for?

 Is it that history that distorts the victimization and cheating of the minority peoples of Eastern Nigeria by the Ibo-run government of former Eastern Nigeria? Is it that history, which according to Obi Nwakanma, says that minority tribes in Eastern Nigeria benefitted from the Federal government colleges cited in Eastern Nigeria,  because the heads of all three institutions (cited in Ibo-land and admitting mainly Ibo students) were  people from the minority groups?

 That type of SHADED history is the reason your Biafra was opposed by the minority peoples of the region. It is and will continue to be the reason ALL minority peoples of FORMER  Eastern Nigeria OPPOSE any country created by you,  based on the boundaries of former Eastern Nigeria.

And by the way, start thinking about another name for your  dream country when you embark on another secessionist  move - Biafra is a bight on the coast; and that coast DOES NOT BORDER/INCLUDE ANY IBO TERRITORY!

WE, the MINORITY PEOPLES of former Eastern Nigeria, WHO NATURALLY LAY CLAIM to that bight,  GIVEN to us by Almighty God,  WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO USE that name again, should you embark on carving out a country from present Nigeria, for yourselves!!  

I think that Obi Nwakanma ought to spend time teaching you history that is relevant to the current state of affairs in Nigeria - the history of the origin of cheating other people by those in positions of authority and power BASED on tribe;  the history of the political victimization of other  people BASED on tribe;  the history of look-down by your kith and kin upon those who are quiet, law-abiding, and peaceful by nature, as cowards;  the history of how such labeled  "cowards" led the DEFEAT of Biafra; the history of pride and its deleterious consequences; the history and causes of kwashiorkor which decimated millions in the former Eastern Nigeria.

Such history, truthful and meaningful, will help those of you agitating for a separate country from Nigeria,  demarcated along the boundaries of the former Eastern Nigeria, to learn USEFUL lessons from your last FAILURE, enable you give RESPECT to WHOM RESPECT IS DUE - the MINORITY PEOPLES of former Eastern Nigeria, and perhaps help you realize the IMPOSSIBLE dream you are embarking upon -  creating an Ibo country that will include NON-IBOS. After all,  what is the use of history  lessons,  if you FAIL or REFUSE to learn any lessons from it?

OduduAbasi

DFW

On Monday, March 31, 2014 11:02 AM, Ugo Harris Ukandu <abuj...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 1:10 PM, Joe Attueyi <topc...@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

Obi should be charging for these history lessons 

Joe
Sent from my Iphone

On Mar 28, 2014, at 5:57 PM, Rex Marinus <rexma...@hotmail.com> wrote:

 

"Thanks for writing a response again to my contributions. I did not realize until today that you had written again; but no thanks for the "smart" yarn you have woven!

So, your argument is that "minorities" according to you, headed the federal government colleges in Eastern Nigeria, therefore the  minorities were not cheated. Interesting!!

 It is that kind of 'smartness' that minorities in the Eastern Nigeria had always resented - why did you stop short of conceding that Afikpo, Owerri, and Umuahia, where the colleges were cited,  are minority cities? And why did you not give out figures for admissions of 'minority candidates' as compared with the number of Ibo candidates admitted  into the three colleges, so that your readers can draw their own conclusions?  It appears therefore that many in your group are still living with the notion that you can outsmart others whenever you choose to. Such degree of 'smartness' is akin to the anti-intellectual smartness which plagiarism portends.

The rest of the historical yarn you have spawned  are flawed for similar reasons.  I cannot spend my time debunking such  'history'. But let me give an analogy which may help you understand why -  many Ibos head important ministries and national institutions in Nigeria today;  from secretary to the federal government,  to petroleum and to finance ministries;  and again, now, the Central Bank. Why are your kith and kin still complaining about marginalization? Why are your kith and kin still agitating for secession?" 

- OduduAbasi

 

Odudu Abasi:

I will make this simple: none of the Government Colleges in the East was established under any administration run by an Igbo in the East. In actual fact, the Government College Umuahia was opened in January 1929 and was established by the Colonial government of Nigeria under the Governor-General Sir Graeme Thompson (1925-1931). It began 20 years after the first government college  - the Kings College, Lagos - opened in Lagos in 1909. The Government College Umuahia opened the same year with the Government College Ibadan (February 1929) and when the Kastina College was moved to Kaduna to become what was later known as the Barewa College (January 1929). These schools were all built near Government Research stations at Umudike Umuahia, Samaru Zaria, and the the Moore Plantation in Apata-Gangan (Ibadan). They were basically to produce, according to the then Chief Inspector of Education for colonial Nigeria, Mr. Hussey, the trained elite among Africans according to the Eton model. This was at a time following the first world war, when an entire generation of British youngmen trained at Cambridge and Oxford had perished, and the Imperial government was short-handed to manage its vast colonial empire, and they thought-up the idea of training more of the indigenous population to help run the empire. They built the Government Colleges, to be the key feeder schools of the Yaba Higher College established in 1931. The Igbo had no hand in it. Nor did they have a hand either in establishing the other Government Colleges in the East at Owerri and Afikpo. The GSS Owerri began as a a Government Middle School in 1935 and became a full Secondary School in 1954 Under Sir Clement Pease the Deputy- Governor General in Eastern Nigeria, under whom the Government College, Afikpo was also established in 1952. The Queens School, Enugu was also started in 1954, just like the Queens School in Ede (Western Nigeria) and the Queens School, Ilorin (North.) The Government school started by the Okpara government was the Government Technical College and the Government Comprehensive Secondary School In Port-Harcourt. The Government of Biafra under Ojukwu established the first University of Science and Technology in Port-Harcourt in 1967 with Professor Kenneth Dike as its first Vice-Chancellor. It was dismantled in 1970, merged with what was the Nsukka campus of the University of Nigeria, and became the University of Port-Harcourt in 1975. So, again, by what means did the Igbo cause these schools not to be established in the minority areas of the East? I can also tell you that Lawrence Amu (Ishan) Edmund Daukoru (Ijo), Odoliyi Lolomari (Ijo), Moffat Akobo (Ijo) Chamberlain Oyibo (Ijo) - all of whom went to the Government College Umuahia, and all of whom became Nigeria's Ministers of oil and Grpup Managing Directors of the NNPC at various times are key examples of how those Government Colleges in the East admitted their students, and all of whom went to school on the Eastern Nigeria Scholarship. I can publish a list of those from the minority areas who went to these schools, and who by the way, were not selected by the Igbo, but by the European managers of these schools, and later, by the same minority African principals/administrators of these schools. I make these points to show that you need to really revise some of your perceptions whic h have been based on absolute misinformation. It is important to look through the mirrors of true, rather than invented history. I salute you.

Obi Nwakanma

 

 

To:
From: vincent...@msn.com
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:47:22 +0000
Subject: [NIgerianWorldForum] RE: Fighting against secession: General Ike Nwachukwu's only offence

 

Odudu Abasi:
 
I've told you that the less you open your mouth, the better for you. The sad thing is I suspect you're in your mid or late 60s but you still reason like a juvenile. What a shame!
 
Recall what started this thread was your accusation that Igbos like to covet their neigbors wealth. When you can't prove that you changed gear and started talking about looking in the mirror. I told you your "looking in the mirror" is an easy way out for an argument you know you're losing.  Coal not Oil was the big earner for Eastern Nigeria during the time in question. You couldn't prove anything because I reminded you that in the 50s and 60s coal not oil was the mainstay of Eastern Nigeria economy and that coal was found in Enugu not in minority areas in the East.
 
You changed gear and claimed Igbos cheat their neigbors. Obi Nwakanma talked about the government schools in the East and the fact that the principals of these schools were minorities. Now, you've changed to state that because the schools were located in Igbo land, that it confirms your assertion that Igbos cheat their neigbors. You want to us to forget that the principals of these schools are from minority areas. Odudu, the reason Eastern minorities and infact the rest of Nigeria loathed Ndi Igbo in the 50s and 60s was because Igbos excel. Things in the 50s and 60s were based on merits not quota or federal character that we now have. In other words admission to these schools were based on merit not on quota. It's absurd to think that Eastern minorities that gained admission to these schools in the East then will be denied admission on account of their minority status/ethnic origin. Besides, the principals of these schools were minorities. You are suggesting that the principals will close their eyes and allow ndi Igbo to cheat their people admission. You see why I think you reason like a juvenile despite your age?
 
Also, can you please name one Igbo that has ever been Minister of Petroleum in Nigeria? Name an Igbo man or woman that has been made Minister of Works.
 
Again, the less you open your mouth, the better for you.
 
Vin Cool Breeze Otuonye

Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 05:25:32 -0700
From: odudu...@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: ||NaijaObserver|| Re: [TalkNigeria] Re: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: [africanworldforum] RE: Fighting against secession: General Ike Nwachukwu's only offence
To:

Obi Nwakanma,

Thanks for writing a response again to my contributions. I did not realize until today that you had written again; but no thanks for the "smart" yarn you have woven!

So, your argument is that "minorities" according to you, headed the federal government colleges in Eastern Nigeria, therefore the  minorities were not cheated. Interesting!!

 It is that kind of 'smartness' that minorities in the Eastern Nigeria had always resented - why did you stop short of conceding that Afikpo, Owerri, and Umuahia, where the colleges were cited,  are minority cities? And why did you not give out figures for admissions of 'minority candidates' as compared with the number of Ibo candidates admitted  into the three colleges, so that your readers can draw their own conclusions?  It appears therefore that many in your group are still living with the notion that you can outsmart others whenever you choose to. Such degree of 'smartness' is akin to the anti-intellectual smartness which plagiarism portends.

The rest of the historical yarn you have spawned  are flawed for similar reasons.  I cannot spend my time debunking such  'history'. But let me give an analogy which may help you understand why -  many Ibos head important ministries and national institutions in Nigeria today;  from secretary to the federal government,  to petroleum and to finance ministries;  and again, now, the Central Bank. Why are your kith and kin still complaining about marginalization? Why are your kith and kin still agitating for secession? 

OduduAbasi

DFW 

---------------------------------------------

"If you want Biafra, desist from coveting what belongs to others." OduduAbasi DFW Adudu Abasi, In Eastern Region , Igbos produced all the major resources FROM IGBOLAND then and now, and do not need to covet or want anything from people who have less of everything. Industrial areas and commercial markets of Aba, Emene, Enugu, Onitsha, Portharcourt, Nnewi and Umuahia  etc. formed the startup industrial and commercial base for Igbos. Igbos have more resources and manpower than all their neighbors  then and now. Igbos developed and learned about  their trading , business and distribution networks from the Slavery period  to the construction and expansion of  Nigeria railway  system from 1898 across Nigeria from North, West and Eastern Region. During the colonial times in Eastern Nigeria the economy was not oil and Gas based. It was based on high demand for  coal, limestone, cement, palm produce, Agriculture, Agriculture farm settlements and Igboland had huge deposits of coal, cement, limstones and palm produce then and now) and Railway transportation system built by the Colonial British  played a huge role on movement of Igbos travels, emigration, goods, services , marketing, distribution and transportation in Igboland and across Northern and Western Nigeria.  Even right now and since when oil was discovered in Nigeria,  Igbolands has  one of the largest deposit oil and gas in Nigeria. Infact After Ijaw nation Igboland has the largest deposits of oil and gas in Nigeria from Anambra basin , Imo State and Abia State creeks, swamps and  coastal areas of   Azumiri, Obigbo, Ukwa, Ngwa, Njaba, Oguta, Ogbaru,  Obeaku-Ndoki,Asa,Ohambele  etc. Igbos have everything and do not need to covet or want anything from people who have less of everything. "The Role of Rail and Other Transport Systems in the Colonial Consolidation and Exploitation in Central and Eastern Nigeria: The development of the rail, road and water transport systems in these regions between1897 and 1929, cannot be discussed in isolation of British imperialism and the establishment of colonial rule. This is because the period under study here was the period of the institution and consolidation of the colonial system. It was as well the period during which the British perfected the strategies to maximize the exploitation of the abundant agricultural and non agricultural natural resources available in the vast territorycalled Nigeria. The development of these systems in order to ensure colonialconsolidation and maximize the exploitation of these resources in the case of Eastern and Central Nigeria, is the focus of this paper. The Role of Rail and Other Transport Systems in the Colonial Consolidation and Exploitation in Central and Eastern Nigeria: 1897 – 1929  By: Ibrahim Khaleel Abdussalam, PhD.Deportment of History,Bayero University, Kano-Nigeria. http://www.academia.edu/1151826/The_Role_of_Rail_and_Other_Transport_Systems_in_the_Colonial_Consolidation_ and_Exploitation_in_Central_and_Eastern_Nigeria_1897_-_1929" ------------------------------ From 1897 planning and construction, the British built the Railways systems in Nigeria and in Igbo territiory from Northern Nigeria because of huge economic importance of Igboland in Eastern Region and Nigeria. (The railways was built and operated from 1913 and between 1913 to 1966 Oil and gas played no role in Eastern Nigerian Region economy. It was coal, limestone, cement, palm produce, Agriculture, Agriculture farm settlements and Igboland had huge deposits of coal, cement, limstones and palm produce then and now) and Railway transportation played a huge role on goods and services transportation. Railway transportation in Eastern Region which pass through only Igbo territories from Northern Nigeria through towns with more than 30 Railway Stations in places like Eha Amufu, Nkalagu, Enugu, Agbani, Ovim, Afikpo, Ovim, Otankpa, Ohazara, Nkpa, Uzuakoli, Ibeku, Umuahia, Aba, Asa, Ngwa, Mbawsi, Obigbo etc. and ends at sea Port city of  Portharcourt.) for shipping and foreign trade. The British did not built railway system or highways from 1913 till 1960 in the Minority areas and that made it difficult to access and produce raw materials and resources from these areas. It was not Igbo decision and oil and gas was not in play at that time. -------------------------------------------- Reply Forward vincentotuonye Mar 19 (4 days ago) Odudu Abasi: Look in the mirror to me is I am ignorant of what am saying so I will hide under "look in the mirror". Let me educate you. 1. In the 1950s and 60s, Eastern region depended on, cement Nkalagu, Palm Produce, Agriculture and coal not oil. Coal is found in Enugu not South south. Eastern region was developed from the revenue realized from coal not oil. 2.The South Eastern region is the only region that has defended revenue allocation so the South south can keep the bulk of the oil revenue coming from their land. This was evidenced in the 2004 National Political Conference. Even the SW did not defend your interests. 3. Oil wells from SS were not alloted to people from SE. Rather military officers and their civilian counterparts from the North were alloted these oil wells.  4. Just recently the governor of Jigawa said Niger Delta oils belong to them.  So, who is really coveting other people's wealth?  Please don't open your mouth again.  As I said before,  you are too ignorant.  And you are too ignorant for your own good. Vin Otuonye ---------------------------------------------------------- On Wednesday, March 19, 2014 2:18 PM, "Asagwara, Ken (EAL)" <Ken.As...@gov.mb.ca> wrote: Odudu Abasi:   The answer to your mischievous question is, if the shoe fits, please wear it. Let me spell it out for you a bit further. If all or any of the ethnic groups you listed were among those that invaded my home in a single-minded determined effort to kill off all folks in Biafra as contained in their war song, “Muje! Muje!! Muje!!!,…” (since you were among them, finish your barbaric war song); you all were vandals.   By your name, you are either from Cross River State or Akwa Ibom. You see, those of us in then Biafra remain grateful to the gallantry of the likes of Col. Archibong, Col. Nsudoh, etc., who saw our cause as theirs, too. General Madiebo, Commander Biafran Army said this about Col. Archibong, “…one of the bravest officers I have ever met”. They knew then what till today, you are yet to know.   Are you and your ilk not ashamed that more than 44 years after the War, Nigerians are today still faced with how to live together in peace to the point that some of your type now talk about the possible disintegration of Nigeria? As I write, a National Conference on how to restructure Nigeria is going on. What does that say to you? Never mind answering that because knowledge of Nigeria’s ethno-geo-politics is way above your head. Odudu Abasi, Boko Haram is out to kill everyone, if they can, including you. How then can you claim you “defeated” anyone?   And for your information, Ndi-Igbo are not interested in any secession but if you vandals gang up again against them as you did 44 years ago, you will not have a repeat of the last outcome; just remember this. It is now the 21st Century.   Cheers.   Mazi KC Prince Asagwara ---------------------- vincentotuonye Mar 19 (4 days ago) to africanworldfo. I said you are ignorant. Further, I told you to shut up. You don't understand that?  The whole Nigeria,  with saboteurs like you fought the Igbos. 44 years later, you are still not living in peace. So you see that your problems are deeper than you can imagine. In your foolishness against Ndi Igbo, your dumb heads allowed a Nigeria territory to be ceded to Cameroon hoping you will live happily thereafter.  Vin For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. Reply Reply to all Forward sen...@gmail.com Mar 20 (3 days ago) to africanworldfo., NigerianWorldF., Esan, Wilson, oduduiniso We will defeat you again (IN BATTLE) should you embark on another round of secession." By OduduAbasi Mr. Odudu Abasi, you may be confusing winning a battle from winning a war. The battle was won but the war still rages on, and from the way its going Nigeria seems not to be winning....as long as people are still crying for secessions, endless conferences upon conferences, endless massacres and tragedy on daily basis, loss of Bakasi. At the end of the day, its seems the Biafra (which to me is ideological and take more than weapons and economic blockade to defeat) you tend to despise are winning disciples day by day. They are everywhere. I have told you that you might be underestimating history but you don't understand what I meant but chose to attack my person instead. I don't engage in personalities but discus issues on its merit. For your information Nigeria can only win the war as a collective and with Biafra and not against it...if it will be a tragic self-destruct and endless war against itself. Think deeply about this---its a parable if you can decode it. Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN ----------------------------------------------------------------   From: vincent...@msn.com   To: africanworldforum@googlegroups.com       And since Gowon created your COR states,  how has Professor Eyo Ita's name been memorialized? Are you blaming Igbos for that too? Did Igbos forced it down your throats to name airport after Margaret Ekpo, an Igbo woman and name nothing after Eyo Ita? Surely,  Eyo Ita must be such a dynamic and good leader that his own people forgot about him after Gowon gave them their state.    Vin ----------------------------------------------- From: sen...@gmail.com We will defeat you again (IN BATTLE) should you embark on another round of secession." By OduduAbasi Mr. Odudu Abasi, you may be confusing winning a battle from winning a war. The battle was one but the war still rages on, and from the way its going Nigeria seems not to be winning....as long as people are still crying for secessions, endless conferences upon conferences, endless massacres and tragedy on daily basis, loss of Bakasi. At the end of the day, its seems the Biafra (which to me is ideological and take more than weapons and economic blockade to defeat) you tend to despise are winning disciples day by day. They are everywhere. I have told you that you might be underestimating history but you don't understand what I mean but chose to attack my person instead. I don't engage in personalities but discus issues on its merit. For your information Nigeria can only with the war as a collective and with Biafra and not against it. Think deeply about this---its a parable if you can decode it. Peace! Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN ----------------------------------- Vin Otuonye Mar 20 (3 days ago) to africanworldfo., talknigeria, NWF, Oka, TRUTH, Anambra, asausaassociat., Jua, Ogbako, igbo_forum, igbo, igboworldforum, Egbuwara, naijaobserver, Shove, Punch, Mgbajala, nigeriaroundta., No, OUTCAST, onye, agbara Mr. Odudu Abasi:   Since you've tried to paint the Igbo as the problem with Nigeria and you keep hammering on the non-creation of COR States, well, wasn't the same demand in the North where Northern minorities want to be free of the yolk of the Saudana? What difference does it make anyway. Now, you have more than your COR states and there is still no peace in the land.   Did the Igbo unilaterally create Midwest or was it done by the politicians - the NCNC and NPC alliance.   You still have not told us the wealth your people have that the Igbos are coveting. Oil is not a major export earner in the 1950s and 60s. Coal, Groundnuts and Cocoa are. Am still curious about your coveting your neighbors wealth argument. If anyone wants to covet anybody's wealth, Northern Nigerian wants to get back what they think rightfully belonged to Nigeria and not some littoral states. Recall that Nigeria Constitution states minerals and other wealth found in the land belonged to the sovereign state Nigeria. Thus the oil found offshore in places like Akwa Ibom should belonged to the Nigeria not Akwa Ibom. With respect fairness and equity, is it ok with you that a state like Akwa Ibom derived about N40billion oil revenue monthly while some other states get as little as N1billion a month? Quite honestly, some of you Eastern minorities that are ignorant and running your mouth should be grateful to the South East. But for the South East, Northern Nigeria really want to get that oil wealth. In the last political forum, the SE was the only region that defended your interests.   With regards the vandals, what are they? A vandal is one who deliberately destroys or damages public or private properties. Most of those that fought on the federal side during the civil war are worst than vandals. The reason we are talking about Ike Nwachukwu now is what people like him, Murtala Mohammed, Alani Akinrinade and co allegedly did in Asaba during the war.   Quite honestly, yours is not only ignorant but misplaced aggression.   Vin ----------------------------------------- okoiad...@gmail.com Mar 21 (2 days ago) to africanworldfo., talknigeria, nigerianworldf., Oka, TRUTH, Anambra, askanambragove., Ogbako, Ama, Nmenme, Truth, Egbuwara, Bring, Shove, Punch, Mgbajala, nigeriaroundta., No, OUTCAST, onye, agbara, naijapolitics, umuahians The Aro, Abriba, Ohafia otherwise known as the Cross River Igbo did not join the Calabar Ogoja Rivers State Movement because it was a " Political movement" rather than a movement for the agitation of autonomy for the Eastern Minorities. These Cross River Igbo groups are historical, cultural and anthropologically related to the People of Cross River and to certain extent Akwa Ibom. For example the dynasty of the Aros was founded by a Prince from the Ejagham Kingdom of Akampka in Cross River State. Some of these Cross River Igbo Groups practices the matrilineal system of kinship that is also common the Yako, Mbembe people of the old Obubra Division. A lot of families among the Yako in old Obubra traced their ancestry to the Abriba/Ohafia axis. This is the reason why Professor Eni Njoku supported and aligned with the Eastern Minorities when a crisis erupted in the Eastern Region House of Assembly after Professor Eyo Ita was pushed out to pave way for Dr. Azikiwe. Rex Marinus	Mar 21 (2 days ago)
to africanworldfo., talknigeria, nigerianworldf., Oka, TRUTH, Anambra, asausaassociat., Ogbako, Ama, Nmenme, Truth, Egbuwara, Bring, Shove, Punch, Mgbajala, nigeriaroundta., No, OUTCAST, onye, agbara, naijapolitics, umuahians

he Aro, Abriba, Ohafia otherwise known as the Cross River Igbo did not join the Calabar Ogoja Rivers State Movement because it was a " Political movement" rather than a movement for the agitation of autonomy for the Eastern Minorities. These Cross River Igbo groups are historical, cultural and anthropologically related to the People of Cross River and to certain extent Akwa Ibom. For example the dynasty of the Aros was founded by a Prince from the Ejagham Kingdom of Akampka in Cross River State. Some of these Cross River Igbo Groups practices the matrilineal system of kinship that is also common the Yako, Mbembe people of the old Obubra Division. A lot of families among the Yako in old Obubra traced their ancestry to the Abriba/Ohafia axis. This is the reason why Professor Eni Njoku supported and aligned with the Eastern Minorities when a crisis erupted in the Eastern Region House of Assembly after Professor Eyo Ita was pushed out to pave way for Dr. Azikiwe. 

-Okoi
 
Okoi, my pally: wither you my man to say that Eni Njoku supported Eyo-Ita ONLY because the "Cross River Igbo" shared historical affinities with the Igbo assimilados of the upper Cross Rivers escarpment. Okay, that may explain Eni Njoku, and maybe the Aru-Ngwa politician, Ubani-Ukoma, but what about the hardy Isu politicians - Alfred C. Nwapa and Reuben Uzoma? These men chose on both principle and self-interest to back Eyo Ita. Ok, the Zik- Eyo-Ita debate has been overflogged and I'm not about to put more jigida to its waist. There is no "Ejegham kingdom." It is a contemporary heretic invention. The Ejegham people, like the Igbo, have always been hardy democrats and republicans. But the fact I'm prepared to take, which basically supports my position is that the historical links between Cross River Igbo and the Mainland Igbo are profound and historical. Meanwhile, anybody who goes into the history of the Efik people will only be shocked at the complexity of the Igbo background in the Efik formation. But that is another talk for another day. I salute you.
Obi

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Rex Marinus	Mar 20 (3 days ago)
to africanworldfo., talknigeria, nigerianworldf., Oka, TRUTH, Anambra, asausaassociat., Jua, Ogbako, Ama, Nmenme, Truth, Egbuwara, Bring, Shove, Punch, Mgbajala, nigeriaroundta., No, OUTCAST, onye, agbara, naijapolitics, umuahians

"The history which you have related is colored to favor Ironsi at the Federal level, and those Ibos who ran the government of Eastern Nigeria. You cannot tell partial truth and partial falsehood and hope to write history that is meaningful and true. "

 -Odudu Abasi
 
Odudu Abasi:
I salute you. I have not given you any information tat you could not verify: I have asked you to name Ironsi's appointed advisers with whom he ran that government for sixe months. How many were Igbo? But here are my basic guides, and I'd like you to dispute this: the highest body of government in six months from January to July was the Supreme Military Council (SMC). Did Ironsi impose his will on that council? The minutes of that council do not say so. In fact, even for being a military government, it was far more democratic than any other military government, including the "civilian dictatorship" of Olusegun Obasanjo called return to democracy from 1999-2007. Now, also in that council, how many were Igbo?  
 
Two, coming to the East:  Akpabio, an Ibibio was the Deputy Premier of the Eastern Region and Minister of Local Government - the most powerful ministry in the era. How then did the East "cheat" and "steal" from you? A critical submission, based on the study of the Willinks commission in 1957 which had interviewed various groups in Eastern Nigeria was that it was impractical to divide the East because of the economic and cultural contiguity of the area, and following the wishes of most of Eastern minorities surveyed. Did the Eastern government and the Federal government not jointly establish a special development fund for the Eastern minorities? Do you recall who pushed for the establishment of the Niger delta Development Commission? Did the government of the East default in the establishment of the Niger Delta Development commission from 1959? I think you should look closely at the records. Did the Eastern Nigerian government for instance not establish key projects in the minority areas, including the campus of the University of Nigeria, in Ogoja, for which even the Daily Express, the Action Group paper, initially mocked the University as "BA Nkassu, MA Awomama, PhD, Ogoja?" in its critique of the multi campus design of the university, which in truth was a means of spreading development in the East?
 
The three Government Colleges of the East at Umuahia, Afikpo, and Owerri all had minority first African Principals - Dr. Ibi Mboto from Itigidi for Afikpo, I.D. Erekosima (Ijo/Buguma) for Umuahia, and Wilberforce Allagoa (Ijo/Buguma) for Owerri? These were the three schools of the Government of the East. It was not until 1966 that Mrs. Oyibo Odinamadu was appointed to the Queens School; the government schools for girls in Enugu, taking over from the Brit who was principal. How then did the Igbo cheat you from your entitlements? Do you recall the pattern of the Eastern Nigerian civil service? Do you know how many Eastern minorities were permanent Secretaries; how many were District Officers; Senior District Officers; District Works Engineers in Key Eastern cities including the heart of Igbo land? Did Ojukwu not sack Mr. Jerome Udoji, a prominent Igbo bureaucrat and appoint Nath U. Akpan, an Ibibio as the powerful Chief Secretary of the East, in spite of the fact that Udoji was not only his father's close friend, but from a village a literal a stone's throw from Nnewi? In what way then did the the Igbo "cheat" you from your endeavors in the East? By the way, about the COR state movement, do you recall that the Ngwa, Ikwerre, and the Aro-Igbo groups were all part of the COR state movement, and were delineated into the COR state areas; that the movement in spite of what it has now been made to look was not strictly a "minorities" movement, but a political opposition movement? That Abakiliki and Afikpo were administered under the Ogoja Province? I have outlined some of these examples, but you must say in very SPECIFIC ways how the Igbo of the East "cheated and stole" from you as an Eastern minority. Again, I advance these just merely to make certain that we do not continue to retail fictional history, and not because I think that Ndi Igbo are saints. I salute you again.
Obi Nwakanma

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: nigerianw...@yahoogroups.com; oduaa...@yahoogroups.com

From: JAdemisoye20012@...

Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2011 18:24:43 -0500

Subject: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: Are the Igbos the best educated group in Nigeria?

 

Folks:

 

In reading the Obituary of Chukwuemeka Ojukwu in The Telegraph, December 9, 2011, I found this interesting assertion that "The Ibo...were the best educated group..." Is this statement true or incorrect? I would like to have some reactions from the forum or contributions from people with the accurate information and knowledge on educational attainments among Nigeria's diverse ethnic groups. My understanding is that the Yorubas are the best educated ethnic group in Nigeria. If this is not the case, I stand to be corrected. Then, which ethnic group is best educated in Nigeria? Where is the empirical data to support the Ibo claim or any other claim for that matter? Thanks.

 

 

Joel Ademisoye

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Rex Marinus <rexmarinus@...>

To: nigerianw...@yahoogroups.com; igbo_...@yahoogroups.com; igbowor...@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, December 9, 2011 7:05 PM

Subject: [IgboWorldForum] RE: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: Are the Igbos the best educated group in Nigeria?

 

Ademisoye: I'll refer you to Paul Anber's essay "Modernization and Political Disintegration: Nigeria and the Ibos" published in the journal of Modern African Studies vol. 5, No 2 (Sep, 1967) 163-179. To be more specific see pp 171-172, and let me quote the relevant portion of Dr. Anber's essay:

 

"A system of Universal primary education was introduced in Eastern Nigeria in 1953, though the mission schools had already prospered in the Region long before then. Despite the fact that there was a requirement for limited contributory fees, education continued to be very much in demand. Even at the time when universal primary education was first introduced, the percentage of the population over seven years of age who were literate was higher in the East than in any other Region: East, 10.6 per cent; West 9.5 percent; North, 0.9 percent. Since 1959, the East has had more teachers and pupils than any other area of the country, with the heaviest emphasis on primary education. Figures for elementary and secondary education indicate that the approximate ratio of teachers to population in 1963 was 1 to every 1,500 in the East, 1 to every 2,500 in th West, and 1 for every 10,000 in the north. Other statistical data reveal how rapidly the standard of living rose among Ibos. The East had the most extensive hospital facilities in the country by 1965, the largest regional production of electricity in the country by 1954, and the greatest number of vehicle registrations by 1963. The economic orientation of the Ibos was also reflected through membership of credit associations: in 1963 the East had 68,220 individual members, the west 5,776, and the north a mere 2,407." His source was the Annual Abstract of Statistics ( Federal Office of Statistics, Lagos, 1965), Table 2.4, p. 14.

 

The situation has not changed radically since Paul Anber - except possibly the two years 1970-72. All you need to do even now is to go to the JAMB website and see university matriculation state by state, and compute it. There you have it.

Obi nwakanma

 

CHIEF AWOLOWO AND USA SECRETARY OF STATE IN 1969 DR. HENRY KISSINGER SAID IGBOS ARE NATION BUILDERS

Situating the context of the civil war, Dr.Henry A. Kissinger, USA secretary of State, wrote in his memo of January 28, 1969 to then US President Richard Nixon.

 

"There is an urge for unity among the elite of all factions, though the strongest cement at this point is probably common tribal hatred of the Ibos. The Feds have cultivated a little elan in discovering they could run the country without the Ibos, who were the backbone of commerce and civil service in the north as well as the south".- USA secretary of State, Henry A. Kissinger, Tuesday, January 28, 1969

 

THEN CHIEF AWOLOWO SAID THE SAME THING BELOW:

----Original Message-----

From: Rex Marinus <rexma...@hotmail.com>

To: igboevents <igboe...@yahoogroups.com>; nigerianworldforum <nigerianw...@yahoogroups.com>; talknigeria <talkn...@yahoogroups.com>; naijaobserver <naijao...@yahoogroups.com>; igboworldforum <igbowor...@yahoo.com>; naijapolitics <naijap...@yahoogroups.com>

Sent: Thu, Nov 29, 2012 7:40 am

Subject: [IgboEvents:Live] The Real Story of Nigeria - Nigeria and the Igbo from the very mouths of Obafemi Awolowo

 

QUOTE BY CHIEF AWOLOWO

“I was a little bit disturbed by the point you made before. I hope you have not taken a final decision on it, that is, that the East will not associate with the North in future. Easterners have fought more than any other group in this country over the years to make Nigeria what it is, or what it was, before the crisis began. I think it will be a pity if they just forget something for which they have laboured for years . Many of the Easterners who fought for “One Nigeria” are no longer with us. It will not be a good tribute to their memory by destroying that“one Nigeria”., Certainly, it is not going to be the same as it used to be. I have taken a stand on that, and I am prepared to drop tribal labels at the moment, but I know in my own mind what sort of thing I have in view for the federation. But I think it will be a great pity and tragedy and disservice to the memories of all those who have gone to disband Nigeria. And here we are not here to criticize anybody, I think it is generally agreed that some units have done more for the unity of Nigeria than others. The East certainly have not yielded first place to anyone in that regard. I would like you to consider that aspect very seriously”.

-Chief Awolowo to General Ojukwu, Enugu, May 6, 1967

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Dr Azikwe was in power as premier of Eastern Nigeria from 1954 to 1960 and Dr. Michael Okpara was in Power from 1960 to 1966 as Premier of Eastern Nigeria. With NO OIL revenue but only  limited resources from palm oil, coal and limstone For 12 years Dr. Azikiwe and Dr, Okpara transformed all areas of Eastern Nigeria (records and lists both below) . Dr. Azikiwe and Dr. Okpara did not even own homes or Private Jets. Today helicopters and Private jets ownership, leasing and renting with Niger Delta Governors, South South Governors and South East Governors is huge. (Rivers, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Delta Governors have a fleet of combined ownership of private jets and helicopters of 15). South East Governors rent and lease private jets for most of their travels and trips. This is a shame and no achievements but looting by all of them.

Compare  12 years of achievements of Dr. Azikiwe and Dr. Okpara with Palm oil to that of these present huge PETROL DOLLARS OIL MONEY LOOTING lost years of present Governors of former Eastern Region of  9 states ( Akwa Ibom, Abia, Bayelsa, Enugu, Anambra, Cross Rivers, Ebonyi and Rivers State. The Eastern Minority Governance and The  Governors of Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Bayelsa and River States since there were separated from Eastern Region since 1968 have been in power  a combination for 50 years or combined terms of their self governance for 50 years and yet they don't blame their failures of 50 years on themselves. The success of Dr. Azikiwe and Dr. Okpara is hereby documented with facts and references.

Today what you have in these formers Eastern minority states is not only lack of performance(only Governor Akapbio have tried) but they are into too much division and infighting. Akwa Ibom state  seizing and taking away Cross River Oil fields, The Efik, Anangs and Ibibios are so polarized that it has became an armed gangs hate, fighting for power, killing, violence and depriving each other of resources and the political fights has made their relationships  worst. Rivers State is fighting Bayelsa State over oil Fields and the hate and   in fighting between Ijaws, Ikwerres, Okrika, Igbos etc. in Rivers State etc. has turned to violence, shooting, killing and bombing and their relationships has been damaged. 

With limited income from palm oil, coal and limestone coming from Igbo hinter land Dr. Azikiwe and Dr. Okpara were able to share it with all tribes and people of Eastern Nigeria for 12 years and Eastern Region achievement more progress than the 50 years looting of  Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Balyesa and Rivers State and south East Government that has been going on. Even today Akwa Igbom has taken away Cross River fields and reSources while River State is fighting with Bayelsa for who will takeaway oil fields and resources in their lands. If Dr. Azikiwe and Dr. Okpara COULD SHARE WITH ALL LIMITED RESOURCES AND FINANCE IN THEN EASTERN REGION , WHY SHOULD THESE STATES WITH BILLIONS IN PETROL DOLLARS CANNOT SHARE WITH THEIR OWN BROTHERS AND SISTERS. IT IS ASHAME

Take a look at the achievements of Dr. Azikiwe and Dr, Okpara for 12 years and compare it with 50 years combine governance of Rivers State, Cross Rivers State, Akwa Ibom State, Bayelsa State  and South East States and see the difference.

----------------------------------------------------

Politics / Re: Zik's Final Resting Place In Ruins by henry101(m): 3:16am On Jul 20, 2011

The collaboration of other parts of Nigeria would be understandable, seeing that by 1964, the Eastern region was already touted as the fastest growing economy in the world by research reports commissioned by the World Bank and by Harvard University in the United States.

The Eastern Nigerian Economic reconstruction plan (1954-1964) - the ten year plan - drawn by the visionary Zik, and the eminently brilliant Mbonu Ojike, the most acute economic mind of that generation of argonauts, and later fully implemented by the inimitable Michael Okpara, had placed the East on a development route, [b]that by the 1960s all the talk of "Igbo domination" was merely a metaphor of the progress in the East.

Two banks at least  African Continental Bank and Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria all once headquartered in the East  were at the centre of Eastern Nigerian post-colonial economic renaissance. Azikiwes banking policy and Mbonu Ojikes protectionist policies (remember boycott the boycottable) instigated the rise of indigenous entrepreneurial initiatives at a massive scale in the East from 1953 to 1983.

"The East  had the first industrial developement plan in Africa. Note that All Eastern
Nigerian "townships" / cities had designed within them, an industrial zone:
Aba (factory Road),Umuahia (Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and
Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and
the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out. So did Owerri, which had an industrial
layout,so did Onitsha etc. etc. Owerri,Aba and Port Harcourt were already
designed in what was clalled "A three city nexus" (see works plan of the
Eastern Survey Dept. in Enugu)
The institutions like the :

African Continental Bank,

Cooporative Bank of Eastern Nigeria
Eastern Nigerian Development Corporation,
University of Nigeria was established in 1960 with campuses at Nsukka and Calabar

Obudu Tourism and Entertainment Ranch
Nigercem,
Nigergas,
Nigersteel,
Factory,glass industries,
hotels,
farm settlements,
Aba Textile company,
Golden Guinea Breweries in Umuahia,
Standard Shoe Factory in Owerri,

Portharcourt sea Port Expansion

A Force in Library Development in Nigeria

http://www.worlib.org/vol07no2/aguolu_v07n2.shtml

C.C. Aguolu and L.E. Aguolu

 Abstract

This is the first attempt to coherently document the immense contributions of one of Africa’s foremost nationalists and pan–Africanists to the development of libraries in Nigeria. Although he is best known for his achievements in politics, journalism, and sports, Dr. Azikiwe saw the library as a vehicle for the intellectual emancipation of Nigerians from colonial rule.

As President of Eastern Nigeria in the 1950s, the first and only indigenous Governor–General, and first President of Nigeria in the 1960s, he was able to wield sufficient political influence to ensure a legal basis for public library development in Nigeria, the establishment of the University of Nigeria Library – named after himself – and the eventual creation of the National Library of Nigeria.

- The first International Trade Fair was opened by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe at Victoria Island on October 27, 1962.

- Launching of the National Savings Scheme (Premium Bond) by Mrs. Flora Azikiwe at General Post Office, Marina on 8th December, 1962.

- Opening of the ?2 million Guinness Breweries at Ikeja on 6th March, 1963 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

- Opening of the New Engineering Base and Hangar at Lagos Airport Ikeja by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on December 13, 1963.

- Opening of the Royal Mint at Victoria Island on April 10, 1965 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the subsequent issuance and circulation of New Currency notes in the denomination of £5; £10s and 5s on July 1, 1965.

Opening of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka on October 7, 1960.

Two banks at least  African Continental Bank and Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria all once headquartered in the East  were at the centre of Eastern Nigerian post-colonial economic renaissance. Azikiwes banking policy and Mbonu Ojikes protectionist policies (remember boycott the boycottable) instigated the rise of indigenous entrepreneurial initiatives at a massive scale in the East from 1953 to 1983.

Industrial which is still in existence and in good use today, etc.
The products and services of these institutions and businesses were first class. Thus, people had full employment. With the economy growing annually at between 10 and 12%, the Eastern Nigerian economy was one of the fastest growing worldwide.

WELCOME TO THE M. I. OKPARA FOUNDATION

CONTACT:

CHUKS - 08035818836

ASONYE - 08033391702

UZODINMA - 08038424100

DR. MICHAEL IHEONUKARA OKPARA

Premier of Eastern Nigeria (1959 - 1966)

http://drmiokparafoundation.com/index.html

DR. OKPARA’S INDUSTRAL BLUEPRINT AND ACHIEVEMENTS.   

It is unarguably true that DR.M .I. Okpara, laid a solid industrial base for the development of Eastern  Nigeria for the then period and for future generations .It was then that Nigeria’s industrial  pathway was drawn and which could have established Nigeria on a solid foundation of industrial growth had the initiative been sustained by successive administrations. Rather the opportunity was squandered like in most other area that would have catapulted Nigeria to the league of industrialized world. The story of the Nkalagu cement company has always been a striking   reminder because it was a bold, decisive, and courageous and sensible business decision to give fillip to his drive for economic independence, his government intervened and actually bought the federal Government’s shared interests which were to be disposed of.

It was inconceivable to Dr. Okpara that such a strategic industry located in Nkalagu, a few miles from Enugu, would be allowed to be acquired by a
British consortium. The political implications of that move would be catastrophic to the industrial and developmental interest of his government.

Therefore the Federal Government interests were substantially bought over by the Okpara government and sold to the ordinary people of Eastern Nigeria.
It quickly established an industrial Estate at Emene near Enugu and quite close to the Nkalagu Cement factory.

In like manner was the establishment of the Niger-gas plant and Nigersteel industry, all in Emene! There is no doubt that these may have challenged the Federal government to realize the fact that there was an imperative necessity to embark on a bold steel production industrial policy. Many years later, the Federal government caught the fever and established the Ajaokuta, Warn, Oshogbo and Kastina steel plants, which have either remained at various stages of construction or totally abandoned many years after.

Furthermore, to open up the vast opportunities of an International Market, Dr. Okpara’s government planned and executed the completion of the Onitsha International Market which, today, has spread over a sprawling area attracting traders from many cities in Nigeria and the ECOWAS region. Added to this, was the building and inauguration of the Pepsi Cola plant in Onitsha by the Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation (ENDC). In addition, there was plan for the establishment of a textile factory which was on the drawing board and actually took off after the Nigeria/Biafra Civil conflict with a combination of government and private interests running the outfit. Also the administration planned the building of a motor manufacturing plant in the region to enable Nigeria to join the league of automobile producers as well as provide employment for Nigerians.

The industrial floodgate was really thrown open with the establishment of the Shoe Industiy at Owerri, the Aba Textile Mill with industrial gas piped from
Port-Harcourt.

In Umuahia, the Golden Guinea Breweries was incorporated in nineteen sixty-one and actually put the sales of its product, Golden Guinea Beer in the
market that same year. Later, the Modem Ceramic Industry came on stream producing primary sanitary wares, bath tubes as well as tiles, while the Metallic Industry was also in the offing for the production of small machine tools.

In Port Harcourt, Dr. Michael Okpara’s visionary acumen blossomed in the establishment and development of a vast Industrial Estate which, to this day, remains the heart beat and bulwark of industrial development in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The Trans-Amadi Layout was, and still remains, an unbeatable venture in vision and business savvy. Also the Alfa pioneer plant was to be built for plywood production in line with the government’s policy of massive industrialization.

As part of the Vision, model warehouses were built and solid roads were laid out with drains. Electricity, water, gas pipe lines, environment-friendly installations were put in place and industries just moved in and commenced production. The result was that the flourishing Michelin Tyre Factory was in full bloom. The Glass Factory, established by the ENDC, was in full production with the Trans-Amadi layout established by the administration not too far away from that area. There was also the Coconut Plantation in Bonny Island owned by the ENDC.

ENDC also took over some of the Bulk Oil Plant premises to establish a flourishing boatyard, manufacturing some power fired engine passenger boats for use between, Igwe-nga, now renamed Ikot Abasi, in Akwa-Ibom State, and the historic and famous king Jaja of Opobo Town. No part of Eastern Nigeria was neglected or excluded from the industrial blitz.

For instance, in addition to the vast Oil Palm, and rubber plantations in the area, the Calabar cement Company (CALCEMCO) was put on stream in 1965 using limestone from contiguous areas for their production.

 

MICHAEL OKPARA’S POLICY AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY

As part of tourism Development efforts of the Dr. Okpara Government, apart from building the two exquisite Hotel Presidential in Enugu, and Port Harcourt, run by Hotel management experts from Europe, a network of Old Catering Rest Houses were rehabilitated and rekitted to update their services.
In nineteer sixty four, new catering Rest Houses located in various strategic areas of Eastern Nigeria were built and run in Ogoja, Owerri and Uyo.

 

MICHAEL OKPARA’S HEALTH INSURANCE VISION

Similarly, Dr. Okpara, in his very intuitive character, outlined a road map he would wish to see in place in Nigeria. On fourth April nineteen eighty-one; Dr. Okpara noted that the Medical and Health problems facing Nigeria is how to take the increasing modern services to the rural areas.

He truly noted that naturally, Doctors prefer the urban towns where it is easier to make a decent living pointing out that the way to attract such personal to the rural communities would be through the provision of rural infrastructure such as roads, water supply, electricity, health centers and rural hospitals.

For him, only government can provide a rural medical service either directly in a free medical and health scheme, as in Britain, or through a Health Insurance Scheme as in West Germany to underpin without many tears a Rural Health Scheme.

Then, Dr. Okpara, undertook a public enlightenment campaign to explain in details the possible forms of the Health Insurance Scheme which he recommended, and other forms of social welfare insurance to include unemployment insurance and old age pensions.

He strongly noted that a beginning should be made in Health Insurance which should be expanded to cover every citizen within a decade. He opined that the first stage will bring in a meaningful national health service that will not burst the national purse. This was in nineteen eighty one!

Then, Dr. Okpara expressed the view and advised that, perhaps the West German model which was based on a Health Insurance Scheme in which the governments, the corporations and individuals, contributed towards the medical care of all the citizens. He then recommended that a presidential commission should be put together and empowered to study the problem in all its ramifications and make appropriate and workable recommendations within six months from April, nineteen eighty one. 

Certainly, the current health insurance scheme being applied in the country mostly among federal civil servants and a few states that have adopted the scheme point to the fact that Dr. Okpara was visionary.

 

DR. OKPARA’S INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS

The administration gave priority to infrastructural development as many rural roads were constructed throughout the region to the point that in 1996, Eastern region was acclaimed as having the best network of roads in Africa.

The whole essence was to accelerate commerce and evacuate farm produce from the rural area to make industries to thrive.

Also there was high speed development of social services as many communities enjoyed electricity and water supply because they were readily mobilized to contribute funds to project.

EDUCATIONAL SECTOR

In the area of education, the sector achieved a quantum leap as primary and secondary schools grew in large number with voluntary agencies and churches actively engaged in the establishment of schools leading to an appreciable expansion in knowledge with the government liberalizing local and overseas scholarship. Consequently both voluntary schools and government schools existed side with each working with commitment to put education in the front seat.

 

DR. OKPARA’S UNBEATEN AGRICULTURAL POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES

Under the regime which has been aptly described as the most radical, progressive and result-oriented, agriculture was giving an outstanding position as the period witnessed real agrarian revolution and economic expansion. Indeed, agriculture was the center piece of his development policy, using the Eastern Nigerian Development Corporation ENDC as instrument.

It is indisputable that what is now referred to an agrarian revolution and economic development by succeeding administrations were first started by the Okara administrations in Eastern Nigerian. Dr. Opkara did not only talk of agriculture, he put flesh and blood into it with relentless interest and aggressive policies which culminated into a rapid social, economic and industrial transformation.

These efforts still and will remain a monumental tribute to him and many generations to come, as despite callous neglect and abandonment by successive regimes evidence of his achievements still abound.

As a deliberate approach for success, innovative farm settlements patterned after the famous Israeli Kibutz were set up in five towns, Igborariam in now Anambra state, and the one located in now Ebonyi State, Ulonna North and South in now Abia state, Uzo-Uwani in now Enugu state and Ohaji in now Imo state.

The idea was to ensure that model farms properly managed by experts were established to train young school leavers who worked in the settlement and ran their own farms inside the estates based on the experience they acquired and were supervised by the farm management. The product ranged from rice, oil palm to rubber. 

Sadly, at the end of the Nigeria/Biafra Civil War, some of the farm settlements were remodeled or sold outrightly or privatized, while many were simple abandoned and to allowed to waste. For example Adapalm at Ohaji in Imo state, was remodeled into thriving vast commercial oil palm plantation but which has been mismanaged.

Ulonna North and South farm settlement is virtually wasting and begging for urgent revival. In Anambra state the Igboaraim, palm plantation was brutally cut down and the vast plantation made part of the Anambra state University.

The scheme can, certainly, be massively recreated to provide jobs for thousands of our young school leavers and graduates.

The Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation’s ENDC enormous Estates of oil palm, rubber, cocoa, cashew and rice, with the intercropping of pineapples, banana, plantains and cassava, formed veritable bastions for cash crop and food production. These farms include the expensive rubber plantation located in Amaeke Abam, Ndioji Abam, Arochukwu, Ozuitem, the Ikwu, Imo River waterways, Ubani Ibeku, etc. understandably, the massive oil palm plantations of Kwa falls, Calaro, Ikom and others in Cross River state and Umuekune in Imo state, among many other are now lying waste with little or nothing to show for the huge investment on them.

One incontrovertible fact is that the land is still there, nature has continued to water the ground by giving us abundant rain and good free sunshine. All that is required now is to develop the goodwill, zeal, and commitment to pay more attention to the soil. One feels a sense of shame and disappointment that only three decades ago, Eastern Nigeria was in a strong position to earn reasonable funds from exporting its own population. In fact, then, about three million pounds was earned in one year from this source of export.

In the area of protein production, it was Dr. Okpara’s accepted agricultural policy to massively produce poultry product for which purpose, an expert Afro American, Mr. Davies was recruited to develop poultry productions in Abakaliki. Chicken broilers, day old chicks, old layers, and egg were available on a very massive scale for distribution throughout the Region. The People were mobilized and agriculture made conscious, available on a very massive scale for distribution throughout the Region.

Then public servants were encouraged, and persuaded, to grow their own poultry for family consumption in their back-yard farms. Almost every home produces all the egg and broilers consumed by the family and the surplus made available for sale. It was Dr. Opkara’s passion that the population should be well fed.

In fact, the slogan then was “grow your own chicken and egg”,

To show the extent to which the policy yielded enormous dividend, Egg marketing and Distribution Task Force comprising the Ministry of Agriculture, Local Government, Co=operative Department of ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Education, and Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation, was set up with a Secretary from the premier’s Office given the mandate to organize immediate egg collection centers in all local Government Areas.

Cold rooms were built in convenient centers to receive the egg and organize logistics for distribution of eggs.

For ease of distribution, the Education Ministry was asked to feed every
Student in the secondary schools in the Region that had dormitory accommodation, two eggs a week!

Unfortunately this grand programme, no longer exists with the inception of succeeding administrations.

One striking effect of the farm settlements was that it tackled the problem of food self-sufficiency, economic self reliance and guaranteed employment. This is because following the system which allotted farms and accommodation to the farmers government followed up by setting up the marketing board which bought up the produce by farmers which were later stored in silos either for export or for the industries that sprouted in the region, the farmers were encouraged to stay on since they were sure of instant market for their produce no matter the quantity.

It was from his sound agriculture policy that he was able to generate considerable funds to finance most of his projects. For instance, the University of Nsukka was translated into realizable and concrete form to were built using the five million pounds, generated by the Eastern Nigeria marketing board through propagate Zik’s ideas and dreams to restore the dignity of man. The main structure of the University of Nigeria were built using five million pounds, generated by the Eastern Nigeria marketing Board through the sales of palm produce from  local producers and the Eastern Nigeria Development corporation’s pioneer oil mills.
There were also enormous estates of oil palm, rubber, cocoa, cashew with intercropping of pineapples, banana, plantain and cassava at Amaeke Abam and Ndioji Abam, Arochukwu, ozuitem, with massive palm plantations spread across the entire region to make region economically self sufficient even as the breeding of cattle was intensified at obudu cattle ranch.    

Really, there was no dull moment for the government then.  It is regrettable that agriculture witch formed the bedrock of not only the economy of the   eastern Region, but also a major foreign currency earner for the nation has been utterly neglected and abandoned.

 Ironically, while Nigeria continues to treat her enormous agricultural endowment with abandonment, Malasia   and Ivory Coast that that came to the country in the sixties to obtain their first oil palm seedlings have been making   tremendous impact in the world economy using agriculture as a major platform.

For instance while Nigeria can hardly point at any major leap in the sector, Malaysia’s now popular KIA Motor is produced with proceeds from palm oil.

 

 

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DR. NNAMDI AZIKIWE

Building his power in the Eastern Region, Azikiwe became its premier in 1954 after a new constitution was put into effect. He instituted a new education program in his region, and had a major role in Nigeria becoming the leading exporter of students for study abroad in Africa. In 1954 Azikiwe visited Europe, England, the United States, and Canada with members of the Eastern region economic commission in order to promote investment for developments in textile, vegetable oil refineries, steel, and chemicals. Azikiwe's  political stance at this time clearly favored his Ibo tribe and the Ibibio-speaking peoples of the Eastern region.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/nnamdi-azikiwe#ixzz2qD628feZ

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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/countries/ng/ng_full.html

"1930-1939: Economic depression brings hardship, unemployment, and heightened nationalist consciousness. European entities such as the United Africa Company, which controls 40 percent of the import/export trade, stir discontent with colonial domination. Italy's 1935 invasion of Ethiopia and the rise in popularity of journalist and anticolonial nationalist Nnamdi Azikiwe help focus unrest on colonial rule.

1940-1947: The nationalist movement gains momentum during World War II as Nigerian soldiers are exposed to Allied propaganda that touts liberty, freedom, and equality. India's independence from Britain in 1947 intensifies the movement, and postwar restructuring increases pressure on the British to grant its colonies independence. The economic environment worsens after a wartime growth spurt.

1948-1958: Concessions by the colonial government pave the way for Nigerian independence. Maneuvering begins in earnest as ethnic and regional interests that determine loyalties and alliances dominate the political landscape. A British-sponsored 1953 conference in London brings together members of competing political parties and regions to determine the constitution for the soon-to-be independent nation.

1959-1962: After 15 years of gradual constitutional reforms and peaceful transfer of power, Nigeria gains independence on October 1, 1960. Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is elected prime minister. His majority Northern People's Party governs in coalition with Herbert Macaulay's Nigerian National Council, which has the support of the Eastern Igbos. Presidential elections are set for 1963.

1963-1965: The Federal Republic of Nigeria is declared on October 1, 1963. Nnamdi Azikiwe is elected president. Brewing regional resentment over perceived Northern domination in the federal government prevents agreement on a long-range economic development plan. The nascent government inherits control of a highly centralized economy from its colonial predecessors. "

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/countries/ng/ng_full.html

Railway Construction and the Development of Kaduna inthe Northern Provinces of Colonial Nigeria

ByDaniel Olisa IwezeDepartment of HistoryBayero University, Kano, Nigeriae-mail:danielolisa@gmail.comdanielolisaiweze@ymail.comTel:+2340836056351

"The purpose of British colonial control of the colonies was to stimulate the production of raw materials needed by the British industries and to create markets for the products of these industries in the colonized territories. Thus, right from the onset when the basicinfrastructures of the Indirect rule system was established, the British colonialgovernment embarked on polices intended to stimulate the production of raw materialsespecially cotton and groundnut in northern Nigeria which were fundamental to thesurvival of the textile industry which constituted more than one third of Britain’smanufactured export. Railway was therefore, considered necessary as trade carried out by the use of animal transportation in the north was described as being too costly andtoo slow. The type of transportation in the pre-colonial period in the Northern provincesof Nigeria was characterized by the use of donkeys, horses and camels.

3

Recognizingthe need to shift from the traditional modes of transport to modern transport system andthe transformative force of railway development in the colonized territories in Africa,

Lugard believed that “the development of African continent is impossible withoutrailway.”

4

The Objectives of Railway Construction

Railway construction in Nigeria began in 1896 with the construction of the western linewhich started at Ebute Metta near Lagos and extended to Ibadan in 1900 and Jebba in1909. The Northern line started from Baro to Kano (350 miles) constructed between1907 and 1911, and Jebba-Minna line was completed in 1913. In 1911, a branch rail linefrom Zaria to the Tin-mines at Jos was constructed. The discovery of coal at Enugu in1911 made the eastern line necessary. It began from Port-Harcourt in 1913 and reachedKaduna in 1926, thus linking the eastern and western lines. Extensions of the railwayfrom Kano to Nguru (opened in 1927) and from Zaria to Kaura-Namoda (opened in1927) was completed later. The building of Jebba bridge in 1916 and the Makurdi bridgein 1932 completed the linking up of the north and south. By 1930’s, Nigeria had railwaynetwork of about 2,178, miles.

5

Railway construction right from the beginning had military, administrative and economic functions."

Railway Construction and the Development of Kaduna inthe Northern Provinces of Colonial Nigeria

ByDaniel Olisa IwezeDepartment of HistoryBayero University, Kano, Nigeriae-mail:danielolisa@gmail.comdanielolisaiweze@ymail.comTel:+2340836056351

 

----------------------------------------

byRichard Akinjide  http://www.unitedijaw.com/amalgamation.htm

"The British needed the Railway from the North to the Coast in the interest of British business. Amalgamation of the South (not of the people) became of crucial importance to British business interest. He said the North and the South should be amalgamated. Southern Nigeria came into existence on January 1900 ... At the Centenary of the fall of Benin, I wrote a piece in a number of papers but before I published the piece, I sent a copy to the Oba of Benin. So when Benin was conquered in 1896,

it made the creation of the Southern Nigerian protectorate possible on January 1, 1900" The Amalgamation Of Nigeria Was A Fraud byRichard Akinjide, QC, SAN July 9, 2000

Early British Imperialism

Nigeria-Early British Imperialism THE COLONIAL ECONOMIC LEGACY
Read more at http://www.mongabay.com/history/nigeria/nigeria-early_british_imperialism_the_colonial_economic_legacy.html#sqSbytf44Z8MGV4Q.99

The European struggle to establish forts and trading posts on the West African coast from about the mid-1600s to the mid-1700s was part of the wider competition for trade and empire in the Atlantic. The British, like other newcomers to the slave trade, found they could compete with the Dutch in West Africa only by forming national trading companies. The first such effective English enterprise was the Company of the Royal Adventurers, chartered in 1660 and succeeded in 1672 by the Royal African Company. Only a monopoly company could afford to build and maintain the forts considered essential to hold stocks of slaves and trade goods. In the early eighteenth century, Britain and France destroyed the Dutch hold on West African trade; and by the end of the French Revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), Britain had become the dominant commercial power in West Africa (see European Slave Trade in West Africa , ch. 1).

The slave trade was one of the major causes of the devastating internecine strife in southern Nigeria during the three centuries to the mid-1800s, when actually abolition occurred. In the nineteenth century, Britain was interested primarily in opening markets for its manufactured goods in West Africa and expanding commerce in palm oil. Securing the oil and ivory trade required that Britain usurp the power of coastal chiefs in what became Nigeria.

Formal "protection" and--eventually--colonization of Nigeria resulted not only from the desire to safeguard Britain's expanding trade interests in the Nigerian hinterland, but also from an interest in forestalling formal claims by other colonial powers, such as France and Germany. By 1850 British trading interests were concentrating in Lagos and the Niger River delta. British administration in Nigeria formally began in 1861, when Lagos became a crown colony, a step taken in response to factors such as the now-illegal activities of slave traders, the disruption of trade by the Yoruba civil wars, and fears that the French would take over Lagos (see The Nineteenth Century: Revolution and Radical Adjustment , ch. 1). Through a series of steps designed to facilitate trade, by 1906 present-day Nigeria was under British control. Data as of June 1991Read more at http://www.mongabay.com/history/nigeria/nigeria-early_british_imperialism_the_colonial_economic_legacy.html#sqSbytf44Z8MGV4Q.99

-------------------

"The first European settlers arrived in the area in 1909, led by a British mining engineer, Albert Kitson. In his quest for silver, he discovered coal in the Udi Ridge. Colonial Governor of Nigeria Frederick Lugard took keen interest in the discovery, and by 1914 the first shipment of coal was made to Britain. As mining activities increased in the area, a permanent cosmopolitan settlement emerged, supported by a railway system. Enugu acquired township status in 1917 and became strategic to British interests. From Enugu the British administration was able to spread its influence over the Southern Province of Nigeria." http://www.enugustate.gov.ng/aboutenugu.php

http://www.ajol.info/index.php/lhr/article/view/32551

Tokunbo Aderemi Ayoola

Abstract Lagos Historical Review Vol. 6, 2006: 148-170

The political economy of railway construction in Nigeria: the Bornu railway extension

In the late 1950s, it seemed clear that Britain would soon grant Nigeria her independence. However, to guarantee her economic and strategic interests in independent Nigeria, it sought to manipulate the decolonisation process. One key strategy employed was to side with the faction of the Nigerian petty bourgeoisie whose political, economic and class interests were in agreement with that of Britain, and this was the Northern Nigeria political elite. Unfortunately, the faction's economic base was weak. Although it was the largest and supposedly the most populated region, the North was also the poorest. Thus, the faction could not develop its region much less guarantee British interests—unless its economic base was further developed. One key sector of the economy that could be used for the purpose was agriculture. However, the greatest obstacle to further agricultural production was the inefficiency of the existing transport system, particularly the railway. From early 1950s, the Northern establishment began to pressurise the central colonial government into constructing a railway extension into the potentially agriculturally rich Bornu province. The pressure worked, and the Bornu Extension was adopted despite concern for its viability, and lack of finance for it. The 400-mile extension was eventually constructed and opened in 1964.
Lagos Historical Review Vol. 6, 2006: 148-170

http://www.mongabay.com/history/nigeria/nigeria-railroads.html

. The system's basic elements were two main lines running inland from the coast: one, in the west from Lagos to Kano, opened in 1912, and the other, in the east from Port Harcourt to a conjunction with the western line at Kaduna, opened in 1926. Three major extensions were subsequently constructed. One was a branch line from Zaria to Kaura Namoda, an important agricultural area in the northwest, completed in 1929. The second was a branch from Kano to Nguru, a cattle-raising region in the northeast, completed in 1930. The third, a 645- kilometer branch from the eastern line to Maiduguri, was completed in 1964. A short spur to the mining area at Jos and two short branches from Lagos and Kaduna rounded out the system.
Read more at http://www.mongabay.com/history/nigeria/nigeria-railroads.html#eZ45xUGl9Xc9G3MR.99

Politics / Re: Zik's Final Resting Place In Ruins by henry101(m): 3:16am On Jul 20, 2011

The collaboration of other parts of Nigeria would be understandable, seeing that by 1964, the Eastern region was already touted as the fastest growing economy in the world by research reports commissioned by the World Bank and by Harvard University in the United States.

The Eastern Nigerian Economic reconstruction plan (1954-1964) - the ten year plan - drawn by the visionary Zik, and the eminently brilliant Mbonu Ojike, the most acute economic mind of that generation of argonauts, and later fully implemented by the inimitable Michael Okpara, had placed the East on a development route, [b]that by the 1960s all the talk of "Igbo domination" was merely a metaphor of the progress in the East.

Two banks at least  African Continental Bank and Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria all once headquartered in the East  were at the centre of Eastern Nigerian post-colonial economic renaissance. Azikiwes banking policy and Mbonu Ojikes protectionist policies (remember boycott the boycottable) instigated the rise of indigenous entrepreneurial initiatives at a massive scale in the East from 1953 to 1983.

"The East  had the first industrial developement plan in Africa. Note that All Eastern
Nigerian "townships" / cities had designed within them, an industrial zone:
Aba (factory Road),Umuahia (Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and
Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and
the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out. So did Owerri, which had an industrial
layout,so did Onitsha etc. etc. Owerri,Aba and Port Harcourt were already
designed in what was clalled "A three city nexus" (see works plan of the
Eastern Survey Dept. in Enugu)
The institutions like the :

African Continental Bank,

Cooporative Bank of Eastern Nigeria
Eastern Nigerian Development Corporation,
University of Nigeria was established in 1960 with campuses at Nsukka and Calabar

Obudu Tourism and Entertainment Ranch
Nigercem,
Nigergas,
Nigersteel,
Factory,glass industries,
hotels,
farm settlements,
Aba Textile company,
Golden Guinea Breweries in Umuahia,
Standard Shoe Factory in Owerri,

Portharcourt sea Port Expansion

At that time No OIL and GAS were not in play and the limited  money and resources created by the British was found from coal, Limstone, cement and palm produced in abundance in Igboland, and are the main source of income for Eastern Region. Dr. Azikiwe came to power and was expanding the economy to all parts of Eastern Region hence he started The Eastern Nigerian Economic reconstruction plan (1954-1964) - the ten year plan - drawn by the visionary Zik to expand the economy of your areas. That's how he started by establishing UNN Nsukka and

(1) proposed a campus at Calabar.

(2) Obudu Tourism and Entertainment Ranch

(3) Farm settlements in all Divisions of Eastern Region

(3) Rubber Plantation in all Divisions of Eastern Nigeria

(Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out Portharcourt.

-----------------------------------

"A system of Universal primary education was introduced in Eastern Nigeria in 1953, though the mission schools had already prospered in the Region long before then. Despite the fact that there was a requirement for limited contributory fees, education continued to be very much in demand. Even at the time when universal primary education was first introduced, the percentage of the population over seven years of age who were literate was higher in the East than in any other Region: East, 10.6 per cent; West 9.5 percent; North, 0.9 percent. Since 1959, the East has had more teachers and pupils than any other area of the country, with the heaviest emphasis on primary education. Figures for elementary and secondary education indicate that the approximate ratio of teachers to population in 1963 was 1 to every 1,500 in the East, 1 to every 2,500 in th West, and 1 for every 10,000 in the north. Other statistical data reveal how rapidly the standard of living rose among Ibos. The East had the most extensive hospital facilities in the country by 1965, the largest regional production of electricity in the country by 1954, and the greatest number of vehicle registrations by 1963. The economic orientation of the Ibos was also reflected through membership of credit associations: in 1963 the East had 68,220 individual members, the west 5,776, and the north a mere 2,407." His source was the Annual Abstract of Statistics ( Federal Office of Statistics, Lagos, 1965), Table 2.4, p. 14

The situation has not changed radically since Paul Anber - except possibly the two years 1970-72. All you need to do even now is to go to the JAMB website and see university matriculation state by state, and compute it. There you have it."

Obi nwakanma

-------------------------------------

A Force in Library Development in Nigeria

http://www.worlib.org/vol07no2/aguolu_v07n2.shtml

C.C. Aguolu and L.E. Aguolu

 Abstract

This is the first attempt to coherently document the immense contributions of one of Africa’s foremost nationalists and pan–Africanists to the development of libraries in Nigeria. Although he is best known for his achievements in politics, journalism, and sports, Dr. Azikiwe saw the library as a vehicle for the intellectual emancipation of Nigerians from colonial rule.

As President of Eastern Nigeria in the 1950s, the first and only indigenous Governor–General, and first President of Nigeria in the 1960s, he was able to wield sufficient political influence to ensure a legal basis for public library development in Nigeria, the establishment of the University of Nigeria Library – named after himself – and the eventual creation of the National Library of Nigeria.

- The first International Trade Fair was opened by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe at Victoria Island on October 27, 1962.

- Launching of the National Savings Scheme (Premium Bond) by Mrs. Flora Azikiwe at General Post Office, Marina on 8th December, 1962.

- Opening of the ?2 million Guinness Breweries at Ikeja on 6th March, 1963 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

- Opening of the New Engineering Base and Hangar at Lagos Airport Ikeja by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on December 13, 1963.

- Opening of the Royal Mint at Victoria Island on April 10, 1965 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the subsequent issuance and circulation of New Currency notes in the denomination of £5; £10s and 5s on July 1, 1965.

Opening of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka on October 7, 1960

-----------------------------------------------

By PHILIP ASIODU Formers first Republic Minister and Obasanjo Minister   being remarks  at the Lagos Resource Centre Men’s Forum meeting in Lagos - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/08/is-there-any-hope-for-nigeria/#sthash.qeaX5KBM.dpuf. on August 06, 2012   /   in Special Report 10:34 pm - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/08/is-there-any-hope-for-nigeria/#sthash.qeaX5KBM.dpuf

Nigeria over the last sixty years: Let us briefly recall the history of Nigeria over the last 60 years: Pre-Independence Progress and 1st Republic Years.

The Nigerian Economy was growing under the 1962-68 plan at over six per cent per annum with inflation rate under two per cent and so people enjoyed improving standard of living. However, there were serious political problems which had not been resolved before Independence. The most serious was the Minorities Question

Nigeria was moving ahead with great strides in the decade before independence. The country was wholly dependent on agriculture. Foreign exchange was earned from agricultural exports mainly cocoa in the West, groundnuts in the North, palm oil and kernels from the East.

Foreign reserves

The balance of payments was in surplus and sizeable foreign reserves were built up by the Marketing Boards – up to 80 million pounds which was shared by the three Regions after Independence.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Alhaji Ahmadu Bello

That was good money then – considering that in no one year throughout the colonial administration did Nigeria’s Budget exceed 40 million poounds. Indeed, it was under Balewa and Independence that the Federal Budget for a year reached 50 million pounds. You can begin to imagine how carefully and frugally public funds were managed in those days when you consider that the ports of Lagos, Warri, Port Harcourt and Calabar, the 4000 miles of railways, the telegraph lines from North to South, and East to West, the Airports of Lagos and Kano, the schools people of mine and earlier generations attended and from which we went directly to British, American and other universities were all developed with such meager resources!!

Many African countries, our French speaking brothers became independent and were admitted members of the United Nations at various dates in 1960, but none was awaited with such eagerness and great expectations as Nigeria. Unprecedentedly, one whole day was devoted by the United Nations to the admission of Nigeria.

The Security Council met in the morning to approve our admission and the General Assembly in the afternoon to formalize our admission and to listen to our Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa address the Assembly. And he made a remarkable speech proclaiming the progress of Africa as the first concern of Nigeria’s foreign policy, our policy of non-alignment, our determination to contribute to maintaining world peace and the dignity of man.

He received great acclamation. I was a witness having been posted to New York in March, 1960 to participate in setting up the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations.

There were great expectations for rapid progress – economic growth and development – given the enormous endowments, and our human capital resources and the calibre and stature of our First Republic Government. With Dr. Azikiwe as Governor-General, later President, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as Prime Minister and Head of Government, with many experienced men who had achieved prominence as professionals, businessmen and teachers as Ministers, the Government was highly respected in the Commonwealth and the World. We can also recall the high calibre of the principal envoys sent to us from UK, USA, Germany, India, etc.

Soon after Independence, we acquitted ourselves creditably in UN operations in the Congo, in the resolution of the crisis in Tanzania helping for two years to supply the Army in that country where the Army had revolted against Nyerere soon after that country’s Independence and had to be disbanded and a new Army formed and trained. We also subscribed to a special UN Fund for peace keeping operations.

The Nigerian Economy was growing under the 1962-68 plan at over six per cent per annum with inflation rate under two per cent and so people enjoyed improving standard of living. However, there were serious political problems which had not been resolved before Independence. The most serious was the Minorities Question.

For many years, there had been general agitation for separate Regions by the Middle Belt minorities in the North, the Mid-Western minorities in the West and the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers State Movement in the East. There were tensions over the attempt to conduct a national census in 1961 which was cancelled, and was repeated in 1963. Then came the break-up of the Action Group in 1962, the Treason trials and imprisonment of Awolowo in 1963, the crisis over the December, 1964 Federal Elections which was resolved with the appointment of a broad-based Federal Government in April, 1965, but which was then followed by the heavily rigged Western Region elections in 1965.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/08/is-there-any-hope-for-nigeria/#sthash.qeaX5KBM.dpuf

AFRICA POLICY AND FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA

http://www.blackpast.org/1959-nnamdi-azikiwe-speaks-role-nigeria-and-other-african-states-world-politics

1959) Nnamdi Azikiwe Speaks on the Role of Nigeria and other African States in World Politics - See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/1959-nnamdi-azikiwe-speaks-role-nigeria-and-other-african-states-world-politics#sthash.5NBxtZuq.dpuf

The existence of colonies in Africa can no longer be  justified in the light of science and history. It should be the manifest destiny of Nigeria to join hands with other progressive forces in the world in order to emancipate not only the people of Africa but also other peoples of African descent from the scourge of colonialism. Science has demonstrated that no race is superior to another. History has shown that no race is culturally naked. That being the case, Nigeria should be in the vanguard of the struggle to liberate Africans from the yoke of colonial rule. May I at this stage refer to the reported plan of France to use the Sahara Desert as a site for testing its atomic bombs? I am not concerned in this lecture about the desirability or otherwise of using the atomic bomb as an instrument of war, but I am deeply concerned that a European State, which rules millions of Africans as colonial people, should calculatedly endanger the lives of millions of African people in a mad attempt to ape the Atom Powers. The leaders and people of Nigeria are already reacting and I do not hesitate to warn France, with respect and humility, as I did in November 1958, when I first called the attention of the world to this attempt by France to perpetrate an atrocity against the peoples of Africa, that we will regard this Sahara test not only as an unfriendly act, but as a crime against humanity, in view of the dangers of radio-active fall-out and in view of the effect of the Sahara Desert on the climate of Nigeria. -  See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/1959-nnamdi-azikiwe-speaks-role-nigeria-and-other-african-states-world-politics#sthash.5NBxtZuq.dpuf

"I would suggest that Nigeria, in the first instance, should explore with its nearest neighbours the possibility of a customs union. This would lead to the abolition of tariffs between tile two or more countries and would encourage ‘free trade’ in areas which might ultimately turn into a common market. With a free flow and interchange of goods, Nigeria and its neighbours would come closer in their economic relationship which is very fundamental in human relations. I would also suggest a gradual abolition of boundaries which demarcate the geographical territory of Nigeria and its neighbours. The experience of Canada and the United States has been encouraging and should be explored. Once travelling is freely permitted, other things being equal, people will forget about physical frontiers and begin to concentrate on essential problems of living together. I would suggest further that Nigeria should interest its neighbours in a joint endeavour to build international road systems which should link West African countries with East African territories, on the one hand, and North African countries with Central African territories, on the other. By encouraging the construction of autobahn systems across strategic areas of Africa, and by providing travelling facilities, in the shape of hotels, motels, petrol-filling stations, we should be able to knit the continent of Africa into a tapestry of free-trading, free-travelling, and free-living peoples. - See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/1959-nnamdi-azikiwe-speaks-role-nigeria-and-other-african-states-world-politics#sthash.5NBxtZuq.dpuf Sources:

Nnamdi Azikiwe, Zik: A Selection from the Speeches of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Governor-General of the Federation of Nigeria formerly President of the Nigerian Senate formerly Premier of the Eastern Region of Nigeria (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961).1886-1960

-

On Sat, Jan 11, 2014 at 7:37 PM, Odudu Abasi <odudu...@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

Mr. Ukandu, 

Below is what I referred to, and some more;  if you follow the thread from the beginning:

"Chris Udo and Odudu abasi, you nit-wits are in a negligible pitiful minority of haters"

Above sentence  is one among the numerous insulting comments made by you or by your fellow Ibo; and the reason many reasonable people are no longer interested in debating any of the issues with you or with any in that group of insolent and ignorant people.

OduduAbasi

DFW

On Saturday, January 11, 2014 3:17 PM, Ugo Harris Ukandu <abuj...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Adudu Abasi and Chis Udo ,

First of all,  I have never insulted you personally  in this forum or generalized insult to you or your people of Ibibio descent or any body since this thread started. Check all my posting on this thread. I have not and never called you a nitwit. That statement was made by another person in this thread and not me. check all the posting and apologize to me , which I doubt you will do going by your penchant for going after and insulting other people including your own  people in this forum.

The person that insulted you did so because you keep insulting and directing your insults and anger  to 50 million Igbos worldwide while we were just debating on issues of Eastern Nigeria. Yes granted that there are some and few Igbos engage in crime and other nefarious activities just like you have in other tribes, but can you also list the good and great things Igbos are doing better than you and your types. You can measure in every indices on individual basis and family basis at any level. Among  250 tribes in Nigeria, I can list at least ten (10) instances were Igbos are number one or two in every measure of upward mobility in education, business, health, enterprise, innovation, inventions, nollywood, sports,technology and girls/women empowerment and education among the 250 tribal groups in Nigeria. There is no positive measure Igbo is not number one or two and so goes with it some Igbos also who engage in crime etc.

Your hate for your even people knows no bound. Governor Akpabio have provided Akwa Ibom State and Ibibio people the best infrastructure so far by any state Governor and yet you want to crucify him. Every day here if you are not attacking and fighting over resources and position with Annang people etc., you will be ceasing and going to court to deprive Efik people etc. of their land and oil fields. With the huge allocation from from Eket land to Akwa Ibom State, If Governor Akpabio, Governor Attah, Governor Duke, Governor Imoke and Governor Essuene etc. could not satisfy you, how could Dr. Azikiwe and Dr. Okpara satisfy your appetite with the limited resources from coal, limestone, cement and palm produce from Igbo heartland and at least Dr. Azikiwe and Dr. Okpara tried to share it . They tried at least compared to what you are doing to your own people in Awka Ibom State and Cross Rivers State.

You are today denying your own people oil fields, oil allocation and services in cross River State and Akwa Ibom State and conflicts within you have increased with  hate and more anger after 40 years against your own people in Ibibio and Annang,  and you should be happy that

without oil money then, Dr. Azikiwe could even try to use the limited money and resources from raw materials from from Coal, Limstone, cement, and Palm Produce extracted in and from Igbo heartland to expand services to Ibibio, Efik , Ijaw and Annang etc. areas in education, Teachers salary,  healthcare, hospitals,  proposed a UNN campus at Calabar,  Obudu Tourism and Entertainment Ranch,  Farm settlements in all Divisions of Eastern Region,  Rubber Plantation in all Divisions of Eastern Nigeria  and industrial development plans. why is it that you people now are denying your own people oil fields, oil production and services to your own people today in Akwa Ibom State and Cross Rivers State. Dr. Azikiwe did not develop Onitsha with that little money. What did Dr. Azikiwe do for Igbos from Nkalagu areas and Udi Nkanu in Enugu were the coal was founded. Dr. Azikwe was trying to expand the economy gradually to all areas of Eastern Nigeria within the 6 years he was in power.

As for your statement on Igbos working together with others tribes in South South, South and Nigeria, It is already happening and achieving good results. Igbo leaders and all  other tribals groups in South South  just had an on going meeting in Uyo, Yanegoa, Enugu and Asaba for South South and South East zones,  and the result is positive, but I am afraid few negative people like you do not know about it and are losing out,  but the result is huge  and leaping by the day and positive examples of the results are more money for oil producing areas in Nigerdelta areas including IMO and Abia sTATES, More Igbo oil producing STATES AS IN ANAMBRA INCLUSION, NNDC development plan  FOR IGBOS and President Jonathan Presidency from Ijaw nation. Igbos are ahead of few hatefiled  people  like YOU and the sky is the limit for IgboS  and their South South partners in this generation FOR A GENUINE FEDERATION CALLED NIGERIA WHERE IGBOS RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES WILL BE RESPECTED  AND ACHIEVED, FOR NIGERIANS TO HAVE PIECES OF MIND AND WITHOUT IT YOUR HATE AND ANGER WILL CONTINUE RUNNING FOR ANOTHER 50 YEARS. FEW OF YOU ARE LOSSING OUT WHILE THE VAST MAJORITY FROM SOUTH SOUTH AND SOUTH EAST WILL BUILD A BETTER NIGERIA FOR ALLFROM THE NORTH, WEST, EAST AND SOUTH FOR BETTER NIGERIA AND BETTER AFRICA.

Expansion is a gradual process and that was what Dr. Azikiwe was doing to expand economic opportunity from the British setup agenda. Let me ask you in the 32 years combined  of Governance of Governor Akpabio, Governor Obong Attah, Governor Donald Duke and Governor Imoke have they been successful to rerouted and created heaven on earth in every villages and town in Cross Rivers State and Akwa Ibom State. But gradually these 4 governors are trying and tried to expanding the economic opportunity  and it is taking them 32 years combined and they is improvement gradually. The same way Dr. Azikiwe took over from the British and he was gradually expanding economic opportunity from the British created center around Enugu to all parts of Eastern Nigeria including Ibibio, Efik, Ijaw, and

Annang etc areas. Development is a gradual process and Dr. Azikiwe was in power for only 6 years as premier of Eastern Nigeria until the lies hater and anger from people like you, Northern moslems, The British and the 20 pound thieves began their mischieve and ground Nigeria to a halt today. Governor Obong Attah an Ibibio man was in Power for 8 years and Governor Esuene  was in power for 7 years  total of  15 years, did they create heaven on  earth in all villages and towns in Akwa Ibom State?.

 

You left the debate we are engaged in then you veered to attacking Governor Akpabio, Igbo merchants, Governor Akpabio Inlaws, Igbo women and families and then you named a person by name and accusing the family of all sorts of things from Akwa Ibom State.  This is totally  unguarded and crude to say the least. Why are you going after persons and families.?

As it is now, I don't know how to engage  with you on a decent debate, because you are never specific and don't have real data or figure  to backup your diatribes and anger.

Your patriotic Nigeria,   it seems  has failed you and you are full  of anger, because 40 years after you are still angry at Eastern Nigeria, angry at Zik,  angry at Biafra, angry at Akpabio, angry at Abacha, angry at Northern Nigeria, Angry at the 20 pound crowd,  Angry at Annangs, angry at Efks, angry at Igbo merchants and traders, Angry at your pyrrhic victory with (one Nigeria crowd),angry at those who said Nigeria is not a country,  and yet they died committing genocide and 20 pound robbery to rule the country that was not supposed to be. 

Now your anger has shifted to your own people. You are angry at Akpabio, angry at Annangs, Angry at Efiks, angry at Ibibios with different views from you, angry at the modern development executed by Governor Akpabio. You are so angry that you have gone to the extent of  taking the oil fields belonging to your own people in Cross Rivers State and you are not satisfied yet. You now have the largest allocation in Nigeria and you are still angry and not happy still for lack of you only know. You are angry at Igbo women, angry at intermarriage families.etc.

If you can take the oil fields and resources from Cross River State your own peopl with angry emotion, how do you think that Dr. AZikiwe could rerouted the railway lines built by the British from the Northern Raw materials center Kano(groundnut) to Jos (Tin Ore and Iron ore) down to Igbo heartland in Eastern Nigeria  NkaLagu (cement and Limstone) to Enugu (coal and power) then to Portharcourt Sea Port..How do you think that Zik could have rerouted these British Built railway lines and  industries and resources along the railways line in and from Igbo heartland  within 6 years and send it  down to Calabar and send it to your villages and town in Ibibio in within 6 years of his Premiership so that you will be happy. You guys are not being fair to Dr. Azikiwe and the constrains he faced at the time, which was limited financial power and struggling with British obstructionism in Africa at that time.

At that time No OIL and GAS were not in play and the limited  money and resources created by the British was found from coal, Limstone, cement and palm produced in abundance in Igboland, and are the main source of income for Eastern Region. Dr. Azikiwe came to power and was expanding the economy to all parts of Eastern Region hence he started The Eastern Nigerian Economic reconstruction plan (1954-1964) - the ten year plan - drawn by the visionary Zik to expand the economy of your areas. That's how he started by establishing UNN Nsukka and

(1) proposed a campus at Calabar.

(2) Obudu Tourism and Entertainment Ranch

(3) Farm settlements in all Divisions of Eastern Region

(3) Rubber Plantation in all Divisions of Eastern Nigeria

(Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out Portharcourt.

If Dr. Azikiwe could even try to use the limited money and resources from raw materials from from Coal, Limstone, cement, and Palm Produce extracted in and from Igbo heartland to expand services to Ibibio, Efik , Ijaw and Annang etc. areas in education, Teachers salary,  healthcare, hospitals,  proposed a UNN campus at Calabar,  Obudu Tourism and Entertainment Ranch,  Farm settlements in all Divisions of Eastern Region,  Rubber Plantation in all Divisions of Eastern Nigeria  and industrial development plans, why is it that you people now are denying your own people oil fields, oil production and services to your own people today in Akwa Ibom State and Cross Rivers State.

Ugo Ukandu

"My brother, This is 2014 away from 1960 and most people have not the slightest idea of what positive changes that has happened since those days' - Ugo Harria Ukandu

Mr. Ukandu,

Many people like you either do not know the history of the former Eastern Nigeria or do not want to tell the truth of what they know. For starters - how many Federal government secondary schools were established in the minority areas of Eastern Nigeria by the Ibo government of Eastern Nigeria? You may not know, but secondary school education was the linchpin of progress and development in those days - there were very few who possessed college degrees.  Discount the Federal government Secondary school  cited in Port Harcourt because, in line with your greed of converting what does not belong to you to yours, Port Harcourt was seen as Ibo land, and you attempted to change the name to Pitakwa! 

 

And by the way,  since when did a non "nitwit" person like you own up to having a brother who is a "nitwit"? "Brothers" belong in the same family, don't they? What degree of intelligence will compel you to own up that your family is full of "nitwits"?

 A regular glance at what your real brothers write on the internet and at the numerous others of your brothers arrested, jailed, and executed in foreign lands for drug trafficking and other crimes tells the world that "nitwits" are mostly found in your families. When you are ready to stop insulting people who are more mature, more intelligent and more patriotic to Nigeria than you are or will ever be, then let us  debate Nigeria's past and future. We were talking about Eastern Nigeria NOT eastern Biafra!!

OduduAbasi

DFW

On Thursday, January 9, 2014 9:45 PM, Ugo Harris Ukandu <abuj...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

"Godswill Obot Akpabio has given them undue advantage in Ibibio land, but the Ibibio will NEVER be bought over to their side BECAUSE we KNOW who they are, what they can do, and what they are planning to do. We see it everyday in the attitude of their merchants who now populate our capital, Uyo. "

OduduAbasi

Adubu Abasi,

Please,  since you do not agree with me on what Dr. Azikiwe did for all Eastern Nigeria people and you said he did everything for Igbos. Please list for us here what is it that Dr. Azikwe did not do for Ibibios, Efiks Annangs  etc. considering  that Nigeria and Eastern Nigeria Dr. Azikiwe were actually operating from the British set programs, and as a young nation and Region was trying to wean itself out of that British  programs within 10 years of British setup tribal national drama, intrigue, trap  and conflicts set up for Nigeria and Africans to fail all over Africa when they British claimed they left, which they never left till today.

My brother, This is 2014 away from 1960 and most people have not the slightest idea of what positive changes that has happened since those days. Now you at this level living in America  is angry and talking of local Igbo merchants in Uyo and you forget that Igbos, Ibibios, Efiks Annangs have been intermarrying, trading and working together for more than 400 years, then minus the 1950  to1966  you mentioned and that is 16 years of conflict and issues) out of 400 years and you still fill  with these types of rhetoric and anger ? . These are ordinary Igbo merchants young boys and girls maybe in their 20 and 30 and who were not even born  50 or 50 years ago. Mr Adubu Abasi What is going on.

On a higher level Prominent Igbos and Prominent  Ibibios, Efiks,Annang etc. are working and living together. Governor Peter Obi is married to Akwa Ibom woman with kids, Governor Imoke of Cross River State is married to Igbo woman with kids, Governor Akpabio is married to Igbo Woman with Kids, Governor Amaechi is married to Igbo woman with kids, Petroleum Minister from Bayselsa Deazani Madueke is married to Igbo man with kids. Mr. Abubu Obasi,  were do you want these kids and new generation to go. These are the generation including the young Igbo merchants you derided in Uyo that are the future and we can still make it a great future with good  and positive people like these. The is no Igbo family as far as I know in Ohafia, Arochukwu, Itumbuzo, Bende, Umuahia, Abriba, Abam,  Ngwa and many Igbo family that do not have an Ibibio, Efik or Annang  blood and vice versa either by marriage, customs, tradition,  grandfather, grandmother, cousins, niece etc.. It is time for us to work on what unites us; even if Nigeria breaks up, we will all still be neighbors.

Thank you.

Read by earlier response below

Misinformation, lies and propaganda have really damaged the DNA and blood relationship the Igbos have with the Ibibios, Efiks,Annang etc. brothers and sister because of Nigeria LIES and myopic type of hateful politics and it has cost us all heavily. The is no Igbo family as far as I know in Ohafia, Arochukwu, Itumbuzo, Bende, Umuahia, Abriba, Abam,  Ngwa and many Igbo family that do not have an Ibibio, Efik or Annang  blood and vice versa either by marriage, customs, tradition,  grandfather, grandmother, cousins, niece. It is time for us to work on what unites us; even if Nigeria breaks up, we will all still be neighbors. Are we going to live like Palestinians and  Israelis? Long before Nigeria was made and long before the British and Europeans came to Africa, Igbos, Ibibio, Efik or Anang  worked together, trade together and share the same customs and tradition like Ekpe, Okonko, dance, food and culture till today.

On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at 12:25 PM, Odudu Abasi <odudu...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Thank you, Chris!

Harris Ukandu and other Ibos in his stripes cannot  distort history. They are yet to understand that continuous denial of their cheating against other inhabitants in the then Eastern Nigeria continues to fester  the wounds of those years. Their lack of change in attitude makes it impossible for other tribes in the former Eastern Nigeria to work with the Ibos on any project, let alone on a project as serious as secession from Nigeria. It will never happen that the Ibibio, where I was born,  will belong in the same country dreamed up by untrustworthy Ibos,  even if they change the name from Biafra to Calabar! AND THEY WILL NEVER CONQUER US, hence they should not even think of it!!

Godswill Obot Akpabio has given them undue advantage in Ibibio land, but the Ibibio will NEVER be bought over to their side BECAUSE we KNOW who they are, what they can do, and what they are planning to do. We see it everyday in the attitude of their merchants who now populate our capital, Uyo.

It is symptomatic for the average Ibo to think that he/she is clever than others when dealing with others. For them a quiet and honest  attitude means cowardice. They have not learned from the mistakes they made before the civil war and during the civil war. When, AND IF,  we get to the bridge we will cross it;  but I hope that for the sake of past experiences the Ibos will begin to realize how much they had hurt others in the past, atone for their brigandage and have a change in attitude so that we can live together in one country, peacefully; OR co-exist as neighbors in different countries.

OduduAbasi

DFW

peter opara	6:07 PM (4 hours ago)
to igboworldforum, Igbopatriots, imostate, Anambra, Nigerian, Edo, Odudu, Ibom_Forum, me, Nigerian, naijapolitics, Ayo, Yan, Ibibio, afis

Chris Udo and Odudu abasi, you nit-wits are in a negligible pitiful minority of haters. Now, even if you were in the majority, wherever the bridge to which you refer is, when you get there, I can assure you will drown in the water beneath. Why not? You and your ilk are dying to engineer bad blood among Igbo, Ibibio and Annang. You can only try, fools, but you will not succeed. For the information of you knuckleheads, Dr. M.I. Okpara ran the former eastern region; his was an equitable government that took advantage of resources of every zone, and enhanced them for the benefit of the local and the region as a whole. IDIOTS. I see you copying the Igbo hater retard ayo ojutalayo. Useless things. It was his papa Awolowo who came twisting the rubbers necks of some you, brainwashing you, and the result we see are idiots like you. Akpabio is the positive products of centuries of alliance of close neighbors - Annang and Ibibio and Efik and Igbo. Go further north Imoke is the positive product of close alliance of neighbors going back centuries. Former ministers Imoke and Akpabio of the former eastern region, were Okpara and Ziks protege, and so was my uncle Chief J. A. Jumbo. I knew these guys - Imoke and Akpabio as they often visited my father's home in beautiful Port Harcourt of my infant days in the company of my uncle in his grand Mercedes...the Big Grill Mercedes...you know. Among them, each time they visited, I saw no difference, in fact there was no difference. Okpara/Zik political large heart, political largess extend all over the length and breadth of the former eastern region. What you sons of paupers talking about?! Lying, hypocrite Awolowo came, offered some of your pauper fathers and uncles some shillings and pennies, and there you are today talking rubbish and copying sons of humanitarian criminals, who when the chips are down would point you out to killers in the west and in the north to kill you. Monkey. Let us reach that bridge, and there you will drown, and spare us your nonsense. Idiots, as I speak Akwa Ibom and Igbo are inter-marrying like there is no tomorrow. What are you going to do about that but continue to cry till you are impotent.

peter opara

 

On Thursday, January 9, 2014 3:38 AM, Chris Udoh <udoh....@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

Ugo Ukandu,

The Theses you have written have no relevance and does not show concrete evidence of what your brother Zik of Igbo did for communities outside Igbo land.

UNIVERSITY OF CALABAR

Please don't deceive people that Zik established the University of Calabar. Yes he established UNN in Igbo land, but he never created or thought of creating any institution (primary, secondary or universities) outside Igbo land. Unical was a product of ongoing Military decentralization of Academic Institutions, or was Zik in power in 1973. Read extract below:-

University of Calabar grew out of the Calabar campus of University of Nigeria (UNN), Nigeria which began functioning during the 1973 academic session with 154 students and a small cadre of academic, administration and professional staff. In April 1975, the Federal Military Government of Nigeria announced that as part of the National Development Plan, seven new Universities were to be established at various locations in the country. The University of Calabar was one of the seven Universities set up under this programme

Source:http://www.unical.edu.ng/pages/about/?nav=history

 

Zik never built a single primary or secondary school in any none Igbo land. It was the missionaries that gave us school, and there was never a UBE subvention. My school fees in the primary school was £8, so where was Zik's subsidy in this. He did not build roads, markets, industial layouts, ...., Infact Zik was a liability to us.

OTHER THINGS

Every other things you are saying are mere ramblings. You have nothing to point at anywhere in the south-south that Zik created. Because he did not create anything for any other person except for the Igbos.

Chris

On Thursday, January 9, 2014 4:49 AM, Ugo Harris Ukandu <abuj...@gmail.com> wrote:

"Dr. Azikiwe worked and planned for the betterment of all Eastern Region people -Ibibios, Efiks, Ijaws, Kalabari, Annangs, Okirikas, Igbos etc. and all people of that region - - - - " Ugo Harris Ukandu

Harris Ukandu,

Can you list the things Zik did for Ibibios, Efiks, Ijaws, Kalabaris, Annangs, Okirikas. When you mention one ethnic group, you list the things he did for that ethnic group."

Chris Udoh

"You can go tell the above story to Tibetan monks  - they live in a world far, very  far removed from Nigeria and her reality. If your story were true,  how many of those groups you have mentioned stood with you during your secessionist war?"

OduduAbasi

DFW

Chris and Udoh and Odudu Abasi ,

 Answer:What Zik did for Ibibios, Efiks, Ijaws, Kalabaris, Annangs, Okirikas

University of Nigeria was established in 1960 with campuses at Nsukka and Calabar

Obudu Tourism and Entertainment Ranch

Farm settlements Divisions

Rubber Plantation in all Divisions

(Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out.

"A system of Universal primary education was introduced in Eastern Nigeria in 1953, though the mission schools had already prospered in the Region long before then. Despite the fact that there was a requirement for limited contributory fees, education continued to be very much in demand. Even at the time when universal primary education was first introduced, the percentage of the population over seven years of age who were literate was higher in the East than in any other Region: East, 10.6 per cent; West 9.5 percent; North, 0.9 percent. Since 1959, the East has had more teachers and pupils than any other area of the country, with the heaviest emphasis on primary education. Figures for elementary and secondary education indicate that the approximate ratio of teachers to population in 1963 was 1 to every 1,500 in the East, 1 to every 2,500 in th West, and 1 for every 10,000 in the north. Other statistical data reveal how rapidly the standard of living rose among Ibos. The East had the most extensive hospital facilities in the country by 1965, the largest regional production of electricity in the country by 1954, and the greatest number of vehicle registrations by 1963. The economic orientation of the Ibos was also reflected through membership of credit associations: in 1963 the East had 68,220 individual members, the west 5,776, and the north a mere 2,407." His source was the Annual Abstract of Statistics ( Federal Office of Statistics, Lagos, 1965), Table 2.4, p. 14

The situation has not changed radically since Paul Anber - except possibly the two years 1970-72. All you need to do even now is to go to the JAMB website and see university matriculation state by state, and compute it. There you have it."

Obi nwakanma

 The first International Trade Fair was opened by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe at Victoria Island on October 27, 1962.

- Launching of the National Savings Scheme (Premium Bond) by Mrs. Flora Azikiwe at General Post Office, Marina on 8th December, 1962.

- Opening of the ?2 million Guinness Breweries at Ikeja on 6th March, 1963 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

- Opening of the New Engineering Base and Hangar at Lagos Airport Ikeja by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on December 13, 1963.

- Opening of the Royal Mint at Victoria Island on April 10, 1965 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the subsequent issuance and circulation of New Currency notes in the denomination of £5; £10s and 5s on July 1, 1965.

Opening of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka on October 7, 1960

Dr. Azikiwe changed that to extend economic opportunity to Ibibio land, Annang, Efik land, Ijawand etc by Opening the Obudu Ranch, Palm and Rubber plantation,  farm settlements and UNN campus in Calabar etc.   to open up many areas of Eastern Region the British never really invested in these areas and  that's when  he  proposed .

 The Eastern Nigerian Economic reconstruction plan (1954-1964) - the ten year plan - drawn by the  Zik

"The East  had the first industrial developement plan in Africa. Note that All Eastern Nigerian "townships" / cities had designed within them, an industrial zone:
Aba (factory Road),Umuahia (Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out. So did Owerri, which had an industrial
layout,so did Onitsha etc. etc. Owerri,Aba and Port Harcourt were already designed in what was clalled "A three city nexus" (see works plan of the
Eastern Survey Dept. in Enugu)

When Dr. Azikiwe became Premier of Eastern Nigeria as the first Person(native) to come to executive power and as a young graduate from USA he worked hard and  tried to change the whole British Plans and agenda to include everyone, but by then all the engine for industrial development were located along the railway line systems, coal, limestone, cement, sea port by the British. Dr. Azikiwe changed that to extend economic opportunity to Ibibio land, Annang, Efik land, Ijawand etc by Opening the Obudu Ranch, Palm and Rubber plantation,  farm settlements and UNN campus in Calabar etc.   to open up many areas of Eastern Region the British never really invested in these areas and  that's when  he  proposed  " The Eastern Nigerian Economic reconstruction plan (1954-1964) - the ten year plan - drawn by the visionary Zik, and the eminently brilliant Mbonu Ojike, the most acute economic mind of that generation of argonauts, and later fully implemented by the inimitable Michael Okpara, had placed the East on a development route, [b]that by the 1960s all the talk of "Igbo

Misinformation, lies and propaganda have really damaged the DNA and blood relationship the Igbos have with the Ibibios, Efiks,Annang etc. brothers and sister because of Nigeria LIES and myopic type of hateful politics and it has cost us all heavily. The is no Igbo family as far as I know in Ohafia, Arochukwu, Itumbuzo, Bende, Umuahia, Abriba, Abam,  Ngwa and many Igbo family that do not have an Ibibio, Efik or Annang  blood and vice versa either by marriage, customs, tradition,  grandfather, grandmother, cousins, niece. It is time for us to work on what unites us; even if Nigeria breaks up, we will all still be neighbors. Are we going to live like Palestinians and  Israelis? Long before Nigeria was made and long before the British and Europeans came to Africa, Igbos, Ibibio, Efik or Anang  worked together, trade together and share the same customs and tradition like Ekpe, Okonko, dance, food and culture till today.

Igbos are making efforts for a new day and new understanding among us and we all have to face reality or continue to be marginalized, derided and looted and enslaved in our own land and people.When the national assembly was voting for oil derivatives for example, every single Igbo voted with all our brothers in South South for  larger share of resources control and larger derivatives. I wish today that an Ibibio, Efik or Anang person can aspire to the highest office in Nigeria today or seek any position or claim,  and I will bet you that Igbos will support it and vote 150% to any of Ibibio, Efik or Anang person  to prove that today it is a new day for Igbos to show and reenergize their brotherhood. If Igbos can give 90% vote to Ijaw man  to be President in President Jonathan, Igbos will give 150%  vote to Ibibio, Efik or Annang who are closer relatives.

As the saying goes, In a family, country, job and kindred etc., to be a good leader one has to be a good follower some times,  and Igbos have learned this lesson, because Igbos despite Igbo being deprived the Leadership of this country by coup, war and intrigues of lies, tribe and hate. Igbo parents and families concentrated on education, business and self help efforts and today it is paying off, because the so called power and people that have lead Nigeria for over 40 years are today lacking in all the measure in education and other advancement indices. Some times having too much power and welding it destroys the motivation and esteem to make progress in life and we are seeing it in the majority population of Northern Nigeria that held  and abuse power for over 40 years.

With all due respect, I wish to address you and many of our brothers and sisters in the former Eastern Region of Nigeria who think that Igbos, Dr. Azikiwe, Dr. Okpara, Ojukwu etc. have over bearing intentions against their own people from Ibibio, Annangs, Efiks and Ijaws etc. Remember for centuries and hundreds of years the Igbos, Ibibios, Efiks, Annangs, Ijaws etc. have always been involved in trade, business and commercial activites along the hinder land and coasts of Nigeria. The period from 1954 to 1966  was the moment and time An Easterner and native sons held power from British and  the leaders of Eastern Nigeria developed a modern plan to elevate Eastern Nigeria to modernity with the work of all the leadership of Eastern Nigeria from all tribes leadership in Eastern Nigeria House of Assembly and House of Chief in Enugu for the first time.

.

(1) Example one, Today in Akwa Ibom  State, Oil is produced in large quantity in Eket area and now Eket area has one of   the best  best technology, infrastructure, resources and man power for oil and gas production in South South and Niger Delta Region. By this Eket area and Uyo as a state capital is benefiting with one of the best Infrastructure in Africa with modern Roads, expressways, Airport, hotels and economic programs to uplift the area. Now, since oil companies have located their best technology and infrastructures to develop  and produced best and large quantity of oil in Eket area, It is now the work of Governor Akpabio and Former Governor Obong to use the economic engine of Eket and money from Eket to spread it to all parts of Akwa Ibom State and it take at least ten years for economic programs of most Government in third word to manifest.

Another example,  now that Cross River  State Oil fields have been given back to Akwa Ibom as the rightful owner, these monies and development from Akwa Ibom State with the highest Allocation today in Nigeria. Development will spread from Uyo to all parts  Akwa Ibom state and to Calabar areas because with Akwa Ibom huge allocation it can now build bigger and better roads, schools etc. expand it to location closer to Cross River State for their benefit and this takes time.

Dr. Azikiwe needed time to undo and reprogram the economic agenda of British and Europeans have set up in Nigeria for their benefit, and now Dr. Azikiwe and Eastern Region leaders needed time to expand their program before hateful politics and the civil war came on and destroyed everything. Also, if you noticed and from the 50s, 70s, 80s to present the educational programs of Dr, Azikiwe made it possible for Igbos, Efiks, Annangs, Ibibios, Ijaws etc. in Eastern Nigeria to be at almost at the same level educationally till today. The level of education among all the tribe from that time in Eastern Nigeria  till today has always been closer to each other and at the same level.

(2) EXample Two.Nigeria and Eastern Nigeria Under British and Colonial rule. Let me give you an example here, Nigeria Railway system was built and operational for the British from 1913 and the Railway system has to be routed and directed to areas the British Europeans needed raw materials and resources to expand their colonies around the world and Nigeria and South Africa were their prime Target. Railway was built to run through raw material abundant areas like Igbo land from North to south Nigeria through Nkalagu for Limstone and Cement for construction to Enugu for coal and power  to power their industries and palm produce then to portharcourt to use it for export and import . So the Railway system built by the British was just to power their economy and empire. As you can see in Igbo land  in Eastern Nigeria the British built the railway system  to extract from Igboland Coal, Limstone, Cement and palm produce  in abundance  for British and European economic benefit shipped, exported and then imported other material to  keep their economic power in Nigeria through Porharcourt seaport. All the industries built from the British time to Azikwe time and Okpara was located near these Railway systems, because there were no expressways or major roads. Everything British built was done by railways,  hence it passed through Igbo land because Coal, Limstone, Cement and Palm produce which are abundant in Igboland.. Then all the major industries were all located along this Railway lines and sea port. Even in Western and Northern Nigeria all the major industrial hubs and location were located along Kano, Kaduna, Jos, Ibadan, Lagos etc, for easy railway reach to Tin in Jos, groundnuts and agriculture in Kano and Kaduna, Cocoa in Ibadan and Lagos as a major port for export. These were British and European economic plans and agenda to help their hegemony and empire in extracting raw materials and resources back to their land in Europe. At that time till 1975 Nigeria had not major highways or good transportation system except railways.

 Igbos, Yoruba and Hausa benefited from these British built and located railways system in their major Raw material sources lanes. These decision was made by the British Government . As for Port Harcourt,  Igbos also have other coastal towns and villages like Azumiri, Obeaku Ndoki, Ukwa areas,  to build a sea port , but the British was in control and  choosed Portharcourt. for their own economic interest. before then during Slave trade times and palm produce export Igbo traders and business used Calabar port etc. for export  and trade. Vincent erondu wrote quote. . 

" Hinterland Igbos had access to the sea. Port Harcourt came to prominence as from 1913 because of the development of the sea port and the Eastern Railway line. During the oil Reivers trade and the slave trade era Port Harcourt was not a factor in those trades. The trade route was through Azumini River through Ohambele via Opobo to Bonny (Ubani). At Bonny commodities were loaded and shipped overseas. Another route in fact the ealier route was through Cross River Aro chukwu to Calabar. Aboh, Onitsha and Ugwuta were also important sea routes to Atlantic ocean" unquote Vincent Erondu.

When Dr. Azikiwe became Premier of Eastern Nigeria as the first Person(native) to come to executive power and as a young graduate from USA he worked hard and  tried to change the whole British Plans and agenda to include everyone, but by then all the engine for industrial development were located along the railway line systems, coal, limestone, cement, sea port by the British. Dr. Azikiwe changed that to extend economic opportunity to Ibibio land, Annang, Efik land, Ijawand etc by Opening the Obudu Ranch, Palm and Rubber plantation,  farm settlements and UNN campus in Calabar etc.   to open up many areas of Eastern Region the British never really invested in these areas and  that's when  he  proposed  " The Eastern Nigerian Economic reconstruction plan (1954-1964) - the ten year plan - drawn by the visionary Zik, and the eminently brilliant Mbonu Ojike, the most acute economic mind of that generation of argonauts, and later fully implemented by the inimitable Michael Okpara, had placed the East on a development route, [b]that by the 1960s all the talk of "Igbo

domination" was merely a metaphor of progress in the East. Two banks at least  African Continental

Bank and Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria all once headquartered in the East  were at the centre of Eastern Nigerian post-colonial economic renaissance. Azikiwes banking policy and Mbonu Ojikes protectionist policies (remember boycott the boycottable) instigated the rise of indigenous entrepreneurial initiatives at a massive scale in the East from 1953 to 1983.

"The East  had the first industrial developement plan in Africa. Note that All Eastern Nigerian "townships" / cities had designed within them, an industrial zone:
Aba (factory Road),Umuahia (Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out. So did Owerri, which had an industrial
layout,so did Onitsha etc. etc. Owerri,Aba and Port Harcourt were already designed in what was clalled "A three city nexus" (see works plan of the
Eastern Survey Dept. in Enugu)

Quote Sundiata "People like Eyo Ita, Margaret Ekpo, A.U Akpan, Graham Duaglas, S.E Imoke, Chief Frank Opigo, Chief Kubani and Chief E. O. Bassey held leadership positions in the government. Even Obong of Calaber was the leader in the house of chiefs. The trouble of eastern started when crude oil was struck in the region about 1951. The study by the British proved that eastern region will be the most viable piece of real estate in the entire British colony including India. Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe was a young dynamic intellectual who has joined the fight against British continued colonization in Africa. When Zik’s program to create political arena devoid of any tribal politics failed woefully in western region, he retreated to his home base. In Enugu, Zik never requested to be the premier rather he setup a plan that would further make eastern region an economic powerhouse. He initiated the motion to create ACB (African Continental Bank) from the fund allocated to eastern Nigerian financial board. The moment the opponents of Zik, British and northern Nigerian included, found out that eastern Nigeria is on her way to economic greatness, they setup plan to destabilize it. A plan was hashed to blackmail Zik financially with the intention to destroy his political ambitions. One of the agents used in this grand plan was Chief Eyo Ita. It could be recalled that due to financial circumstances that led to the formation of ACB, Chief Eyo Ita and his cronies moved a motion of financial improprieties against Zik. But this motion was dead on arrival as prominent Ibibio political stalwarts in the legislature did not joined him in this political suicide. This political transgression was not taken lightly by other members of N.C.N.C. as Ita was declared persona non-grata. Chief Eyo Ita joined Action Group (AG) which was another detractor of eastern region. I am one Igbo man who does not care much about the minorities in the eastern Nigeria except for the Ibibios and Annangs. The abandon property was not instigated in any part of Nigeria but Rivers State. Also, the excision of crude oil producing areas of Igboland to the communities of the ethnic minority in Rivers State is another pointer. Ironically, the only thing constant in this world is change. Nigeria may not remain as currently constituted forever." unquote 

-------------------------

Thank you

Ugo  Ukandu

More reading below for the coming together of Easterners  http://messageboard.biafranigeriaworld.com/ultimatebb.cgi/ubb/get_topic/f/15/t/000003.html EASTERN NIGERIA REUNION NOW IS THE TIME- IBIBIOS, EFIKS, IGBOS,,ANNANGS, IJAWS, OKIRIKAS ETC. An Eastern reunion by Obi Nwakanma Obasanjo warned them not to forget the last war and its causes: It was a war fought to deny the East of Nigeria the resources on its land. The collaboration of other parts of Nigeria would be understandable, seeing that by 1964, the Eastern region was already touted as the fastest growing economy in the world by secret research reports commissioned by the World Bank and by Harvard University in the United States. The Eastern Nigerian Economic reconstruction plan (1954-1964) - the ten year plan - drawn by the visionary Zik, and the eminently brilliant Mbonu Ojike, the most acute economic mind of that generation of argonauts, and later fully implemented by the inimitable Michael Okpara, had placed the East on a development route, that by the 1960s all the talk of "Igbo domination" was merely a metaphor of the progress in the East. But as it happened, group envy led to war. The irony is that Easterners of the minority ethnic groups, became collaborators in the liquidation of their own society. So thoroughly propagandized to "hate and fear" their Igbo neighbours, many have sold their birthrights - the resource under their feet - in a bid to achieving an imponderable form of phyrric victory . But it is gratifying, however, that a shift is taking place: the M. T Mbu group that is reconnecting the Eastern peoples to once more glimpse their common dilemma, is a proper challenge. All the new geographies invented to limit Eastern Nigerian capacity to reorganize and challenge the impoverishment of their landscape must be reviewed, by the people themselves. It is only when ablutions are made, of past misdeed, and truths told, of how the people have been used against each other, that the real nature of the marginalization and destruction of Eastern Nigeria as both a political and economic unit will crystallize. As to the Mbu initiative, I say welcome to the Eastern re-union. Established 1947. Grand Patron: Chief Harold Dappa Biriye. Copyright Reserved: www.Niger Delta Congress.com. [ May 16, 2002, 08:38 AM: Message edited by: Odili ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sundiatta Ndigbo have done no and should not entertain any feeling of wrongdoing to the minorities ethnic groups in the then eastern Nigeria. If I had enough time in my hand, I could give few detailed history of the interaction between Ndigbo and minority neighbors. Every ethnic group has few straits other ethnic groups lacked. What you may regard as brash and arrogant, I term as tenacity. It is an aberration for sundiatta to insinuate that Ndigbo should own up to the wrongdoing done to Chief Eyo Ita in 1953. Let me make it clear that the polity in Nigeria leading to the independence was laden with tribal, regional and colonial political tussles. When the politicians of western and northern regions were emphatically telling the minorities in among them who owns the land, the eastern regional politicians were promoting the minorities in their midst in any form or shape. In the west, the Egbe Omo Oduduwa demanded the schools in then Mid-western region be taught in Yourba language. Even Oba of Benin, Akezua II was not regarded as a first class chief by regional government in Ibadan. In the north, the Fualnis and Kanuris manhandled the Hausas and Tivs. Of course, the eastern Nigerian was a heaven for the minorities. People like Eyo Ita, Margaret Ekpo, A.U Akpan, Graham Duaglas, S.E Imoke, Chief Frank Opigo, Chief Kubani and Chief E. O. Bassey held leadership positions in the government. Even Obong of Calaber was the leader in the house of chiefs. The trouble of eastern started when crude oil was struck in the region about 1951. The study by the British proved that eastern region will be the most viable piece of real estate in the entire British colony including India. Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe was a young dynamic intellectual who has joined the fight against British continued colonization in Africa. When Zik’s program to create political arena devoid of any tribal politics failed woefully in western region, he retreated to his home base. In Enugu, Zik never requested to be the premier rather he setup a plan that would further make eastern region an economic powerhouse. He initiated the motion to create ACB (African Continental Bank) from the fund allocated to eastern Nigerian financial board. The moment the opponents of Zik, British and northern Nigerian included, found out that eastern Nigeria is on her way to economic greatness, they setup plan to destabilize it. A plan was hashed to blackmail Zik financially with the intention to destroy his political ambitions. One of the agents used in this grand plan was Chief Eyo Ita. It could be recalled that due to financial circumstances that led to the formation of ACB, Chief Eyo Ita and his cronies moved a motion of financial improprieties against Zik. But this motion was dead on arrival as prominent Ibibio political stalwarts in the legislature did not joined him in this political suicide. This political transgression was not taken lightly by other members of N.C.N.C. as Ita was declared persona non-grata. Chief Eyo Ita joined Action Group (AG) which was another detractor of eastern region. I am one Igbo man who does not care much about the minorities in the eastern Nigeria except for the Ibibios and Annangs. The abandon property was not instigated in any part of Nigeria but Rivers State. Also, the excision of crude oil producing areas of Igboland to the communities of the ethnic minority in Rivers State is another pointer. Ironically, the only thing constant in this world is change. Nigeria may not remain as currently constituted forever. -------------------------------------------------- An Eastern reunion by Obi Nwakanma One of the important developments, in my reckoning, of the last ten years is the clarification of certain historical untruths about the Nigerian state; by certain irreconcilable events in our polity. Modern Nigeria has thrived on great falsehood. These untruths were carry-overs, from the last war when a massive propaganda machinery was deployed by both sides of the Nigerian conflict, to win popular support. As an instrument of war, propaganda is effective if only to engage and rearrange our sentiments. But it does seem that the principles that constructed Nigeria's propaganda strategy from 1967 to 1970 were not reviewed in peace time. They were not reviewed because Nigeria went into a constant state of warfare. The federal army, the vandals - was in drunken elation. The soldiers were still in the battlefield, raping, killing and destroying the Nigerian state. The victims were Nigerians. The war situation and its mentality was fuelled largely because, a clear, honest and just civil process did not go into the resolution of the conflict. The reconstruction process did not lift from the paper upon which it was conceived. The soldiers who negotiated the end of the war, still in their battle gears, saw not a proper state, but a vast prebendal booty: oil fields, money to be made in the heady years of petrodollar boom, huge defence contracts, cement armadas and such things that tempted and convinced them that any reorganization towards a sane society would limit their stake in the entire business. So, therefrom, not statesmen but buccaneers, emerged to direct the proper obituary of Nigeria B a country still writhing in pain from the effects of the three-year war, several years after the last shots rang. The issue of reconstruction was obscured by the dilemma of choice between the rulers of Nigeria whose personal ambition for power and wealth had to be served: it was in this period that an array of bureaucrats and administrators converged like hawks around a burning fire, to design power in their own image. Among some of the instruments were public policy statements and laws which inscribed the perpetual enslavement of the Nigerian people. One of these, the Petroleum Act of 1969, anteceding the law creating the twelve states, disempowered the active units of the union. That law, was a deal-makers act, which virtually handed Nigeria's vast oil fields to friendly, multinational oil corporations. Of course, later on, many of these men of power, who designed and pushed that process, found themselves on the boards of these international oil companies. (Many are still there, and are still pushing the decimation of Nigeria, with the deregulation bogey. But that is another story). Before too long, however, it became clear that the critical alliance that won the war, including their civilian collaborators, would have to invent a reason for keeping Nigeria one. That reason would simply obscure the true reasons why the war was fought in the first place. Most Nigerians were, in fact, not aware, that the Nigerian civil war was fought over these same oil fields, located mostly in Eastern Nigeria. Other factors were merely ancillary. One ludicrous reason which the Federal Government, prosecuting the war on no other justifiable basis found, was its claim that it fought to free the Eastern minority peoples from the oppression and stranglehold of the majority Igbo ethnic group. This was its second most important mantra after the "to keep Nigeria one" fallacy. But the truth came out last week, from no other figure than the president and commander in chief of this flawed country, General Olusegun Obasanjo. On a visit to one of those scenes of war, now called Bayelsa State, General Obasanjo who also saw the final liquidation of Biafra as commander of the Third Marine Commando, reminded the people on the folly of their agitation for equity, and resource control. Obasanjo warned them not to forget the last war and its causes: It was a war fought to deny the East of Nigeria the resources on its land. The collaboration of other parts of Nigeria would be understandable, seeing that by 1964, the Eastern region was already touted as the fastest growing economy in the world by secret research reports commissioned by the World Bank and by Harvard University in the United States. The Eastern Nigerian Economic reconstruction plan (1954-1964) - the ten year plan - drawn by the visionary Zik, and the eminently brilliant Mbonu Ojike, the most acute economic mind of that generation of argonauts, and later fully implemented by the inimitable Michael Okpara, had placed the East on a development route, that by the 1960s all the talk of "Igbo domination" was merely a metaphor of the progress in the East. But as it happened, group envy led to war. The irony is that Easterners of the minority ethnic groups, became collaborators in the liquidation of their own society. So thoroughly propagandized to "hate and fear" their Igbo neighbours, many have sold their birthrights - the resource under their feet - in a bid to achieving an imponderable form of phyrric victory . But it is gratifying, however, that a shift is taking place: the M. T Mbu group that is reconnecting the Eastern peoples to once more glimpse their common dilemma, is a proper challenge. All the new geographies invented to limit Eastern Nigerian capacity to reorganize and challenge the impoverishment of their landscape must be reviewed, by the people themselves. It is only when ablutions are made, of past misdeed, and truths told, of how the people have been used against each other, that the real nature of the marginalization and destruction of Eastern Nigeria as both a political and economic unit will crystallize. As to the Mbu initiative, I say welcome to the Eastern re-union. Established 1947. Grand Patron: Chief Harold Dappa Biriye. Copyright Reserved: www.Niger Delta Congress.com. [ May 16, 2002, 08:38 AM: Message edited by: Odili ] ___________________ Biafra fo' LIFE. Posts: 629 | From: Houston, Texas | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged

Jude Olisa Senior Advocate Advocate # 122 Advocate Rated: posted November 14, 2001 05:08 AM<span class="dateformat-0">November 14, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">05:08 AM</span>                       Odili: Good post. People like Ekpo should go and fight their own efulefu the same way that we are discrediting the efulefu of Igboland. There is a lot of anti-Igbo rhetoric coming out of the so-called Niger-Delta. But, let me warn those responsible that at no time did the Igbos and others in the so-called Niger-Delta vote to be put in that contraption. The Ijaw or Ogoni Igbo hater should speak for himself only. He certainly does not speak for the Ibibio or the Urhobo. Posts: 159 | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged

sundiatta Advocate Advocate # 218 Advocate Rated: posted December 07, 2001 11:48 PM<span class="dateformat-0">December 07, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">11:48 PM</span>                       Jude, Good talk. As Obinna and other commentators have noted, the eastern minorities have been socialized for decades to distance themselves from the Igbo and offered illusory incentives by the Nigerian state to minimize any political association with Ndi'Igbo. This is part of a grand strategy that includes as a central plank, the demonization of Igbos as the ultimate regional hegemonists. Having this at the back of our minds, Igbos must embark on a 'hearts and minds' campaign to win back the friendship and political cooperation between Ndi'Igbo and the eastern minorities that Zik and the argonauts established in the 1940s and 50s when in the old eastern region, we had E.O.Eyo as premier, Dr. S.E. Imoke as health minister, Mr. Erekosima as principal of Government College, Umuahia among many other minorities people in government. Those glory days can be reclaimed. Rather than constantly fulminating at the eastern minorities for alleged 'treachery' during the civil war, 'abandoned property', denial of Igbo identity etc, Ndi'Igbo should seek to reassure them of our goodwill and desire for genuine friendship and partnership ON EQUAL TERMS. I would like to suggest a few practical steps. 1. Ndi'Igbo should collectively acknowledge wrongdoing on the part of the Igbo elite in the ousting of Eyo Ita from government in 1953. Although, following the exclusion of Zik from leadership of the Western region by Awo's ethnic politics, it was necessary for Zik to have a regional based, if you look carefully, this episode marked the beginning of the end of the political alliance between the Igbos and the eastern minorities and made the minorities to fear that they would be perpetually oppressed by the Igbos. 2. Igbo residents in the lands of eastern minorities should stop their brash, arrogant excoriation of eastern minorities as lazy, promiscuous etc. It does not help neighbourly relations if your neighbour harbours in his heart, a constant suspicion that you have no respect for him as a human being or as an individual and that you feel his people are a nation of efulefu.I have had so many personal experiences in mixed gatherings where Igbo people tell e.g. Efiks that their men are lazy and their women are promiscuous and only good for food and sex. Ditto for Kalabaris and other Rivers people. Do you blame them when they resent Igbos and prefer to associate politically with the North and West? 3. Though this is a controversial stand and a painful one to me personally, I think we should move beyond the abandoned property issue. Afterall, we are not dead because of it and we have built more houses in Igboland and elsewhere since then. Raising the issue only renews tensions.It was unjust and it was oppressive but I plead with my people to let it be. Lets have closure on the issue and move on. We may seek and acknowledgement of moral wrongdoing on the part of the Rivers state people but that should be that. 4. We the young generation of Igbos abroad should reach out to the eastern minorities. We should seek to inter-act with them, attend their festivals and parties, invite them to ours, mix socially, engage them intellectually, engage them physically including dating and marrying their women and men etc. I personally don't subscribe to theories of collective morality and I am yet to see any empirical statistical evidence of the alleged immorality of the women of the eastern minority ethnic groups. We Igbos are not saints either and I have more a few things to say about sexual morality among the Igbo but I will leave for a more appropriate forum. 5. We MUST engage them POLITICALLY as in build political platforms with them. Not create and invite them to join - invite them to join in creating these political structures. There - thats my two cents Posts: 58 | From: Boston | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged

chima njoku Senior Advocate Advocate # 117 Advocate Rated: posted December 08, 2001 09:55 AM<span class="dateformat-0">December 08, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">09:55 AM</span>                       Sundiatta, Thank you so much for your great posting, this has always been my thought about how we can bring trust back between us and our sibilings from Cross river, Akwa-ibom Rivers and other areas that make up Biafra. We must tune down some of our hateful rehtoric, all it does is push us further apart. Let us not degenerate to the level of clement Ikpatt, and steve Nwabuzor who continue to use the internet to call for the head of all Igbos. I recently attended a wedding, and the families of the Bride/Bridegroom were from Akwa-ibom, Ninety nine plus nine percent of those present were from South South, and South East. Noboody could distinguish who is from where, The culture was the same, the attire was very unique from what you will see in a typical Nigerian gathering. It was a very impressive coming together of people with very great similarity in culture and tradition. We are all in the same boat, in this fraud called Nigeria, and must work together to free ourselves from this bondange. The approach is to see ourselves as partners in pursuit of our freedoom and not as foes as our enemies would like to see us.Our enemies whose business is to divide and keep us in Nigeria at all cost so as to continue to steal our resources. Let us let bye gone be bye gone, and start to chart a new course for success. We are better off paddling our own canoe. Our children yet unborn will be grateful that we brought them out of this slavery in Nigeria, when they read our history in years to come. [ December 08, 2001: Message edited by: chima njoku ] [ December 09, 2001: Message edited by: chima njoku ] Posts: 524 | From: USA | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged

Chudi Sokie Senior Advocate Advocate # 137 Advocate Rated: posted December 08, 2001 04:42 PM<span class="dateformat-0">December 08, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">04:42 PM</span>                       Chima, Sundiatta, Excellent points! for starters, do you know of any website where one can go to and exchange cultural ideas with say Ibibios, Effiks or Annangs. I went to primary school with many Ibibios. The perjorative teasing that Sundiatta mentioned is not a general thing, but depends on individual's character. On the war time actions of the Igbo neighbours, with the exception of the Ijaw, the rest of them just were trying to survive the multinational instigated war. Posts: 138 | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged

UKAOBASI Avocat Supérieur Advocate # 201 posted December 09, 2001 06:39 PM<span class="dateformat-0">December 09, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">06:39 PM</span>                       Sundiatta and Chima, Men, what can I say? You said it all. great posting from all contributors on this thread, but especially yours. Udo na ngozi Chineke diri unu ncha. ___________________ YA CAIN'T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN :) Posts: 1184 | From: TEXAS | Registered: Oct 2001  |  IP: Logged

sundiatta Advocate Advocate # 218 Advocate Rated: posted December 11, 2001 08:33 AM<span class="dateformat-0">December 11, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">08:33 AM</span>                       Folks, God is on our side! Our Ikwerre kin are re-tracing their steps home and we must reach out.Please see this news item below which I found on the "Nigeria Today/Phone News" service. I don't know any Ibibio or Efik groups or websites but there must be; we should find them and we should reach out. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Some 27 years after the Nigerian civil war, the rift between Igbos and their kinsmen outside the mainland appears to be breached by a new socio-political organization. The new group, Ohaneze Ikwerre, was formed by Igbos in Rivers [State] to re-establish relations with their Igbos across the country. The chairman, Mr Evans Dimkpa, said in Port Harcourt that Ohaneze was the en masse movement designed to give the people a focused leadership. Mr Dimkpa, a native of Ahaoda, said that the Ohaneze Ikwerre will be a parallel organ to the Okpako Ikwerre, whose present leadership has failed to properly direct the people. Posts: 58 | From: Boston | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged

Ohafia Udumeze Supreme Advocate Advocate # 127 Advocate Rated: posted December 11, 2001 09:43 AM<span class="dateformat-0">December 11, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">09:43 AM</span>                       Sundiatta: Did you receive my email? ___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged

sundiatta Advocate Advocate # 218 Advocate Rated: posted December 11, 2001 10:25 AM<span class="dateformat-0">December 11, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">10:25 AM</span>                       Yes,I did and will respond ASAP,after 12/20! quote: Originally posted by Ohafia Udumeze: Sundiatta: Did you receive my email? Posts: 58 | From: Boston | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged

Ohafia Udumeze Supreme Advocate Advocate # 127 Advocate Rated: posted December 11, 2001 10:38 AM<span class="dateformat-0">December 11, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">10:38 AM</span>                       cool! ___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged

AfricaWest Senior Advocate Advocate # 213 Advocate Rated: posted December 11, 2001 04:54 PM<span class="dateformat-0">December 11, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">04:54 PM</span>                       I am very pleased to read the posts on this thread. Yes, we must reach out to our fellow brothers and sisters east of the Niger. An Eastern Reunion is well overdue! ___________________ In the Fullness of Time... Posts: 176 | From: UK | Registered: Nov 2001  |  IP: Logged

Ohafia Udumeze Supreme Advocate Advocate # 127 Advocate Rated: posted December 13, 2001 04:35 PM<span class="dateformat-0">December 13, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">04:35 PM</span>                       Guys: I found the following interesting article. Shows our eastern leaders had good intentions and were not just hell-bent on ripping off our neighbours as has been much touted. I've deleted the writer's name to protect his identity. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nd'Igbo, ndewo nu! Please advise me on this: where to get the book by U******. It sounds like he did some deep analysis of the conditions of underdevelopment. His issue with economic production/local consumption is important. This principle in fact undergirds the entire framework of the Eastern Nigerian Economic development plan (1954-1964), also known as "The ten year plan", drawn between Nnamdi Azikiwe and Mbonu Ojike, both first class economists. (Few people know that Azikiwe's specialist field was political Economy and Economic History). This plan was further articulated by Pius Okigbo when he assumed the position of Economic adviser to the Eastern government, by which time Mbonu Ojike had died (I956), and Okigbo's friend, M.I Okpara had assumed the premiership of the region with Azikiwe's retirement from politics and ascension to the ceremonial post of Governor-general (later president of the Nigerian federation) in 1958. The Eastern Nigerian Economic Reconstruction plan (1954) was based on the concept that Azikiwe clearly called "Economic determinism". Ojike was to articulate it in a more accessible language when he proclaimed that we should "boycott the boycottable.". The four important anchors to the Economic vision were: a. EDUCATION: To that end, an education policy was designed for "strategic manpower development". It was to create "producers", not masters. The concept of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, chartered in 1956, although admitting its first students in 1960, was at the base of this program. It was different from the colonial University of Ibadan, which was based on "classical" education. Nsukka was concieved as "a workshop", where one learnt that credo of the Arthurian Camelot: "In serving our fellow men we serve ourselves". It was fully compressed into the motto of the University, something about the dignity of man. The point was that early in Nsukka, unlike in Ibadan where you were served, at Nsukka you helped yourself. Azikiwe had in fact criticized the idea of the University College, Ibadan in 1948 as "a one million dollar baby" because it was so unsuited to the developmental needs of a decolonizing society. Its values were too burgeois, too isolate from the reality of its own history. (My father went there!) That critique is of course lost in history, for by the end of the war, the fundamental ideas of the university of Nigeria was totally disfigured, when the federal government acquired UNN, and merged it into the more elitist function of the education philosphy of the rest of Nigeria which has so far produced a generation of unusable manpower. Nsukka's case was particularly imperative because it was also the "hotbed for Biafran agitation". But this is another story. Before the war, the philosphy of education in the East was based on a mass literacy program that would produce very roundedly educated people. Although the eastern government could not sustain a free education system, even though it tried it from 1957-1958, it understood that it needed a solid, well-trained manpower. Curriculum development was elaborate and eclectic. A scholarship program, from the community/the county/the Region was devised. By 1958, every county in the former Eastern region had Community Grammar Schools built by community development strategies, with a government grants-in-aid. The result is the current reality - that the Igbo are possibly the most educated of the world's black peoples. Forget the fallacy that is unsupported by figures that the west of Nigeria has the most educated group. This is in fact not true, and one should look closely into the records. But again, that is a different matter. The second principle of the Eastern plan was INUSTRIAL PRODUCTION. The East had the first industrial developement plan in Africa. Note that All Eastern Nigerian "townships" / cities had designed within them, an industrial zone: Aba (factory Road),Umuahia (Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out. So did Owerri, which had an inustrial layout,so did Onitsha etc. etc. Owerri,Aba and Port Harcourt were already designed in what was clalled "A three city nexus" (see works plan of the Eastern Survey Dept. in Enugu) which would connect them into the megacity, with a local metroline service. (part of this plan was revived by Ndubisi kanu when he became governor of the new Imo state i 1976, and he contracted a Dutch firm to design Owerri as a modern capital using an already established model (Amsterdam). But Adekunle Lawal took one look at the Owerri plan and threw it away as "too expensive". He stipped the scale down when he arrived to be governor. Enugu was also to connect Port-Harcourt, through Umuahia by Underground rail (see Eastern Surveyor-General's report 1965). Calabar was already concieved as an Industrial free zone for Exports nd was to serve the Aba industrial city through its ports. But in practical terms, the first steel plant in Africa, Nigersteel, was concieved in Enugu, So was Nigergas, the integretated gas plant, one in Enugu, one in Port-harcourt.As part of its agreements with the eastern regional government, Shell was to build gas power plant with turbines to serve the domestic and industrial uses for the industrial cities of Aba and port-harcourt.An Eastern Nigerian industrial plan was already afoot, and the east was rapidly evolving into the modern indutrial giant of the African continent. So much that a 1964 Harvard/World bank report stated very clearly that the Eastern Nigerian Economy was the fastest growing in the world. Ten years after the Eastern Economic Reconstruction plan came into being!.That was the rise of the term "Aba made". The other critical anchor was AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT. Okpara pursued this part of the plan very vigorously because he knew that every industrial power must be sustained by food production. He also knew that there had to be a radical shift from traditional agrarian practices to a modern agricultural production. There was of course the difficult issue of the land tenure practice in Igbo land/ the rest of the East. His solution was brilliant. He did not allow monopolies, he created modern farm settlements based on the system of farm collectives. By 1963, every boarding school in Eastern Nigeria was required to serve its students at least an egg a day because there was excess production. The fourth basis the the empowerment of COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES. This feature of Igbo political organization is indeed what we have retained, and how we have survived the oppression of our people from the top. It is self evident and requires no further commentary. I have drawn attention to these facts, just to point that we have complementry development documents and U******'s might just be another important addition. But I will just make three quick observations: I do suscribe to his strategy of credit, it does exist even in the Igbo economic system, and in Mbaise it is called "nna na aka". But we must reformulate the credit system, and not make the mistakes of western economic models which is currently leading them into a cul de sac: credit must revolve around production, and around a co-operative system rather than the "wall street model". The original methods of the stock exchange that transformed Western systems of economic exchange is what we must get back to. Three we must go back to redesign our school system to create, not consumers - both in the cultural and material sense - but producers. I also think that we mus re-invaginate dissent into our democratic structures, and begin to teach our children the authentic philosophies of self-respect, and respect for humanity and for the race. That would renew them, not damage them permanently. For too long we have been guided by the ethic of "Ike" (power) which is destructive.We must return to the humane ethic of the Igbo, and realize that the race that survives is not one in which the hawks roam the sky.The igbo consciousness is in fact suspicious of the powerful, especially the absolutely powerful. The story of Anukili n'Umugama is a valid Igbo eschatology. The Igbo religious system, based on the Eri canon is based on "udo" - peace (see Angulu Onwuejiogwu). "Onye biri onye biri". In this case, Igbo land. The destruction o the Igbo ethic would mean, the destruction of Igbo identity - an issue that the erudite MJC Echeruo addressed in his Ahiajoku lectures in 1979. I guess my point is, that while we need an economic and political program, we also need a cultural program, in order to empower the sense of our mission as a people. For instance what did Azikiwe mean when he declared in Aba in 1947 that God has kept the Igbo to lead the black peoples out of the bond of ages?. What did he mean when he said that the Igbos would rule the world because they "did not succumb to the carthaginian treaty". These are questions of identity philosophy, the same that has engaged the western mind from Kant, Nieztche, Hegel, to Hume and even the contemporary Fukuyama, all of them theorists in the tradition of European enlightenment - the basis of the western dominance of the world in the last 500 years!. We must begin the spade work. The road is long... ___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged

omorebiyan Advocate Advocate # 222 posted December 16, 2001 02:21 AM<span class="dateformat-0">December 16, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">02:21 AM</span>                       That was an interesting and useful article article. ___________________ May the Lord give us integrity.... Posts: 11 | Registered: Dec 2001  |  IP: Logged

Ohafia Udumeze Supreme Advocate Advocate # 127 Advocate Rated: posted December 16, 2001 02:03 PM<span class="dateformat-0">December 16, 2001</span> <span class="timeformat-0">02:03 PM</span>                       In an exclusive interview with THISDAY, Friday, following a massive reception by his teeming members and supporters in the Northern City of Kaduna, MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazurike vowed that the 2003 presidential and federal parliamentary elections would not hold in the South-East and South-South zones. quote: He also assured his supporters that there would not be any form of marginalisation in Biafraland noting that, "the first Biafran President will not come from the Igbo speaking areas." ___________________ Awo's political idea was based on the assumption that any town beyond Owo was Igbo or Hausa. Awo was not socialised; he was not a good mixer because he did not have the opportunity, which the secondary school offered. ~TOS Benson, Baba Oba of Lagos Posts: 2644 | From: United Kingdom | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged

Odili Senior Advocate Advocate # 149 Advocate Rated: posted January 14, 2002 09:28 AM<span class="dateformat-0">January 14, 2002</span> <span class="timeformat-0">09:28 AM</span>                          Jude Olisa, Sorry for not responding earlier. As for Ekpo, he is wasting his time looking for reasons to create hatred between Igbos and their neighbors. THE Easterners should unite or else we will always find ourselves powerless. It's a shame that the so called Nigerdelta has been turned into a battle field. The Ijaw, Urhobo, Itsekiris must realise that they can't talk about injustice when they out there in the streets murdering eachther over stupid reasons. No matter what people say about the relationship between Igbos and their neighbors we are all genetically related to eachother. I myself has Efik/Ibibio blood in me. My own relatives are 50/50 efik and Igbo. South South and SouthEast must work together peacefully. ___________________ Biafra fo' LIFE. Posts: 629 | From: Houston, Texas | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged

Egede1 Advocate Advocate # 361 Advocate Rated: posted February 07, 2003 09:38 PM<span class="dateformat-0">February 07, 2003</span> <span class="timeformat-0">09:38 PM</span>                       Sundiatta Ndigbo have done no and should not entertain any feeling of wrongdoing to the minorities ethnic groups in the then eastern Nigeria. If I had enough time in my hand, I could give few detailed history of the interaction between Ndigbo and minority neighbors. Every ethnic group has few straits other ethnic groups lacked. What you may regard as brash and arrogant, I term as tenacity. It is an aberration for sundiatta to insinuate that Ndigbo should own up to the wrongdoing done to Chief Eyo Ita in 1953. Let me make it clear that the polity in Nigeria leading to the independence was laden with tribal, regional and colonial political tussles. When the politicians of western and northern regions were emphatically telling the minorities in among them who owns the land, the eastern regional politicians were promoting the minorities in their midst in any form or shape. In the west, the Egbe Omo Oduduwa demanded the schools in then Mid-western region be taught in Yourba language. Even Oba of Benin, Akezua II was not regarded as a first class chief by regional government in Ibadan. In the north, the Fualnis and Kanuris manhandled the Hausas and Tivs. Of course, the eastern Nigerian was a heaven for the minorities. People like Eyo Ita, Margaret Ekpo, A.U Akpan, Graham Duaglas, S.E Imoke, Chief Frank Opigo, Chief Kubani and Chief E. O. Bassey held leadership positions in the government. Even Obong of Calaber was the leader in the house of chiefs. The trouble of eastern started when crude oil was struck in the region about 1951. The study by the British proved that eastern region will be the most viable piece of real estate in the entire British colony including India. Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe was a young dynamic intellectual who has joined the fight against British continued colonization in Africa. When Zik’s program to create political arena devoid of any tribal politics failed woefully in western region, he retreated to his home base. In Enugu, Zik never requested to be the premier rather he setup a plan that would further make eastern region an economic powerhouse. He initiated the motion to create ACB (African Continental Bank) from the fund allocated to eastern Nigerian financial board. The moment the opponents of Zik, British and northern Nigerian included, found out that eastern Nigeria is on her way to economic greatness, they setup plan to destabilize it. A plan was hashed to blackmail Zik financially with the intention to destroy his political ambitions. One of the agents used in this grand plan was Chief Eyo Ita. It could be recalled that due to financial circumstances that led to the formation of ACB, Chief Eyo Ita and his cronies moved a motion of financial improprieties against Zik. But this motion was dead on arrival as prominent Ibibio political stalwarts in the legislature did not joined him in this political suicide. This political transgression was not taken lightly by other members of N.C.N.C. as Ita was declared persona non-grata. Chief Eyo Ita joined Action Group (AG) which was another detractor of eastern region. I am one Igbo man who does not care much about the minorities in the eastern Nigeria except for the Ibibios and Annangs. The abandon property was not instigated in any part of Nigeria but Rivers State. Also, the excision of crude oil producing areas of Igboland to the communities of the ethnic minority in Rivers State is another pointer. Ironically, the only thing constant in this world is change. Nigeria may not remain as currently constituted forever. Posts: 28 | From: U.S.A | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged

Mekus Advocate Advocate # 550 Rate Advocate posted March 29, 2004 07:50 PM<span class="dateformat-0">March 29, 2004</span>& amp;lt;span class="timeformat-0">07:50 PM</span>                       This is my first time in this site and I like what I have seen so far - people who still remember that we are just foreigners under Nigeria and still with hope of independent Biafra. But as most of you guys said already, for us to be successful in this our quest to regain our independence, we have to be and start acting as one Biafra, no matter whether you are Ibo or Ibibos etc. It is of my opinion that one of the reasons why we lost the war was that we were not united as one. So we cannot make the same mistake again. We should learn from our mistake, then unite as one and take back what belong to us which is the Federal Republic of Biafra

On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 11:45 AM, Odudu Abasi <odudu...@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

"Dr. Azikiwe worked and planned for the betterment of all Eastern Region people -Ibibios, Efiks, Ijaws, Kalabari, Annangs, Okirikas, Igbos etc. and all people of that region - - - - " Ugo Harris Ukandu

Harris Ukandu,

You can go tell the above story to Tibetan monks  - they live in a world far, very  far removed from Nigeria and her reality.

If your story were true,  how many of those groups you have mentioned stood with you during your secessionist war?

OduduAbasi

DFW

On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 2:14 PM, Chris Udoh <udoh....@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

   Zik opened business opportunities for Igbo people. He used the ACB (African Continental Bank) to serve as a launch pad for business finance for Igbo people.Today you can find traces of the hand of Zik in all Igbo people, be it petty traders, importers or top business executives.Just as Awo gave the Yorubas education, Zik provided the Igbos with business education and financial support. The only unfortunate thing is that in the then Eastern Region, it was on the Igbos that Zik gave relevance to.I don't know what the Northern Leaders gave to their subjects apart from asking them to go and learn Quran under Alfa, and beg for food, while their children (the Leaders Children) where sent to the best schools abroad.

 Chris 

 

 

On Tuesday, January 7, 2014 3:13 AM, Iboro Otongaran <iboroot...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Chris Udoh,

Happy new year brother. I dont want to get involved in the debate about what Zik did or did not do for the Eastern Region. But I need to point out that any opinion that suggests that Ahmadu Bello did nothing for the North is a gross misreading of history and contemporary reality.
Ahmadu Bello achieved an awful lot for the Northern Region within the context of what he wanted for his people: POWER. The Sadauna believed that power flowed from the barrel of the gun. This is why he got northern youths to massively enlist in the Armed Forces, even at the expense of their academic and other forms of professional education. In quick order they had seized control and dominated the Army. They used control of the Army to dominate power for the better part of the nation's independence through all the coups and resultant military governments. They were thus in a vantage position to take over and own the oil sector; create more states and local governments for themselves; determine  the nation's population in favour of their region, etc.
Power may no longer flow from the barrel of the gun, but they have already achieved their goal.
Today they control the nation's legislature and retain a strangle-hold on the country, a natural outcome of the leadership calculations of Sir Ahmadu Bello.

Iboro Lagos

On 7 Jan 2014 04:45, "Ugo Harris Ukandu" <abuj...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Chris Udoh,

Dr. Azikiwe worked and planned for the betterment of all Eastern Region people -Ibibios, Efiks, Ijaws, Kalabari, Annangs, Okirikas, Igbos etc. and all people of that region and for Nigeria as a whole. See these facts and records. Let all of the people of Eastern Region think and forget the lies and propaganda to divide us for over 40 years now . It is time for us to unite and be strong and progress. My dream as a new generation Igbo man now is that an Ibibio, Efiks, Ijaws, Kalabari, Annangs, Okirikas etc. from the East in my life time will become president, senate president or any powerful position and assume their ability to lead in all capacity and position in Nigeria if Nigeria still exists. Today Igbos have learned that their cousins and neighbors deserves Igbo support. If tomorrow an Ibibio man or Efik man etc. want to run in any position in Nigeria, the new generation  Igbos will support  that person knowing what Igbos know now,  like Igbos are supporting President Jonathan, because Charity should begin from home.

On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 2:14 PM, Chris Udoh <udoh....@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

   Zik opened business opportunities for Igbo people. He used the ACB (African Continental Bank) to serve as a launch pad for business finance for Igbo people.Today you can find traces of the hand of Zik in all Igbo people, be it petty traders, importers or top business executives.Just as Awo gave the Yorubas education, Zik provided the Igbos with business education and financial support. The only unfortunate thing is that in the then Eastern Region, it was on the Igbos that Zik gave relevance to.I don't know what the Northern Leaders gave to their subjects apart from asking them to go and learn Quran under Alfa, and beg for food, while their children (the Leaders Children) where sent to the best schools abroad.

 Chris 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Politics / Re: Zik's Final Resting Place In Ruins by henry101(m): 3:16am On Jul 20, 2011

The collaboration of other parts of Nigeria would be understandable, seeing that by 1964, the Eastern region was already touted as the fastest growing economy in the world by research reports commissioned by the World Bank and by Harvard University in the United States.

The Eastern Nigerian Economic reconstruction plan (1954-1964) - the ten year plan - drawn by the visionary Zik, and the eminently brilliant Mbonu Ojike, the most acute economic mind of that generation of argonauts, and later fully implemented by the inimitable Michael Okpara, had placed the East on a development route, [b]that by the 1960s all the talk of "Igbo domination" was merely a metaphor of the progress in the East.

Two banks at least  African Continental Bank and Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria all once headquartered in the East  were at the centre of Eastern Nigerian post-colonial economic renaissance. Azikiwes banking policy and Mbonu Ojikes protectionist policies (remember boycott the boycottable) instigated the rise of indigenous entrepreneurial initiatives at a massive scale in the East from 1953 to 1983.

"The East  had the first industrial developement plan in Africa. Note that All Eastern
Nigerian "townships" / cities had designed within them, an industrial zone:
Aba (factory Road),Umuahia (Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and
Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and
the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out. So did Owerri, which had an industrial
layout,so did Onitsha etc. etc. Owerri,Aba and Port Harcourt were already
designed in what was clalled "A three city nexus" (see works plan of the
Eastern Survey Dept. in Enugu)
The institutions like the :

African Continental Bank,

Cooporative Bank of Eastern Nigeria
Eastern Nigerian Development Corporation,
University of Nigeria was established in 1960 with campuses at Nsukka and Calabar

Obudu Tourism and Entertainment Ranch
Nigercem,
Nigergas,
Nigersteel,
Factory,glass industries,
hotels-Presidential Hotel in Enugu and PortHarcourt  (Tourism Promotion)
farm settlements in all Division and LGA ,

Rubber and Palm plantations in all Division and LGA
Aba Textile company,
Golden Guinea Breweries in Umuahia,
Standard Shoe Factory in Owerri,

Portharcourt sea Port Expansion

"For the avoidance of doubt, any zone that enjoys a proximity of even thirty nautical miles to a maritime endowment such as the Atlantic Ocean, should not in any way categorize itself as being land-locked. For the benefit of those who do not know, Port-Harcourt wharf is about forty nautical miles to the Atlantic Ocean. It was dredged and scooped during the Premiership of Dr. M.I. Okpara during the defunct Eastern Region for ships to berth therein. If Port-Harcourt wharf could be made accessible to ships despite its fourty-nautical-mile distance to the Atlantic Ocean, it justifiably stands to reason that Obeaku-Ndoki Wharf in Abia State, which is only twenty-five nautical miles to the Atlantic Ocean, could be more readily and profitably accessed by ships. Since Nigeria parades a galaxy of consultants in marine engineering, obtaining professional advice in this regards may not be far from reach."Chief (Sir) Don Ubani; ksc, JP(Okwubunka of Asa)Umuiku-Isi-Asa Ukwa-West L.G.A.P.M.B 7048 Aba.

-------------------------------------

A Force in Library Development in Nigeria

http://www.worlib.org/vol07no2/aguolu_v07n2.shtml

C.C. Aguolu and L.E. Aguolu

 Abstract

This is the first attempt to coherently document the immense contributions of one of Africa’s foremost nationalists and pan–Africanists to the development of libraries in Nigeria. Although he is best known for his achievements in politics, journalism, and sports, Dr. Azikiwe saw the library as a vehicle for the intellectual emancipation of Nigerians from colonial rule.

As President of Eastern Nigeria in the 1950s, the first and only indigenous Governor–General, and first President of Nigeria in the 1960s, he was able to wield sufficient political influence to ensure a legal basis for public library development in Nigeria, the establishment of the University of Nigeria Library – named after himself – and the eventual creation of the National Library of Nigeria.

- The first International Trade Fair was opened by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe at Victoria Island on October 27, 1962.

- Launching of the National Savings Scheme (Premium Bond) by Mrs. Flora Azikiwe at General Post Office, Marina on 8th December, 1962.

- Opening of the ?2 million Guinness Breweries at Ikeja on 6th March, 1963 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

- Opening of the New Engineering Base and Hangar at Lagos Airport Ikeja by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on December 13, 1963.

- Opening of the Royal Mint at Victoria Island on April 10, 1965 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the subsequent issuance and circulation of New Currency notes in the denomination of £5; £10s and 5s on July 1, 1965.

Opening of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka on October 7, 1960.

Two banks at least  African Continental Bank and Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria all once headquartered in the East  were at the centre of Eastern Nigerian post-colonial economic renaissance. Azikiwes banking policy and Mbonu Ojikes protectionist policies (remember boycott the boycottable) instigated the rise of indigenous entrepreneurial initiatives at a massive scale in the East from 1953 to 1983.

Industrial which is still in existence and in good use today, etc.
The products and services of these institutions and businesses were first class. Thus, people had full employment. With the economy growing annually at between 10 and 12%, the Eastern Nigerian economy was one of the fastest growing worldwide.

------------------------------------------------------

http://messageboard.biafranigeriaworld.com/ultimatebb.cgi/ubb/get_topic/f/15/t/000003.html

The second principle of the Eastern plan was INUSTRIAL PRODUCTION. The East
had the first industrial developement plan in Africa. Note that All Eastern
Nigerian "townships" / cities had designed within them, an industrial zone:
Aba (factory Road),Umuahia (Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and
Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and
the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out. So did Owerri, which had an inustrial
layout,so did Onitsha etc. etc. Owerri,Aba and Port Harcourt were already
designed in what was clalled "A three city nexus" (see works plan of the
Eastern Survey Dept. in Enugu) which would connect them into the megacity,
with a local metroline service. (part of this plan was revived by Ndubisi
kanu when he became governor of the new Imo state i 1976, and he contracted
a Dutch firm to design Owerri as a modern capital using an already
established model (Amsterdam). But Adekunle Lawal took one look at the
Owerri plan and threw it away as "too expensive". He stipped the scale down
when he arrived to be governor. Enugu was also to connect Port-Harcourt,
through Umuahia by Underground rail (see Eastern Surveyor-General's report
1965). Calabar was already concieved as an Industrial free zone for Exports
nd was to serve the Aba industrial city through its ports. But in practical
terms, the first steel plant in Africa, Nigersteel, was concieved in Enugu,
So was Nigergas, the integretated gas plant, one in Enugu, one in
Port-harcourt.As part of its agreements with the eastern regional
government, Shell was to build gas power plant with turbines to serve the
domestic and industrial uses for the industrial cities of Aba and
port-harcourt.An Eastern Nigerian industrial plan was already afoot, and the
east was rapidly evolving into the modern indutrial giant of the African
continent. So much that a 1964 Harvard/World bank report stated very clearly
that the Eastern Nigerian Economy was the fastest growing in the world. Ten
years after the Eastern Economic Reconstruction plan came into being!.That
was the rise of the term "Aba made".

http://messageboard.biafranigeriaworld.com/ultimatebb.cgi/ubb/get_topic/f/15/t/000003.html

The Eastern Nigerian government was the pacesetter in development and the regional governments in the West and the North responded almost like copycats. For instance, when the University of Nigeria was established in 1960 with campuses at Nsukka and Calabar, the Akintola government responded in 1962 by building the University of Ife now named Obafemi Awolowo University and the Northern Regional government replied by building Ahmadu Bello University at Zaria. Also when Zik built the African Continental Bank to help in the formation of indigenous capital and the empowerment of our people who could not obtain bank facilities from the foreign owned banks of those years, Awolowo quickly built the National Bank and the Sardauna established Bank of the North. When Okpara employed the services of the Israelis to build Nigeria's first farm settlements, the Western Nigerian government quickly followed suit.

----------------------------------------------------------

Ohafia Udumeze Supreme Advocate Advocate # 127 Advocate Rated:

posted December 13, 2001 04:35

http://messageboard.biafranigeriaworld.com/ultimatebb.cgi/ubb/get_topic/f/15/t/000003.html

fact undergirds the entire framework of the Eastern Nigerian Economic
development plan (1954-1964), also known as "The ten year plan", drawn
between Nnamdi Azikiwe and Mbonu Ojike, both first class economists. (Few
people know that Azikiwe's specialist field was political Economy and
Economic History). This plan was further articulated by Pius Okigbo when he
assumed the position of Economic adviser to the Eastern government, by which
time Mbonu Ojike had died (I956), and Okigbo's friend, M.I Okpara had
assumed the premiership of the region with Azikiwe's retirement from
politics and ascension to the ceremonial post of Governor-general (later
president of the Nigerian federation) in 1958. The Eastern Nigerian Economic
Reconstruction plan (1954) was based on the concept that Azikiwe clearly
called "Economic determinism". Ojike was to articulate it in a more
accessible language when he proclaimed that we should "boycott the
boycottable.". The four important anchors to the Economic vision were:
a. EDUCATION: To that end, an education policy was designed for "strategic
manpower development". It was to create "producers", not masters. The
concept of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, chartered in 1956, although
admitting its first students in 1960, was at the base of this program. It
was different from the colonial University of Ibadan, which was based on
"classical" education. Nsukka was concieved as "a workshop", where one
learnt that credo of the Arthurian Camelot: "In serving our fellow men we
serve ourselves". It was fully compressed into the motto of the University,
something about the dignity of man. The point was that early in Nsukka,
unlike in Ibadan where you were served, at Nsukka you helped yourself.
Azikiwe had in fact criticized the idea of the University College, Ibadan in
1948 as "a one million dollar baby" because it was so unsuited to the
developmental needs of a decolonizing society. Its values were too burgeois,
too isolate from the reality of its own history. (My father went there!)
That critique is of course lost in history, for by the end of the war, the
fundamental ideas of the university of Nigeria was totally disfigured, when
the federal government acquired UNN, and merged it into the more elitist
function of the education philosphy of the rest of Nigeria which has so far
produced a generation of unusable manpower. Nsukka's case was particularly
imperative because it was also the "hotbed for Biafran agitation". But this
is another story. Before the war, the philosphy of education in the East was
based on a mass literacy program that would produce very roundedly educated
people. Although the eastern government could not sustain a free education
system, even though it tried it from 1957-1958, it understood that it needed
a solid, well-trained manpower. Curriculum development was elaborate and
eclectic. A scholarship program, from the community/the county/the Region
was devised. By 1958, every county in the former Eastern region had
Community Grammar Schools built by community development strategies, with a
government grants-in-aid. The result is the current reality - that the Igbo
are possibly the most educated of the world's black peoples. Forget the
fallacy that is unsupported by figures that the west of Nigeria has the most
educated group. This is in fact not true, and one should look closely into
the records. But again, that is a different matter.
The second principle of the Eastern plan was INUSTRIAL PRODUCTION. The East
had the first industrial developement plan in Africa. Note that All Eastern
Nigerian "townships" / cities had designed within them, an industrial zone:
Aba (factory Road),Umuahia (Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and
Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and
the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out. So did Owerri, which had an inustrial
layout,so did Onitsha etc. etc. Owerri,Aba and Port Harcourt were already
designed in what was clalled "A three city nexus" (see works plan of the
Eastern Survey Dept. in Enugu) which would connect them into the megacity,
with a local metroline service. (part of this plan was revived by Ndubisi
kanu when he became governor of the new Imo state i 1976, and he contracted
a Dutch firm to design Owerri as a modern capital using an already
established model (Amsterdam). But Adekunle Lawal took one look at the
Owerri plan and threw it away as "too expensive". He stipped the scale down
when he arrived to be governor. Enugu was also to connect Port-Harcourt,
through Umuahia by Underground rail (see Eastern Surveyor-General's report
1965). Calabar was already concieved as an Industrial free zone for Exports
nd was to serve the Aba industrial city through its ports. But in practical
terms, the first steel plant in Africa, Nigersteel, was concieved in Enugu,
So was Nigergas, the integretated gas plant, one in Enugu, one in
Port-harcourt.As part of its agreements with the eastern regional
government, Shell was to build gas power plant with turbines to serve the
domestic and industrial uses for the industrial cities of Aba and
port-harcourt.An Eastern Nigerian industrial plan was already afoot, and the
east was rapidly evolving into the modern indutrial giant of the African
continent. So much that a 1964 Harvard/World bank report stated very clearly
that the Eastern Nigerian Economy was the fastest growing in the world. Ten
years after the Eastern Economic Reconstruction plan came into being!.That
was the rise of the term "Aba made".
The other critical anchor was AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT. Okpara pursued this
part of the plan very vigorously because he knew that every industrial power
must be sustained by food production. He also knew that there had to be a
radical shift from traditional agrarian practices to a modern agricultural
production. There was of course the difficult issue of the land tenure
practice in Igbo land/ the rest of the East. His solution was brilliant. He
did not allow monopolies, he created modern farm settlements based on the
system of farm collectives. By 1963, every boarding school in Eastern
Nigeria was required to serve its students at least an egg a day because
there was excess production. The fourth basis the the empowerment of
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES. This feature of Igbo political
organization is indeed what we have retained, and how we have survived the
oppression of our people from the top. It is self evident and requires no
further commentary.
I have drawn attention to these facts, just to point that we have
complementry development documents and U******'s might just be another
important addition. But I will just make three quick observations: I do
suscribe to his strategy of credit, it does exist even in the Igbo economic
system, and in Mbaise it is called "nna na aka". But we must reformulate the
credit system, and not make the mistakes of western economic models which is
currently leading them into a cul de sac: credit must revolve around
production, and around a co-operative system rather than the "wall street
model". The original methods of the stock exchange that transformed Western
systems of economic exchange is what we must get back to. Three we must go
back to redesign our school system to create, not consumers - both in the
cultural and material sense - but producers. I also think that we mus
re-invaginate dissent into our democratic structures, and begin to teach our
children the authentic philosophies of self-respect, and respect for
humanity and for the race. That would renew them, not damage them
permanently. For too long we have been guided by the ethic of "Ike" (power)
which is destructive.We must return to the humane ethic of the Igbo, and
realize that the race that survives is not one in which the hawks roam the
sky.The igbo consciousness is in fact suspicious of the powerful, especially
the absolutely powerful. The story of Anukili n'Umugama is a valid Igbo
eschatology. The Igbo religious system, based on the Eri canon is based on
"udo" - peace (see Angulu Onwuejiogwu). "Onye biri onye biri". In this case, Igbo land. The destruction o the
Igbo ethic would mean, the destruction of Igbo identity - an issue that the
erudite MJC Echeruo addressed in his Ahiajoku lectures in 1979. I guess my
point is, that while we need an economic and political program, we also need
a cultural program, in order to empower the sense of our mission as a people. For instance what did Azikiwe mean when he declared in Aba in 1947 that God has kept the Igbo to lead the black peoples out of the bond of ages?. What did he mean when he said that the Igbos would rule the world
because they "did not succumb to the carthaginian treaty". These are questions of identity philosophy, the same that has engaged the western mind from Kant, Nieztche, Hegel, to Hume and even the contemporary Fukuyama, all of them theorists in the tradition of European enlightenment - the basis of the western dominance of the world in the last 500 years!. We must begin the spade work. The road is long...

http://messageboard.biafranigeriaworld.com/ultimatebb.cgi/ubb/get_topic/f/15/t/000003.html

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Chairman of the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) Engr. Chris Okoye in this interview outlines the SENEC philosophy South-East Nigeria Economic Commission -Engr. Chris Okoye, how far have we gone.

I want to point them to Nnamdi Azikiwes Eastern Nigerian Economic Reconstruction plan, 1954-1964  the 10-year plan which, under the strict compliance of M.I Okpara as premier, transformed the East into the fastest growing economy in the world by 1964. Id like to summarize with the following suggestions: When you look carefully, the then premier of the Eastern region, Dr. M.I. Okpara seemed to have used that model very extensively almost in everything they did. Although, the Eastern Development Corporation was a government institution as against the model that we are now trying to put in place, everything done in the former Eastern Nigeria government was done by the defunct Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation.

If you recall, the first one million pounds sterling for the setting up of University of Nigeria, Nsukka was accentually raised by the marketing board under Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, father of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and that was an institution under the Eastern Nigeria Development. It was the one million pounds that they gave Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe for take-off of the University of Nigeria Nsukka. With our model of private public community partnership

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To: nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com; oduaa...@yahoogroups.com

From: JAdemisoye20012@...

Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2011 18:24:43 -0500

Subject: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: Are the Igbos the best educated group in Nigeria?

 

Folks:

 

In reading the Obituary of Chukwuemeka Ojukwu in The Telegraph, December 9, 2011, I found this interesting assertion that "The Ibo...were the best educated group..." Is this statement true or incorrect? I would like to have some reactions from the forum or contributions from people with the accurate information and knowledge on educational attainments among Nigeria's diverse ethnic groups. My understanding is that the Yorubas are the best educated ethnic group in Nigeria. If this is not the case, I stand to be corrected. Then, which ethnic group is best educated in Nigeria? Where is the empirical data to support the Ibo claim or any other claim for that matter? Thanks.

 

 

Joel Ademisoye

 

----------------------------------------------

From: Rex Marinus <rexmarinus@...>

To: nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com; igbo_...@yahoogroups.com; igbowor...@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, December 9, 2011 7:05 PM

Subject: [IgboWorldForum] RE: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: Are the Igbos the best educated group in Nigeria?

 

Ademisoye: I'll refer you to Paul Anber's essay "Modernization and Political Disintegration: Nigeria and the Ibos" published in the journal of Modern African Studies vol. 5, No 2 (Sep, 1967) 163-179. To be more specific see pp 171-172, and let me quote the relevant portion of Dr. Anber's essay:

 

"A system of Universal primary education was introduced in Eastern Nigeria in 1953, though the mission schools had already prospered in the Region long before then. Despite the fact that there was a requirement for limited contributory fees, education continued to be very much in demand. Even at the time when universal primary education was first introduced, the percentage of the population over seven years of age who were literate was higher in the East than in any other Region: East, 10.6 per cent; West 9.5 percent; North, 0.9 percent. Since 1959, the East has had more teachers and pupils than any other area of the country, with the heaviest emphasis on primary education. Figures for elementary and secondary education indicate that the approximate ratio of teachers to population in 1963 was 1 to every 1,500 in the East, 1 to every 2,500 in th West, and 1 for every 10,000 in the north. Other statistical data reveal how rapidly the standard of living rose among Ibos. The East had the most extensive hospital facilities in the country by 1965, the largest regional production of electricity in the country by 1954, and the greatest number of vehicle registrations by 1963. The economic orientation of the Ibos was also reflected through membership of credit associations: in 1963 the East had 68,220 individual members, the west 5,776, and the north a mere 2,407." His source was the Annual Abstract of Statistics ( Federal Office of Statistics, Lagos, 1965), Table 2.4, p. 14.

 

The situation has not changed radically since Paul Anber - except possibly the two years 1970-72. All you need to do even now is to go to the JAMB website and see university matriculation state by state, and compute it. There you have it.

Obi nwakanma

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CHIEF AWOLOWO AND USA SECRETARY OF STATE IN 1969 DR. HENRY KISSINGER SAID IGBOS ARE NATION BUILDERS

Situating the context of the civil war, Dr.Henry A. Kissinger, USA secretary of State, wrote in his memo of January 28, 1969 to then US President Richard Nixon.

 

"There is an urge for unity among the elite of all factions, though the strongest cement at this point is probably common tribal hatred of the Ibos. The Feds have cultivated a little elan in discovering they could run the country without the Ibos, who were the backbone of commerce and civil service in the north as well as the south".- USA secretary of State, Henry A. Kissinger, Tuesday, January 28, 1969

 

THEN CHIEF AWOLOWO SAID THE SAME THING BELOW:

----Original Message-----

From: Rex Marinus <rexma...@hotmail.com>

To: igboevents <igboe...@yahoogroups.com>; nigerianworldforum <nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com>; talknigeria <talkn...@yahoogroups.com>; naijaobserver <naijao...@yahoogroups.com>; igboworldforum <igbowor...@yahoo.com>; naijapolitics< naijap...@yahoogroups.com>

Sent: Thu, Nov 29, 2012 7:40 am

Subject: [IgboEvents:Live] The Real Story of Nigeria - Nigeria and the Igbo from the very mouths of Obafemi Awolowo

 

QUOTE BY CHIEF AWOLOWO

“I was a little bit disturbed by the point you made before. I hope you have not taken a final decision on it, that is, that the East will not associate with the North in future. Easterners have fought more than any other group in this country over the years to make Nigeria what it is, or what it was, before the crisis began. I think it will be a pity if they just forget something for which they have laboured for years . Many of the Easterners who fought for “One Nigeria” are no longer with us. It will not be a good tribute to their memory by destroying that“one Nigeria”., Certainly, it is not going to be the same as it used to be. I have taken a stand on that, and I am prepared to drop tribal labels at the moment, but I know in my own mind what sort of thing I have in view for the federation. But I think it will be a great pity and tragedy and disservice to the memories of all those who have gone to disband Nigeria. And here we are not here to criticize anybody, I think it is generally agreed that some units have done more for the unity of Nigeria than others. The East certainly have not yielded first place to anyone in that regard. I would like you to consider that aspect very seriously”.

-Chief Awolowo to General Ojukwu, Enugu, May 6, 1967.

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http://www.nairaland.com/henry101/posts/3

In Praise of  “Zik of Africa” On His 100th Birthday (Posthumously)

By

Mobolaji E. Aluko
alu...@comcast.net



November 16,  2004



INTRODUCTION

If Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe had been alive today, he would have turned 100 on this blessed day of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  

Posthumous birthday felicitations to him!

So I use the occasion to rise to toast Zik  and once again reflect on him – on his contribution to Nigeria, but particularly to the Igbos, right from when Zik allegedly stowed away to the United States in 1925, returned to Africa in 1934 and to Nigeria in 1937,  and became Nigeria’s first indigenous Governor-General in 1960, and its first (non-executive) President in 1963.

I fully assert that next to God Almighty himself, Zik gave the Igbos the self-esteem that they rightly have today, for without Zik's personal assertiveness and inspiration in education, I fear that the Igbos would not be where they were today!  God may have raised some body else up for the Igbos, but He chose to raise Zik up, and Zik did a darn good job of it.


THE EARLY YEARS

I will begin by "cutting and pasting" a little.   While reading, please recall that Zik was born in 1904 and Obafemi Awolowo in 1909, to give context to the chronological and cultural milieu into which they were both born:  they are both inextricably tied up with each other in the context of Nigeria’s history.


QUOTE

J.S. Coleman:  Nigeria: Background to Nationalism" (1985)  Broburg and Wistrom, Benin City, Katriheneholm

Iboland is one of the most densely populated rural areas in the world.  In some places the density is more than 1,000 persons to the square mile.  Moreover, the soil is comparatively poor.  As a result, in the past the Ibo expanded territorially and exported to other areas large numbers of seasonal laborers and even semi-permanent residents.  In fact, the Ibo were expanding territorially in many directions at the time of the British intrusion.  Since then this outward thrust has continued and has been the source of anti-Ibo feeling among the tribes bordering Iboland (for example, the Igala, the Idoma, the Tiv, and even the Ibibio.)  The Nigerian historian Dike argues that "perhaps the most important factor conditioning Ibo history in the nineteenth century and in our own time is land hunger,  The Ibos pressing against limited land resources had, of necessity, to seek other avenues of livelihood outside the tribal boundaries."  British policy has been, in effect, one of containment, mainly by supporting the peripheral tribes through land regulations designed to halt Ibo expansion.  But this policy did not prevent Ibos from migrating to other areas, particularly Yorubaland, to work as farm laborers or as servants and unskilled workers.

UNQUOTE


The above are the facts in history, despite some of their jarring nature.  Part of the angst between the Igbos and other ethnic groups in Nigeria, particularly the Yoruba, is the early perception of the Igbos as originally "farm laborers or as servants and unskilled workers", but who, as time has gone by, have transcended such lowly occupations and have gone on to greater things in the life of both their new residences as well as the country.  There is residual resentment on all sides - and still defensiveness on all sides.


QUOTE

Ibid

After British pacification, individual Ibo colonizers steadily drifted to other areas.  During the forty-year period 1911-1951, the number of Ibos in Lagos increased from 264 to 26,000.  In the Northern Provinces there were less than 3,000 Ibos in 1921, and nearly 12,000 in 1931;  by 1951 the number had increased to more than 120,000, excluding settled Ibo minorities along the boundary between Eastern and Western regions.  These figures become more meaningful when it is realized that most of the Ibo immigrants gravitated to the urban centers where wage employment could be obtained.  By the end of World War II Ibo clerks, artisans, traders, and laborers constitution a sizable minority group in every urban center of Nigeria and the Cameroons,
Table 9



UNQUOTE


Note that a hundred times increase in  population in Lagos alone and forty times increase in the Northern provinces of the Igbos within a 40-year period  cannot but  have brought its social problems both to the immigrants and the original "settlers."  It also must be recalled that Nigeria was still a "colony" ruled by the British, and not a "country" ruled by Nigerians yet as we know it today - that was to wait till 1960 - so a feeling of "Nigerianism" was not really as rampant as a feeling of "Anti-Colonialism" - or even of "African-ness".


QUOTE

Ibid

As a consequence of the comparative lack of opportunity in their homeland, and other factors to be noted subsequently, the Ibos embraced Western education with great enthusiasm and determination.  Christian missions were welcomed, and encouraged to set up schools in Iboland.  Village improvement unions sponsored scholarships, and Ibo students flocked to secondary schools in what is now the Western Region.  By the late 1930's the Ibo were more heavily represented than any other tribe or nationality in Yaba Higher College and in most Nigerian secondary schools.  Thenceforward the number of Ibos appointed to the African civil service and as clerks in business firms increased at a faster rate than that of any other group.  By 1945 the gap between Yorubas and Ibos was virtually closed.  Increasing numbers of Ibo barristers and doctors began to arrive from England.  By 1952 the number of Ibos (115) enrolled at University College, Ibadan, was nearly equal to the number of Yorubas (118).  The influx of Ibos into the towns of the west and the north and their rapid educational development, which made them competitors for jobs and professional positions, were two indicators of their emergence as an active group in Nigerian affairs.

UNQUOTE

Let us reflect a little here:  The Igbo Union was established in 1937, and Zik became its president in 1946; the Nigerian Youth Movement was established 1937 and broke up effectively in 1941 after some altercations between Zik and Awolowo over Akinsanya and Ernest Okoli.  The National Council of Nigerian and the Cameroons (NCNC) was established in 1944 as a counterpoise to NYM (first president was Herbert Macaulay, with Zik becoming president when HM died in 1946) and the Egbe Omo Yoruba was formed (by Obafemi Awolowo and co.) in London in 1945 , and imported to Nigeria in 1948.  The Action Group was formed in 1951, discussions of which began secretly in 1950; this was quickly followed by a re-organization of the NCNC,  and the formation of NPC as political parties.  All of this was happening within the time period of the expansion of the Igbo population in Nigeria and particularly in the heartland of the Yoruba.

Zik was clearly at this time in the thick of engaging the Igbos to be major national players.


ZIK AND EARLY EDUCATIONAL IGBO INSPIRATION - AND THE AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION CONNECTION


Before Zik came onto the scene in Nigeria between 1934-37, there was absolutely no Igbo person of note who impacted on ANYTHING going on in Nigeria.  NONE, I mean no one with a clearly identifiable Igbo name!  None.

Then in 1934, Zik, barely  30 years old, started pulling his weight, along with Herbert Macaulay, a Yoruba, who by that time was 74 years old!  There were of course other Yoruba (Sapara Williams, Adeniyi-Jones, Solanke, Alakija, Jibowu, Samuel Akinsanya, HO Davies, etc.) like Macaulay, but Zik was the only Igbo around to begin to pull his weight!

So Zik was the psychological break-through for Igbos among the educated elites  in Nigeria that had to begin to see the Igbos as intellectual equals.  That was a BIG AND HUGE contribution of Zik to the Igbos which is lasting and nobody can take that away from him.

What else did Zik do for the Igbos early on?  He began for Nigeria, but also particularly for Igbos, an AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE as a counterweight to the neo-colonial BRITISH education which permeated Nigerian - and particularly Yoruba western education.

Let me "cut and paste" again, again recalling that Zik returned from the US to Ghana (then Gold Coast) in 1934, and settled back in Nigeria in 1937:


QUOTE

ibid  p 242 ff

Until 1938 only twenty Nigerians, including Eyo Ita and Nnamdi Azikiwe,had gone to the United States to study.  Most of these pioneers had been sent by missionary societies for religious studies; none of these religious students, except Ita, had returned as active nationalists.  In 1938 twelve Nigerians sailed for America, and not until 1945 did others join them.  Of these twelve, three men were Ibibios sent for higher studies by the Ibibio State Union, and eight were Ibos who had been under the influence of Azikiwe.  Eleven of the twelve went to Lincoln University, Azikiwe's Alma Mater.  The Nigerian students were joined at Lincoln by three Gold Coastians, also inspired by Azikiwe, and a few students from Sierra Leone.  These Africans, educated in America during the war, have been leading figures in postwar nationalism on the West Coast,
Three of the NIgerian students (Mbonu Ojike, Nwafor Orizu, and Ozuomba Mbadiwe - all Ibos) made lecture tours of the United States, and published one or more books each.  Their writings were the first contribution to Nigerian nationalist literature since Azikiwe's "Renascent Africa."  Upon their returne to Nigeria these three became crusaders for American practical - or what Orizu called "horizontal" - education, as contrasted to British literary ("vertical" tradition.  Their agitation in behalf of American education, couple with Azikiwe's great success, was one of the principal reasons for the post-war migration of hundreds of Nigerians to America.  Their propagation of the American educational ideal and their positive nationalism contributed to the antipathy of both the British and the British-educated Nigerians towards American education and American-educated Nigerians.
UNQUOTE

So those of us who are enjoying the US higher education TODAY have Zik, Ojike (who unfortunately died in 1957), Orizu (who was Senate President when the 1966 coup occurred) and Mbadiwe (the colorful Mbadiwe, man of “timber and caliber”) for early acceptance of our American education.  Of course, recognizing that Awo had a British education (going for further “adult” studies in 1944, at the ripe age of 35), the "antipathy" between them might also have this educational dichotomy element in it.

But there was to be more,


ZIK IN INDIGENOUS HIGHER EDUCATION

QUOTE

p. 245ff.

Analysis of the ethnic origins of Nigerians who have studied in the United States during the past three decades reveals a striking predominance of Ibos.  Although the Ibo peoples constitute no more than 17 percent of the total population of Nigeria, until the late 1940s more than two-thirds of the Nigerian students in the United States were Ibos.  As the figures in Table 19 shows, the Ibos were still in the majority as late as 1954

---------------------

Table 19  Ethnic Origin of Nigerian Students in the United States*



*Because numbers have been calculated from lists of names, they are only approximations.  "Others and unknowns" may possibly include several Yoruba who retained their Anglicized names.  The Efiks and Ibibios are counted togehter because it is difficult in most instances for a non-Efik or a non-Ibibio to distinguish between Efik and Ibibio names.

** Nnamdi Azikiwe

---------------------


There are several reasons for the Ibo predominance.  One was the strong influence of Azikiwe, Ojike Mbadiwe, and Orizu, who were among the first-university-educated Ibos and who consciously sought to popularize the virtues of American education.  Indeed, Mbadiwe and Orizu fostered scholarship schemes designed to send Nigerian students to America, and most of the successful candidates were Ibos.  In contrast, most of the older-generation Yorubas had been educated in the United Kingdom, and the later generation tended to adhere to that tradition.  In addition, by 1945, the Ibos were the upcoming group, and the number of Ibos in British universities may well have equaled or exceeded the number of Yorubas.  For by the late 1940s the number of Ibos with a secondary school education, a prerequisite for university training, actually exceeded the number of Yorubas with a similar qualification.  In any event, the preference of Yorubas for British education and of Ibos for American education, coupled with militant Ibo claims of the superiority of American education and of the easier-to-get America degrees, has exacerbated Yoruba-Ibo tension.  As table  19 indicates, however, the differential is rapidly changing.

UNQUOTE

So the influence of Zik in Igbo education in Nigeria was phenomenal, and the competition it engendered with the Yoruba too was helpful to the Yoruba.

It was most likely that Awolowo, thorough man that he was, seeing all of these numbers and developments, with the rampaging quartet of Zik, Orizu, Ojike and Mbadiwe, decided that something drastic had to be done in and for Yorubaland if the Yoruba were not to be completely overwhelmed in the country.  This was not to stop Zik and his cohorts, but rather to ensure that the Yoruba began more consciously and systematically to pull their own weight.

Finally, as one of the many "quid quo pros" to becoming Governor-General of Nigeria in alliance with the NPC, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe negotiated the establishment of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to start October 1960, with the help of Michigan State University, East Lansing as the first "indigenous" university in Nigeria (UI established in January 1948 started as a college of the University of London)

QUOTE

University Development in Africa - The Nigerian Experience
by Chukwuemeka Ike, OUP, 1976,pp 9 ff


Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who founded Nsukka almost as an antidote to Ibadan, appears also to have been influenced by the Ibadan pattern of development, The University of Nigeria was ceremonially opened on October 7, 1960, as part of the week-long celebrations marking the attainment of political independence by Nigeria on October 1, 1960.  The university was fully autonomous, with the power to grant its own degrees.Technically speaking, therefore, it became the first fully-fledged university in Nigeria, since Ibadan was still at that time a university college granting London degrees.  It also became the first university established by a Nigerian Regional Government,

In the same year, the Report of the Commission on Post-School Certificate and Higher Education in Nigeria (popularly known as the Ashby report) was released.  The commission recommended, inter alia, the establishment of three universities in addition to Ibadan - one in Lagos, one at Zaria in Northern Nigeria (on the site of the Northern branch of the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology) and the third the University of Nigeria which had already been planned by the Eastern Nigeria Government.  Each of the three existing Regions would thus have located in it one centre of higher education, with a fourth university in Lagos,

, Ahmadu Bello University was officially opened in October 1962.  The Western Nigeria Government pressed ahead with its plans to build its own regional university, even though such a university was not among those proposed by the Ashby Commission.  The Federal Governement yielded to the pressure and made available to the Western Nigeria Government the site and assets of the Ibadan branch of the Nigerian College (which were to have been turned over to the University College, Ibadan.)  The University of Ife began to offer classes in October 1962, though the political misfortunes which beset Western Nigeria in the same year prevented the university from making any significant impact until a change of leadership in 1966 provided rays of hope.

Following the Report of the Unesco Advisory Commission for the Establishment of the University of Lagos (Paris, Unesco, 1961), the University of Lagos came into being in 1962 as the second Federal university institution, Ahmadu Bello and Ife being, like Nsukka, regional universities receiving part of their support from the Federal Government. The Enugu branch of the Nigerian College was turned over to Nsukka as a second campus instead of being converted into a full-scale university.

Thus within a space of two years from the date the country attained independence, four brand new universities were established, each empowered to grant degrees.  Ibadan, the oldest university institution, cut its umbilical ord with London in October 1962, becoming the University of Ibadan.  In July 1965, it turned out the first graduates holding Ibadan (rather than London) degrees, by which time Nsukka had produced two crops of graduates and taken all the publicity for turning out the first graduates of an autonomous Nigerian university,

Nsukka has been the most controversial university in Nigeria.  Many within and outside Ibadan were infuriated by its immodest choice of the name : University of Nigeria, a name which Mellamby (then VC of Ibadan) claimed in his "Birth of Nigeria's University" he had tried unsuccessfully to give to Ibadan in its early years,


UNQUOTE

All of the above was due to Zik - Nsukka's pride, the country's pride.  It also served as the motivation for Awolowo in the Western Region  to INSIST on setting up the University of Ife for the Western Region, despite the presence of Ibadan and Lagos FEDERAL universities.


EPILOGUE

In conclusion, it is not a stretch to conclude from all the above that the Igbos OWE a lot of their self-esteem in Nigeria to Zik.  Nigerian higher education also owes a lot to Zik.  I also firmly believe that iron sharpened iron when it came to Zik and Awo:  Awolowo respected Zik FULLY for that visionary aspect of this contemporary of his, despite the mutual distrust that they had for each other throughout their lives.

I have deliberately played down Zik’s contribution to Nigeria’s independence in 1960, because he had a lot of fellow contributors.  I have also played down his contributions from 1960 till he died on May 11, 1996,  because he does come in for a lot of criticisms for those later years – and we don’t wish to talk ill of the dead, certainly not on his birthday.

So on this his 100th birthday, let us all rise to toast Zik of Africa, of Nigeria, of Ndigbo and of Owelle!

Best wishes all.

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Between 1947 and 1960 Azikiwe, as leader of the NCNC, held a number of elected public offices. He was a member of the Nigerian Legislative Council (1947-1951), member of the Western House of Assembly (1952-1953), premier of the Eastern Region (1954-1959), and president of the Nigerian Senate (1959-1960). On Oct. 1, 1960, Nigeria became independent, and Azikiwe was appointed governor general . On Oct. 1, 1963, Nigeria became a republic, and Azikiwe was named its first president, a position he held until he was deposed by the military coup of Jan. 15, 1966.During these years he had continued to play the single most vigorous role in Nigeria's march toward independence. While premier, he greatly expanded economic and educational facilities in the Eastern Region and laid the foundation of the University of Nigeria at Nsukka, formally opened in September 1960.  Because of Dr. Azikiwe educational foundation and leadership for Igbos, in the 1950-1966 and present Igbos according to An Igbo scholar, Dr. Samuel Okafor of UNN.

 http://www.newsexpressngr.com/news/detail.php?news=2547&title=Igbo-scholar-disgraces-Femi-Fani-Kayode

"The true facts from the Federal Office of Statistics on education tell otherwise, showing that 3 Ibo states for the past 12 years have constantly had the largest number of graduates in the country, producing more graduates than Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and Oyo states. These eastern states are Imo, Anambra and Abia. Yet he calls Ibos traders. Indeed, the Igbos dominate because excellence dominates mediocrity – truth.
Let me enlighten this falsehood’s mouthpiece even further: before the civil war Ibos controlled and dominated all institutions in the formal sector in Nigeria from the universities to the police to the military to politics:

•The first Black Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan was an Ibo man

•The first Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos was an Ibo man

•The first Nigerian Rector of the then Yaba College of Technology was also an Ibo man

•The police was run by an Ibo IG

Who was the first Nigerian Professor of Mathematics – an Ibo man – Professor Chike Obi – the man who solved Fermat’s Last Theorem. He was followed by another Ibo man, Professor James Ezeilo, Professor of Differentail Calculus and the founder of the Ezeilo Constant. Please do some research on this great Ibo man. He later became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka and one of the founders of the Nigerian Mathematical Centre. Who was Nigeria’s first Professor of Histroy – Professor Kenneth Dike who published the first account of trade in Nigeria in pre-colonial times. He was also the first African Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Who was the first Professor of Microbiology – Professor Eni Njoku; he was also the first African Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos. Anatomy and Physiology – Professor Chike Edozien is an Asaba man and current Obi of Asaba. Who was the first Professor of Anatomy at the University College Ibadan? Who was the first Professor of Physics? Professor Okoye, who became a Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960. He was followed by the likes of Professor Alexander Anumalu who has been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physics three times for his research in Intermediate Quantum Physics. He was also a founding member of the Nigerian Mathematical Centre. Nuclear Physics and Chemistry – again another Ibo man – Professor Frank Ndili who gained a Ph.D in his early ’20s at Cambridge Univesity in Nuclear Physics and Chemistry in the early ’60s. This young Asaba man had made a First Class in Physics and Mathematics at the then University College Ibadan in the early ’50s. First Professor of Statistics – Professor Adichie who’s research on Non-Parametric Statistics led to new areas in statistical research. What about the first Nigerian Professor of Medicine – Professor Kodilinye – he was appointed a Professor of Medicine at the University of London in 1952. He later became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka after the war. What about Astronomy – again another Ibo man was the first Professor of Astronomy – please, look up Professor Ntukoju – he was the first to earn a double Ph.D in Astronomy and Mathematics.

Let’s go to the Social Sciences – Demography and statistical research into population studies – again another Ibo man – Professor Okonjo who set up the first Centre for Population Research in Ibadan in the early ’60s. A double Ph.D in Mathematics and Economics. Philosophy – Professor G D Okafor, who became a Professor of Philosophy at the Amherst College USA in 1953. Economics – Dr. Pius Okigbo who became a visiting scholar and Professor of Economics at the University of London in 1954. He is also the first Nigerian Ph.D in Economics. Theology and theological research – Professor Njoku who became the first Nigerian to earn a Ph.D in Theology from Queens University Belfast in Ireland. He was appointed a Professor of Theology at the University College Zambia in 1952.I find it difficult not to respond to some of these long-held lies that are constantly being peddled by Yorubas. One is that the Yoruba have the largest number of professors in the country. I would again ask that we stick to facts and statistical records. The Nigerian Universities Commission has a record of the state with the largest number of professors on their records and as at 2010 that state is Imo State followed by Ondo State and then Anambra State; the next state is Ekiti and then Delta before Kwara State. I am sure you Yorubas are surprised. When you sit in the South-West do not think others are sleeping but I wish to address another historical fact and that is who were the first Nigerians to receive Western education. It is important that these issues be examined in their historical context and evidence through research be presented for all to examine.An Igbo scholar, Dr. Samuel Okafor of UNN.

http://www.newsexpressngr.com/news/detail.php?news=2547&title=Igbo-scholar-disgraces-Femi-Fani-Kayode

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TRADE AND INDUSTRIES

Chairman of the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) Engr. Chris Okoye in this interview outlines the SENEC philosophy South-East Nigeria Economic Commission -Engr. Chris Okoye, how far have we gone.

I want to point them to Nnamdi Azikiwes Eastern Nigerian Economic Reconstruction plan, 1954-1964  the 10-year plan which, under the strict compliance of M.I Okpara as premier, transformed the East into the fastest growing economy in the world by 1964. Id like to summarize with the following suggestions: When you look carefully, the then premier of the Eastern region, Dr. M.I. Okpara seemed to have used that model very extensively almost in everything they did. Although, the Eastern Development Corporation was a government institution as against the model that we are now trying to put in place, everything done in the former Eastern Nigeria government was done by the defunct Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation.

If you recall, the first one million pounds sterling for the setting up of University of Nigeria, Nsukka was accentually raised by the marketing board under Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, father of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and that was an institution under the Eastern Nigeria Development. It was the one million pounds that they gave Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe for take-off of the University of Nigeria Nsukka. With our model of private public community partnership, because before the war, most of what we did, especially in the Igbo area, were through the town unions and by 1966, the Igbo had made significant impact in the education sector that the Yoruba began to wonder if these are the people that started school some years ago and yet we have been going to school for over 100 years and had not made the kind of impact the Igbo made and they were wondering how the Igbo made it because by 1960, the vice chancellor of University of Ibadan was an Igbo and that was Prof. Kenneth Dike. The vice chancellor of University of Lagos was an Igbo man, Prof. Eni Njoku. You do remember also that Yaba College of Technology; the rector, Engr. Agbasi was an Igbo man. So the pre-centre for excellence in Nigeria were in the hands of Igbomen and they also controlled the UNN.

 In the area of agriculture, the vegetable oil now in Malaysia was set up with the oil palms taken from the east courtesy of the same corporation and so you could imagine that if they had continued from 1970, Eastern Nigeria would have become the largest producer of vegetable oil in the world. But they couldn't continue because of the Civil War. Again in eggs production, then, people were buying eggs almost at one kobo not to talk about meat and so on.

On the industrial aspect, they established the glass factory at Port-Harcourt, the steel factory in Enugu, the Nkalagu Cement factory which was probably the first cement manufacturing factory in Africa. As a matter of fact, I am aware that the limestone at Nkalagu cement factory is enough to guarantee production of cement for the next 300 years.  

Two banks at least  African Continental Bank and Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria all once headquartered in the East  were at the centre of Eastern Nigerian post-colonial economic renaissance. Azikiwes banking policy and Mbonu Ojikes protectionist policies (remember boycott the boycottable) instigated the rise of indigenous entrepreneurial initiatives at a massive scale in the East from 1953 to 1983. Chairman of the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) Engr. Chris Okoye

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Eastern Nigeria Regional Government under the leadership of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr. Michael Okpara immediately set up University of Nigeria Nsukka with emphasis on all aspects of Science and Technology and professional courses including Economics, Land Economics and Mineral Studies, then unknown in the University College Ibadan, to facilitate the development of Eastern Nigeria’s economy and also established industrial estates at Enugu, Port Harcourt, Sea Port in Portharcourt, Obudu  entertainment Ranch in Cross Rivers State, Farm settlements in all the Divisions and Local Government Areas. Azikwe created the Massive development of Palm Kernel, Rubber and palm produce and massive export of raw materials and  industrial goods and by 1964 leapfrogged to be the fastest growing economy in West Africa. paraphrase from Oragwu, Technology Development Consultant lives in Lagos

- The first International Trade Fair was opened by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe at Victoria Island on October 27, 1962.

- Launching of the National Savings Scheme (Premium Bond) by Mrs. Flora Azikiwe at General Post Office, Marina on 8th December, 1962.

- Opening of the ?2 million Guinness Breweries at Ikeja on 6th March, 1963 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

- Opening of the New Engineering Base and Hangar at Lagos Airport Ikeja by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on December 13, 1963.

- Opening of the Royal Mint at Victoria Island on April 10, 1965 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the subsequent issuance and circulation of New Currency notes in the denomination of £5; £10s and 5s on July 1, 1965.

Opening of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka on October 7, 1960.

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I cannot conclude without reiterating the value of education in leveraging national development and how the small Nsukka field experiment by the Right Honourable Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in establishing the University of Nigeria in 1960 has contributed immensely to Nigerian development. The University of Nigeria has led in the production of much-needed human capital in atypical disciplines such as Architecture, Estate Management, Journalism, Music, Nursing, Physical/Health Education, and Surveying. It has also recorded innumerable scientific feats that include the first-ever cholera vaccine production in Africa, and the open-heart surgery at the Teaching Hospital, among others. There is no doubt that it will continue to contribute to Nigeria’s development in the years to come, judging by the quality of the students, staff and teachers today, and the eagerness with which many JAMB applicants make it their first choice. It is with a great sense of responsibility that I personally associate myself with the philosophy of the University: To seek the Truth; To teach the Truth; To preserve the Truth, and thereby To restore the dignity of man. Yes, we will get there.

I thank you all for listening. At the 2012 Graduation Ceremonies of University of Nigeria

Nsukka, Nigeria, January 26, 2012

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ZIK-A Force in Library Development in Nigeria

C.C. Aguolu and L.E. Aguolu

http://www.worlib.org/vol07no2/aguolu_v07n2.shtml

 Abstract

This is the first attempt to coherently document the immense contributions of one of Africa’s foremost nationalists and pan–Africanists to the development of libraries in Nigeria. Although he is best known for his achievements in politics, journalism, and sports, Dr. Azikiwe saw the library as a vehicle for the intellectual emancipation of Nigerians from colonial rule.

As President of Eastern Nigeria in the 1950s, the first and only indigenous Governor–General, and first President of Nigeria in the 1960s, he was able to wield sufficient political influence to ensure a legal basis for public library development in Nigeria, the establishment of the University of Nigeria Library – named after himself – and the eventual creation of the National Library of Nigeria.

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Today, the gains of sound laws, policies and adult suffrage which reorganized the administrative, social and economic development of the Eastern region of Nigeria still stand as one of his greatest achievements as the premier of that region. He also saw the vision of African civilization rooted in its culture and peculiarity; hence he pushed for a co-educational university which metamorphosed into the first indigenous university in Africa-University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He also participated in developing the curricula of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and donated books from his personal library to ensure its commencement of full academic business.
 
In an era when Nigeria is still grappling with ethnic challenges and songs, Zik was already exuding a pan-African dream; practising exactly what he preaches, the great Zik propelled the emergence of Altine Umoru and Bashorun Balogun as the mayors of Igbo dominated Enugu and Port Harcourt districts respectively. It is no more news that the cross-carpeting of members of the Western Regional Assembly momentarily thwarted Zik’s dream of building a Nigeria where every Nigerian will live and become the best he or she can achieve without any hindrance of tribe, religion and sex.

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http://www.blackpast.org/1955-nnamdi-azikiwe-university-nigeria-speech

(1955) Nnamdi Azikiwe, “The University of Nigeria Speech”

         

On May 18, 1955 the Eastern House of Assembly, the regional legislature for Eastern Nigeria, moved a resolution to established the first university in Eastern Nigeria.  Nnamdi Azikiwe gave a speech seconding the motion introduced by the Eastern Region Minister of Education. That eastern university became the University of Nigeria.  Azikiwe's remarks given on May 18, 1955, appear below.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to second this historic motion and in doing so I wish to confine my remarks to one aspect of the speech so ably made by the Honourable the Minister of Education. I have in mind his statement about the philosophy of education which animates the introduction of this Bill. I must admit that I have been impressed by the recommendations made by the African Education Commission, which visited Nigeria in 1920 with the late Kwegyir Aggrey, under the auspices of the Phelps-Stokes Fund and the Foreign Mission Societies of North America and Europe, particularly the following:

1. That all concerned distinguish clearly the educational needs, namely, the education of the masses of the people, the training of teachers and leaders for the masses, and the preparation of professional men who must pass the conventional requirements of British universities.

2. That the education of the masses and their teachers be determined by the following elements, namely, health, ability to develop the resources of the country, household arts, sound recreation, rudiments of knowledge, character development, and community responsibility. The native teachers should also have access to the great truths of physical and social science and the inspiration of history and literature.

I make the above admission because, after 35 years, the observations and recommendations of the Commission are still timely. Indeed, I can say that this report forms a basis of the philosophy of education for Africa, not because Africans deserve a separate philosophy but, in the words of Dr Anson Phelps-Stokes, the purpose of the Commission was to help Africans ‘by encouraging an education adapted to their actual needs. . . . The time has passed when the old thesis can be successfully maintained that a curriculum well suited to the needs of a group on a given scale of civilization in one country is necessarily the best for other groups on a different level of advancement in another country or section.’

But Dr Stokes did not end on a dogmatic note. After pointing out that agricultural or industrial training, under Christian auspices, proved to be the best type of education for the majority of the freed Negroes, ‘at this particular time of their development’, he cautioned that ‘the door was and always should be kept wide open for a higher education’ for those who had the ability and the character to profit by university training.

In appreciating any philosophy of education we should always find out the aims of those who postulate such ideas. As far as one can observe from a subsequent statement by the Phelps-Stokes group, the objective sought was Nigerian leadership. In one of their latest reports, it is said:

In terms of the African continent, this should clearly imply such changes as that there should be more emphasis on education for native leadership; that European officials should gradually give way to a trained native African civil service; that duly elected Africans should play a larger part in the legislative councils of the colonies; and that investments should be further controlled in the interest of better wages for native workmen, and better working and living conditions. It is believed that if such things are done the African people, and the nations in which they will form the large majority, will be happier, and will ultimately have an important contribution to make to the civilization of the world.

I believe that, side by side with higher vocational education, opportunities should be created to enable the trained individuals to play a useful role in the development of the country. Here is where I agree with the founders of Achimota College that,

The immediate aim of African education should be to develop character, initiative, and ability of the youth of the country, so that they may be reliable, useful, and intelligent in the rapidly changing life and circumstances of their own people. In other words, the aim of education is to develop the manhood and womanhood of the rising generation for the sake of their peoples. Anything narrower than this must lead to a stagnant and menacing flood of unemployed and unemployable youth.

It is important that higher educational facilities should be provided locally to enable those to be benefited to make full use of them. It is said that a fully educated person should be ‘enlightened in im interests, impersonal in his judgment, ready in his sympathy for whatever is just and right, effective in the work he sets himself to do, and willing to lend a hand to anyone who is in need of it.’ I strongly support the belief of the late Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg that ‘the keystone of progress is education; but all that will be idle rhetoric if we mix the materials of the keystone badly.’ In this connection, this former Governor of the Gold Coast confessed that the British would never succeed ‘if the sole place in which the African can get his higher education and his professional training is Europe. Much learning, and of the best, he can get there; character-training, none. . . . We must aim at giving the whole of our education locally, and, where it is essential that an African should go to Europe for the final steps to enter a profession, we must arrange our system in such a manner that his absence will be reduced to the shortest possible time and the foundations of his character firmly laid before he goes. . . . To stand the pressure brought to bear on the Arch of Progress by the hurricane of material development, the storm of criticism, and the windy tornadoes of political agitation, the keystone must be well and truly laid and composed of strong materials.’

In order that the foundations of Nigerian leadership shall be securely laid, to the end that this country shall cease to imitate the excrescences of a civilization which is not rooted in African life, I strongly support this Bill to the effect that a full-fledged university should be established in this Region without further delay. Such a higher institution of learning should not only be cultural, according to the classical concept of universities, but it should also be vocational in its objective and Nigerian in its content. We should not offer any apologies for making such a progressive move. After all, we must do f or ourselves what others hesitate to do for us. In the thoughts of a great American Negro historian, ‘History shows that it does not matter who is in power or what revolutionary forces take over the government, those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they had in the beginning.’

I notice that it is envisaged that the university should have six degree-conferring Faculties: Arts, Science, Law, Theology, Engineering, and Medicine. I hope that the curricula of the university will be related to the day-to-day life of our people and that they will be so organized as to relate the mission of the university to the social and economic needs of the Region. I also observe that the following twenty diploma-conferring Institutes are among those which will be established for the professional and technical education of our men and women on whom we shall have to rely heavily in the difficult years ahead: Agriculture, Architecture, Diplomacy, Domestic Science, Dramatics, Education, Finance, Fine Arts, Fishery, Forestry, Journalism, Librarianship, Music, Pharmacy, Physical Education, Public Administrations, Public Health, Secretarial Studies, Social Work, Surveying and Veterinary Science. If these Institutes are so organized as to operate pari passu with the Faculties, then this Region will embark upon an historic renaissance in the fields of academic, cultural, professional and technical education on the same lines as the leading countries of the world.

I wish to make it emphatic that the university should be coeducational. It will be remembered that the Cambridge Conference on African Education made reference to this subject in their report, which says:

Women and girls need an education that fits them to live in a world of social change; and they need the tools of learning to help them to understand and take a fuller part in daily life. The increasing numbers need opportunities for professional and occupational training so that they can be both economically independent and fitted to take over progressively their responsibility for educating and training their own people. The main task for education among women and girls therefore is to provide so sound a training in the techniques of living that the whole level of African life can be raised socially, intellectually, and spiritually by the full co-operation of women in the home and in the community at large. . . . We recommend that priority should now be given to providing trades and technical training for women and girls in the fields of needlecraft, catering, institutional management, and secretarial arts.

It is now accepted in progressive circles that male and female students of any modem university should be allowed to live side by side on the same campus, where residence is available; they should study together, play together, and share together the vicissitudes of the cultural atmosphere of secondary school or university life. The aim of such co-education should be to enable male and female students to engage together in academic, vocational and co-curricular activities in developing their personalities.

I feel that it is of utmost importance that we should inculcate in our university students not only the dignity of labour, but also the idea that by hard work, sacrifice and self-determination, a poor student can obtain university education. In many colleges and universities of the world today, thousands of students are demonstrating that lack of funds is not an unsurmountable barrier to higher education. The fact that students are not affluent enough to pay all their bills need not make them ashamed.

It is my earnest hope that indigent male and female students of the new university will be encouraged to work in order to be able to meet their university expenses. The experience gained thereby will stand them in good stead in the struggle for survival in life. By making sacrifices, by being thrifty, and by working hard, such students will cultivate self-reliance and confidence. As experience has shown in American and German universities, many elements which, ordinarily, would have discouraged the average student and possibly caused him to be a failure in life, are usually encountered by such working students with remarkable fortitude and determination to rely on his own resources to succeed, no matter the handicaps. Later in life, he can always recount the turning point of his life with pride.

It is my fondest wish that when the University of Nigeria ultimately becomes a reality, our young men and women will find opportunities for gaining experience in life’s battle, so that lack of money will not deter them from obtaining higher vocational education in any of the faculties or institutes of the university. I hope that the training in self-help and the experience in self- reliance will make them more confident of themselves and enable them to puncture the myth of the proverbial lack of initiative and drive on the part of the Nigerian worker.

Finally, I trust that, with the establishment of this university, it will be complementary with the Ibadan University College, co-operating with it, drawing inspiration from its efforts, and gaining experience from this pioneer institution of higher education in this country.

Sir, I beg to second.

Sources:

Nnamdi Azikiwe, Zik: A Selection from the Speeches of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Governor-General of the Federation of Nigeria formerly President of the Nigerian Senate formerly Premier of the Eastern Region of Nigeria (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961).
 

- See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/1955-nnamdi-azikiwe-university-nigeria-speech#sthash.JBlM30tl.dpuf

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http://biography.yourdictionary.com/nnamdi-azikiwe

Nnamdi Azikiwe Facts

  

Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904-1996) was one of the fore most Nigerian and West African nationalists and the first president of Nigeria.

Nnamdi Azikiwe was born on Nov. 16, 1904, of Ibo parents in Zungeru, Northern Nigeria, where his father worked as a clerk in the Nigerian Regiment. His parents gave him the name Benjamin, but he later changed it to Nnamdi. He attended school in Onitsha, Lagos, and Calabar. In 1921, when he discontinued his secondary school education, he was fluent in the languages of the three major ethnic groups of Nigeria—the Hausas, the Ibos, and the Yorubas—a major asset for the future Nigerian nationalist. Between 1921 and 1924 he worked as a clerk in the Nigerian treasury in Lagos.

In 1925 Azikiwe went to the United States to study. He attended Storer College and then Howard and Lincoln universities. He received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Lincoln in 1931 and advanced degrees from Lincoln in 1932 and the University of Pennsylvania in 1933. As a black penurious student (nicknamed Zik), Azikiwe worked at a wide range of mostly lowly jobs and was frequently a victim of racial discrimination. His American experience was certainly a source of his pan-African patriotism.

Between 1932 and 1934 Azikiwe taught political science at Lincoln University. At this time he began writing seriously, and his productions reflected his pan-African inclination. He devised a "Syllabus for African History" and wrote a book, Liberia in World Politics (1934), in defense of the black republic. In 1937 he published Renascent African, the most important single expression of his pan-African ideology.

Newspaper Career

In 1934 Azikiwe returned to Nigeria and accepted an offer to edit the African Morning Post, a new daily newspaper in Accra, Ghana, which he quickly made into an important organ of nationalist propaganda. In 1937 he returned to Lagos and founded the West African Pilot, which became "a fire-eating and aggressive nationalist paper of the highest order." In the next decade Azikiwe controlled six daily newspapers in Nigeria: two in Lagos and four strategically placed in the urban centers of Ibadan, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, and Kano. These played a crucial role in stimulating Nigerian nationalism. To support his business ventures and to express his economic nationalism, Azikiwe founded the African Continental Bank in 1944.

Political Career

Azikiwe also became directly involved in political movements. In 1937 he joined the Nigerian Youth Movement, leaving it for the Nigerian National Democratic party in 1941. In 1944, on Azikiwe's initiative, the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) was founded to "weld the heterogeneous masses of Nigeria into one solid block." Azikiwe was elected the council's general secretary and in 1946 its president. In this period his major political writings, apart from his newspaper articles, were Political Blue Print of Nigeria and Economic Reconstruction in Nigeria (both 1943).

Between 1947 and 1960 Azikiwe, as leader of the NCNC, held a number of elected public offices. He was a member of the Nigerian Legislative Council (1947-1951), member of the Western House of Assembly (1952-1953), premier of the Eastern Region (1954-1959), and president of the Nigerian Senate (1959-1960). During these years he had continued to play the single most vigorous role in Nigeria's march toward independence. While premier, he greatly expanded educational facilities in the Eastern Region and laid the foundation of the University of Nigeria at Nsukka, formally opened in September 1960.

On Oct. 1, 1960, Nigeria became independent, and Azikiwe was appointed governor general with the prime ministership going to Sir Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, deputy governor general of the Northern People Congress, the largest single party of the federation. On Oct. 1, 1963, Nigeria became a republic, and Azikiwe was named its first president, a position he held until he was deposed by the military coup of Jan. 15, 1966.

In the Nigerian-Biafran civil war, May 1967-January 1970, Azikiwe at first reluctantly supported Biafra, but in August 1969 came out against Biafran secession and in favor of a united Nigeria.

From 1978-1983 Azikiwe led the Nigeria People's Party (NPP); he was the NPP's candidate in the presidential elections of 1979 and 1983. He retired from politics in 1986.

Azikiwe died in eastern Nigeria on May 11, 1996, following a long illness. Marking his death, the New York Times commented that Azikiwe "towered over the affairs of Africa's most populous nation, attaining the rare status of a truly national hero who came to be admired across the regional and ethnic lines dividing his country."

Further Reading on Nnamdi Azikiwe

Two useful short biographies are Vincent Ikeotuonye, Zik of New Africa (1961), and K.A.B. Jones-Quartey, A Life of Azikiwe (1965), which is more scholarly and more readily available. Good analyses of Azikiwe's political career may be found in James Smoot Coleman, Nigeria: Background to Nationalism (1958), and Richard L. Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation (1963).

Additional Biography Sources

Economist (May 25, 1996).

Jet (June 3, 1996).

New York Times (May 14, 1996).

Uwazurike, P. Chudi, The Man Called Zik of Africa: Portrait of Nigeria's Pan-African Statesman (Triatlantic Books, 1996). □

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http://www.answers.com/topic/nnamdi-azikiwe

Building his power in the Eastern Region, Azikiwe became its premier in 1954 after a new constitution was put into effect. He instituted a new education program in his region, and had a major role in Nigeria becoming the leading exporter of students for study abroad in Africa. In 1954 Azikiwe visited Europe, England, the United States, and Canada with members of the Eastern region economic commission in order to promote investment for developments in textile, vegetable oil refineries, steel, and chemicals.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/nnamdi-azikiwe#ixzz2pZB2FjRR

Throughout his career, Azikiwe used his nationalist press, political connections, and kinship of his tribe to promote education, self-government, welfare, and progress. He also wrote over a dozen books on the struggle for African nationalism and other topics. He died in 1996 after a long illness, at the age of 91.

Awards Nnamdi Azikiwe Distinguished Endowed Chair in International Relations, Lincoln University Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/nnamdi-azikiwe#ixzz2pZBOonm2

Works

• Zik (1961)
• My Odyssey: An Autobiography (1971)
• Renascent Africa (1973)
• Liberia in World Politics (1931)
• One hundred quotable quotes and poems of the Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1966)—ISBN 978-2736-09-0

Political Blueprint for Nigeria (1943);
Economic Reconstruction of Nigeria (1943);
Zik: A Selection of the Speeches of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1961);
Assassination Story: True or False? (1946);
“Essentials for Nigeria’s Survival.” (1965);
“Before Us Lies The Open Grave” (1947);
“The Future of Pan-Africanism” (1961);
“The Realities of African Unity” (1965);
“Origins of the Nigerian Civil War” (1969);
I Believe in a One Nigeria (1969);
Peace Proposals for Ending the Nigerian Civil War (1969);
Dialogue on a New Capital for Nigeria (1974);
“Creation of More States in Nigeria, A Political Analysis” (1974);
Democracy with Military Vigilance (1974);
“Reorientation of Nigerian Ideologies: lecture on 9 December 1976, on eve of the launching of the UNN Endowment Fund” (1976);
Our Struggle for Freedom; Onitsha Market Crisis (1976);
Let Us Forgive Our Children, An appeal to the lea

...

On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 7:52 PM, Chris Udoh <udoh....@yahoo.com> wrote:

"..Dr. Azikiwe worked and planned for the betterment of all Eastern Region people -Ibibios, Efiks, Ijaws, Kalabari, Annangs, Okirikas, ... etc..." Ugo

 

Ugo,

Can you list the things Zik did for Ibibios, Efiks, Ijaws, Kalabaris, Annangs, Okirikas. When you mention one ethnic group, you list the things he did for that ethnic group.

It is not because we have struggled to earn a living of our own that we will forget the days when we were in Egypt. The evil that men do surely live after them. No other ethnic group will forget Zik for excluding them.

For the Northern Leaders that I accused of impoverishing their people, I have been corrected, that they managed to cease power with the barrels of the gun, created more states for themselves, and inflated their population, control the oil and allocated blocks freely to themselves..., and today they have majority in the decision making arm of government. This is visible and we can see it. But I have not seen the help Zik gave to Okirika man, to Ibibio man, to Kalabari man, e.t.c, rather he was interested in commandeering all that belonged to them for his Igbo brothers.

Ugo, if we are to unite because of what is befalling this country in 2015, we must remember this past records, and create terms that will enable us to exist together, otherwise everyone will answer his fathers names.

Chris

On Tuesday, January 7, 2014 7:36 AM, Ayo Ojutalayo <ayooju...@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

   "Zik opened business opportunities for Igbo people. He used the ACB (African Continental Bank) to serve as a launch pad for business finance for Igbo people.Today you can find traces of the hand of Zik in all Igbo people, be it petty traders, importers or top business executives.Just as Awo gave the Yorubas education, Zik provided the Igbos with business education and financial support. The only unfortunate thing is that in the then Eastern Region, it was on the Igbos that Zik gave relevance to.I don't know what the Northern Leaders gave to their subjects apart from asking them to go and learn Quran under Alfa, and beg for food, while their children (the Leaders Children) where sent to the best schools abroad."

  . . . . Chris Udoh

On Monday, January 6, 2014 8:48 PM, Ugo Harris Ukandu< abuj...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Chris Udoh,

Dr. Azikiwe worked and planned for the betterment of all Eastern Region people -Ibibios, Efiks, Ijaws, Kalabari, Annangs, Okirikas, Igbos etc. and all people of that region and for Nigeria as a whole. See these facts and records. Let all of the people of Eastern Region think and forget the lies and propaganda to divide us for over 40 years now . It is time for us to unite and be strong and progress. My dream as a new generation Igbo man now is that an Ibibio, Efiks, Ijaws, Kalabari, Annangs, Okirikas etc. from the East in my life time will become president, senate president or any powerful position and assume their ability to lead in all capacity and position in Nigeria if Nigeria still exists. Today Igbos have learned that their cousins and neighbors deserves Igbo support. If tomorrow an Ibibio man or Efik man etc. want to run in any position in Nigeria, the new generation  Igbos will support  that person knowing what Igbos know now,  like Igbos are supporting President Jonathan, because Charity should begin from home.

On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 2:14 PM, Chris Udoh <udoh....@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

   Zik opened business opportunities for Igbo people. He used the ACB (African Continental Bank) to serve as a launch pad for business finance for Igbo people.Today you can find traces of the hand of Zik in all Igbo people, be it petty traders, importers or top business executives.Just as Awo gave the Yorubas education, Zik provided the Igbos with business education and financial support. The only unfortunate thing is that in the then Eastern Region, it was on the Igbos that Zik gave relevance to.I don't know what the Northern Leaders gave to their subjects apart from asking them to go and learn Quran under Alfa, and beg for food, while their children (the Leaders Children) where sent to the best schools abroad.

 Chris 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Politics / Re: Zik's Final Resting Place In Ruins by henry101(m): 3:16am On Jul 20, 2011

The collaboration of other parts of Nigeria would be understandable, seeing that by 1964, the Eastern region was already touted as the fastest growing economy in the world by research reports commissioned by the World Bank and by Harvard University in the United States.

The Eastern Nigerian Economic reconstruction plan (1954-1964) - the ten year plan - drawn by the visionary Zik, and the eminently brilliant Mbonu Ojike, the most acute economic mind of that generation of argonauts, and later fully implemented by the inimitable Michael Okpara, had placed the East on a development route, [b]that by the 1960s all the talk of "Igbo domination" was merely a metaphor of the progress in the East.

Two banks at least  African Continental Bank and Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria all once headquartered in the East  were at the centre of Eastern Nigerian post-colonial economic renaissance. Azikiwes banking policy and Mbonu Ojikes protectionist policies (remember boycott the boycottable) instigated the rise of indigenous entrepreneurial initiatives at a massive scale in the East from 1953 to 1983.

"The East  had the first industrial developement plan in Africa. Note that All Eastern
Nigerian "townships" / cities had designed within them, an industrial zone:
Aba (factory Road),Umuahia (Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and
Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and
the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out. So did Owerri, which had an industrial
layout,so did Onitsha etc. etc. Owerri,Aba and Port Harcourt were already
designed in what was clalled "A three city nexus" (see works plan of the
Eastern Survey Dept. in Enugu)
The institutions like the :

African Continental Bank,

Cooporative Bank of Eastern Nigeria
Eastern Nigerian Development Corporation,
University of Nigeria was established in 1960 with campuses at Nsukka and Calabar

Obudu Tourism and Entertainment Ranch
Nigercem,
Nigergas,
Nigersteel,
Factory,glass industries,
hotels-Presidential Hotel in Enugu and PortHarcourt  (Tourism Promotion)
farm settlements in all Division and LGA ,

Rubber and Palm plantations in all Division and LGA
Aba Textile company,
Golden Guinea Breweries in Umuahia,
Standard Shoe Factory in Owerri,

Portharcourt sea Port Expansion

"For the avoidance of doubt, any zone that enjoys a proximity of even thirty nautical miles to a maritime endowment such as the Atlantic Ocean, should not in any way categorize itself as being land-locked. For the benefit of those who do not know, Port-Harcourt wharf is about forty nautical miles to the Atlantic Ocean. It was dredged and scooped during the Premiership of Dr. M.I. Okpara during the defunct Eastern Region for ships to berth therein. If Port-Harcourt wharf could be made accessible to ships despite its fourty-nautical-mile distance to the Atlantic Ocean, it justifiably stands to reason that Obeaku-Ndoki Wharf in Abia State, which is only twenty-five nautical miles to the Atlantic Ocean, could be more readily and profitably accessed by ships. Since Nigeria parades a galaxy of consultants in marine engineering, obtaining professional advice in this regards may not be far from reach."Chief (Sir) Don Ubani; ksc, JP(Okwubunka of Asa)Umuiku-Isi-Asa Ukwa-West L.G.A.P.M.B 7048 Aba.

-------------------------------------

A Force in Library Development in Nigeria

http://www.worlib.org/vol07no2/aguolu_v07n2.shtml

C.C. Aguolu and L.E. Aguolu

 Abstract

This is the first attempt to coherently document the immense contributions of one of Africa’s foremost nationalists and pan–Africanists to the development of libraries in Nigeria. Although he is best known for his achievements in politics, journalism, and sports, Dr. Azikiwe saw the library as a vehicle for the intellectual emancipation of Nigerians from colonial rule.

As President of Eastern Nigeria in the 1950s, the first and only indigenous Governor–General, and first President of Nigeria in the 1960s, he was able to wield sufficient political influence to ensure a legal basis for public library development in Nigeria, the establishment of the University of Nigeria Library – named after himself – and the eventual creation of the National Library of Nigeria.

- The first International Trade Fair was opened by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe at Victoria Island on October 27, 1962.

- Launching of the National Savings Scheme (Premium Bond) by Mrs. Flora Azikiwe at General Post Office, Marina on 8th December, 1962.

- Opening of the ?2 million Guinness Breweries at Ikeja on 6th March, 1963 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

- Opening of the New Engineering Base and Hangar at Lagos Airport Ikeja by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on December 13, 1963.

- Opening of the Royal Mint at Victoria Island on April 10, 1965 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the subsequent issuance and circulation of New Currency notes in the denomination of £5; £10s and 5s on July 1, 1965.

Opening of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka on October 7, 1960.

Two banks at least  African Continental Bank and Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria all once headquartered in the East  were at the centre of Eastern Nigerian post-colonial economic renaissance. Azikiwes banking policy and Mbonu Ojikes protectionist policies (remember boycott the boycottable) instigated the rise of indigenous entrepreneurial initiatives at a massive scale in the East from 1953 to 1983.

Industrial which is still in existence and in good use today, etc.
The products and services of these institutions and businesses were first class. Thus, people had full employment. With the economy growing annually at between 10 and 12%, the Eastern Nigerian economy was one of the fastest growing worldwide.

------------------------------------------------------

http://messageboard.biafranigeriaworld.com/ultimatebb.cgi/ubb/get_topic/f/15/t/000003.html

The second principle of the Eastern plan was INUSTRIAL PRODUCTION. The East
had the first industrial developement plan in Africa. Note that All Eastern
Nigerian "townships" / cities had designed within them, an industrial zone:
Aba (factory Road),Umuahia (Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and
Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and
the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out. So did Owerri, which had an inustrial
layout,so did Onitsha etc. etc. Owerri,Aba and Port Harcourt were already
designed in what was clalled "A three city nexus" (see works plan of the
Eastern Survey Dept. in Enugu) which would connect them into the megacity,
with a local metroline service. (part of this plan was revived by Ndubisi
kanu when he became governor of the new Imo state i 1976, and he contracted
a Dutch firm to design Owerri as a modern capital using an already
established model (Amsterdam). But Adekunle Lawal took one look at the
Owerri plan and threw it away as "too expensive". He stipped the scale down
when he arrived to be governor. Enugu was also to connect Port-Harcourt,
through Umuahia by Underground rail (see Eastern Surveyor-General's report
1965). Calabar was already concieved as an Industrial free zone for Exports
nd was to serve the Aba industrial city through its ports. But in practical
terms, the first steel plant in Africa, Nigersteel, was concieved in Enugu,
So was Nigergas, the integretated gas plant, one in Enugu, one in
Port-harcourt.As part of its agreements with the eastern regional
government, Shell was to build gas power plant with turbines to serve the
domestic and industrial uses for the industrial cities of Aba and
port-harcourt.An Eastern Nigerian industrial plan was already afoot, and the
east was rapidly evolving into the modern indutrial giant of the African
continent. So much that a 1964 Harvard/World bank report stated very clearly
that the Eastern Nigerian Economy was the fastest growing in the world. Ten
years after the Eastern Economic Reconstruction plan came into being!.That
was the rise of the term "Aba made".

http://messageboard.biafranigeriaworld.com/ultimatebb.cgi/ubb/get_topic/f/15/t/000003.html

The Eastern Nigerian government was the pacesetter in development and the regional governments in the West and the North responded almost like copycats. For instance, when the University of Nigeria was established in 1960 with campuses at Nsukka and Calabar, the Akintola government responded in 1962 by building the University of Ife now named Obafemi Awolowo University and the Northern Regional government replied by building Ahmadu Bello University at Zaria. Also when Zik built the African Continental Bank to help in the formation of indigenous capital and the empowerment of our people who could not obtain bank facilities from the foreign owned banks of those years, Awolowo quickly built the National Bank and the Sardauna established Bank of the North. When Okpara employed the services of the Israelis to build Nigeria's first farm settlements, the Western Nigerian government quickly followed suit.

----------------------------------------------------------

Ohafia Udumeze Supreme Advocate Advocate # 127 Advocate Rated:

posted December 13, 2001 04:35

http://messageboard.biafranigeriaworld.com/ultimatebb.cgi/ubb/get_topic/f/15/t/000003.html

fact undergirds the entire framework of the Eastern Nigerian Economic
development plan (1954-1964), also known as "The ten year plan", drawn
between Nnamdi Azikiwe and Mbonu Ojike, both first class economists. (Few
people know that Azikiwe's specialist field was political Economy and
Economic History). This plan was further articulated by Pius Okigbo when he
assumed the position of Economic adviser to the Eastern government, by which
time Mbonu Ojike had died (I956), and Okigbo's friend, M.I Okpara had
assumed the premiership of the region with Azikiwe's retirement from
politics and ascension to the ceremonial post of Governor-general (later
president of the Nigerian federation) in 1958. The Eastern Nigerian Economic
Reconstruction plan (1954) was based on the concept that Azikiwe clearly
called "Economic determinism". Ojike was to articulate it in a more
accessible language when he proclaimed that we should "boycott the
boycottable.". The four important anchors to the Economic vision were:
a. EDUCATION: To that end, an education policy was designed for "strategic
manpower development". It was to create "producers", not masters. The
concept of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, chartered in 1956, although
admitting its first students in 1960, was at the base of this program. It
was different from the colonial University of Ibadan, which was based on
"classical" education. Nsukka was concieved as "a workshop", where one
learnt that credo of the Arthurian Camelot: "In serving our fellow men we
serve ourselves". It was fully compressed into the motto of the University,
something about the dignity of man. The point was that early in Nsukka,
unlike in Ibadan where you were served, at Nsukka you helped yourself.
Azikiwe had in fact criticized the idea of the University College, Ibadan in
1948 as "a one million dollar baby" because it was so unsuited to the
developmental needs of a decolonizing society. Its values were too burgeois,
too isolate from the reality of its own history. (My father went there!)
That critique is of course lost in history, for by the end of the war, the
fundamental ideas of the university of Nigeria was totally disfigured, when
the federal government acquired UNN, and merged it into the more elitist
function of the education philosphy of the rest of Nigeria which has so far
produced a generation of unusable manpower. Nsukka's case was particularly
imperative because it was also the "hotbed for Biafran agitation". But this
is another story. Before the war, the philosphy of education in the East was
based on a mass literacy program that would produce very roundedly educated
people. Although the eastern government could not sustain a free education
system, even though it tried it from 1957-1958, it understood that it needed
a solid, well-trained manpower. Curriculum development was elaborate and
eclectic. A scholarship program, from the community/the county/the Region
was devised. By 1958, every county in the former Eastern region had
Community Grammar Schools built by community development strategies, with a
government grants-in-aid. The result is the current reality - that the Igbo
are possibly the most educated of the world's black peoples. Forget the
fallacy that is unsupported by figures that the west of Nigeria has the most
educated group. This is in fact not true, and one should look closely into
the records. But again, that is a different matter.
The second principle of the Eastern plan was INUSTRIAL PRODUCTION. The East
had the first industrial developement plan in Africa. Note that All Eastern
Nigerian "townships" / cities had designed within them, an industrial zone:
Aba (factory Road),Umuahia (Factory Road) Calabar (Factory road), Enugu and
Port-harcourt had Industrial Free zones - the Emene Industrial Lay out and
the Trans-Amadi Industrial lay-out. So did Owerri, which had an inustrial
layout,so did Onitsha etc. etc. Owerri,Aba and Port Harcourt were already
designed in what was clalled "A three city nexus" (see works plan of the
Eastern Survey Dept. in Enugu) which would connect them into the megacity,
with a local metroline service. (part of this plan was revived by Ndubisi
kanu when he became governor of the new Imo state i 1976, and he contracted
a Dutch firm to design Owerri as a modern capital using an already
established model (Amsterdam). But Adekunle Lawal took one look at the
Owerri plan and threw it away as "too expensive". He stipped the scale down
when he arrived to be governor. Enugu was also to connect Port-Harcourt,
through Umuahia by Underground rail (see Eastern Surveyor-General's report
1965). Calabar was already concieved as an Industrial free zone for Exports
nd was to serve the Aba industrial city through its ports. But in practical
terms, the first steel plant in Africa, Nigersteel, was concieved in Enugu,
So was Nigergas, the integretated gas plant, one in Enugu, one in
Port-harcourt.As part of its agreements with the eastern regional
government, Shell was to build gas power plant with turbines to serve the
domestic and industrial uses for the industrial cities of Aba and
port-harcourt.An Eastern Nigerian industrial plan was already afoot, and the
east was rapidly evolving into the modern indutrial giant of the African
continent. So much that a 1964 Harvard/World bank report stated very clearly
that the Eastern Nigerian Economy was the fastest growing in the world. Ten
years after the Eastern Economic Reconstruction plan came into being!.That
was the rise of the term "Aba made".
The other critical anchor was AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT. Okpara pursued this
part of the plan very vigorously because he knew that every industrial power
must be sustained by food production. He also knew that there had to be a
radical shift from traditional agrarian practices to a modern agricultural
production. There was of course the difficult issue of the land tenure
practice in Igbo land/ the rest of the East. His solution was brilliant. He
did not allow monopolies, he created modern farm settlements based on the
system of farm collectives. By 1963, every boarding school in Eastern
Nigeria was required to serve its students at least an egg a day because
there was excess production. The fourth basis the the empowerment of
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES. This feature of Igbo political
organization is indeed what we have retained, and how we have survived the
oppression of our people from the top. It is self evident and requires no
further commentary.
I have drawn attention to these facts, just to point that we have
complementry development documents and U******'s might just be another
important addition. But I will just make three quick observations: I do
suscribe to his strategy of credit, it does exist even in the Igbo economic
system, and in Mbaise it is called "nna na aka". But we must reformulate the
credit system, and not make the mistakes of western economic models which is
currently leading them into a cul de sac: credit must revolve around
production, and around a co-operative system rather than the "wall street
model". The original methods of the stock exchange that transformed Western
systems of economic exchange is what we must get back to. Three we must go
back to redesign our school system to create, not consumers - both in the
cultural and material sense - but producers. I also think that we mus
re-invaginate dissent into our democratic structures, and begin to teach our
children the authentic philosophies of self-respect, and respect for
humanity and for the race. That would renew them, not damage them
permanently. For too long we have been guided by the ethic of "Ike" (power)
which is destructive.We must return to the humane ethic of the Igbo, and
realize that the race that survives is not one in which the hawks roam the
sky.The igbo consciousness is in fact suspicious of the powerful, especially
the absolutely powerful. The story of Anukili n'Umugama is a valid Igbo
eschatology. The Igbo religious system, based on the Eri canon is based on
"udo" - peace (see Angulu Onwuejiogwu). "Onye biri onye biri". In this case, Igbo land. The destruction o the
Igbo ethic would mean, the destruction of Igbo identity - an issue that the
erudite MJC Echeruo addressed in his Ahiajoku lectures in 1979. I guess my
point is, that while we need an economic and political program, we also need
a cultural program, in order to empower the sense of our mission as a people. For instance what did Azikiwe mean when he declared in Aba in 1947 that God has kept the Igbo to lead the black peoples out of the bond of ages?. What did he mean when he said that the Igbos would rule the world
because they "did not succumb to the carthaginian treaty". These are questions of identity philosophy, the same that has engaged the western mind from Kant, Nieztche, Hegel, to Hume and even the contemporary Fukuyama, all of them theorists in the tradition of European enlightenment - the basis of the western dominance of the world in the last 500 years!. We must begin the spade work. The road is long...

http://messageboard.biafranigeriaworld.com/ultimatebb.cgi/ubb/get_topic/f/15/t/000003.html

---------------------------------------

Chairman of the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) Engr. Chris Okoye in this interview outlines the SENEC philosophy South-East Nigeria Economic Commission -Engr. Chris Okoye, how far have we gone.

I want to point them to Nnamdi Azikiwes Eastern Nigerian Economic Reconstruction plan, 1954-1964  the 10-year plan which, under the strict compliance of M.I Okpara as premier, transformed the East into the fastest growing economy in the world by 1964. Id like to summarize with the following suggestions: When you look carefully, the then premier of the Eastern region, Dr. M.I. Okpara seemed to have used that model very extensively almost in everything they did. Although, the Eastern Development Corporation was a government institution as against the model that we are now trying to put in place, everything done in the former Eastern Nigeria government was done by the defunct Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation.

If you recall, the first one million pounds sterling for the setting up of University of Nigeria, Nsukka was accentually raised by the marketing board under Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, father of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and that was an institution under the Eastern Nigeria Development. It was the one million pounds that they gave Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe for take-off of the University of Nigeria Nsukka. With our model of private public community partnership

--------------------------------------------

To: nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com; oduaa...@yahoogroups.com

From: JAdemisoye20012@...

Date: Fri, 9 Dec 2011 18:24:43 -0500

Subject: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: Are the Igbos the best educated group in Nigeria?

 

Folks:

 

In reading the Obituary of Chukwuemeka Ojukwu in The Telegraph, December 9, 2011, I found this interesting assertion that "The Ibo...were the best educated group..." Is this statement true or incorrect? I would like to have some reactions from the forum or contributions from people with the accurate information and knowledge on educational attainments among Nigeria's diverse ethnic groups. My understanding is that the Yorubas are the best educated ethnic group in Nigeria. If this is not the case, I stand to be corrected. Then, which ethnic group is best educated in Nigeria? Where is the empirical data to support the Ibo claim or any other claim for that matter? Thanks.

 

 

Joel Ademisoye

 

----------------------------------------------

From: Rex Marinus <rexmarinus@...>

To: nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com; igbo_...@yahoogroups.com; igbowor...@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, December 9, 2011 7:05 PM

Subject: [IgboWorldForum] RE: [NIgerianWorldForum] Re: Are the Igbos the best educated group in Nigeria?

 

Ademisoye: I'll refer you to Paul Anber's essay "Modernization and Political Disintegration: Nigeria and the Ibos" published in the journal of Modern African Studies vol. 5, No 2 (Sep, 1967) 163-179. To be more specific see pp 171-172, and let me quote the relevant portion of Dr. Anber's essay:

 

"A system of Universal primary education was introduced in Eastern Nigeria in 1953, though the mission schools had already prospered in the Region long before then. Despite the fact that there was a requirement for limited contributory fees, education continued to be very much in demand. Even at the time when universal primary education was first introduced, the percentage of the population over seven years of age who were literate was higher in the East than in any other Region: East, 10.6 per cent; West 9.5 percent; North, 0.9 percent. Since 1959, the East has had more teachers and pupils than any other area of the country, with the heaviest emphasis on primary education. Figures for elementary and secondary education indicate that the approximate ratio of teachers to population in 1963 was 1 to every 1,500 in the East, 1 to every 2,500 in th West, and 1 for every 10,000 in the north. Other statistical data reveal how rapidly the standard of living rose among Ibos. The East had the most extensive hospital facilities in the country by 1965, the largest regional production of electricity in the country by 1954, and the greatest number of vehicle registrations by 1963. The economic orientation of the Ibos was also reflected through membership of credit associations: in 1963 the East had 68,220 individual members, the west 5,776, and the north a mere 2,407." His source was the Annual Abstract of Statistics ( Federal Office of Statistics, Lagos, 1965), Table 2.4, p. 14.

 

The situation has not changed radically since Paul Anber - except possibly the two years 1970-72. All you need to do even now is to go to the JAMB website and see university matriculation state by state, and compute it. There you have it.

Obi nwakanma

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHIEF AWOLOWO AND USA SECRETARY OF STATE IN 1969 DR. HENRY KISSINGER SAID IGBOS ARE NATION BUILDERS

Situating the context of the civil war, Dr.Henry A. Kissinger, USA secretary of State, wrote in his memo of January 28, 1969 to then US President Richard Nixon.

 

"There is an urge for unity among the elite of all factions, though the strongest cement at this point is probably common tribal hatred of the Ibos. The Feds have cultivated a little elan in discovering they could run the country without the Ibos, who were the backbone of commerce and civil service in the north as well as the south".- USA secretary of State, Henry A. Kissinger, Tuesday, January 28, 1969

 

THEN CHIEF AWOLOWO SAID THE SAME THING BELOW:

----Original Message-----

From: Rex Marinus <rexma...@hotmail.com>

To: igboevents <igboe...@yahoogroups.com>; nigerianworldforum <nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com>; talknigeria <talkn...@yahoogroups.com>; naijaobserver <naijao...@yahoogroups.com>; igboworldforum <igbowor...@yahoo.com>; naijapolitics <naijap...@yahoogroups.com>

Sent: Thu, Nov 29, 2012 7:40 am

Subject: [IgboEvents:Live] The Real Story of Nigeria - Nigeria and the Igbo from the very mouths of Obafemi Awolowo

 

QUOTE BY CHIEF AWOLOWO

“I was a little bit disturbed by the point you made before. I hope you have not taken a final decision on it, that is, that the East will not associate with the North in future. Easterners have fought more than any other group in this country over the years to make Nigeria what it is, or what it was, before the crisis began. I think it will be a pity if they just forget something for which they have laboured for years . Many of the Easterners who fought for “One Nigeria” are no longer with us. It will not be a good tribute to their memory by destroying that“one Nigeria”., Certainly, it is not going to be the same as it used to be. I have taken a stand on that, and I am prepared to drop tribal labels at the moment, but I know in my own mind what sort of thing I have in view for the federation. But I think it will be a great pity and tragedy and disservice to the memories of all those who have gone to disband Nigeria. And here we are not here to criticize anybody, I think it is generally agreed that some units have done more for the unity of Nigeria than others. The East certainly have not yielded first place to anyone in that regard. I would like you to consider that aspect very seriously”.

-Chief Awolowo to General Ojukwu, Enugu, May 6, 1967.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nairaland.com/henry101/posts/3

In Praise of  “Zik of Africa” On His 100th Birthday (Posthumously)

By

Mobolaji E. Aluko
alu...@comcast.net



November 16,  2004



INTRODUCTION

If Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe had been alive today, he would have turned 100 on this blessed day of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  

Posthumous birthday felicitations to him!

So I use the occasion to rise to toast Zik  and once again reflect on him – on his contribution to Nigeria, but particularly to the Igbos, right from when Zik allegedly stowed away to the United States in 1925, returned to Africa in 1934 and to Nigeria in 1937,  and became Nigeria’s first indigenous Governor-General in 1960, and its first (non-executive) President in 1963.

I fully assert that next to God Almighty himself, Zik gave the Igbos the self-esteem that they rightly have today, for without Zik's personal assertiveness and inspiration in education, I fear that the Igbos would not be where they were today!  God may have raised some body else up for the Igbos, but He chose to raise Zik up, and Zik did a darn good job of it.


THE EARLY YEARS

I will begin by "cutting and pasting" a little.   While reading, please recall that Zik was born in 1904 and Obafemi Awolowo in 1909, to give context to the chronological and cultural milieu into which they were both born:  they are both inextricably tied up with each other in the context of Nigeria’s history.


QUOTE

J.S. Coleman:  Nigeria: Background to Nationalism" (1985)  Broburg and Wistrom, Benin City, Katriheneholm

Iboland is one of the most densely populated rural areas in the world.  In some places the density is more than 1,000 persons to the square mile.  Moreover, the soil is comparatively poor.  As a result, in the past the Ibo expanded territorially and exported to other areas large numbers of seasonal laborers and even semi-permanent residents.  In fact, the Ibo were expanding territorially in many directions at the time of the British intrusion.  Since then this outward thrust has continued and has been the source of anti-Ibo feeling among the tribes bordering Iboland (for example, the Igala, the Idoma, the Tiv, and even the Ibibio.)  The Nigerian historian Dike argues that "perhaps the most important factor conditioning Ibo history in the nineteenth century and in our own time is land hunger,  The Ibos pressing against limited land resources had, of necessity, to seek other avenues of livelihood outside the tribal boundaries."  British policy has been, in effect, one of containment, mainly by supporting the peripheral tribes through land regulations designed to halt Ibo expansion.  But this policy did not prevent Ibos from migrating to other areas, particularly Yorubaland, to work as farm laborers or as servants and unskilled workers.

UNQUOTE


The above are the facts in history, despite some of their jarring nature.  Part of the angst between the Igbos and other ethnic groups in Nigeria, particularly the Yoruba, is the early perception of the Igbos as originally "farm laborers or as servants and unskilled workers", but who, as time has gone by, have transcended such lowly occupations and have gone on to greater things in the life of both their new residences as well as the country.  There is residual resentment on all sides - and still defensiveness on all sides.


QUOTE

Ibid

After British pacification, individual Ibo colonizers steadily drifted to other areas.  During the forty-year period 1911-1951, the number of Ibos in Lagos increased from 264 to 26,000.  In the Northern Provinces there were less than 3,000 Ibos in 1921, and nearly 12,000 in 1931;  by 1951 the number had increased to more than 120,000, excluding settled Ibo minorities along the boundary between Eastern and Western regions.  These figures become more meaningful when it is realized that most of the Ibo immigrants gravitated to the urban centers where wage employment could be obtained.  By the end of World War II Ibo clerks, artisans, traders, and laborers constitution a sizable minority group in every urban center of Nigeria and the Cameroons,
Table 9



UNQUOTE


Note that a hundred times increase in  population in Lagos alone and forty times increase in the Northern provinces of the Igbos within a 40-year period  cannot but  have brought its social problems both to the immigrants and the original "settlers."  It also must be recalled that Nigeria was still a "colony" ruled by the British, and not a "country" ruled by Nigerians yet as we know it today - that was to wait till 1960 - so a feeling of "Nigerianism" was not really as rampant as a feeling of "Anti-Colonialism" - or even of "African-ness".


QUOTE

Ibid

As a consequence of the comparative lack of opportunity in their homeland, and other factors to be noted subsequently, the Ibos embraced Western education with great enthusiasm and determination.  Christian missions were welcomed, and encouraged to set up schools in Iboland.  Village improvement unions sponsored scholarships, and Ibo students flocked to secondary schools in what is now the Western Region.  By the late 1930's the Ibo were more heavily represented than any other tribe or nationality in Yaba Higher College and in most Nigerian secondary schools.  Thenceforward the number of Ibos appointed to the African civil service and as clerks in business firms increased at a faster rate than that of any other group.  By 1945 the gap between Yorubas and Ibos was virtually closed.  Increasing numbers of Ibo barristers and doctors began to arrive from England.  By 1952 the number of Ibos (115) enrolled at University College, Ibadan, was nearly equal to the number of Yorubas (118).  The influx of Ibos into the towns of the west and the north and their rapid educational development, which made them competitors for jobs and professional positions, were two indicators of their emergence as an active group in Nigerian affairs.

UNQUOTE

Let us reflect a little here:  The Igbo Union was established in 1937, and Zik became its president in 1946; the Nigerian Youth Movement was established 1937 and broke up effectively in 1941 after some altercations between Zik and Awolowo over Akinsanya and Ernest Okoli.  The National Council of Nigerian and the Cameroons (NCNC) was established in 1944 as a counterpoise to NYM (first president was Herbert Macaulay, with Zik becoming president when HM died in 1946) and the Egbe Omo Yoruba was formed (by Obafemi Awolowo and co.) in London in 1945 , and imported to Nigeria in 1948.  The Action Group was formed in 1951, discussions of which began secretly in 1950; this was quickly followed by a re-organization of the NCNC,  and the formation of NPC as political parties.  All of this was happening within the time period of the expansion of the Igbo population in Nigeria and particularly in the heartland of the Yoruba.

Zik was clearly at this time in the thick of engaging the Igbos to be major national players.


ZIK AND EARLY EDUCATIONAL IGBO INSPIRATION - AND THE AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION CONNECTION


Before Zik came onto the scene in Nigeria between 1934-37, there was absolutely no Igbo person of note who impacted on ANYTHING going on in Nigeria.  NONE, I mean no one with a clearly identifiable Igbo name!  None.

Then in 1934, Zik, barely  30 years old, started pulling his weight, along with Herbert Macaulay, a Yoruba, who by that time was 74 years old!  There were of course other Yoruba (Sapara Williams, Adeniyi-Jones, Solanke, Alakija, Jibowu, Samuel Akinsanya, HO Davies, etc.) like Macaulay, but Zik was the only Igbo around to begin to pull his weight!

So Zik was the psychological break-through for Igbos among the educated elites  in Nigeria that had to begin to see the Igbos as intellectual equals.  That was a BIG AND HUGE contribution of Zik to the Igbos which is lasting and nobody can take that away from him.

What else did Zik do for the Igbos early on?  He began for Nigeria, but also particularly for Igbos, an AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE as a counterweight to the neo-colonial BRITISH education which permeated Nigerian - and particularly Yoruba western education.

Let me "cut and paste" again, again recalling that Zik returned from the US to Ghana (then Gold Coast) in 1934, and settled back in Nigeria in 1937:


QUOTE

ibid  p 242 ff

Until 1938 only twenty Nigerians, including Eyo Ita and Nnamdi Azikiwe,had gone to the United States to study.  Most of these pioneers had been sent by missionary societies for religious studies; none of these religious students, except Ita, had returned as active nationalists.  In 1938 twelve Nigerians sailed for America, and not until 1945 did others join them.  Of these twelve, three men were Ibibios sent for higher studies by the Ibibio State Union, and eight were Ibos who had been under the influence of Azikiwe.  Eleven of the twelve went to Lincoln University, Azikiwe's Alma Mater.  The Nigerian students were joined at Lincoln by three Gold Coastians, also inspired by Azikiwe, and a few students from Sierra Leone.  These Africans, educated in America during the war, have been leading figures in postwar nationalism on the West Coast,
Three of the NIgerian students (Mbonu Ojike, Nwafor Orizu, and Ozuomba Mbadiwe - all Ibos) made lecture tours of the United States, and published one or more books each.  Their writings were the first contribution to Nigerian nationalist literature since Azikiwe's "Renascent Africa."  Upon their returne to Nigeria these three became crusaders for American practical - or what Orizu called "horizontal" - education, as contrasted to British literary ("vertical" tradition.  Their agitation in behalf of American education, couple with Azikiwe's great success, was one of the principal reasons for the post-war migration of hundreds of Nigerians to America.  Their propagation of the American educational ideal and their positive nationalism contributed to the antipathy of both the British and the British-educated Nigerians towards American education and American-educated Nigerians.
UNQUOTE

So those of us who are enjoying the US higher education TODAY have Zik, Ojike (who unfortunately died in 1957), Orizu (who was Senate President when the 1966 coup occurred) and Mbadiwe (the colorful Mbadiwe, man of “timber and caliber”) for early acceptance of our American education.  Of course, recognizing that Awo had a British education (going for further “adult” studies in 1944, at the ripe age of 35), the "antipathy" between them might also have this educational dichotomy element in it.

But there was to be more,


ZIK IN INDIGENOUS HIGHER EDUCATION

QUOTE

p. 245ff.

Analysis of the ethnic origins of Nigerians who have studied in the United States during the past three decades reveals a striking predominance of Ibos.  Although the Ibo peoples constitute no more than 17 percent of the total population of Nigeria, until the late 1940s more than two-thirds of the Nigerian students in the United States were Ibos.  As the figures in Table 19 shows, the Ibos were still in the majority as late as 1954

---------------------

Table 19  Ethnic Origin of Nigerian Students in the United States*



*Because numbers have been calculated from lists of names, they are only approximations.  "Others and unknowns" may possibly include several Yoruba who retained their Anglicized names.  The Efiks and Ibibios are counted togehter because it is difficult in most instances for a non-Efik or a non-Ibibio to distinguish between Efik and Ibibio names.

** Nnamdi Azikiwe

---------------------


There are several reasons for the Ibo predominance.  One was the strong influence of Azikiwe, Ojike Mbadiwe, and Orizu, who were among the first-university-educated Ibos and who consciously sought to popularize the virtues of American education.  Indeed, Mbadiwe and Orizu fostered scholarship schemes designed to send Nigerian students to America, and most of the successful candidates were Ibos.  In contrast, most of the older-generation Yorubas had been educated in the United Kingdom, and the later generation tended to adhere to that tradition.  In addition, by 1945, the Ibos were the upcoming group, and the number of Ibos in British universities may well have equaled or exceeded the number of Yorubas.  For by the late 1940s the number of Ibos with a secondary school education, a prerequisite for university training, actually exceeded the number of Yorubas with a similar qualification.  In any event, the preference of Yorubas for British education and of Ibos for American education, coupled with militant Ibo claims of the superiority of American education and of the easier-to-get America degrees, has exacerbated Yoruba-Ibo tension.  As table  19 indicates, however, the differential is rapidly changing.

UNQUOTE

So the influence of Zik in Igbo education in Nigeria was phenomenal, and the competition it engendered with the Yoruba too was helpful to the Yoruba.

It was most likely that Awolowo, thorough man that he was, seeing all of these numbers and developments, with the rampaging quartet of Zik, Orizu, Ojike and Mbadiwe, decided that something drastic had to be done in and for Yorubaland if the Yoruba were not to be completely overwhelmed in the country.  This was not to stop Zik and his cohorts, but rather to ensure that the Yoruba began more consciously and systematically to pull their own weight.

Finally, as one of the many "quid quo pros" to becoming Governor-General of Nigeria in alliance with the NPC, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe negotiated the establishment of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to start October 1960, with the help of Michigan State University, East Lansing as the first "indigenous" university in Nigeria (UI established in January 1948 started as a college of the University of London)

QUOTE

University Development in Africa - The Nigerian Experience
by Chukwuemeka Ike, OUP, 1976,pp 9 ff


Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who founded Nsukka almost as an antidote to Ibadan, appears also to have been influenced by the Ibadan pattern of development, The University of Nigeria was ceremonially opened on October 7, 1960, as part of the week-long celebrations marking the attainment of political independence by Nigeria on October 1, 1960.  The university was fully autonomous, with the power to grant its own degrees.Technically speaking, therefore, it became the first fully-fledged university in Nigeria, since Ibadan was still at that time a university college granting London degrees.  It also became the first university established by a Nigerian Regional Government,

In the same year, the Report of the Commission on Post-School Certificate and Higher Education in Nigeria (popularly known as the Ashby report) was released.  The commission recommended, inter alia, the establishment of three universities in addition to Ibadan - one in Lagos, one at Zaria in Northern Nigeria (on the site of the Northern branch of the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology) and the third the University of Nigeria which had already been planned by the Eastern Nigeria Government.  Each of the three existing Regions would thus have located in it one centre of higher education, with a fourth university in Lagos,

, Ahmadu Bello University was officially opened in October 1962.  The Western Nigeria Government pressed ahead with its plans to build its own regional university, even though such a university was not among those proposed by the Ashby Commission.  The Federal Governement yielded to the pressure and made available to the Western Nigeria Government the site and assets of the Ibadan branch of the Nigerian College (which were to have been turned over to the University College, Ibadan.)  The University of Ife began to offer classes in October 1962, though the political misfortunes which beset Western Nigeria in the same year prevented the university from making any significant impact until a change of leadership in 1966 provided rays of hope.

Following the Report of the Unesco Advisory Commission for the Establishment of the University of Lagos (Paris, Unesco, 1961), the University of Lagos came into being in 1962 as the second Federal university institution, Ahmadu Bello and Ife being, like Nsukka, regional universities receiving part of their support from the Federal Government. The Enugu branch of the Nigerian College was turned over to Nsukka as a second campus instead of being converted into a full-scale university.

Thus within a space of two years from the date the country attained independence, four brand new universities were established, each empowered to grant degrees.  Ibadan, the oldest university institution, cut its umbilical ord with London in October 1962, becoming the University of Ibadan.  In July 1965, it turned out the first graduates holding Ibadan (rather than London) degrees, by which time Nsukka had produced two crops of graduates and taken all the publicity for turning out the first graduates of an autonomous Nigerian university,

Nsukka has been the most controversial university in Nigeria.  Many within and outside Ibadan were infuriated by its immodest choice of the name : University of Nigeria, a name which Mellamby (then VC of Ibadan) claimed in his "Birth of Nigeria's University" he had tried unsuccessfully to give to Ibadan in its early years,


UNQUOTE

All of the above was due to Zik - Nsukka's pride, the country's pride.  It also served as the motivation for Awolowo in the Western Region  to INSIST on setting up the University of Ife for the Western Region, despite the presence of Ibadan and Lagos FEDERAL universities.


EPILOGUE

In conclusion, it is not a stretch to conclude from all the above that the Igbos OWE a lot of their self-esteem in Nigeria to Zik.  Nigerian higher education also owes a lot to Zik.  I also firmly believe that iron sharpened iron when it came to Zik and Awo:  Awolowo respected Zik FULLY for that visionary aspect of this contemporary of his, despite the mutual distrust that they had for each other throughout their lives.

I have deliberately played down Zik’s contribution to Nigeria’s independence in 1960, because he had a lot of fellow contributors.  I have also played down his contributions from 1960 till he died on May 11, 1996,  because he does come in for a lot of criticisms for those later years – and we don’t wish to talk ill of the dead, certainly not on his birthday.

So on this his 100th birthday, let us all rise to toast Zik of Africa, of Nigeria, of Ndigbo and of Owelle!

Best wishes all.

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Between 1947 and 1960 Azikiwe, as leader of the NCNC, held a number of elected public offices. He was a member of the Nigerian Legislative Council (1947-1951), member of the Western House of Assembly (1952-1953), premier of the Eastern Region (1954-1959), and president of the Nigerian Senate (1959-1960). On Oct. 1, 1960, Nigeria became independent, and Azikiwe was appointed governor general . On Oct. 1, 1963, Nigeria became a republic, and Azikiwe was named its first president, a position he held until he was deposed by the military coup of Jan. 15, 1966.During these years he had continued to play the single most vigorous role in Nigeria's march toward independence. While premier, he greatly expanded economic and educational facilities in the Eastern Region and laid the foundation of the University of Nigeria at Nsukka, formally opened in September 1960.  Because of Dr. Azikiwe educational foundation and leadership for Igbos, in the 1950-1966 and present Igbos according to An Igbo scholar, Dr. Samuel Okafor of UNN.

 http://www.newsexpressngr.com/news/detail.php?news=2547&title=Igbo-scholar-disgraces-Femi-Fani-Kayode-

"The true facts from the Federal Office of Statistics on education tell otherwise, showing that 3 Ibo states for the past 12 years have constantly had the largest number of graduates in the country, producing more graduates than Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and Oyo states. These eastern states are Imo, Anambra and Abia. Yet he calls Ibos traders. Indeed, the Igbos dominate because excellence dominates mediocrity – truth.
Let me enlighten this falsehood’s mouthpiece even further: before the civil war Ibos controlled and dominated all institutions in the formal sector in Nigeria from the universities to the police to the military to politics:

•The first Black Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan was an Ibo man

•The first Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos was an Ibo man

•The first Nigerian Rector of the then Yaba College of Technology was also an Ibo man

•The police was run by an Ibo IG

Who was the first Nigerian Professor of Mathematics – an Ibo man – Professor Chike Obi – the man who solved Fermat’s Last Theorem. He was followed by another Ibo man, Professor James Ezeilo, Professor of Differentail Calculus and the founder of the Ezeilo Constant. Please do some research on this great Ibo man. He later became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka and one of the founders of the Nigerian Mathematical Centre. Who was Nigeria’s first Professor of Histroy – Professor Kenneth Dike who published the first account of trade in Nigeria in pre-colonial times. He was also the first African Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Who was the first Professor of Microbiology – Professor Eni Njoku; he was also the first African Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos. Anatomy and Physiology – Professor Chike Edozien is an Asaba man and current Obi of Asaba. Who was the first Professor of Anatomy at the University College Ibadan? Who was the first Professor of Physics? Professor Okoye, who became a Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960. He was followed by the likes of Professor Alexander Anumalu who has been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physics three times for his research in Intermediate Quantum Physics. He was also a founding member of the Nigerian Mathematical Centre. Nuclear Physics and Chemistry – again another Ibo man – Professor Frank Ndili who gained a Ph.D in his early ’20s at Cambridge Univesity in Nuclear Physics and Chemistry in the early ’60s. This young Asaba man had made a First Class in Physics and Mathematics at the then University College Ibadan in the early ’50s. First Professor of Statistics – Professor Adichie who’s research on Non-Parametric Statistics led to new areas in statistical research. What about the first Nigerian Professor of Medicine – Professor Kodilinye – he was appointed a Professor of Medicine at the University of London in 1952. He later became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka after the war. What about Astronomy – again another Ibo man was the first Professor of Astronomy – please, look up Professor Ntukoju – he was the first to earn a double Ph.D in Astronomy and Mathematics.

Let’s go to the Social Sciences – Demography and statistical research into population studies – again another Ibo man – Professor Okonjo who set up the first Centre for Population Research in Ibadan in the early ’60s. A double Ph.D in Mathematics and Economics. Philosophy – Professor G D Okafor, who became a Professor of Philosophy at the Amherst College USA in 1953. Economics – Dr. Pius Okigbo who became a visiting scholar and Professor of Economics at the University of London in 1954. He is also the first Nigerian Ph.D in Economics. Theology and theological research – Professor Njoku who became the first Nigerian to earn a Ph.D in Theology from Queens University Belfast in Ireland. He was appointed a Professor of Theology at the University College Zambia in 1952.I find it difficult not to respond to some of these long-held lies that are constantly being peddled by Yorubas. One is that the Yoruba have the largest number of professors in the country. I would again ask that we stick to facts and statistical records. The Nigerian Universities Commission has a record of the state with the largest number of professors on their records and as at 2010 that state is Imo State followed by Ondo State and then Anambra State; the next state is Ekiti and then Delta before Kwara State. I am sure you Yorubas are surprised. When you sit in the South-West do not think others are sleeping but I wish to address another historical fact and that is who were the first Nigerians to receive Western education. It is important that these issues be examined in their historical context and evidence through research be presented for all to examine.An Igbo scholar, Dr. Samuel Okafor of UNN.

http://www.newsexpressngr.com/news/detail.php?news=2547&title=Igbo-scholar-disgraces-Femi-Fani-Kayode

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TRADE AND INDUSTRIES

Chairman of the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) Engr. Chris Okoye in this interview outlines the SENEC philosophy South-East Nigeria Economic Commission -Engr. Chris Okoye, how far have we gone.

I want to point them to Nnamdi Azikiwes Eastern Nigerian Economic Reconstruction plan, 1954-1964  the 10-year plan which, under the strict compliance of M.I Okpara as premier, transformed the East into the fastest growing economy in the world by 1964. Id like to summarize with the following suggestions: When you look carefully, the then premier of the Eastern region, Dr. M.I. Okpara seemed to have used that model very extensively almost in everything they did. Although, the Eastern Development Corporation was a government institution as against the model that we are now trying to put in place, everything done in the former Eastern Nigeria government was done by the defunct Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation.

If you recall, the first one million pounds sterling for the setting up of University of Nigeria, Nsukka was accentually raised by the marketing board under Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, father of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and that was an institution under the Eastern Nigeria Development. It was the one million pounds that they gave Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe for take-off of the University of Nigeria Nsukka. With our model of private public community partnership, because before the war, most of what we did, especially in the Igbo area, were through the town unions and by 1966, the Igbo had made significant impact in the education sector that the Yoruba began to wonder if these are the people that started school some years ago and yet we have been going to school for over 100 years and had not made the kind of impact the Igbo made and they were wondering how the Igbo made it because by 1960, the vice chancellor of University of Ibadan was an Igbo and that was Prof. Kenneth Dike. The vice chancellor of University of Lagos was an Igbo man, Prof. Eni Njoku. You do remember also that Yaba College of Technology; the rector, Engr. Agbasi was an Igbo man. So the pre-centre for excellence in Nigeria were in the hands of Igbomen and they also controlled the UNN.

 In the area of agriculture, the vegetable oil now in Malaysia was set up with the oil palms taken from the east courtesy of the same corporation and so you could imagine that if they had continued from 1970, Eastern Nigeria would have become the largest producer of vegetable oil in the world. But they couldn't continue because of the Civil War. Again in eggs production, then, people were buying eggs almost at one kobo not to talk about meat and so on.

On the industrial aspect, they established the glass factory at Port-Harcourt, the steel factory in Enugu, the Nkalagu Cement factory which was probably the first cement manufacturing factory in Africa. As a matter of fact, I am aware that the limestone at Nkalagu cement factory is enough to guarantee production of cement for the next 300 years.  

Two banks at least  African Continental Bank and Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria all once headquartered in the East  were at the centre of Eastern Nigerian post-colonial economic renaissance. Azikiwes banking policy and Mbonu Ojikes protectionist policies (remember boycott the boycottable) instigated the rise of indigenous entrepreneurial initiatives at a massive scale in the East from 1953 to 1983. Chairman of the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) Engr. Chris Okoye

-----------------------------------------

Eastern Nigeria Regional Government under the leadership of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr. Michael Okpara immediately set up University of Nigeria Nsukka with emphasis on all aspects of Science and Technology and professional courses including Economics, Land Economics and Mineral Studies, then unknown in the University College Ibadan, to facilitate the development of Eastern Nigeria’s economy and also established industrial estates at Enugu, Port Harcourt, Sea Port in Portharcourt, Obudu  entertainment Ranch in Cross Rivers State, Farm settlements in all the Divisions and Local Government Areas. Azikwe created the Massive development of Palm Kernel, Rubber and palm produce and massive export of raw materials and  industrial goods and by 1964 leapfrogged to be the fastest growing economy in West Africa. paraphrase from Oragwu, Technology Development Consultant lives in Lagos

- The first International Trade Fair was opened by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe at Victoria Island on October 27, 1962.

- Launching of the National Savings Scheme (Premium Bond) by Mrs. Flora Azikiwe at General Post Office, Marina on 8th December, 1962.

- Opening of the ?2 million Guinness Breweries at Ikeja on 6th March, 1963 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

- Opening of the New Engineering Base and Hangar at Lagos Airport Ikeja by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on December 13, 1963.

- Opening of the Royal Mint at Victoria Island on April 10, 1965 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the subsequent issuance and circulation of New Currency notes in the denomination of £5; £10s and 5s on July 1, 1965.

Opening of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka on October 7, 1960.

-----------------------------------

I cannot conclude without reiterating the value of education in leveraging national development and how the small Nsukka field experiment by the Right Honourable Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in establishing the University of Nigeria in 1960 has contributed immensely to Nigerian development. The University of Nigeria has led in the production of much-needed human capital in atypical disciplines such as Architecture, Estate Management, Journalism, Music, Nursing, Physical/Health Education, and Surveying. It has also recorded innumerable scientific feats that include the first-ever cholera vaccine production in Africa, and the open-heart surgery at the Teaching Hospital, among others. There is no doubt that it will continue to contribute to Nigeria’s development in the years to come, judging by the quality of the students, staff and teachers today, and the eagerness with which many JAMB applicants make it their first choice. It is with a great sense of responsibility that I personally associate myself with the philosophy of the University: To seek the Truth; To teach the Truth; To preserve the Truth, and thereby To restore the dignity of man. Yes, we will get there.

I thank you all for listening. At the 2012 Graduation Ceremonies of University of Nigeria

Nsukka, Nigeria, January 26, 2012

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ZIK-A Force in Library Development in Nigeria

C.C. Aguolu and L.E. Aguolu

http://www.worlib.org/vol07no2/aguolu_v07n2.shtml

 Abstract

This is the first attempt to coherently document the immense contributions of one of Africa’s foremost nationalists and pan–Africanists to the development of libraries in Nigeria. Although he is best known for his achievements in politics, journalism, and sports, Dr. Azikiwe saw the library as a vehicle for the intellectual emancipation of Nigerians from colonial rule.

As President of Eastern Nigeria in the 1950s, the first and only indigenous Governor–General, and first President of Nigeria in the 1960s, he was able to wield sufficient political influence to ensure a legal basis for public library development in Nigeria, the establishment of the University of Nigeria Library – named after himself – and the eventual creation of the National Library of Nigeria.

--------------------------------------

Today, the gains of sound laws, policies and adult suffrage which reorganized the administrative, social and economic development of the Eastern region of Nigeria still stand as one of his greatest achievements as the premier of that region. He also saw the vision of African civilization rooted in its culture and peculiarity; hence he pushed for a co-educational university which metamorphosed into the first indigenous university in Africa-University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He also participated in developing the curricula of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and donated books from his personal library to ensure its commencement of full academic business.
 
In an era when Nigeria is still grappling with ethnic challenges and songs, Zik was already exuding a pan-African dream; practising exactly what he preaches, the great Zik propelled the emergence of Altine Umoru and Bashorun Balogun as the mayors of Igbo dominated Enugu and Port Harcourt districts respectively. It is no more news that the cross-carpeting of members of the Western Regional Assembly momentarily thwarted Zik’s dream of building a Nigeria where every Nigerian will live and become the best he or she can achieve without any hindrance of tribe, religion and sex.

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http://www.blackpast.org/1955-nnamdi-azikiwe-university-nigeria-speech

(1955) Nnamdi Azikiwe, “The University of Nigeria Speech”

         

On May 18, 1955 the Eastern House of Assembly, the regional legislature for Eastern Nigeria, moved a resolution to established the first university in Eastern Nigeria.  Nnamdi Azikiwe gave a speech seconding the motion introduced by the Eastern Region Minister of Education. That eastern university became the University of Nigeria.  Azikiwe's remarks given on May 18, 1955, appear below.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to second this historic motion and in doing so I wish to confine my remarks to one aspect of the speech so ably made by the Honourable the Minister of Education. I have in mind his statement about the philosophy of education which animates the introduction of this Bill. I must admit that I have been impressed by the recommendations made by the African Education Commission, which visited Nigeria in 1920 with the late Kwegyir Aggrey, under the auspices of the Phelps-Stokes Fund and the Foreign Mission Societies of North America and Europe, particularly the following:

1. That all concerned distinguish clearly the educational needs, namely, the education of the masses of the people, the training of teachers and leaders for the masses, and the preparation of professional men who must pass the conventional requirements of British universities.

2. That the education of the masses and their teachers be determined by the following elements, namely, health, ability to develop the resources of the country, household arts, sound recreation, rudiments of knowledge, character development, and community responsibility. The native teachers should also have access to the great truths of physical and social science and the inspiration of history and literature.

I make the above admission because, after 35 years, the observations and recommendations of the Commission are still timely. Indeed, I can say that this report forms a basis of the philosophy of education for Africa, not because Africans deserve a separate philosophy but, in the words of Dr Anson Phelps-Stokes, the purpose of the Commission was to help Africans ‘by encouraging an education adapted to their actual needs. . . . The time has passed when the old thesis can be successfully maintained that a curriculum well suited to the needs of a group on a given scale of civilization in one country is necessarily the best for other groups on a different level of advancement in another country or section.’

But Dr Stokes did not end on a dogmatic note. After pointing out that agricultural or industrial training, under Christian auspices, proved to be the best type of education for the majority of the freed Negroes, ‘at this particular time of their development’, he cautioned that ‘the door was and always should be kept wide open for a higher education’ for those who had the ability and the character to profit by university training.

In appreciating any philosophy of education we should always find out the aims of those who postulate such ideas. As far as one can observe from a subsequent statement by the Phelps-Stokes group, the objective sought was Nigerian leadership. In one of their latest reports, it is said:

In terms of the African continent, this should clearly imply such changes as that there should be more emphasis on education for native leadership; that European officials should gradually give way to a trained native African civil service; that duly elected Africans should play a larger part in the legislative councils of the colonies; and that investments should be further controlled in the interest of better wages for native workmen, and better working and living conditions. It is believed that if such things are done the African people, and the nations in which they will form the large majority, will be happier, and will ultimately have an important contribution to make to the civilization of the world.

I believe that, side by side with higher vocational education, opportunities should be created to enable the trained individuals to play a useful role in the development of the country. Here is where I agree with the founders of Achimota College that,

The immediate aim of African education should be to develop character, initiative, and ability of the youth of the country, so that they may be reliable, useful, and intelligent in the rapidly changing life and circumstances of their own people. In other words, the aim of education is to develop the manhood and womanhood of the rising generation for the sake of their peoples. Anything narrower than this must lead to a stagnant and menacing flood of unemployed and unemployable youth.

It is important that higher educational facilities should be provided locally to enable those to be benefited to make full use of them. It is said that a fully educated person should be ‘enlightened in im interests, impersonal in his judgment, ready in his sympathy for whatever is just and right, effective in the work he sets himself to do, and willing to lend a hand to anyone who is in need of it.’ I strongly support the belief of the late Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg that ‘the keystone of progress is education; but all that will be idle rhetoric if we mix the materials of the keystone badly.’ In this connection, this former Governor of the Gold Coast confessed that the British would never succeed ‘if the sole place in which the African can get his higher education and his professional training is Europe. Much learning, and of the best, he can get there; character-training, none. . . . We must aim at giving the whole of our education locally, and, where it is essential that an African should go to Europe for the final steps to enter a profession, we must arrange our system in such a manner that his absence will be reduced to the shortest possible time and the foundations of his character firmly laid before he goes. . . . To stand the pressure brought to bear on the Arch of Progress by the hurricane of material development, the storm of criticism, and the windy tornadoes of political agitation, the keystone must be well and truly laid and composed of strong materials.’

In order that the foundations of Nigerian leadership shall be securely laid, to the end that this country shall cease to imitate the excrescences of a civilization which is not rooted in African life, I strongly support this Bill to the effect that a full-fledged university should be established in this Region without further delay. Such a higher institution of learning should not only be cultural, according to the classical concept of universities, but it should also be vocational in its objective and Nigerian in its content. We should not offer any apologies for making such a progressive move. After all, we must do f or ourselves what others hesitate to do for us. In the thoughts of a great American Negro historian, ‘History shows that it does not matter who is in power or what revolutionary forces take over the government, those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they had in the beginning.’

I notice that it is envisaged that the university should have six degree-conferring Faculties: Arts, Science, Law, Theology, Engineering, and Medicine. I hope that the curricula of the university will be related to the day-to-day life of our people and that they will be so organized as to relate the mission of the university to the social and economic needs of the Region. I also observe that the following twenty diploma-conferring Institutes are among those which will be established for the professional and technical education of our men and women on whom we shall have to rely heavily in the difficult years ahead: Agriculture, Architecture, Diplomacy, Domestic Science, Dramatics, Education, Finance, Fine Arts, Fishery, Forestry, Journalism, Librarianship, Music, Pharmacy, Physical Education, Public Administrations, Public Health, Secretarial Studies, Social Work, Surveying and Veterinary Science. If these Institutes are so organized as to operate pari passu with the Faculties, then this Region will embark upon an historic renaissance in the fields of academic, cultural, professional and technical education on the same lines as the leading countries of the world.

I wish to make it emphatic that the university should be coeducational. It will be remembered that the Cambridge Conference on African Education made reference to this subject in their report, which says:

Women and girls need an education that fits them to live in a world of social change; and they need the tools of learning to help them to understand and take a fuller part in daily life. The increasing numbers need opportunities for professional and occupational training so that they can be both economically independent and fitted to take over progressively their responsibility for educating and training their own people. The main task for education among women and girls therefore is to provide so sound a training in the techniques of living that the whole level of African life can be raised socially, intellectually, and spiritually by the full co-operation of women in the home and in the community at large. . . . We recommend that priority should now be given to providing trades and technical training for women and girls in the fields of needlecraft, catering, institutional management, and secretarial arts.

It is now accepted in progressive circles that male and female students of any modem university should be allowed to live side by side on the same campus, where residence is available; they should study together, play together, and share together the vicissitudes of the cultural atmosphere of secondary school or university life. The aim of such co-education should be to enable male and female students to engage together in academic, vocational and co-curricular activities in developing their personalities.

I feel that it is of utmost importance that we should inculcate in our university students not only the dignity of labour, but also the idea that by hard work, sacrifice and self-determination, a poor student can obtain university education. In many colleges and universities of the world today, thousands of students are demonstrating that lack of funds is not an unsurmountable barrier to higher education. The fact that students are not affluent enough to pay all their bills need not make them ashamed.

It is my earnest hope that indigent male and female students of the new university will be encouraged to work in order to be able to meet their university expenses. The experience gained thereby will stand them in good stead in the struggle for survival in life. By making sacrifices, by being thrifty, and by working hard, such students will cultivate self-reliance and confidence. As experience has shown in American and German universities, many elements which, ordinarily, would have discouraged the average student and possibly caused him to be a failure in life, are usually encountered by such working students with remarkable fortitude and determination to rely on his own resources to succeed, no matter the handicaps. Later in life, he can always recount the turning point of his life with pride.

It is my fondest wish that when the University of Nigeria ultimately becomes a reality, our young men and women will find opportunities for gaining experience in life’s battle, so that lack of money will not deter them from obtaining higher vocational education in any of the faculties or institutes of the university. I hope that the training in self-help and the experience in self- reliance will make them more confident of themselves and enable them to puncture the myth of the proverbial lack of initiative and drive on the part of the Nigerian worker.

Finally, I trust that, with the establishment of this university, it will be complementary with the Ibadan University College, co-operating with it, drawing inspiration from its efforts, and gaining experience from this pioneer institution of higher education in this country.

Sir, I beg to second.

Sources:

Nnamdi Azikiwe, Zik: A Selection from the Speeches of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Governor-General of the Federation of Nigeria formerly President of the Nigerian Senate formerly Premier of the Eastern Region of Nigeria (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961).
 

- See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/1955-nnamdi-azikiwe-university-nigeria-speech#sthash.JBlM30tl.dpuf

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http://biography.yourdictionary.com/nnamdi-azikiwe

Nnamdi Azikiwe Facts

  

Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904-1996) was one of the fore most Nigerian and West African nationalists and the first president of Nigeria.

Nnamdi Azikiwe was born on Nov. 16, 1904, of Ibo parents in Zungeru, Northern Nigeria, where his father worked as a clerk in the Nigerian Regiment. His parents gave him the name Benjamin, but he later changed it to Nnamdi. He attended school in Onitsha, Lagos, and Calabar. In 1921, when he discontinued his secondary school education, he was fluent in the languages of the three major ethnic groups of Nigeria—the Hausas, the Ibos, and the Yorubas—a major asset for the future Nigerian nationalist. Between 1921 and 1924 he worked as a clerk in the Nigerian treasury in Lagos.

In 1925 Azikiwe went to the United States to study. He attended Storer College and then Howard and Lincoln universities. He received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Lincoln in 1931 and advanced degrees from Lincoln in 1932 and the University of Pennsylvania in 1933. As a black penurious student (nicknamed Zik), Azikiwe worked at a wide range of mostly lowly jobs and was frequently a victim of racial discrimination. His American experience was certainly a source of his pan-African patriotism.

Between 1932 and 1934 Azikiwe taught political science at Lincoln University. At this time he began writing seriously, and his productions reflected his pan-African inclination. He devised a "Syllabus for African History" and wrote a book, Liberia in World Politics (1934), in defense of the black republic. In 1937 he published Renascent African, the most important single expression of his pan-African ideology.

Newspaper Career

In 1934 Azikiwe returned to Nigeria and accepted an offer to edit the African Morning Post, a new daily newspaper in Accra, Ghana, which he quickly made into an important organ of nationalist propaganda. In 1937 he returned to Lagos and founded the West African Pilot, which became "a fire-eating and aggressive nationalist paper of the highest order." In the next decade Azikiwe controlled six daily newspapers in Nigeria: two in Lagos and four strategically placed in the urban centers of Ibadan, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, and Kano. These played a crucial role in stimulating Nigerian nationalism. To support his business ventures and to express his economic nationalism, Azikiwe founded the African Continental Bank in 1944.

Political Career

Azikiwe also became directly involved in political movements. In 1937 he joined the Nigerian Youth Movement, leaving it for the Nigerian National Democratic party in 1941. In 1944, on Azikiwe's initiative, the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) was founded to "weld the heterogeneous masses of Nigeria into one solid block." Azikiwe was elected the council's general secretary and in 1946 its president. In this period his major political writings, apart from his newspaper articles, were Political Blue Print of Nigeria and Economic Reconstruction in Nigeria (both 1943).

Between 1947 and 1960 Azikiwe, as leader of the NCNC, held a number of elected public offices. He was a member of the Nigerian Legislative Council (1947-1951), member of the Western House of Assembly (1952-1953), premier of the Eastern Region (1954-1959), and president of the Nigerian Senate (1959-1960). During these years he had continued to play the single most vigorous role in Nigeria's march toward independence. While premier, he greatly expanded educational facilities in the Eastern Region and laid the foundation of the University of Nigeria at Nsukka, formally opened in September 1960.

On Oct. 1, 1960, Nigeria became independent, and Azikiwe was appointed governor general with the prime ministership going to Sir Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, deputy governor general of the Northern People Congress, the largest single party of the federation. On Oct. 1, 1963, Nigeria became a republic, and Azikiwe was named its first president, a position he held until he was deposed by the military coup of Jan. 15, 1966.

In the Nigerian-Biafran civil war, May 1967-January 1970, Azikiwe at first reluctantly supported Biafra, but in August 1969 came out against Biafran secession and in favor of a united Nigeria.

From 1978-1983 Azikiwe led the Nigeria People's Party (NPP); he was the NPP's candidate in the presidential elections of 1979 and 1983. He retired from politics in 1986.

Azikiwe died in eastern Nigeria on May 11, 1996, following a long illness. Marking his death, the New York Times commented that Azikiwe "towered over the affairs of Africa's most populous nation, attaining the rare status of a truly national hero who came to be admired across the regional and ethnic lines dividing his country."

Further Reading on Nnamdi Azikiwe

Two useful short biographies are Vincent Ikeotuonye, Zik of New Africa (1961), and K.A.B. Jones-Quartey, A Life of Azikiwe (1965), which is more scholarly and more readily available. Good analyses of Azikiwe's political career may be found in James Smoot Coleman, Nigeria: Background to Nationalism (1958), and Richard L. Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation (1963).

Additional Biography Sources

Economist (May 25, 1996).

Jet (June 3, 1996).

New York Times (May 14, 1996).

Uwazurike, P. Chudi, The Man Called Zik of Africa: Portrait of Nigeria's Pan-African Statesman (Triatlantic Books, 1996). □

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http://www.answers.com/topic/nnamdi-azikiwe

Building his power in the Eastern Region, Azikiwe became its premier in 1954 after a new constitution was put into effect. He instituted a new education program in his region, and had a major role in Nigeria becoming the leading exporter of students for study abroad in Africa. In 1954 Azikiwe visited Europe, England, the United States, and Canada with members of the Eastern region economic commission in order to promote investment for developments in textile, vegetable oil refineries, steel, and chemicals.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/nnamdi-azikiwe#ixzz2pZB2FjRR

Throughout his career, Azikiwe used his nationalist press, political connections, and kinship of his tribe to promote education, self-government, welfare, and progress. He also wrote over a dozen books on the struggle for African nationalism and other topics. He died in 1996 after a long illness, at the age of 91.

Awards Nnamdi Azikiwe Distinguished Endowed Chair in International Relations, Lincoln University Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/nnamdi-azikiwe#ixzz2pZBOonm2

Works

• Zik (1961)
• My Odyssey: An Autobiography (1971)
• Renascent Africa (1973)
• Liberia in World Politics (1931)
• One hundred quotable quotes and poems of the Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1966)—ISBN 978-2736-09-0

Political Blueprint for Nigeria (1943);
Economic Reconstruction of Nigeria (1943);
Zik: A Selection of the Speeches of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1961);
Assassination Story: True or False? (1946);
“Essentials for Nigeria’s Survival.” (1965);
“Before Us Lies The Open Grave” (1947);
“The Future of Pan-Africanism” (1961);
“The Realities of African Unity” (1965);
“Origins of the Nigerian Civil War” (1969);
I Believe in a One Nigeria (1969);
Peace Proposals for Ending the Nigerian Civil War (1969);
Dialogue on a New Capital for Nigeria (1974);
“Creation of More States in Nigeria, A Political Analysis” (1974);
Democracy with Military Vigilance (1974);
“Reorientation of Nigerian Ideologies: lecture on 9 December 1976, on eve of the launching of the UNN Endowment Fund” (1976);
Our Struggle for Freedom; Onitsha Market Crisis (1976);
Let Us Forgive Our Children, An appeal to the leaders and people of Onitsha during the market crisis (1976);
A Collection of Poems (1977);
Civil War Soliloquies: More Collection of Poems (1977);
“Themes in African Social and Political Thought” (1978);
Restoration of Nigerian Democracy (1978);
Matchless Past Performance: My Reply to Chief Awolowo’s Challenge (1979);
A Matter of Conscience (1979);
Ideology for Nigeria: Capitalism, Socialism or Welfarism? (1980);
“Breach of Trust by the NPN” (1983); and
History Will Vindicate The Just (1983).

Notable quotes

• "There is plenty of room at the top because very few people care to travel beyond the average route. And so most of us seem satisfied to remain within the confines of mediocrity" —from My Odyssey, No. 5
• "My stiffest earthly assignment is ended and my major life's work is done. My country is now free and I have been honoured to be its first indigenous head of state. What more could one desire in life?" —talking about Nigeria's Independence on October 1, 1960.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/nnamdi-azikiwe#ixzz2pZBomLlE

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http://zikism.tripod.com/Owelle.html

The Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Owelle-Osowa-anya of Onitsha, and Zik of Africa was born on November 16, 1904 in Zungeru, Niger State into the family of Obededom Chukwuemeka Azikiwe and Racheal Chinwe Azikiwe. His father was a Government worker, a clerk, and his mother was a trader. He attended various schools in Nigeria, including CMS Central School, Onitsha (1911); Methodist Boys High School, Lagos (1915-18); Hope Waddell Institute, Calabar (1920-21). He was also a pupil teacher at St. Jude’s CMS Central School, Orafite, and CMS Central School, Onitsha (1919). He was a third class clerk with the Treasury Department, Lagos (1921). Residing all over Nigeria enabled him know how to speak the three main languages in Nigeria, Igbo, his mother tongue,Hausa, and Yoruba. After an unsuccessful attempt to stow away to America in 1924, his father saved some money, and gave him for his journey to America.

He left for the United States in the late 20s, as he put it, "in search of a Golden Fleece." While in the US, he worked as a dishwasher, coal miner, potato peeler, car wash attendant, elevator boy, kitchen hand, and waiter, to pay his way through college. He attended Storer College in West Virginia for two years (1925-1927). Due to financial difficulties, he left for Howard University, DC, where he was for two years (1927-1929). In 1929, he entered Lincoln University, PA. In 1930, he received his BA degree in Political Science. His classmates included Thurgood Marshal, the late Supreme Court Justices who left a mark in Americas Judicial system, and Langston Hughes, the late African American Poet. In summer 1930, he was admitted to Columbia University to read journalism, with a scholarship from the Phelp Stokes Fund. He obtained an MA degree in Religion and Philosophy at Lincoln University (1932). While still at Lincoln University, he was employed as a Graduate Assistant in summer 1930. In 1933, he concluded two Master’s degree programs, in Anthropology and Political Science at University of Pennsylvania, PA. He was appointed a full-time lecturer in Political Science in 1933. He taught ancient, medieval, modern and English history, as well as African history. While still pursuing his Master’s at Columbia University, he registered for the Doctor of Philosophy degree at the school. In 1934, his Ph.D. Thesis, “Liberian Diplomacy, 1847-1932” was published as “Liberia in World Politics.” Since his attendance at these schools, he has received many honorary degrees from them, including two from Lincoln University. After accomplishing his academic dreams, he knew it was time to go back to his homeland, to join in the fight to free Nigerians from the evil grasp of Britain, who was then our colonial masters.

He returned to Nigeria in the mid-30s and got involved in politics forming the NCNC party. He was a journalist, which translates, to his running a couple of newspapers of which The West African Pilot was the most prominent of them all. He was actively involved in Nigeria's fight for independence. His dream was finally realized on October 1, 1960 when Nigeria became an independent nation and he was sworn in as her first indigenous Governor-General and Commander-in Chief of the Federation. In 1963, Nigeria became a republic, and he was then made the First President. He was forced out of office in 1966 by a deadly coup that I believed destroyed everything that our founding fathers fought and stood for. He helped put an end to the slaughtering of innocent Igbo men and women, during Biafra. He was perceived as a coward and sell out, but anyone that knows him, knew that he never believed in violence, rather he believed that dialogue could solve any problem. He saw that Biafrans did not have a chance against the firepower of the Nigerian army, so he intervened. If he did not intervene, I wonder what would have become of the Biafrans. The Nigerian Army might have used the Biafran War as an excuse to wipe the Igbos off the surface of the Earth. We thank him for that, and I think that Igbos owe their existence to him.

He returned to politics in 1978, by founding the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP). In 1979 and 1983 his bids for the presidency were unsuccessful, amidst suspicions of riggings. He retired from active politics and withdrew to his country home in Nsukka where he lived until May 11, 1996 when he passed away at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital. He was buried on November 16, 1996, at his country home in Onitsha. There were a lot of controversies surrounding his burial, but in the end he was buried with the respect and dignity he deserved. His burial period was the most peaceful time that I have ever experienced in Nigeria. Nigerians from all nooks and corners came to pay their last respect to the man who was known to all as The Great Zik of Africa. He may be gone, but his legacy lives on.

ACHIEVEMENTS

He was inducted into the prestigious Agbalanze society as Nnayelugo in 1946. Then, in 1962, he became a second-rank red cap chief (Ndichie Okwa), as Oziziani Obi. In 1970, he was installed as Owelle-Osowa-Anya, making him a first-rank red cap chief (Ndichie Ume). In 1960, Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the title of Privy Councilor to the Queen of England. He was conferred with the highest national honor of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in 1980. He has received fourteen honorary degrees from Nigerian, American and Liberian Universities. They schools include Lincoln University, Storer College, Howard University, Michigan State University, University of Nigeria Nsukka, University of Lagos, Ahmadu Bello University, University of Ibadan, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, and University of Liberia.

SPORTS – He was actively involved in sports at every stage of his life, and he was successful in a lot of events that he participated in. They include Welterweight Boxing Champion Storer College (1925-27); High Jump champion, Howard University Inter-Scholastic Games (1926); Gold Medallist in Cross Country, Storer College (1927); Back-stroke Swimming Champion and No.3 swimmer in Freestyle Relay team, Howard University (1928); Captain, Lincoln University Soccer Team (1930); Winner Two Miles Run, Central Inter-Collegiate Athletic Association Championships at Hampton Institute Virginia (1931); Bronze Medallist, Richmond Cross Country Marathon (1931); Gold Medallist in the 1,000 yards run, One Mile Run and Three Miles Run, Catedonian Games in Brooklyn, NY (1932); Silver Trophy winner in the Half Mile race, and Silver Cup winner in the One Mile Race, Democratic Field Day Championships, New Haven, Connecticut (1933); Runner-up(with G.K. Dorgu) at the Lagos Tennis Men’s Double Championships (Division B 1938); anchor man for the ZAC team which won the 50 yards Freestyle Relay at the Lagos Swimming Championships (1939); Won letters in athletics (Lincoln University) and cross country (Storer College and Lincoln University), swimming (Howard University), and soccer (Lincoln University); entered to compete in the Half-Mile Race and One-Mile run at the British Empire Games to represent Nigeria, but was rejected by the A.A.A of Great Britain on technical grounds (he dropped his English Christian name, “Benjamin”); and Founder (with M.R.B. Ottun) of the Zik’s Athletic Club to promote athletics, boxing, cricket, soccer, swimming and tennis in Nigeria.

POLITICS – During his lifetime, he held some political posts all over the world, especially our great country, Nigeria. They include Executive Committee Member of Mambili Party, Accra (1935-37); General Secretary of National Council of Nigerian and the Cameroons (1944-45); President of the NCNC (1946-60); Vice-President of the Nigerian National Democratic Party (1947-60); Member for Lagos in the Legislative Council of Nigeria (1947-51); Member for Lagos and Leader of the Opposition in the Western House of Assembly (1952-53) Member for Onitsha in the Eastern House of Assembly (1954-60); Minister of Internal Affairs (Jan.-Sept. 1954); Minister of Internal Affairs, Eastern Region (1954); Member of His Excellency Privy Council, Eastern Nigeria (1954-59); Primer of Eastern Nigeria (1954-59); President of the Senate of the Federation (Jan.-Nov. 1960); Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria (1960-63); President of the Republic of the Republic of Nigeria (1963-1966); and Chairman and Presidential candidate of the Nigeria People’s Party (1978-83). Professional World – He also made a name for himself in the professional world. He was a Third-class Clerk, Treasury Department, Lagos (1921-1924); Recruit, Gold Coast Police Force (Jul.-Sept. 1924); Solicitor Clerk to the late Mr. Justice Graham Paul at Calabar (Jan.-Aug.1925); Instructor in Political Science, Lincoln University (1931-34); University Correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American (1928-34); General and Sports Correspondent for the Philadelphia Tribune (1928-34); Editor-in Chief of the West African Pilot (1937-45); Correspondent for the Associated Negro Press (1944-47); Correspondent for Reuters (1944-46); Managing Director of Zik’s Press Limited (printers and publishers of the West African Pilot (Lagos), Eastern Guardian (Port Harcourt), Nigerian Spokesman (Onitsha), Southern Nigeria Defender (Ibadan), Daily Comet (Kano), and Eastern Sentinel (Enugu); Managing Director of Comet Press Limited (1945-53); Chairman of West African Pilot Limited and the Associated Newspapers of Nigeria Limited and six other limited liability companies (1952-53); Chairman, Nigerian Real Estate Corporation Limited (1952-53); etc.

SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS - He was a member of many organizations or societies, including Anti-Slavery Society for the protection of Human Rights; Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity (Alpha Chapter and Mu Chapter); West African Students Union; Onitsha Improvement Union; Zik’s Athletic Club; Ekine Sekiapu Society of Buguma, Kalabari; St. John’s Lodge of England; Royal Economic Society; Royal Anthropological Institute; British Association for the Advancement of Science; American Society of International Law; American Anthropological Association; American Political Science Society; American Ethnological Society; Iwarefa, Reformed Ogboni Fraternity; Amateur Athletic Association of Nigeria; Nigerian Swimming Association, Nigerian Boxing Board of Control; Nigerian Cricket Association; Ibo State Union; and Nigerian Table Tennis Association; Nigeria Olympic Committee and British Empire and Commonwealth Games Association.

LITERARY WORKS - In his lifetime, he wrote a lot of books, poetry, and articles. His celebrated publications include Liberia in World Politics: Renascent Africa (1934); Political Blueprint for Nigeria (1943); Economic Reconstruction of Nigeria (1943); Zik: A Selection of the Speeches of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1961); Assassination Story: True or False? (1946); “Essentials for Nigeria’s Survival.” (1965); “Before Us Lies The Open Grave” (1947); “The Future of Pan-Africanism” (1961); “The Realities of African Unity” (1965); “Origins of the Nigerian Civil War” (1969); I Believe in a One Nigeria (1969); Peace Proposals for Ending the Nigerian Civil War (1969); My Odyssey: An Autobiography (1970); Dialogue on a New Capital for Nigeria (1974); “Creation of More States in Nigeria, A Political Analysis” (1974); Democracy with Military Vigilance (1974); “Reorientation of Nigerian Ideologies: lecture on 9th December 1976, on eve of the launching of the UNN Endowment Fund” (1976); Our Struggle for Freedom; Onitsha Market Crisis (1976); Let Us Forgive Our Children, An appeal to the leaders and people of Onitsha during the market crisis (1976); A Collection of Poems (1977); Civil War Soliloquies: More Collection of Poems (1977); “Themes in African Social and Political Thought” (1978); Restoration of Nigerian Democracy (1978); Matchless Past Performance: My Reply to Chief Awolowo’s Challenge (1979); A Matter of Conscience (1979); Ideology for Nigeria: Capitalism, Socialism or Welfarism? (1980); “Breach of Trust by the NPN” (1983); and History Will Vindicate The Just (1983).

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A Force in Library Development in Nigeria

http://www.worlib.org/vol07no2/aguolu_v07n2.shtml

C.C. Aguolu and L.E. Aguolu

 Abstract

This is the first attempt to coherently document the immense contributions of one of Africa’s foremost nationalists and pan–Africanists to the development of libraries in Nigeria. Although he is best known for his achievements in politics, journalism, and sports, Dr. Azikiwe saw the library as a vehicle for the intellectual emancipation of Nigerians from colonial rule.

As President of Eastern Nigeria in the 1950s, the first and only indigenous Governor–General, and first President of Nigeria in the 1960s, he was able to wield sufficient political influence to ensure a legal basis for public library development in Nigeria, the establishment of the University of Nigeria Library – named after himself – and the eventual creation of the National Library of Nigeria.

 Introduction

Born on 16 November 1904, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first and only indigenous Governor–General of Nigeria (1960–1963), and the first President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1963–1966), died on 11 May 1996. He was buried on what would have been his 92^nd birthday, 16 November 1996. A very articulate and potent force in the achievement of Nigerian independence in 1960, and endowed with an unusual, if not a mythical, combination of enviable qualities, he was widely regarded as Nigeria’s greatest orator, and excelled in sports, journalism, politics, and authorship. He received his university education in the U.S., attending Columbia, Lincoln, and Pennsylvania Universities, where he studied anthropology, religion, economics, political science, and journalism. For a brief period (1925–1934), he was an instructor in political science at Lincoln University before returning to Africa.

An ardent nationalist as well as a pan–Africanist, Dr. Azikiwe returned to Nigeria in 1937 after a three–year sojourn in the Gold Coast (Ghana), where he had begun his journalistic career, by founding and editing the highly-influential newspaper, African Morning Post. This served as a springboard for nationalist agitation in the Anglophone West African countries. His two seminal works — Liberia In World Politics (1932) and Renascent Africa (1937) — embody his original thoughts on colonialism, African independence, and education. On his return to Nigeria in 1937, he set up a string of newspapers — all aimed at achieving political independence, and socio–cultural and economic transformation, in Nigeria. His highly eclectic academic background was solid preparation for his enduring political and journalistic careers.

His newspapers included the most influential one, West African Pilot, which he personally edited from 1937 to 1947; The Eastern Nigerian Guardian, published in Port Harcourt; the Daily Comet and Nigerian Spokesman, published in Onitsha, his native town; Southern Nigerian Defender, published in Warri and Ibadan; The Sentinel, published in Enugu; and the Nigerian Monitor, published in Uyo. As Uwujaren has noted about his career in journalism, His entrance into the profession in 1937 really changed the face of the Nigerian media, as the press became more courageous with an overt bent towards helping to loosen the noose of the oppressive colonial system and the shackles of the feet of oppression. What makes Zik’s brand of journalism unique is that he preached what he professed. His almost vitriolic writings were perfectly complemented by his political activism in the nationalist struggles. His philosophy was quite represented in the motto of his West African Pilot, which read, “Show the light and the people will follow the way.” Zik’s gift stands for boldness, equity, and social justice. His unrestrained pursuit of these values at some point brought him into conflict with the law, but it never deterred him [1].

Dr. Azikiwe believed in dialogue as the best instrument of settling disputes rather than resorting to violent confrontation. He spoke fluently all three of Nigeria’s major languages — Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba — in a country marked by an enormous ethnic and cultural divergence with over 400 languages. He founded, in 1944, the first viable Nigerian political party — the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC) — with an elder nationalist, Herbert MaCaulay, who was President of the party which spear–headed the independence movement. Azikiwe, the Secretary–General of the party, became its President in 1946, on the death of Herbert MaCaulay, who was generally acknowledged as “the father of Nigerian nationalism.”

Thompson has enunciated, in A History of Principles of Librarianship, [2] these three basic principles: (1) libraries are subject to political, social, and economic processes operating in the society; (2) library development, in general, fluctuates with the rise and decline of learning; and, (3) librarians, however influential they may be, have no power over the ultimate existence of libraries they manage. The society that created the libraries may conserve or destroy them.

Thus the return of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe to Nigeria in 1937 was a turning point, not only in Nigeria’s political history, but also in its educational and library history, as shown by his words and actions from the 1930s to the 1960s. At his death in May 1996, there was a sudden deluge of writings on his contributions to politics, journalism, and sports, but there was no mention of his outstanding contributions to the development of libraries in Nigeria. The purpose of this paper is to identify and elucidate those contributions, which are still either incoherently documented or scattered in various sources. This is the first attempt at crystallizing the enormous contributions of this intellectual and political giant — Zik of Africa — to Nigerian library development.

 Public Libraries

In 1939, the Carnegie Corporation sponsored a survey of library needs of British West Africa, undertaken by Margaret Wrong and Hans Vischer, two years after the return of Dr. Azikiwe to Nigeria. The survey report [3] indicated the British lack of interest in library matters in Nigeria, it noted that in 1939, of the 152 subscribers to the Lagos Library, only seven were Africans and 145 were Europeans. Azikiwe had been very critical of the Lagos library service as highly discriminatory — a reminder of the racist practices he had experienced in the United States. The few Africans who could use the library were “those with sufficient Western education, social standing, and connections not to feel out of place in such a milieu… it provided valued recreation for the British administrative and professional class and for their wives, and for an even tinier group of Nigerians of similar background and mind.” [4]

The Carnegie Corporation, nevertheless, in 1940, made financial grants to Nigeria for library development. Table 1 gives an overview of financial grants to Nigeria from 1932 to 1959—a year before Nigerian independence [5].

 

Table 1: Carnegie Grants to Nigeria, 1932 – 1959*
Purpose of Grant	Date	Grant (in U.S.$)
1. Library Development	1932	$6,000.00
2. Books for Schools and Colleges	1940	$3,000.00
3. Purchase of Books for Lagos Public Libraries	1940	$27,323.00
4. Regional Libraries and Reading Rooms	1940	$1,412.00
5. Library of Congress Catalog and Supplement for University College, Ibadan	1951	$1,126.00
6. Purchase of Books for Library of Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology	1954	$10,000
7. Library Training Course at the University College, Ibadan	1959	$88,000.00
	Total:	$136,861.00

^*Florence Anderson, Carnegie Corporation Library Program, 1911–1961
(New York: Carnegie Corporation, 1963): 99.

Paradoxically, although the establishment in 1940 of the Standing Committee to Advise Government On Provision of Libraries by the Colonial Government could be regarded as a concession to local aspirations. Malcolm MacDonald, British Colonial Secretary, wrote on 8 November 1939 to Sir Bernard Bourdillon, Governor of Nigeria, that he would support anything that would promote literacy and intelligent reading among Nigerians, provided the necessary funds “could be made available from non–government sources — I do not wish to give the impression that I should desire colonial governments to incur themselves more than a small outlay upon the subject at the moment.”

The colonial administration was ready to spend on libraries whatever money was given by the Carnegie Corporation, but hardly any from its purse. But the special condition of the Carnegie grants was that their recipients would be prepared, after the grants were exhausted, to continue to finance the projects for which the grants were originally made. The reply of the colonial Governor in Lagos to the British Colonial Secretary inevitably brought Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe into an open confrontation.

On 12 April 1940, the colonial Governor, Sir Bourdillon, wrote to the British Colonial Secretary in London, informing him that “the Carnegie funds had little practical value. African reading interests were considered to be limited and to be too closely associated with personal advancement to justify expenses on reading materials of broader scope.” [6] Dr. Azikiwe, on learning about this correspondence, denounced it as “irresponsible” and “racist” in his highly influential newspaper, the West African Pilot. He questioned the basis of the colonial government’s assertion on African reading interests, and contended that the government had never provided Nigerians a free public library service, or even an opportunity of reading materials of narrow scope, not to mention providing them with library materials of broader scope.

It is surprising that the colonial government depended, at that time, upon the Carnegie Corporation for the provision of any sort of library service in Nigeria. In the 1940s, there were no regional libraries. Regions, as political divisions, were only created in 1952. The British Council had arrived in Nigeria in 1943 during World War II, establishing reading rooms across the country to promote the British culture and ideas. They were filled with British newspapers, political tracts, bulletins, and radio propaganda about the on–going World War.

Towards the end of the War, some perceptive British colonial officials who recognized the inevitable progression of political events towards Nigerian independence, had begun to question the British policy on libraries in Nigeria. Thus, in 1950, J.O. Field, a colonial civil servant, criticized the colonial government’s misuse of the financial grants from the Carnegie Corporation:

The whole trouble in the past and quite clearly a considerable part of the trouble now is the failure to realize that there have got to be libraries and that part of the available public revenue has to be appropriated to their establishment. [7]

The UNESCO Seminar on Public Library Development In Africa, held at Ibadan in 1953, was the first international conference or seminar on libraries ever held in Africa. It gave further stimulus to Dr. Azikiwe’s quest for library services in Nigeria. It was not only a catalyst — spurring on the champions of public or national libraries in African countries like Dr. Azikiwe, and Dr. Nkrumbah of the then–Gold Coast (Ghana) — it also helped to stimulate African governments to enact public library legislations and to set up public library boards. The Seminar emphasized that “only legislation can empower the appropriate authorities to provide the services and ensure adequate financial support and efficient administration according to a national standard. Only legislation can define the functions of the providing authority, create the conditions in which it may fulfill those functions, and ensure development.” [8]

As the premier of Eastern Nigeria, Dr. Azikiwe ensured the enactment of the Eastern Nigeria Public Library Ordinance and the Eastern Nigeria Publications Law in 1955. Both legislations were the first of their kind in Nigeria. They helped to speed up library services in the Eastern part of the country. Before the Nigerian Civil War in 1967, public library services in the Eastern Region, based upon a clear authority of the law and controlled by a public library board, were far superior to those of all other parts of the country, where public libraries were left directly under the political umbrella of the Ministry of Education or Information.

The value of public library legislation and a publication law was so obvious that immediately after the civil war in 1970, other state governments in the country enacted public library legislations, set up library boards, and provided for legal deposit in respect of publications issued within their states. Although, the Western and Northern Regional Governments of Nigeria had passed publication laws in 1957 and 1964 respectively, they did not pass the public library board law. Today, most states in the Federation have passed public library laws and have created public library boards of varying degrees of effectiveness. Commenting on Azikiwe’s contributions to library development in Nigeria, John Harris, regarded as the “Father of Nigerian Libraries,” remarked:

As to what happened in Eastern Nigeria, that of course was of utmost significance. It is probably the most significant thing that has happened in Nigerian library development… what happened was that Dr. Azikiwe, when he did begin to come on some real power in the country, did not forget libraries; and in the Eastern Region, he very soon after coming into power there did set about establishing a regional library service ... He did consult with librarians and it developed from there. The whole library law of Eastern Nigeria was quite certainly worked out and we all know how successful its development was that it was well–based. [10]

No state government in Nigeria today would pass any public library board law without a provision for legal deposit requirements. Besides, in the Nigerian library profession, the success of the public library services in Eastern Nigeria in the 1950s, from the early promulgation of public library law under the premiership of Dr. Azikiwe right up to the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War in 1967, has become a historic reference point for the librarians, justifying their pressure upon their state governments to enact public library legislation, which would provide for a library board and legal deposit.

 University Libraraies

Before the establishment of the University of Nigeria at Nsukka in 1960, based upon his educational philosophy, and drawing inspirations from the American land–grant colleges, Dr. Azikiwe had called for a democratic, functional, and broad–based university education, in contradiction to the prevailing rigid British educational pattern. He contended that Africa needed political emancipation no more than intellectual emancipation, which could only come if Africa had its own universities, rooted in the African ideology, closely reflecting Africa’s needs. Thus, in his classical work entitled, Renascent Africa, Azikiwe remarked:

Universities have been responsible for shaping the destinies of races and nations and individuals. They are centres where things material are made subservient to things intellectual in all shapes and forms. No matter in which field of learning at any university, there is an aristocracy of mind over matter — Black Africa has no intellectual centre where the raw materials of Africa humanity may be re–shaped into leaders in all the fields of human endeavor — with 12 million pounds there is no reason why the libraries, laboratories, professors cannot be produced right here, and continent (Africa) can become overnight “A Continent of Light.” [11]

It is significant that in 1937, when Azikiwe made the above statement — the year he returned to Nigeria from his study in the United States after spending some three years in Ghana (then the Gold Coast), he had realized from his experienced in the use of American university libraries that the proper equipment of any university library was the basis of quality university education.

Azikiwe’s perception of the role of libraries in African universities clearly anticipated and antedated the comments of the two British 1945 Commissions On Higher Education in the Colonies, namely, the Elliot Commission On Higher Education In West Africa and the Asquith Commission On Higher Education In the Colonies. Both commissions were set up by the British Parliament in 1943, as a decolonizing device, to establish university colleges for the preparation of high–level personnel to man the colonies when they achieved their political independence. Both commissions, which reported to Parliament in 1945, emphasized the organic role of the library in any university college to be established. The Asquith Commission specifically remarked that:

The development of the universities will depend to a large extent upon the provision of fully–equipped libraries and laboratories… we cannot emphasize too strongly the paramount importance …of the building up of a university library. [12]

Thus, when the University College, Ibadan, affiliated to the University of London, was set up in 1943, there was a strong emphasis on the maintenance of a good university library.

The University of Nigeria, founded by Dr. Azikiwe with the objective of restoring the dignity of the “black man,” was Nigeria’s first full–fledged indigenous university, modelled upon the American educational system. At its establishment, Ibadan University College had inherited the small library of the Yaba Higher College in 1948, in addition to the 18,000 volumes of the Henry Carr Library, which the Nigerian colonial government had purchased in 1946.

Seeing that the University of Nigeria had no such collection with which to take off, Azikiwe, who became the University’s first Chancellor, donated some 12,000 volumes of his books and 1,000 journal issues in different subject fields to the university to serve as its initial library nucleus. He also made financial donations. In addition, he secured for the university the technical assistance of the Michigan State University, which lasted from 1960 to 1969. This involved both human and material resources. The library was the first one in Nigeria to adopt the use of the U.S. Library of Congress Classification Scheme and the List of Subject Headings, thus setting the stage for Americanization of Nigerian library practices and professional ideals.

A book collector, Azikiwe was reported to have assembled over 40,000 volumes in his private library, not to mention thousands of pamphlets, journals, memorabilia, and government documents, before their destruction in the Nigerian Civil War, 1967–1970. After the war, he started to rebuild the library, which had served as an important research centre to scholars in diverse fields, especially historians, political scientists, biographers, and constitutional lawyers.

 The National Library

Although the quest for a national library in Nigeria dates back to the 1940s, it was not until 1964 that one was legally established in Lagos. Dr. Azikiwe’s perception of a national library in the 1950s and 1960s chimed in with that of his contemporary pan–Africanist, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, who in 1961, on the opening of the George Padmore Research Library, declared:

A good national library is at once the repository of a nation’s culture and wisdom and an intellectual stimulant. In this library there shall be no national frontiers, for here shall be stored the cumulative experience, the collective wisdom and knowledge about the entire continent of Africa, and the assessment, revaluations and studies of observers from all over the world. [13]

Azikiwe understood the value of such a library as a depository of cultural heritage and as a research centre where authentic studies on Africa could be conducted.

Unfortunately, some Nigerian nationalists, like the colonial administrators, thought of a national library largely as a magnificent, monumental edifice, with the best architectural design, involving an enormous financial outlay. Azikiwe also perceived the national library as a living agency of progress, intellectual enrichment, and public enlightenment, not as a repository of artifacts or archival documents of the past.

The 1953 UNESCO Seminar on the Development of the Public Libraries In Africa, held at Ibadan, not only encouraged Azikiwe to press for a national library for Nigeria, but also helped to crystallize the national library concept on Africa. Before the seminar was held in Nigeria, the Nigerian Council of Ministers — Nigeria’s first representative government — had rejected the national library concept, contending that all library matters should be relegated to the regional governments, and to local and private organisations. The council was unable to see that while the regional governments would cater for the public libraries, it was the responsibility of the central government to establish a national library for the country [14].

To be fair to the colonial government, it had purchased the Henry Carr Library in 1946, probably to serve as the nucleus for the national library. Dr. Can, a renowned educationist and the earliest and best–known Nigerian book collector, was the first African Commissioner for the Lagos Colony, and Chief Inspector of Schools in the Southern Provinces of Nigeria. His collection, numbering over 18,000 volumes, covering the humanities and social sciences, was the largest private library ever assembled by any West African. When Ibadan University College opened in 1948, is Principal, Kenneth Mellanby, persuaded the colonial government to deposit the collection, unused for two years and faced the grim physical deterioration, with the University College Library on loan [15]. It has remained there ever since. An opportunity of establishing a national library appeared then to have been lost.

The national library concept originated in the early 1960s, when Dr. Azikiwe was the first indigenous Governor–General in 1960 and later the first President of Nigeria when it achieved republican status in 1963. He helped to ensure that a feasibility study was conducted on the national library by Dr. Frank Rogers, Director of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, sponsored by the Ford Foundation of America in 1961.

On the attainment on Nigerian independence in 1960, the perception of the national library by the Council of Ministers, which had rejected in 1952 the participation of the central government in any library matter, had taken a nationalist turn. The Council, along with the Nigeria Branch of the West African Library Association, established in 1954, quickly accepted the Rogers Report, recommending the establishment of a national library.

At the request of the Nigerian government, the Ford Foundation sent Professor Carl White, former Dean of the School of Library Science, Columbia University, to serve as Library Advisor to the Nigerian government on setting up the National Library of Nigeria. On his arrival in Nigeria in March 1962, Dr. White was shocked to learn that there was no budgetary provision for the newly proposed library in the first post–independence National Development Plan, 1962–1968.

The immediate personal intervention of the Governor–General, Dr. Azikiwe, and the Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar, saved the day. They asked Professor White to prepare a special report on his financial needs and on the objectives, scope, and structure of the library. His report, known as the “May 1962 Report,” was accepted by the government without delay. By the end of 1962, work on the National Library had begun in Lagos, with three American librarians and Professor White as the Federal Government’s Library Adviser. The National Library Act, drafted by the Adviser, was enacted in 1964, which set the library on a legal footing, and on 6 November 1964 the National Library was opened to the public.

 Conclusion

It is intriguing to know that the National Library, whose movement dates from the 1940s, could only be established four years after Nigerian independence, when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe had enough political clout as the Governor–General to win the support of the Prime Minister of Nigeria, who was the executive head of the government. At every turn of events in the Library’s evolution, as the political influence of Dr. Azikiwe grew, the impact of his support on establishing the Library was discernable. An astute, enigmatic politician, he saw the National Library as an evergreen tree of knowledge which could, in such a complex, pluralistic society as Nigeria, contribute to building a richer and better social order, thus serving as a principal instrument in weaving the tapestry of the country’s multi–ethnic and cultural pluralism.

Many of the national libraries in Europe had sprung out of the royal libraries, but in Africa, as demonstrated in the case of Nigeria, the national library, although its scope of responsibilities may vary from country to country, has grown out of the awakening national consciousness, embodied in Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and powerfully expressed, from 1937 when he returned to Nigeria from the United States to 1964 when the National Library of Nigeria was legally established while he served as the first President of the Republic of Nigeria.

 References

1. Uwujaren, Wilson, “Zik: The Exit of a Pioneer,” The News (Lagos, 27 May 1996): 14.

2. Thompson, James, A History of Principles of Librarianship (London: Clive Bingley, 1977).

3. Wrong, Margaret and Harms Vischer, West African Library Development (New York: Carnegie Corporation for Colonial Office, London, 1939): 111.

4. Olden, Anthony, Alan Burns, “The Lagos Library and the Commencement of Carnegie Support for Library Development in British West Africa.” Journal of Library History XIII (Fall 1987) 402–4.

5. Quoted in Carl White, The National Library of Nigeria: Growth of the Idea, Problems and Progress (Lagos: Federal Ministry of Information, 1964): 1.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid. p. 2

8. Development of Public Libraries In Africa In the Ibadan Seminar (UNESCO, 1954).

9.Aguolu, C.C. “Father of Nigerian Librarianship,” New Library World 59 (Jan. 1978): 251–253.

10. Harris, John, “Libraries and Librarianship In Nigeria At Mid–Century,” Nigerian Libraries 6 (April/Aug. 1970): 36.

11. Azikiwe, Nnamdi, Renascent Africa, reprint of 1937 ed. (London: Cass, 1968): 140.

12. Asquith, Cyril, Report of the Commission On Higher Education In Colonies (London: HMSO, 1945):18.

13. Quoted in Evelyn Evans, A Tropical Library Service: The Story of Ghana’s Libraries (London: Deutsch, 1964): 133–134.

14. Aguolu, C.C. “The Evolution of the National Library of Nigeria…”Journal of Library History15 (Fall 1980): 404.

15. Mellanby, Kenneth, The Birth of Nigeria’s University (London: Methuen, 1958): 206–7.

 About the Authors

C.C. Aguolu is Profesor of Library Science and Chairman, University of Maiduguri Press, Maiduguri, Nigeria.

L.E. Augolu is Pricncipal Librarian, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria.

©1997 C.C. Aguolu and L.E. Aguolu

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Category: ARTICLES

Published on Friday, 15 November 2013 20:33

Written by Okafor Udoka

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In the case of the great Zik, it became fashionable among his adherents and supporters to be a Zikist. But interestingly, Zikism was not synonymous with an ethnic ideology nor did it a divisive cause. Instead, Zikism was more an ideology for African renaissance emphasizing the restoration of the dignity of the black man

after centuries of colonial imposition and exploitation - Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, Former Military President of Nigeria 

Once in every country, a leader emerges from the valleys to chart its course and build a vision for a robust, progressive and prosperous nation. In Nigeria’s case, it was not just only a leader but a colossus and a detribalised Nigerian who built bridges of friendship and unity amongst all Nigerians in an era his contemporaries were busy advancing primordial and ethnic jingles. A man who represented all things that is good to all Nigerians and mankind, The Right Honourable Nnamdi Azikiwe
 
Smarting from a poor family in Onitsha, the great Zik had a vision of what a true African man should be; in the face of glaring poverty, he kept faith, electing to make the best out of his studies and surmounted all the Alps of challenges and mountains of disappointments that came his way. Ultimately, he graduated in 1933 from University of Pennsylvania with advanced degree thus ending the era of “penurious Zik” as he was nicknamed then.
 
Zik came back to Nigeria in 1934 after a brief lecturing career in US. However, he departed for Ghana where he worked as the Editor of African Morning Post until 1937 when he relocated to Lagos and founded the West African Pilot, popularly described as "a fire-eating and aggressive nationalist paper of the highest order." He used his chains of newspapers to fight for the independence of Nigeria from the colonialists.
 
The political life of the colossus known as Zik was an example of patriotic and progressive nationalism, he spoke flawless Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba languages and was at home in all parts of Nigeria; he sacrificed his personal interest for the unity and progress of the young Nigerian nation by accepting the office of the Governor General against that of executive Prime Minister-ship and never did he meddle into the activities of the prime minister as men of his intimidating credentials would have done. Little wonder though he described the attainment of Independence in 1960 as "the consummation of my life's work" thus "My stiffest earthly assignment is ended and my major life's work is done. My country is now free and I have been honoured to be its first indigenous head of state. What more could one desire in life?" Thus, as the father of modern Nigerian, he was naturally worried that the 1964 general elections were filled bitterness, ethnicity and lack of
 trust jingles amongst Nigerians leading him on October 1, 1964 to declare “Let it not be said of us that we struggled all these years to win Independence for our people, and when we had the chance to build heaven on earth for them, we made a colossal mess of our country because, in our selfish materialism, we allowed our private prejudices and partial affections to distort our interest to our motherland. Let it not be said of us that when we obtained power, we regarded it as an end in itself and not as a means to bring peace, happiness and contentment to our people”.
 
Today, the gains of sound laws, policies and adult suffrage which reorganized the administrative, social and economic development of the Eastern region of Nigeria still stand as one of his greatest achievements as the premier of that region. He also saw the vision of African civilization rooted in its culture and peculiarity; hence he pushed for a co-educational university which metamorphosed into the first indigenous university in Africa-University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He also participated in developing the curricula of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and donated books from his personal library to ensure its commencement of full academic business.
 
In an era when Nigeria is still grappling with ethnic challenges and songs, Zik was already exuding a pan-African dream; practising exactly what he preaches, the great Zik propelled the emergence of Altine Umoru and Bashorun Balogun as the mayors of Igbo dominated Enugu and Port Harcourt districts respectively. It is no more news that the cross-carpeting of members of the Western Regional Assembly momentarily thwarted Zik’s dream of building a Nigeria where every Nigerian will live and become the best he or she can achieve without any hindrance of tribe, religion and sex.
 
As we celebrate the 109 posthumous birthday of this great African today, November 16, his ever loving and glowing dream challenges us all to build a new Nigeria. A “welfarist” Nigeria where merit, equity and fairness shall always ride the crest and the dignity of man restored through the religious application of the philosophy of Zikism which hinges on political resurgence, mental emancipation, economic determinism, social regeneration and spiritual balance.
 
In his personal autobiography, Odyssey, Zik had noted "there is plenty of room at the top because very few people care to travel beyond the average route. And so most of us seem satisfied to remain within the confines of mediocrity". Of course, our generation shall not live within the confines of poverty and mediocrity, we must make a change. We are all challenged today to eclipse our group and individual interest for national interest; we, together with the government, must also build a Nigeria where everyone can live in all part of Nigeria without been hindered by ethnicity. We indeed have to fight endemic poverty, create a world class healthcare, abolish state of origin in our statue book, and most, importantly, launch Nigeria into economic development.
 
According to the New York Times in 1996, Azikiwe "towered over the affairs of Africa's most populous nation, attaining the rare status of a truly national hero who came to be admired across the regional and ethnic lines dividing his country." It is however saddening to note that the Federal government has been non-committed in immortalising this world renowned Nigerian through the completion of the Zik Mausoleum in Onitsha, a project conceptualized by late General Sani Abacha. It now behoves all Nigerian to urge the government of President Goodluck Jonathan to look into that project and complete it in the earliest possible time because doing that will ensure that we all appreciate the greatness of that rare man called Zik and encourage young Nigerians that patriotism to Nigeria pays in the long run.
 
For now, it is happy birthday posthumously to The Rt Hon Nnamdi Azikiwe

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http://www.nathanielturner.com/africanliberatorsofnigeria.htm

for Literary & Artistic African-American Themes

African Liberators of Nigeria

Nnamdi Azikiwe was born on November 16, 1904 at Zungeru in northern Nigeria where his father, a member of the Ibo tribe, was employed in government service.  He was educated at the Church Missionary Society’s Central School at Onitsha, the Hope Waddel Training Institute at Calabar and was graduated in 1925 from the Methodist Boys’ High School in Lagos at the head of his class.  His father retired the same year and gave young Zik $1200 to pursue his education in the United States.

For two years he attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he studied under Ralph Bunche and played soccer.  In September 1929 he entered Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, received his B.A. degree in 1930 and continued for two years of graduate work as an instructor.  He took a course in journalism at Columbia University and was a student instructor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, studied anthropology, and earned the M.A. degree.  His summers were spent in a variety of jobs.  Later he was a reporter for the Baltimore Afro-American, Philadelphia Tribune and with the Associated Negro Press in Chicago.  He received two honorary doctorates, the LL.D. degree from Howard and the D.Lit. from Lincoln universities. 

Returning to Africa in 1934, he became editor in chief of the African Morning Post in Accra, Gold Coast.  In 1937 he started the West African Pilot in Lagos, and added four newspapers in other cities under Zik Enterprises, Ltd.  Zik is the undisputed leader of the Ibos and leader of the nationalist cause.  He helped to organize the NCNC in 1944 and became its first secretary-general, and in 1946 its president.  This group advocates universal adult suffrage, direct elections, control of the civil service by African ministers, and complete “Nigerianization” of the country’s military forces.  Zik was elected a Lagos member of the Legislative Council of Nigeria in 1947 and in 1952 was the first NCNC opposition leader in the Western House of Assembly.  He resigned a year later and was elected to the Eastern House of Assembly.  Nigerian nationalism is sometimes called “Zikism” after this powerful leader, who advocates self-government and a united country.

His thirteen books include The Practice of Forced Labor (1932), Renascent Africa (Zik’s Press, 1937), Our Struggle for Freedom (1955), and Economic Rehabilitation of Eastern Nigeria (1956).  He was a member of the Brooke Arbitration Tribunal in 1944, Cameroons Arbitration Tribunal in 1948, and the Foot Nigerianization Committee in the same year.

On several occasions he led delegations to England with proposals for constitutional changes.  According to A. T. Steele (New York Herald Tribune, December 21, 1947) Zik promised the British “plenty of trouble” if his plans for full freedom in fifteen years received an unsatisfactory reply.  Early in 1954 he toured Europe, England, the United States and Canada with members of the Eastern region economic commission to attract capital for developments in textile, vegetable oil refineries, steel and chemicals.  Oden Meeker (Saturday Evening Post, October 16, 1954) mentioned that Zik had studied communist political techniques and was not above using communism as a “political poker chip,” although his $2,000,000 business interests made it difficult for him to be seriously interested in communism. 

Nnamdi Azikiwe was married in 1936 to Flora Ogbenyeanu Ogoegbunam.  They have three sons and one daughter.  Zik has been described as tall, slim, handsome, magnetic, and a dynamic orator, who knows how to attract and hold vast crowds.  A sportsman, he is president of the Lagos Football Association and vice-president of the Nigeria Boxing Board.

Late in July 1953, Ahmadu, Awolowo and Zik led their respective delegations to the London conference to pave the way for self-government.  Awolowo and Zik demanded self-government by 1956.  Ahmadu advocated a more moderate “as soon as practicable” program.  When the British proposed to detach Lagos, Nigerian capital and principal port, from the Western region, Awolowo objected.  Colonial Secretary Oliver Lyttelton settled the point by announcing that the British government had made the decision and Awolowo and his delegates walked out.  They returned three days later to discuss other factors.

The discussions were continued in Lagos in January 1954, after it was understood that Awolowo would drop the issue.  The southern part of the Cameroons was detached from the Eastern region and became “quasi-federal” territory.  A “no holds barred” conference was promised for September 1956.

The three leaders were elected as the first Premiers after the revised constitution became effective in October 1954 and established the Federation of Nigeria.  It was revealed by the Gold Coast Weekly Review (December 1, 1955) that wealthy Moslems in the north sought the Premiership, but Ahmadu was recognized as the only man by birth and capacity who could act as a link between the House of Chiefs and keep northerners together against alleged threats from the Eastern and Western regions.  Awolowo and Zik had less competition in their respective areas.

In the wealthy Western region where farms based on palm oil and cocoa flourished, education programs advanced faster.  Ibadan’s University College, the only university in Nigeria, was founded in 1947 and is an affiliate of the University of London.  As Minister of Local Government, Awolowo made education a major development.  Free and compulsory primary education was introduced in 1955 and six new secondary technical schools planned.  Zik introduced a new education program in the Eastern region.  Nigeria sends more students abroad than the rest of Africa.  Azikiwe is credited with being most responsible for this achievement.  But basically a  politician, the London Observer noted that Zik had invaded some of the strongholds of the Action Group which increased political antagonism with the Yorubas.

The impromptu Sudanese declaration of independence on January 1, 1956, the Toronto Star Weekly (January 28, 1956) reported, may have hastened the three-week royal visit of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh to Nigeria in early 1956.  The people, commented one of the local papers, hate British imperialism, but love the Queen.  A reigning woman is regarded as a mystical figure.  Britain hoped that the Queen’s visit would keep the country within the British framework of nations when the conference on self-government was held later in the year.

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Between 1947 and 1960 Azikiwe, as leader of the NCNC, held a number of elected public offices. He was a member of the Nigerian Legislative Council (1947-1951), member of the Western House of Assembly (1952-1953), premier of the Eastern Region (1954-1959), and president of the Nigerian Senate (1959-1960). On Oct. 1, 1960, Nigeria became independent, and Azikiwe was appointed governor general . On Oct. 1, 1963, Nigeria became a republic, and Azikiwe was named its first president, a position he held until he was deposed by the military coup of Jan. 15, 1966.During these years he had continued to play the single most vigorous role in Nigeria's march toward independence. While premier, he greatly expanded economic and educational facilities in the Eastern Region and laid the foundation of the University of Nigeria at Nsukka, formally opened in September 1960.  Because of Dr. Azikiwe educational foundation and leadership for Igbos, in the 1950-1966 and present Igbos according to An Igbo scholar, Dr. Samuel Okafor of UNN.

 http://www.newsexpressngr.com/news/detail.php?news=2547&title=Igbo-scholar-disgraces-Femi-Fani-Kayode-

"The true facts from the Federal Office of Statistics on education tell otherwise, showing that 3 Ibo states for the past 12 years have constantly had the largest number of graduates in the country, producing more graduates than Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and Oyo states. These eastern states are Imo, Anambra and Abia. Yet he calls Ibos traders. Indeed, the Igbos dominate because excellence dominates mediocrity – truth.
Let me enlighten this falsehood’s mouthpiece even further: before the civil war Ibos controlled and dominated all institutions in the formal sector in Nigeria from the universities to the police to the military to politics:

•The first Black Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan was an Ibo man

•The first Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos was an Ibo man

•The first Nigerian Rector of the then Yaba College of Technology was also an Ibo man

•The police was run by an Ibo IG

Who was the first Nigerian Professor of Mathematics – an Ibo man – Professor Chike Obi – the man who solved Fermat’s Last Theorem. He was followed by another Ibo man, Professor James Ezeilo, Professor of Differentail Calculus and the founder of the Ezeilo Constant. Please do some research on this great Ibo man. He later became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka and one of the founders of the Nigerian Mathematical Centre. Who was Nigeria’s first Professor of Histroy – Professor Kenneth Dike who published the first account of trade in Nigeria in pre-colonial times. He was also the first African Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Who was the first Professor of Microbiology – Professor Eni Njoku; he was also the first African Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos. Anatomy and Physiology – Professor Chike Edozien is an Asaba man and current Obi of Asaba. Who was the first Professor of Anatomy at the University College Ibadan? Who was the first Professor of Physics? Professor Okoye, who became a Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960. He was followed by the likes of Professor Alexander Anumalu who has been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physics three times for his research in Intermediate Quantum Physics. He was also a founding member of the Nigerian Mathematical Centre. Nuclear Physics and Chemistry – again another Ibo man – Professor Frank Ndili who gained a Ph.D in his early ’20s at Cambridge Univesity in Nuclear Physics and Chemistry in the early ’60s. This young Asaba man had made a First Class in Physics and Mathematics at the then University College Ibadan in the early ’50s. First Professor of Statistics – Professor Adichie who’s research on Non-Parametric Statistics led to new areas in statistical research. What about the first Nigerian Professor of Medicine – Professor Kodilinye – he was appointed a Professor of Medicine at the University of London in 1952. He later became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka after the war. What about Astronomy – again another Ibo man was the first Professor of Astronomy – please, look up Professor Ntukoju – he was the first to earn a double Ph.D in Astronomy and Mathematics.

Let’s go to the Social Sciences – Demography and statistical research into population studies – again another Ibo man – Professor Okonjo who set up the first Centre for Population Research in Ibadan in the early ’60s. A double Ph.D in Mathematics and Economics. Philosophy – Professor G D Okafor, who became a Professor of Philosophy at the Amherst College USA in 1953. Economics – Dr. Pius Okigbo who became a visiting scholar and Professor of Economics at the University of London in 1954. He is also the first Nigerian Ph.D in Economics. Theology and theological research – Professor Njoku who became the first Nigerian to earn a Ph.D in Theology from Queens University Belfast in Ireland. He was appointed a Professor of Theology at the University College Zambia in 1952.I find it difficult not to respond to some of these long-held lies that are constantly being peddled by Yorubas. One is that the Yoruba have the largest number of professors in the country. I would again ask that we stick to facts and statistical records. The Nigerian Universities Commission has a record of the state with the largest number of professors on their records and as at 2010 that state is Imo State followed by Ondo State and then Anambra State; the next state is Ekiti and then Delta before Kwara State. I am sure you Yorubas are surprised. When you sit in the South-West do not think others are sleeping but I wish to address another historical fact and that is who were the first Nigerians to receive Western education. It is important that these issues be examined in their historical context and evidence through research be presented for all to examine.An Igbo scholar, Dr. Samuel Okafor of UNN.

http://www.newsexpressngr.com/news/detail.php?news=2547&title=Igbo-scholar-disgraces-Femi-Fani-Kayode

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TRADE AND INDUSTRIES

Chairman of the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) Engr. Chris Okoye in this interview outlines the SENEC philosophy South-East Nigeria Economic Commission -Engr. Chris Okoye, how far have we gone.

I want to point them to Nnamdi Azikiwes Eastern Nigerian Economic Reconstruction plan, 1954-1964  the 10-year plan which, under the strict compliance of M.I Okpara as premier, transformed the East into the fastest growing economy in the world by 1964. Id like to summarize with the following suggestions: When you look carefully, the then premier of the Eastern region, Dr. M.I. Okpara seemed to have used that model very extensively almost in everything they did. Although, the Eastern Development Corporation was a government institution as against the model that we are now trying to put in place, everything done in the former Eastern Nigeria government was done by the defunct Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation.

If you recall, the first one million pounds sterling for the setting up of University of Nigeria, Nsukka was accentually raised by the marketing board under Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, father of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and that was an institution under the Eastern Nigeria Development. It was the one million pounds that they gave Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe for take-off of the University of Nigeria Nsukka. With our model of private public community partnership, because before the war, most of what we did, especially in the Igbo area, were through the town unions and by 1966, the Igbo had made significant impact in the education sector that the Yoruba began to wonder if these are the people that started school some years ago and yet we have been going to school for over 100 years and had not made the kind of impact the Igbo made and they were wondering how the Igbo made it because by 1960, the vice chancellor of University of Ibadan was an Igbo and that was Prof. Kenneth Dike. The vice chancellor of University of Lagos was an Igbo man, Prof. Eni Njoku. You do remember also that Yaba College of Technology; the rector, Engr. Agbasi was an Igbo man. So the pre-centre for excellence in Nigeria were in the hands of Igbomen and they also controlled the UNN.

 In the area of agriculture, the vegetable oil now in Malaysia was set up with the oil palms taken from the east courtesy of the same corporation and so you could imagine that if they had continued from 1970, Eastern Nigeria would have become the largest producer of vegetable oil in the world. But they couldn't continue because of the Civil War. Again in eggs production, then, people were buying eggs almost at one kobo not to talk about meat and so on.

On the industrial aspect, they established the glass factory at Port-Harcourt, the steel factory in Enugu, the Nkalagu Cement factory which was probably the first cement manufacturing factory in Africa. As a matter of fact, I am aware that the limestone at Nkalagu cement factory is enough to guarantee production of cement for the next 300 years.  

Two banks at least  African Continental Bank and Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria all once headquartered in the East  were at the centre of Eastern Nigerian post-colonial economic renaissance. Azikiwes banking policy and Mbonu Ojikes protectionist policies (remember boycott the boycottable) instigated the rise of indigenous entrepreneurial initiatives at a massive scale in the East from 1953 to 1983. Chairman of the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) Engr. Chris Okoye

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Eastern Nigeria Regional Government under the leadership of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr. Michael Okpara immediately set up University of Nigeria Nsukka with emphasis on all aspects of Science and Technology and professional courses including Economics, Land Economics and Mineral Studies, then unknown in the University College Ibadan, to facilitate the development of Eastern Nigeria’s economy and also established industrial estates at Enugu, Port Harcourt, Sea Port in Portharcourt, Obudu  entertainment Ranch in Cross Rivers State, Farm settlements in all the Divisions and Local Government Areas. Azikwe created the Massive development of Palm Kernel, Rubber and palm produce and massive export of raw materials and  industrial goods and by 1964 leapfrogged to be the fastest growing economy in West Africa. paraphrase from Oragwu, Technology Development Consultant lives in Lagos

- The first International Trade Fair was opened by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe at Victoria Island on October 27, 1962.

- Launching of the National Savings Scheme (Premium Bond) by Mrs. Flora Azikiwe at General Post Office, Marina on 8th December, 1962.

- Opening of the ?2 million Guinness Breweries at Ikeja on 6th March, 1963 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.

- Opening of the New Engineering Base and Hangar at Lagos Airport Ikeja by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on December 13, 1963.

- Opening of the Royal Mint at Victoria Island on April 10, 1965 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the subsequent issuance and circulation of New Currency notes in the denomination of £5; £10s and 5s on July 1, 1965.

Opening of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka on October 7, 1960.

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I cannot conclude without reiterating the value of education in leveraging national development and how the small Nsukka field experiment by the Right Honourable Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in establishing the University of Nigeria in 1960 has contributed immensely to Nigerian development. The University of Nigeria has led in the production of much-needed human capital in atypical disciplines such as Architecture, Estate Management, Journalism, Music, Nursing, Physical/Health Education, and Surveying. It has also recorded innumerable scientific feats that include the first-ever cholera vaccine production in Africa, and the open-heart surgery at the Teaching Hospital, among others. There is no doubt that it will continue to contribute to Nigeria’s development in the years to come, judging by the quality of the students, staff and teachers today, and the eagerness with which many JAMB applicants make it their first choice. It is with a great sense of responsibility that I personally associate myself with the philosophy of the University: To seek the Truth; To teach the Truth; To preserve the Truth, and thereby To restore the dignity of man. Yes, we will get there.

I thank you all for listening. At the 2012 Graduation Ceremonies of University of Nigeria

Nsukka, Nigeria, January 26, 2012

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ZIK-A Force in Library Development in Nigeria

C.C. Aguolu and L.E. Aguolu

http://www.worlib.org/vol07no2/aguolu_v07n2.shtml

 Abstract

This is the first attempt to coherently document the immense contributions of one of Africa’s foremost nationalists and pan–Africanists to the development of libraries in Nigeria. Although he is best known for his achievements in politics, journalism, and sports, Dr. Azikiwe saw the library as a vehicle for the intellectual emancipation of Nigerians from colonial rule.

As President of Eastern Nigeria in the 1950s, the first and only indigenous Governor–General, and first President of Nigeria in the 1960s, he was able to wield sufficient political influence to ensure a legal basis for public library development in Nigeria, the establishment of the University of Nigeria Library – named after himself – and the eventual creation of the National Library of Nigeria.

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Today, the gains of sound laws, policies and adult suffrage which reorganized the administrative, social and economic development of the Eastern region of Nigeria still stand as one of his greatest achievements as the premier of that region. He also saw the vision of African civilization rooted in its culture and peculiarity; hence he pushed for a co-educational university which metamorphosed into the first indigenous university in Africa-University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He also participated in developing the curricula of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and donated books from his personal library to ensure its commencement of full academic business.
 
In an era when Nigeria is still grappling with ethnic challenges and songs, Zik was already exuding a pan-African dream; practising exactly what he preaches, the great Zik propelled the emergence of Altine Umoru and Bashorun Balogun as the mayors of Igbo dominated Enugu and Port Harcourt districts respectively. It is no more news that the cross-carpeting of members of the Western Regional Assembly momentarily thwarted Zik’s dream of building a Nigeria where every Nigerian will live and become the best he or she can achieve without any hindrance of tribe, religion and sex.

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http://www.blackpast.org/1955-nnamdi-azikiwe-university-nigeria-speech

(1955) Nnamdi Azikiwe, “The University of Nigeria Speech”

         

On May 18, 1955 the Eastern House of Assembly, the regional legislature for Eastern Nigeria, moved a resolution to established the first university in Eastern Nigeria.  Nnamdi Azikiwe gave a speech seconding the motion introduced by the Eastern Region Minister of Education. That eastern university became the University of Nigeria.  Azikiwe's remarks given on May 18, 1955, appear below.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to second this historic motion and in doing so I wish to confine my remarks to one aspect of the speech so ably made by the Honourable the Minister of Education. I have in mind his statement about the philosophy of education which animates the introduction of this Bill. I must admit that I have been impressed by the recommendations made by the African Education Commission, which visited Nigeria in 1920 with the late Kwegyir Aggrey, under the auspices of the Phelps-Stokes Fund and the Foreign Mission Societies of North America and Europe, particularly the following:

1. That all concerned distinguish clearly the educational needs, namely, the education of the masses of the people, the training of teachers and leaders for the masses, and the preparation of professional men who must pass the conventional requirements of British universities.

2. That the education of the masses and their teachers be determined by the following elements, namely, health, ability to develop the resources of the country, household arts, sound recreation, rudiments of knowledge, character development, and community responsibility. The native teachers should also have access to the great truths of physical and social science and the inspiration of history and literature.

I make the above admission because, after 35 years, the observations and recommendations of the Commission are still timely. Indeed, I can say that this report forms a basis of the philosophy of education for Africa, not because Africans deserve a separate philosophy but, in the words of Dr Anson Phelps-Stokes, the purpose of the Commission was to help Africans ‘by encouraging an education adapted to their actual needs. . . . The time has passed when the old thesis can be successfully maintained that a curriculum well suited to the needs of a group on a given scale of civilization in one country is necessarily the best for other groups on a different level of advancement in another country or section.’

But Dr Stokes did not end on a dogmatic note. After pointing out that agricultural or industrial training, under Christian auspices, proved to be the best type of education for the majority of the freed Negroes, ‘at this particular time of their development’, he cautioned that ‘the door was and always should be kept wide open for a higher education’ for those who had the ability and the character to profit by university training.

In appreciating any philosophy of education we should always find out the aims of those who postulate such ideas. As far as one can observe from a subsequent statement by the Phelps-Stokes group, the objective sought was Nigerian leadership. In one of their latest reports, it is said:

In terms of the African continent, this should clearly imply such changes as that there should be more emphasis on education for native leadership; that European officials should gradually give way to a trained native African civil service; that duly elected Africans should play a larger part in the legislative councils of the colonies; and that investments should be further controlled in the interest of better wages for native workmen, and better working and living conditions. It is believed that if such things are done the African people, and the nations in which they will form the large majority, will be happier, and will ultimately have an important contribution to make to the civilization of the world.

I believe that, side by side with higher vocational education, opportunities should be created to enable the trained individuals to play a useful role in the development of the country. Here is where I agree with the founders of Achimota College that,

The immediate aim of African education should be to develop character, initiative, and ability of the youth of the country, so that they may be reliable, useful, and intelligent in the rapidly changing life and circumstances of their own people. In other words, the aim of education is to develop the manhood and womanhood of the rising generation for the sake of their peoples. Anything narrower than this must lead to a stagnant and menacing flood of unemployed and unemployable youth.

It is important that higher educational facilities should be provided locally to enable those to be benefited to make full use of them. It is said that a fully educated person should be ‘enlightened in im interests, impersonal in his judgment, ready in his sympathy for whatever is just and right, effective in the work he sets himself to do, and willing to lend a hand to anyone who is in need of it.’ I strongly support the belief of the late Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg that ‘the keystone of progress is education; but all that will be idle rhetoric if we mix the materials of the keystone badly.’ In this connection, this former Governor of the Gold Coast confessed that the British would never succeed ‘if the sole place in which the African can get his higher education and his professional training is Europe. Much learning, and of the best, he can get there; character-training, none. . . . We must aim at giving the whole of our education locally, and, where it is essential that an African should go to Europe for the final steps to enter a profession, we must arrange our system in such a manner that his absence will be reduced to the shortest possible time and the foundations of his character firmly laid before he goes. . . . To stand the pressure brought to bear on the Arch of Progress by the hurricane of material development, the storm of criticism, and the windy tornadoes of political agitation, the keystone must be well and truly laid and composed of strong materials.’

In order that the foundations of Nigerian leadership shall be securely laid, to the end that this country shall cease to imitate the excrescences of a civilization which is not rooted in African life, I strongly support this Bill to the effect that a full-fledged university should be established in this Region without further delay. Such a higher institution of learning should not only be cultural, according to the classical concept of universities, but it should also be vocational in its objective and Nigerian in its content. We should not offer any apologies for making such a progressive move. After all, we must do f or ourselves what others hesitate to do for us. In the thoughts of a great American Negro historian, ‘History shows that it does not matter who is in power or what revolutionary forces take over the government, those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they had in the beginning.’

I notice that it is envisaged that the university should have six degree-conferring Faculties: Arts, Science, Law, Theology, Engineering, and Medicine. I hope that the curricula of the university will be related to the day-to-day life of our people and that they will be so organized as to relate the mission of the university to the social and economic needs of the Region. I also observe that the following twenty diploma-conferring Institutes are among those which will be established for the professional and technical education of our men and women on whom we shall have to rely heavily in the difficult years ahead: Agriculture, Architecture, Diplomacy, Domestic Science, Dramatics, Education, Finance, Fine Arts, Fishery, Forestry, Journalism, Librarianship, Music, Pharmacy, Physical Education, Public Administrations, Public Health, Secretarial Studies, Social Work, Surveying and Veterinary Science. If these Institutes are so organized as to operate pari passu with the Faculties, then this Region will embark upon an historic renaissance in the fields of academic, cultural, professional and technical education on the same lines as the leading countries of the world.

I wish to make it emphatic that the university should be coeducational. It will be remembered that the Cambridge Conference on African Education made reference to this subject in their report, which says:

Women and girls need an education that fits them to live in a world of social change; and they need the tools of learning to help them to understand and take a fuller part in daily life. The increasing numbers need opportunities for professional and occupational training so that they can be both economically independent and fitted to take over progressively their responsibility for educating and training their own people. The main task for education among women and girls therefore is to provide so sound a training in the techniques of living that the whole level of African life can be raised socially, intellectually, and spiritually by the full co-operation of women in the home and in the community at large. . . . We recommend that priority should now be given to providing trades and technical training for women and girls in the fields of needlecraft, catering, institutional management, and secretarial arts.

It is now accepted in progressive circles that male and female students of any modem university should be allowed to live side by side on the same campus, where residence is available; they should study together, play together, and share together the vicissitudes of the cultural atmosphere of secondary school or university life. The aim of such co-education should be to enable male and female students to engage together in academic, vocational and co-curricular activities in developing their personalities.

I feel that it is of utmost importance that we should inculcate in our university students not only the dignity of labour, but also the idea that by hard work, sacrifice and self-determination, a poor student can obtain university education. In many colleges and universities of the world today, thousands of students are demonstrating that lack of funds is not an unsurmountable barrier to higher education. The fact that students are not affluent enough to pay all their bills need not make them ashamed.

It is my earnest hope that indigent male and female students of the new university will be encouraged to work in order to be able to meet their university expenses. The experience gained thereby will stand them in good stead in the struggle for survival in life. By making sacrifices, by being thrifty, and by working hard, such students will cultivate self-reliance and confidence. As experience has shown in American and German universities, many elements which, ordinarily, would have discouraged the average student and possibly caused him to be a failure in life, are usually encountered by such working students with remarkable fortitude and determination to rely on his own resources to succeed, no matter the handicaps. Later in life, he can always recount the turning point of his life with pride.

It is my fondest wish that when the University of Nigeria ultimately becomes a reality, our young men and women will find opportunities for gaining experience in life’s battle, so that lack of money will not deter them from obtaining higher vocational education in any of the faculties or institutes of the university. I hope that the training in self-help and the experience in self- reliance will make them more confident of themselves and enable them to puncture the myth of the proverbial lack of initiative and drive on the part of the Nigerian worker.

Finally, I trust that, with the establishment of this university, it will be complementary with the Ibadan University College, co-operating with it, drawing inspiration from its efforts, and gaining experience from this pioneer institution of higher education in this country.

Sir, I beg to second.

Sources:

Nnamdi Azikiwe, Zik: A Selection from the Speeches of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Governor-General of the Federation of Nigeria formerly President of the Nigerian Senate formerly Premier of the Eastern Region of Nigeria (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961).
 

- See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/1955-nnamdi-azikiwe-university-nigeria-speech#sthash.JBlM30tl.dpuf

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http://biography.yourdictionary.com/nnamdi-azikiwe

Nnamdi Azikiwe Facts

  

Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904-1996) was one of the fore most Nigerian and West African nationalists and the first president of Nigeria.

Nnamdi Azikiwe was born on Nov. 16, 1904, of Ibo parents in Zungeru, Northern Nigeria, where his father worked as a clerk in the Nigerian Regiment. His parents gave him the name Benjamin, but he later changed it to Nnamdi. He attended school in Onitsha, Lagos, and Calabar. In 1921, when he discontinued his secondary school education, he was fluent in the languages of the three major ethnic groups of Nigeria—the Hausas, the Ibos, and the Yorubas—a major asset for the future Nigerian nationalist. Between 1921 and 1924 he worked as a clerk in the Nigerian treasury in Lagos.

In 1925 Azikiwe went to the United States to study. He attended Storer College and then Howard and Lincoln universities. He received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Lincoln in 1931 and advanced degrees from Lincoln in 1932 and the University of Pennsylvania in 1933. As a black penurious student (nicknamed Zik), Azikiwe worked at a wide range of mostly lowly jobs and was frequently a victim of racial discrimination. His American experience was certainly a source of his pan-African patriotism.

Between 1932 and 1934 Azikiwe taught political science at Lincoln University. At this time he began writing seriously, and his productions reflected his pan-African inclination. He devised a "Syllabus for African History" and wrote a book, Liberia in World Politics (1934), in defense of the black republic. In 1937 he published Renascent African, the most important single expression of his pan-African ideology.

Newspaper Career

In 1934 Azikiwe returned to Nigeria and accepted an offer to edit the African Morning Post, a new daily newspaper in Accra, Ghana, which he quickly made into an important organ of nationalist propaganda. In 1937 he returned to Lagos and founded the West African Pilot, which became "a fire-eating and aggressive nationalist paper of the highest order." In the next decade Azikiwe controlled six daily newspapers in Nigeria: two in Lagos and four strategically placed in the urban centers of Ibadan, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, and Kano. These played a crucial role in stimulating Nigerian nationalism. To support his business ventures and to express his economic nationalism, Azikiwe founded the African Continental Bank in 1944.

Political Career

Azikiwe also became directly involved in political movements. In 1937 he joined the Nigerian Youth Movement, leaving it for the Nigerian National Democratic party in 1941. In 1944, on Azikiwe's initiative, the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) was founded to "weld the heterogeneous masses of Nigeria into one solid block." Azikiwe was elected the council's general secretary and in 1946 its president. In this period his major political writings, apart from his newspaper articles, were Political Blue Print of Nigeria and Economic Reconstruction in Nigeria (both 1943).

Between 1947 and 1960 Azikiwe, as leader of the NCNC, held a number of elected public offices. He was a member of the Nigerian Legislative Council (1947-1951), member of the Western House of Assembly (1952-1953), premier of the Eastern Region (1954-1959), and president of the Nigerian Senate (1959-1960). During these years he had continued to play the single most vigorous role in Nigeria's march toward independence. While premier, he greatly expanded educational facilities in the Eastern Region and laid the foundation of the University of Nigeria at Nsukka, formally opened in September 1960.

On Oct. 1, 1960, Nigeria became independent, and Azikiwe was appointed governor general with the prime ministership going to Sir Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, deputy governor general of the Northern People Congress, the largest single party of the federation. On Oct. 1, 1963, Nigeria became a republic, and Azikiwe was named its first president, a position he held until he was deposed by the military coup of Jan. 15, 1966.

In the Nigerian-Biafran civil war, May 1967-January 1970, Azikiwe at first reluctantly supported Biafra, but in August 1969 came out against Biafran secession and in favor of a united Nigeria.

From 1978-1983 Azikiwe led the Nigeria People's Party (NPP); he was the NPP's candidate in the presidential elections of 1979 and 1983. He retired from politics in 1986.

Azikiwe died in eastern Nigeria on May 11, 1996, following a long illness. Marking his death, the New York Times commented that Azikiwe "towered over the affairs of Africa's most populous nation, attaining the rare status of a truly national hero who came to be admired across the regional and ethnic lines dividing his country."

Further Reading on Nnamdi Azikiwe

Two useful short biographies are Vincent Ikeotuonye, Zik of New Africa (1961), and K.A.B. Jones-Quartey, A Life of Azikiwe (1965), which is more scholarly and more readily available. Good analyses of Azikiwe's political career may be found in James Smoot Coleman, Nigeria: Background to Nationalism (1958), and Richard L. Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation (1963).

Additional Biography Sources

Economist (May 25, 1996).

Jet (June 3, 1996).

New York Times (May 14, 1996).

Uwazurike, P. Chudi, The Man Called Zik of Africa: Portrait of Nigeria's Pan-African Statesman (Triatlantic Books, 1996). □

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http://www.answers.com/topic/nnamdi-azikiwe

Building his power in the Eastern Region, Azikiwe became its premier in 1954 after a new constitution was put into effect. He instituted a new education program in his region, and had a major role in Nigeria becoming the leading exporter of students for study abroad in Africa. In 1954 Azikiwe visited Europe, England, the United States, and Canada with members of the Eastern region economic commission in order to promote investment for developments in textile, vegetable oil refineries, steel, and chemicals.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/nnamdi-azikiwe#ixzz2pZB2FjRR

Throughout his career, Azikiwe used his nationalist press, political connections, and kinship of his tribe to promote education, self-government, welfare, and progress. He also wrote over a dozen books on the struggle for African nationalism and other topics. He died in 1996 after a long illness, at the age of 91.

Awards Nnamdi Azikiwe Distinguished Endowed Chair in International Relations, Lincoln University Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/nnamdi-azikiwe#ixzz2pZBOonm2

Works

• Zik (1961)
• My Odyssey: An Autobiography (1971)
• Renascent Africa (1973)
• Liberia in World Politics (1931)
• One hundred quotable quotes and poems of the Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1966)—ISBN 978-2736-09-0

Political Blueprint for Nigeria (1943);
Economic Reconstruction of Nigeria (1943);
Zik: A Selection of the Speeches of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1961);
Assassination Story: True or False? (1946);
“Essentials for Nigeria’s Survival.” (1965);
“Before Us Lies The Open Grave” (1947);
“The Future of Pan-Africanism” (1961);
“The Realities of African Unity” (1965);
“Origins of the Nigerian Civil War” (1969);
I Believe in a One Nigeria (1969);
Peace Proposals for Ending the Nigerian Civil War (1969);
Dialogue on a New Capital for Nigeria (1974);
“Creation of More States in Nigeria, A Political Analysis” (1974);
Democracy with Military Vigilance (1974);
“Reorientation of Nigerian Ideologies: lecture on 9 December 1976, on eve of the launching of the UNN Endowment Fund” (1976);
Our Struggle for Freedom; Onitsha Market Crisis (1976);
Let Us Forgive Our Children, An appeal to the leaders and people of Onitsha during the market crisis (1976);
A Collection of Poems (1977);
Civil War Soliloquies: More Collection of Poems (1977);
“Themes in African Social and Political Thought” (1978);
Restoration of Nigerian Democracy (1978);
Matchless Past Performance: My Reply to Chief Awolowo’s Challenge (1979);
A Matter of Conscience (1979);
Ideology for Nigeria: Capitalism, Socialism or Welfarism? (1980);
“Breach of Trust by the NPN” (1983); and
History Will Vindicate The Just (1983).

Notable quotes

• "There is plenty of room at the top because very few people care to travel beyond the average route. And so most of us seem satisfied to remain within the confines of mediocrity" —from My Odyssey, No. 5
• "My stiffest earthly assignment is ended and my major life's work is done. My country is now free and I have been honoured to be its first indigenous head of state. What more could one desire in life?" —talking about Nigeria's Independence on October 1, 1960.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/nnamdi-azikiwe#ixzz2pZBomLlE

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http://zikism.tripod.com/Owelle.html

The Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Owelle-Osowa-anya of Onitsha, and Zik of Africa was born on November 16, 1904 in Zungeru, Niger State into the family of Obededom Chukwuemeka Azikiwe and Racheal Chinwe Azikiwe. His father was a Government worker, a clerk, and his mother was a trader. He attended various schools in Nigeria, including CMS Central School, Onitsha (1911); Methodist Boys High School, Lagos (1915-18); Hope Waddell Institute, Calabar (1920-21). He was also a pupil teacher at St. Jude’s CMS Central School, Orafite, and CMS Central School, Onitsha (1919). He was a third class clerk with the Treasury Department, Lagos (1921). Residing all over Nigeria enabled him know how to speak the three main languages in Nigeria, Igbo, his mother tongue,Hausa, and Yoruba. After an unsuccessful attempt to stow away to America in 1924, his father saved some money, and gave him for his journey to America.

He left for the United States in the late 20s, as he put it, "in search of a Golden Fleece." While in the US, he worked as a dishwasher, coal miner, potato peeler, car wash attendant, elevator boy, kitchen hand, and waiter, to pay his way through college. He attended Storer College in West Virginia for two years (1925-1927). Due to financial difficulties, he left for Howard University, DC, where he was for two years (1927-1929). In 1929, he entered Lincoln University, PA. In 1930, he received his BA degree in Political Science. His classmates included Thurgood Marshal, the late Supreme Court Justices who left a mark in Americas Judicial system, and Langston Hughes, the late African American Poet. In summer 1930, he was admitted to Columbia University to read journalism, with a scholarship from the Phelp Stokes Fund. He obtained an MA degree in Religion and Philosophy at Lincoln University (1932). While still at Lincoln University, he was employed as a Graduate Assistant in summer 1930. In 1933, he concluded two Master’s degree programs, in Anthropology and Political Science at University of Pennsylvania, PA. He was appointed a full-time lecturer in Political Science in 1933. He taught ancient, medieval, modern and English history, as well as African history. While still pursuing his Master’s at Columbia University, he registered for the Doctor of Philosophy degree at the school. In 1934, his Ph.D. Thesis, “Liberian Diplomacy, 1847-1932” was published as “Liberia in World Politics.” Since his attendance at these schools, he has received many honorary degrees from them, including two from Lincoln University. After accomplishing his academic dreams, he knew it was time to go back to his homeland, to join in the fight to free Nigerians from the evil grasp of Britain, who was then our colonial masters.

He returned to Nigeria in the mid-30s and got involved in politics forming the NCNC party. He was a journalist, which translates, to his running a couple of newspapers of which The West African Pilot was the most prominent of them all. He was actively involved in Nigeria's fight for independence. His dream was finally realized on October 1, 1960 when Nigeria became an independent nation and he was sworn in as her first indigenous Governor-General and Commander-in Chief of the Federation. In 1963, Nigeria became a republic, and he was then made the First President. He was forced out of office in 1966 by a deadly coup that I believed destroyed everything that our founding fathers fought and stood for. He helped put an end to the slaughtering of innocent Igbo men and women, during Biafra. He was perceived as a coward and sell out, but anyone that knows him, knew that he never believed in violence, rather he believed that dialogue could solve any problem. He saw that Biafrans did not have a chance against the firepower of the Nigerian army, so he intervened. If he did not intervene, I wonder what would have become of the Biafrans. The Nigerian Army might have used the Biafran War as an excuse to wipe the Igbos off the surface of the Earth. We thank him for that, and I think that Igbos owe their existence to him.

He returned to politics in 1978, by founding the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP). In 1979 and 1983 his bids for the presidency were unsuccessful, amidst suspicions of riggings. He retired from active politics and withdrew to his country home in Nsukka where he lived until May 11, 1996 when he passed away at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital. He was buried on November 16, 1996, at his country home in Onitsha. There were a lot of controversies surrounding his burial, but in the end he was buried with the respect and dignity he deserved. His burial period was the most peaceful time that I have ever experienced in Nigeria. Nigerians from all nooks and corners came to pay their last respect to the man who was known to all as The Great Zik of Africa. He may be gone, but his legacy lives on.

ACHIEVEMENTS

He was inducted into the prestigious Agbalanze society as Nnayelugo in 1946. Then, in 1962, he became a second-rank red cap chief (Ndichie Okwa), as Oziziani Obi. In 1970, he was installed as Owelle-Osowa-Anya, making him a first-rank red cap chief (Ndichie Ume). In 1960, Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the title of Privy Councilor to the Queen of England. He was conferred with the highest national honor of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR) by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in 1980. He has received fourteen honorary degrees from Nigerian, American and Liberian Universities. They schools include Lincoln University, Storer College, Howard University, Michigan State University, University of Nigeria Nsukka, University of Lagos, Ahmadu Bello University, University of Ibadan, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, and University of Liberia.

SPORTS – He was actively involved in sports at every stage of his life, and he was successful in a lot of events that he participated in. They include Welterweight Boxing Champion Storer College (1925-27); High Jump champion, Howard University Inter-Scholastic Games (1926); Gold Medallist in Cross Country, Storer College (1927); Back-stroke Swimming Champion and No.3 swimmer in Freestyle Relay team, Howard University (1928); Captain, Lincoln University Soccer Team (1930); Winner Two Miles Run, Central Inter-Collegiate Athletic Association Championships at Hampton Institute Virginia (1931); Bronze Medallist, Richmond Cross Country Marathon (1931); Gold Medallist in the 1,000 yards run, One Mile Run and Three Miles Run, Catedonian Games in Brooklyn, NY (1932); Silver Trophy winner in the Half Mile race, and Silver Cup winner in the One Mile Race, Democratic Field Day Championships, New Haven, Connecticut (1933); Runner-up(with G.K. Dorgu) at the Lagos Tennis Men’s Double Championships (Division B 1938); anchor man for the ZAC team which won the 50 yards Freestyle Relay at the Lagos Swimming Championships (1939); Won letters in athletics (Lincoln University) and cross country (Storer College and Lincoln University), swimming (Howard University), and soccer (Lincoln University); entered to compete in the Half-Mile Race and One-Mile run at the British Empire Games to represent Nigeria, but was rejected by the A.A.A of Great Britain on technical grounds (he dropped his English Christian name, “Benjamin”); and Founder (with M.R.B. Ottun) of the Zik’s Athletic Club to promote athletics, boxing, cricket, soccer, swimming and tennis in Nigeria.

POLITICS – During his lifetime, he held some political posts all over the world, especially our great country, Nigeria. They include Executive Committee Member of Mambili Party, Accra (1935-37); General Secretary of National Council of Nigerian and the Cameroons (1944-45); President of the NCNC (1946-60); Vice-President of the Nigerian National Democratic Party (1947-60); Member for Lagos in the Legislative Council of Nigeria (1947-51); Member for Lagos and Leader of the Opposition in the Western House of Assembly (1952-53) Member for Onitsha in the Eastern House of Assembly (1954-60); Minister of Internal Affairs (Jan.-Sept. 1954); Minister of Internal Affairs, Eastern Region (1954); Member of His Excellency Privy Council, Eastern Nigeria (1954-59); Primer of Eastern Nigeria (1954-59); President of the Senate of the Federation (Jan.-Nov. 1960); Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria (1960-63); President of the Republic of the Republic of Nigeria (1963-1966); and Chairman and Presidential candidate of the Nigeria People’s Party (1978-83). Professional World – He also made a name for himself in the professional world. He was a Third-class Clerk, Treasury Department, Lagos (1921-1924); Recruit, Gold Coast Police Force (Jul.-Sept. 1924); Solicitor Clerk to the late Mr. Justice Graham Paul at Calabar (Jan.-Aug.1925); Instructor in Political Science, Lincoln University (1931-34); University Correspondent for the Baltimore Afro-American (1928-34); General and Sports Correspondent for the Philadelphia Tribune (1928-34); Editor-in Chief of the West African Pilot (1937-45); Correspondent for the Associated Negro Press (1944-47); Correspondent for Reuters (1944-46); Managing Director of Zik’s Press Limited (printers and publishers of the West African Pilot (Lagos), Eastern Guardian (Port Harcourt), Nigerian Spokesman (Onitsha), Southern Nigeria Defender (Ibadan), Daily Comet (Kano), and Eastern Sentinel (Enugu); Managing Director of Comet Press Limited (1945-53); Chairman of West African Pilot Limited and the Associated Newspapers of Nigeria Limited and six other limited liability companies (1952-53); Chairman, Nigerian Real Estate Corporation Limited (1952-53); etc.

SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS - He was a member of many organizations or societies, including Anti-Slavery Society for the protection of Human Rights; Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity (Alpha Chapter and Mu Chapter); West African Students Union; Onitsha Improvement Union; Zik’s Athletic Club; Ekine Sekiapu Society of Buguma, Kalabari; St. John’s Lodge of England; Royal Economic Society; Royal Anthropological Institute; British Association for the Advancement of Science; American Society of International Law; American Anthropological Association; American Political Science Society; American Ethnological Society; Iwarefa, Reformed Ogboni Fraternity; Amateur Athletic Association of Nigeria; Nigerian Swimming Association, Nigerian Boxing Board of Control; Nigerian Cricket Association; Ibo State Union; and Nigerian Table Tennis Association; Nigeria Olympic Committee and British Empire and Commonwealth Games Association.

LITERARY WORKS - In his lifetime, he wrote a lot of books, poetry, and articles. His celebrated publications include Liberia in World Politics: Renascent Africa (1934); Political Blueprint for Nigeria (1943); Economic Reconstruction of Nigeria (1943); Zik: A Selection of the Speeches of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1961); Assassination Story: True or False? (1946); “Essentials for Nigeria’s Survival.” (1965); “Before Us Lies The Open Grave” (1947); “The Future of Pan-Africanism” (1961); “The Realities of African Unity” (1965); “Origins of the Nigerian Civil War” (1969); I Believe in a One Nigeria (1969); Peace Proposals for Ending the Nigerian Civil War (1969); My Odyssey: An Autobiography (1970); Dialogue on a New Capital for Nigeria (1974); “Creation of More States in Nigeria, A Political Analysis” (1974); Democracy with Military Vigilance (1974); “Reorientation of Nigerian Ideologies: lecture on 9th December 1976, on eve of the launching of the UNN Endowment Fund” (1976); Our Struggle for Freedom; Onitsha Market Crisis (1976); Let Us Forgive Our Children, An appeal to the leaders and people of Onitsha during the market crisis (1976); A Collection of Poems (1977); Civil War Soliloquies: More Collection of Poems (1977); “Themes in African Social and Political Thought” (1978); Restoration of Nigerian Democracy (1978); Matchless Past Performance: My Reply to Chief Awolowo’s Challenge (1979); A Matter of Conscience (1979); Ideology for Nigeria: Capitalism, Socialism or Welfarism? (1980); “Breach of Trust by the NPN” (1983); and History Will Vindicate The Just (1983).

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A Force in Library Development in Nigeria

http://www.worlib.org/vol07no2/aguolu_v07n2.shtml

C.C. Aguolu and L.E. Aguolu

 Abstract

This is the first attempt to coherently document the immense contributions of one of Africa’s foremost nationalists and pan–Africanists to the development of libraries in Nigeria. Although he is best known for his achievements in politics, journalism, and sports, Dr. Azikiwe saw the library as a vehicle for the intellectual emancipation of Nigerians from colonial rule.

As President of Eastern Nigeria in the 1950s, the first and only indigenous Governor–General, and first President of Nigeria in the 1960s, he was able to wield sufficient political influence to ensure a legal basis for public library development in Nigeria, the establishment of the University of Nigeria Library – named after himself – and the eventual creation of the National Library of Nigeria.

 Introduction

Born on 16 November 1904, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first and only indigenous Governor–General of Nigeria (1960–1963), and the first President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1963–1966), died on 11 May 1996. He was buried on what would have been his 92^nd birthday, 16 November 1996. A very articulate and potent force in the achievement of Nigerian independence in 1960, and endowed with an unusual, if not a mythical, combination of enviable qualities, he was widely regarded as Nigeria’s greatest orator, and excelled in sports, journalism, politics, and authorship. He received his university education in the U.S., attending Columbia, Lincoln, and Pennsylvania Universities, where he studied anthropology, religion, economics, political science, and journalism. For a brief period (1925–1934), he was an instructor in political science at Lincoln University before returning to Africa.

An ardent nationalist as well as a pan–Africanist, Dr. Azikiwe returned to Nigeria in 1937 after a three–year sojourn in the Gold Coast (Ghana), where he had begun his journalistic career, by founding and editing the highly-influential newspaper, African Morning Post. This served as a springboard for nationalist agitation in the Anglophone West African countries. His two seminal works — Liberia In World Politics (1932) and Renascent Africa (1937) — embody his original thoughts on colonialism, African independence, and education. On his return to Nigeria in 1937, he set up a string of newspapers — all aimed at achieving political independence, and socio–cultural and economic transformation, in Nigeria. His highly eclectic academic background was solid preparation for his enduring political and journalistic careers.

His newspapers included the most influential one, West African Pilot, which he personally edited from 1937 to 1947; The Eastern Nigerian Guardian, published in Port Harcourt; the Daily Comet and Nigerian Spokesman, published in Onitsha, his native town; Southern Nigerian Defender, published in Warri and Ibadan; The Sentinel, published in Enugu; and the Nigerian Monitor, published in Uyo. As Uwujaren has noted about his career in journalism, His entrance into the profession in 1937 really changed the face of the Nigerian media, as the press became more courageous with an overt bent towards helping to loosen the noose of the oppressive colonial system and the shackles of the feet of oppression. What makes Zik’s brand of journalism unique is that he preached what he professed. His almost vitriolic writings were perfectly complemented by his political activism in the nationalist struggles. His philosophy was quite represented in the motto of his West African Pilot, which read, “Show the light and the people will follow the way.” Zik’s gift stands for boldness, equity, and social justice. His unrestrained pursuit of these values at some point brought him into conflict with the law, but it never deterred him [1].

Dr. Azikiwe believed in dialogue as the best instrument of settling disputes rather than resorting to violent confrontation. He spoke fluently all three of Nigeria’s major languages — Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba — in a country marked by an enormous ethnic and cultural divergence with over 400 languages. He founded, in 1944, the first viable Nigerian political party — the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons (NCNC) — with an elder nationalist, Herbert MaCaulay, who was President of the party which spear–headed the independence movement. Azikiwe, the Secretary–General of the party, became its President in 1946, on the death of Herbert MaCaulay, who was generally acknowledged as “the father of Nigerian nationalism.”

Thompson has enunciated, in A History of Principles of Librarianship, [2] these three basic principles: (1) libraries are subject to political, social, and economic processes operating in the society; (2) library development, in general, fluctuates with the rise and decline of learning; and, (3) librarians, however influential they may be, have no power over the ultimate existence of libraries they manage. The society that created the libraries may conserve or destroy them.

Thus the return of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe to Nigeria in 1937 was a turning point, not only in Nigeria’s political history, but also in its educational and library history, as shown by his words and actions from the 1930s to the 1960s. At his death in May 1996, there was a sudden deluge of writings on his contributions to politics, journalism, and sports, but there was no mention of his outstanding contributions to the development of libraries in Nigeria. The purpose of this paper is to identify and elucidate those contributions, which are still either incoherently documented or scattered in various sources. This is the first attempt at crystallizing the enormous contributions of this intellectual and political giant — Zik of Africa — to Nigerian library development.

 Public Libraries

In 1939, the Carnegie Corporation sponsored a survey of library needs of British West Africa, undertaken by Margaret Wrong and Hans Vischer, two years after the return of Dr. Azikiwe to Nigeria. The survey report [3] indicated the British lack of interest in library matters in Nigeria, it noted that in 1939, of the 152 subscribers to the Lagos Library, only seven were Africans and 145 were Europeans. Azikiwe had been very critical of the Lagos library service as highly discriminatory — a reminder of the racist practices he had experienced in the United States. The few Africans who could use the library were “those with sufficient Western education, social standing, and connections not to feel out of place in such a milieu… it provided valued recreation for the British administrative and professional class and for their wives, and for an even tinier group of Nigerians of similar background and mind.” [4]

The Carnegie Corporation, nevertheless, in 1940, made financial grants to Nigeria for library development. Table 1 gives an overview of financial grants to Nigeria from 1932 to 1959—a year before Nigerian independence [5].

 

Table 1: Carnegie Grants to Nigeria, 1932 – 1959*
Purpose of Grant	Date	Grant (in U.S.$)
1. Library Development	1932	$6,000.00
2. Books for Schools and Colleges	1940	$3,000.00
3. Purchase of Books for Lagos Public Libraries	1940	$27,323.00
4. Regional Libraries and Reading Rooms	1940	$1,412.00
5. Library of Congress Catalog and Supplement for University College, Ibadan	1951	$1,126.00
6. Purchase of Books for Library of Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology	1954	$10,000
7. Library Training Course at the University College, Ibadan	1959	$88,000.00
	Total:	$136,861.00

^*Florence Anderson, Carnegie Corporation Library Program, 1911–1961
(New York: Carnegie Corporation, 1963): 99.

Paradoxically, although the establishment in 1940 of the Standing Committee to Advise Government On Provision of Libraries by the Colonial Government could be regarded as a concession to local aspirations. Malcolm MacDonald, British Colonial Secretary, wrote on 8 November 1939 to Sir Bernard Bourdillon, Governor of Nigeria, that he would support anything that would promote literacy and intelligent reading among Nigerians, provided the necessary funds “could be made available from non–government sources — I do not wish to give the impression that I should desire colonial governments to incur themselves more than a small outlay upon the subject at the moment.”

The colonial administration was ready to spend on libraries whatever money was given by the Carnegie Corporation, but hardly any from its purse. But the special condition of the Carnegie grants was that their recipients would be prepared, after the grants were exhausted, to continue to finance the projects for which the grants were originally made. The reply of the colonial Governor in Lagos to the British Colonial Secretary inevitably brought Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe into an open confrontation.

On 12 April 1940, the colonial Governor, Sir Bourdillon, wrote to the British Colonial Secretary in London, informing him that “the Carnegie funds had little practical value. African reading interests were considered to be limited and to be too closely associated with personal advancement to justify expenses on reading materials of broader scope.” [6] Dr. Azikiwe, on learning about this correspondence, denounced it as “irresponsible” and “racist” in his highly influential newspaper, the West African Pilot. He questioned the basis of the colonial government’s assertion on African reading interests, and contended that the government had never provided Nigerians a free public library service, or even an opportunity of reading materials of narrow scope, not to mention providing them with library materials of broader scope.

It is surprising that the colonial government depended, at that time, upon the Carnegie Corporation for the provision of any sort of library service in Nigeria. In the 1940s, there were no regional libraries. Regions, as political divisions, were only created in 1952. The British Council had arrived in Nigeria in 1943 during World War II, establishing reading rooms across the country to promote the British culture and ideas. They were filled with British newspapers, political tracts, bulletins, and radio propaganda about the on–going World War.

Towards the end of the War, some perceptive British colonial officials who recognized the inevitable progression of political events towards Nigerian independence, had begun to question the British policy on libraries in Nigeria. Thus, in 1950, J.O. Field, a colonial civil servant, criticized the colonial government’s misuse of the financial grants from the Carnegie Corporation:

The whole trouble in the past and quite clearly a considerable part of the trouble now is the failure to realize that there have got to be libraries and that part of the available public revenue has to be appropriated to their establishment. [7]

The UNESCO Seminar on Public Library Development In Africa, held at Ibadan in 1953, was the first international conference or seminar on libraries ever held in Africa. It gave further stimulus to Dr. Azikiwe’s quest for library services in Nigeria. It was not only a catalyst — spurring on the champions of public or national libraries in African countries like Dr. Azikiwe, and Dr. Nkrumbah of the then–Gold Coast (Ghana) — it also helped to stimulate African governments to enact public library legislations and to set up public library boards. The Seminar emphasized that “only legislation can empower the appropriate authorities to provide the services and ensure adequate financial support and efficient administration according to a national standard. Only legislation can define the functions of the providing authority, create the conditions in which it may fulfill those functions, and ensure development.” [8]

As the premier of Eastern Nigeria, Dr. Azikiwe ensured the enactment of the Eastern Nigeria Public Library Ordinance and the Eastern Nigeria Publications Law in 1955. Both legislations were the first of their kind in Nigeria. They helped to speed up library services in the Eastern part of the country. Before the Nigerian Civil War in 1967, public library services in the Eastern Region, based upon a clear authority of the law and controlled by a public library board, were far superior to those of all other parts of the country, where public libraries were left directly under the political umbrella of the Ministry of Education or Information.

The value of public library legislation and a publication law was so obvious that immediately after the civil war in 1970, other state governments in the country enacted public library legislations, set up library boards, and provided for legal deposit in respect of publications issued within their states. Although, the Western and Northern Regional Governments of Nigeria had passed publication laws in 1957 and 1964 respectively, they did not pass the public library board law. Today, most states in the Federation have passed public library laws and have created public library boards of varying degrees of effectiveness. Commenting on Azikiwe’s contributions to library development in Nigeria, John Harris, regarded as the “Father of Nigerian Libraries,” remarked:

As to what happened in Eastern Nigeria, that of course was of utmost significance. It is probably the most significant thing that has happened in Nigerian library development… what happened was that Dr. Azikiwe, when he did begin to come on some real power in the country, did not forget libraries; and in the Eastern Region, he very soon after coming into power there did set about establishing a regional library service ... He did consult with librarians and it developed from there. The whole library law of Eastern Nigeria was quite certainly worked out and we all know how successful its development was that it was well–based. [10]

No state government in Nigeria today would pass any public library board law without a provision for legal deposit requirements. Besides, in the Nigerian library profession, the success of the public library services in Eastern Nigeria in the 1950s, from the early promulgation of public library law under the premiership of Dr. Azikiwe right up to the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War in 1967, has become a historic reference point for the librarians, justifying their pressure upon their state governments to enact public library legislation, which would provide for a library board and legal deposit.

 University Libraraies

Before the establishment of the University of Nigeria at Nsukka in 1960, based upon his educational philosophy, and drawing inspirations from the American land–grant colleges, Dr. Azikiwe had called for a democratic, functional, and broad–based university education, in contradiction to the prevailing rigid British educational pattern. He contended that Africa needed political emancipation no more than intellectual emancipation, which could only come if Africa had its own universities, rooted in the African ideology, closely reflecting Africa’s needs. Thus, in his classical work entitled, Renascent Africa, Azikiwe remarked:

Universities have been responsible for shaping the destinies of races and nations and individuals. They are centres where things material are made subservient to things intellectual in all shapes and forms. No matter in which field of learning at any university, there is an aristocracy of mind over matter — Black Africa has no intellectual centre where the raw materials of Africa humanity may be re–shaped into leaders in all the fields of human endeavor — with 12 million pounds there is no reason why the libraries, laboratories, professors cannot be produced right here, and continent (Africa) can become overnight “A Continent of Light.” [11]

It is significant that in 1937, when Azikiwe made the above statement — the year he returned to Nigeria from his study in the United States after spending some three years in Ghana (then the Gold Coast), he had realized from his experienced in the use of American university libraries that the proper equipment of any university library was the basis of quality university education.

Azikiwe’s perception of the role of libraries in African universities clearly anticipated and antedated the comments of the two British 1945 Commissions On Higher Education in the Colonies, namely, the Elliot Commission On Higher Education In West Africa and the Asquith Commission On Higher Education In the Colonies. Both commissions were set up by the British Parliament in 1943, as a decolonizing device, to establish university colleges for the preparation of high–level personnel to man the colonies when they achieved their political independence. Both commissions, which reported to Parliament in 1945, emphasized the organic role of the library in any university college to be established. The Asquith Commission specifically remarked that:

The development of the universities will depend to a large extent upon the provision of fully–equipped libraries and laboratories… we cannot emphasize too strongly the paramount importance …of the building up of a university library. [12]

Thus, when the University College, Ibadan, affiliated to the University of London, was set up in 1943, there was a strong emphasis on the maintenance of a good university library.

The University of Nigeria, founded by Dr. Azikiwe with the objective of restoring the dignity of the “black man,” was Nigeria’s first full–fledged indigenous university, modelled upon the American educational system. At its establishment, Ibadan University College had inherited the small library of the Yaba Higher College in 1948, in addition to the 18,000 volumes of the Henry Carr Library, which the Nigerian colonial government had purchased in 1946.

Seeing that the University of Nigeria had no such collection with which to take off, Azikiwe, who became the University’s first Chancellor, donated some 12,000 volumes of his books and 1,000 journal issues in different subject fields to the university to serve as its initial library nucleus. He also made financial donations. In addition, he secured for the university the technical assistance of the Michigan State University, which lasted from 1960 to 1969. This involved both human and material resources. The library was the first one in Nigeria to adopt the use of the U.S. Library of Congress Classification Scheme and the List of Subject Headings, thus setting the stage for Americanization of Nigerian library practices and professional ideals.

A book collector, Azikiwe was reported to have assembled over 40,000 volumes in his private library, not to mention thousands of pamphlets, journals, memorabilia, and government documents, before their destruction in the Nigerian Civil War, 1967–1970. After the war, he started to rebuild the library, which had served as an important research centre to scholars in diverse fields, especially historians, political scientists, biographers, and constitutional lawyers.

 The National Library

Although the quest for a national library in Nigeria dates back to the 1940s, it was not until 1964 that one was legally established in Lagos. Dr. Azikiwe’s perception of a national library in the 1950s and 1960s chimed in with that of his contemporary pan–Africanist, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, who in 1961, on the opening of the George Padmore Research Library, declared:

A good national library is at once the repository of a nation’s culture and wisdom and an intellectual stimulant. In this library there shall be no national frontiers, for here shall be stored the cumulative experience, the collective wisdom and knowledge about the entire continent of Africa, and the assessment, revaluations and studies of observers from all over the world. [13]

Azikiwe understood the value of such a library as a depository of cultural heritage and as a research centre where authentic studies on Africa could be conducted.

Unfortunately, some Nigerian nationalists, like the colonial administrators, thought of a national library largely as a magnificent, monumental edifice, with the best architectural design, involving an enormous financial outlay. Azikiwe also perceived the national library as a living agency of progress, intellectual enrichment, and public enlightenment, not as a repository of artifacts or archival documents of the past.

The 1953 UNESCO Seminar on the Development of the Public Libraries In Africa, held at Ibadan, not only encouraged Azikiwe to press for a national library for Nigeria, but also helped to crystallize the national library concept on Africa. Before the seminar was held in Nigeria, the Nigerian Council of Ministers — Nigeria’s first representative government — had rejected the national library concept, contending that all library matters should be relegated to the regional governments, and to local and private organisations. The council was unable to see that while the regional governments would cater for the public libraries, it was the responsibility of the central government to establish a national library for the country [14].

To be fair to the colonial government, it had purchased the Henry Carr Library in 1946, probably to serve as the nucleus for the national library. Dr. Can, a renowned educationist and the earliest and best–known Nigerian book collector, was the first African Commissioner for the Lagos Colony, and Chief Inspector of Schools in the Southern Provinces of Nigeria. His collection, numbering over 18,000 volumes, covering the humanities and social sciences, was the largest private library ever assembled by any West African. When Ibadan University College opened in 1948, is Principal, Kenneth Mellanby, persuaded the colonial government to deposit the collection, unused for two years and faced the grim physical deterioration, with the University College Library on loan [15]. It has remained there ever since. An opportunity of establishing a national library appeared then to have been lost.

The national library concept originated in the early 1960s, when Dr. Azikiwe was the first indigenous Governor–General in 1960 and later the first President of Nigeria when it achieved republican status in 1963. He helped to ensure that a feasibility study was conducted on the national library by Dr. Frank Rogers, Director of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, sponsored by the Ford Foundation of America in 1961.

On the attainment on Nigerian independence in 1960, the perception of the national library by the Council of Ministers, which had rejected in 1952 the participation of the central government in any library matter, had taken a nationalist turn. The Council, along with the Nigeria Branch of the West African Library Association, established in 1954, quickly accepted the Rogers Report, recommending the establishment of a national library.

At the request of the Nigerian government, the Ford Foundation sent Professor Carl White, former Dean of the School of Library Science, Columbia University, to serve as Library Advisor to the Nigerian government on setting up the National Library of Nigeria. On his arrival in Nigeria in March 1962, Dr. White was shocked to learn that there was no budgetary provision for the newly proposed library in the first post–independence National Development Plan, 1962–1968.

The immediate personal intervention of the Governor–General, Dr. Azikiwe, and the Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar, saved the day. They asked Professor White to prepare a special report on his financial needs and on the objectives, scope, and structure of the library. His report, known as the “May 1962 Report,” was accepted by the government without delay. By the end of 1962, work on the National Library had begun in Lagos, with three American librarians and Professor White as the Federal Government’s Library Adviser. The National Library Act, drafted by the Adviser, was enacted in 1964, which set the library on a legal footing, and on 6 November 1964 the National Library was opened to the public.

 Conclusion

It is intriguing to know that the National Library, whose movement dates from the 1940s, could only be established four years after Nigerian independence, when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe had enough political clout as the Governor–General to win the support of the Prime Minister of Nigeria, who was the executive head of the government. At every turn of events in the Library’s evolution, as the political influence of Dr. Azikiwe grew, the impact of his support on establishing the Library was discernable. An astute, enigmatic politician, he saw the National Library as an evergreen tree of knowledge which could, in such a complex, pluralistic society as Nigeria, contribute to building a richer and better social order, thus serving as a principal instrument in weaving the tapestry of the country’s multi–ethnic and cultural pluralism.

Many of the national libraries in Europe had sprung out of the royal libraries, but in Africa, as demonstrated in the case of Nigeria, the national library, although its scope of responsibilities may vary from country to country, has grown out of the awakening national consciousness, embodied in Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and powerfully expressed, from 1937 when he returned to Nigeria from the United States to 1964 when the National Library of Nigeria was legally established while he served as the first President of the Republic of Nigeria.

 References

1. Uwujaren, Wilson, “Zik: The Exit of a Pioneer,” The News (Lagos, 27 May 1996): 14.

2. Thompson, James, A History of Principles of Librarianship (London: Clive Bingley, 1977).

3. Wrong, Margaret and Harms Vischer, West African Library Development (New York: Carnegie Corporation for Colonial Office, London, 1939): 111.

4. Olden, Anthony, Alan Burns, “The Lagos Library and the Commencement of Carnegie Support for Library Development in British West Africa.” Journal of Library History XIII (Fall 1987) 402–4.

5. Quoted in Carl White, The National Library of Nigeria: Growth of the Idea, Problems and Progress (Lagos: Federal Ministry of Information, 1964): 1.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid. p. 2

8. Development of Public Libraries In Africa In the Ibadan Seminar (UNESCO, 1954).

9.Aguolu, C.C. “Father of Nigerian Librarianship,” New Library World 59 (Jan. 1978): 251–253.

10. Harris, John, “Libraries and Librarianship In Nigeria At Mid–Century,” Nigerian Libraries 6 (April/Aug. 1970): 36.

11. Azikiwe, Nnamdi, Renascent Africa, reprint of 1937 ed. (London: Cass, 1968): 140.

12. Asquith, Cyril, Report of the Commission On Higher Education In Colonies (London: HMSO, 1945):18.

13. Quoted in Evelyn Evans, A Tropical Library Service: The Story of Ghana’s Libraries (London: Deutsch, 1964): 133–134.

14. Aguolu, C.C. “The Evolution of the National Library of Nigeria…”Journal of Library History15 (Fall 1980): 404.

15. Mellanby, Kenneth, The Birth of Nigeria’s University (London: Methuen, 1958): 206–7.

 About the Authors

C.C. Aguolu is Profesor of Library Science and Chairman, University of Maiduguri Press, Maiduguri, Nigeria.

L.E. Augolu is Pricncipal Librarian, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Nigeria.

©1997 C.C. Aguolu and L.E. Aguolu

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Category: ARTICLES

Published on Friday, 15 November 2013 20:33

Written by Okafor Udoka

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In the case of the great Zik, it became fashionable among his adherents and supporters to be a Zikist. But interestingly, Zikism was not synonymous with an ethnic ideology nor did it a divisive cause. Instead, Zikism was more an ideology for African renaissance emphasizing the restoration of the dignity of the black man

after centuries of colonial imposition and exploitation - Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, Former Military President of Nigeria 

Once in every country, a leader emerges from the valleys to chart its course and build a vision for a robust, progressive and prosperous nation. In Nigeria’s case, it was not just only a leader but a colossus and a detribalised Nigerian who built bridges of friendship and unity amongst all Nigerians in an era his contemporaries were busy advancing primordial and ethnic jingles. A man who represented all things that is good to all Nigerians and mankind, The Right Honourable Nnamdi Azikiwe
 
Smarting from a poor family in Onitsha, the great Zik had a vision of what a true African man should be; in the face of glaring poverty, he kept faith, electing to make the best out of his studies and surmounted all the Alps of challenges and mountains of disappointments that came his way. Ultimately, he graduated in 1933 from University of Pennsylvania with advanced degree thus ending the era of “penurious Zik” as he was nicknamed then.
 
Zik came back to Nigeria in 1934 after a brief lecturing career in US. However, he departed for Ghana where he worked as the Editor of African Morning Post until 1937 when he relocated to Lagos and founded the West African Pilot, popularly described as "a fire-eating and aggressive nationalist paper of the highest order." He used his chains of newspapers to fight for the independence of Nigeria from the colonialists.
 
The political life of the colossus known as Zik was an example of patriotic and progressive nationalism, he spoke flawless Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba languages and was at home in all parts of Nigeria; he sacrificed his personal interest for the unity and progress of the young Nigerian nation by accepting the office of the Governor General against that of executive Prime Minister-ship and never did he meddle into the activities of the prime minister as men of his intimidating credentials would have done. Little wonder though he described the attainment of Independence in 1960 as "the consummation of my life's work" thus "My stiffest earthly assignment is ended and my major life's work is done. My country is now free and I have been honoured to be its first indigenous head of state. What more could one desire in life?" Thus, as the father of modern Nigerian, he was naturally worried that the 1964 general elections were filled bitterness, ethnicity and lack of
 trust jingles amongst Nigerians leading him on October 1, 1964 to declare “Let it not be said of us that we struggled all these years to win Independence for our people, and when we had the chance to build heaven on earth for them, we made a colossal mess of our country because, in our selfish materialism, we allowed our private prejudices and partial affections to distort our interest to our motherland. Let it not be said of us that when we obtained power, we regarded it as an end in itself and not as a means to bring peace, happiness and contentment to our people”.
 
Today, the gains of sound laws, policies and adult suffrage which reorganized the administrative, social and economic development of the Eastern region of Nigeria still stand as one of his greatest achievements as the premier of that region. He also saw the vision of African civilization rooted in its culture and peculiarity; hence he pushed for a co-educational university which metamorphosed into the first indigenous university in Africa-University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He also participated in developing the curricula of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and donated books from his personal library to ensure its commencement of full academic business.
 
In an era when Nigeria is still grappling with ethnic challenges and songs, Zik was already exuding a pan-African dream; practising exactly what he preaches, the great Zik propelled the emergence of Altine Umoru and Bashorun Balogun as the mayors of Igbo dominated Enugu and Port Harcourt districts respectively. It is no more news that the cross-carpeting of members of the Western Regional Assembly momentarily thwarted Zik’s dream of building a Nigeria where every Nigerian will live and become the best he or she can achieve without any hindrance of tribe, religion and sex.
 
As we celebrate the 109 posthumous birthday of this great African today, November 16, his ever loving and glowing dream challenges us all to build a new Nigeria. A “welfarist” Nigeria where merit, equity and fairness shall always ride the crest and the dignity of man restored through the religious application of the philosophy of Zikism which hinges on political resurgence, mental emancipation, economic determinism, social regeneration and spiritual balance.
 
In his personal autobiography, Odyssey, Zik had noted "there is plenty of room at the top because very few people care to travel beyond the average route. And so most of us seem satisfied to remain within the confines of mediocrity". Of course, our generation shall not live within the confines of poverty and mediocrity, we must make a change. We are all challenged today to eclipse our group and individual interest for national interest; we, together with the government, must also build a Nigeria where everyone can live in all part of Nigeria without been hindered by ethnicity. We indeed have to fight endemic poverty, create a world class healthcare, abolish state of origin in our statue book, and most, importantly, launch Nigeria into economic development.
 
According to the New York Times in 1996, Azikiwe "towered over the affairs of Africa's most populous nation, attaining the rare status of a truly national hero who came to be admired across the regional and ethnic lines dividing his country." It is however saddening to note that the Federal government has been non-committed in immortalising this world renowned Nigerian through the completion of the Zik Mausoleum in Onitsha, a project conceptualized by late General Sani Abacha. It now behoves all Nigerian to urge the government of President Goodluck Jonathan to look into that project and complete it in the earliest possible time because doing that will ensure that we all appreciate the greatness of that rare man called Zik and encourage young Nigerians that patriotism to Nigeria pays in the long run.
 
For now, it is happy birthday posthumously to The Rt Hon Nnamdi Azikiwe

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http://www.nathanielturner.com/africanliberatorsofnigeria.htm

for Literary & Artistic African-American Themes

African Liberators of Nigeria

Nnamdi Azikiwe was born on November 16, 1904 at Zungeru in northern Nigeria where his father, a member of the Ibo tribe, was employed in government service.  He was educated at the Church Missionary Society’s Central School at Onitsha, the Hope Waddel Training Institute at Calabar and was graduated in 1925 from the Methodist Boys’ High School in Lagos at the head of his class.  His father retired the same year and gave young Zik $1200 to pursue his education in the United States.

For two years he attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he studied under Ralph Bunche and played soccer.  In September 1929 he entered Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, received his B.A. degree in 1930 and continued for two years of graduate work as an instructor.  He took a course in journalism at Columbia University and was a student instructor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, studied anthropology, and earned the M.A. degree.  His summers were spent in a variety of jobs.  Later he was a reporter for the Baltimore Afro-American, Philadelphia Tribune and with the Associated Negro Press in Chicago.  He received two honorary doctorates, the LL.D. degree from Howard and the D.Lit. from Lincoln universities. 

Returning to Africa in 1934, he became editor in chief of the African Morning Post in Accra, Gold Coast.  In 1937 he started the West African Pilot in Lagos, and added four newspapers in other cities under Zik Enterprises, Ltd.  Zik is the undisputed leader of the Ibos and leader of the nationalist cause.  He helped to organize the NCNC in 1944 and became its first secretary-general, and in 1946 its president.  This group advocates universal adult suffrage, direct elections, control of the civil service by African ministers, and complete “Nigerianization” of the country’s military forces.  Zik was elected a Lagos member of the Legislative Council of Nigeria in 1947 and in 1952 was the first NCNC opposition leader in the Western House of Assembly.  He resigned a year later and was elected to the Eastern House of Assembly.  Nigerian nationalism is sometimes called “Zikism” after this powerful leader, who advocates self-government and a united country.

His thirteen books include The Practice of Forced Labor (1932), Renascent Africa (Zik’s Press, 1937), Our Struggle for Freedom (1955), and Economic Rehabilitation of Eastern Nigeria (1956).  He was a member of the Brooke Arbitration Tribunal in 1944, Cameroons Arbitration Tribunal in 1948, and the Foot Nigerianization Committee in the same year.

On several occasions he led delegations to England with proposals for constitutional changes.  According to A. T. Steele (New York Herald Tribune, December 21, 1947) Zik promised the British “plenty of trouble” if his plans for full freedom in fifteen years received an unsatisfactory reply.  Early in 1954 he toured Europe, England, the United States and Canada with members of the Eastern region economic commission to attract capital for developments in textile, vegetable oil refineries, steel and chemicals.  Oden Meeker (Saturday Evening Post, October 16, 1954) mentioned that Zik had studied communist political techniques and was not above using communism as a “political poker chip,” although his $2,000,000 business interests made it difficult for him to be seriously interested in communism. 

Nnamdi Azikiwe was married in 1936 to Flora Ogbenyeanu Ogoegbunam.  They have three sons and one daughter.  Zik has been described as tall, slim, handsome, magnetic, and a dynamic orator, who knows how to attract and hold vast crowds.  A sportsman, he is president of the Lagos Football Association and vice-president of the Nigeria Boxing Board.

Late in July 1953, Ahmadu, Awolowo and Zik led their respective delegations to the London conference to pave the way for self-government.  Awolowo and Zik demanded self-government by 1956.  Ahmadu advocated a more moderate “as soon as practicable” program.  When the British proposed to detach Lagos, Nigerian capital and principal port, from the Western region, Awolowo objected.  Colonial Secretary Oliver Lyttelton settled the point by announcing that the British government had made the decision and Awolowo and his delegates walked out.  They returned three days later to discuss other factors.

The discussions were continued in Lagos in January 1954, after it was understood that Awolowo would drop the issue.  The southern part of the Cameroons was detached from the Eastern region and became “quasi-federal” territory.  A “no holds barred” conference was promised for September 1956.

The three leaders were elected as the first Premiers after the revised constitution became effective in October 1954 and established the Federation of Nigeria.  It was revealed by the Gold Coast Weekly Review (December 1, 1955) that wealthy Moslems in the north sought the Premiership, but Ahmadu was recognized as the only man by birth and capacity who could act as a link between the House of Chiefs and keep northerners together against alleged threats from the Eastern and Western regions.  Awolowo and Zik had less competition in their respective areas.

In the wealthy Western region where farms based on palm oil and cocoa flourished, education programs advanced faster.  Ibadan’s University College, the only university in Nigeria, was founded in 1947 and is an affiliate of the University of London.  As Minister of Local Government, Awolowo made education a major development.  Free and compulsory primary education was introduced in 1955 and six new secondary technical schools planned.  Zik introduced a new education program in the Eastern region.  Nigeria sends more students abroad than the rest of Africa.  Azikiwe is credited with being most responsible for this achievement.  But basically a  politician, the London Observer noted that Zik had invaded some of the strongholds of the Action Group which increased political antagonism with the Yorubas.

The impromptu Sudanese declaration of independence on January 1, 1956, the Toronto Star Weekly (January 28, 1956) reported, may have hastened the three-week royal visit of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh to Nigeria in early 1956.  The people, commented one of the local papers, hate British imperialism, but love the Queen.  A reigning woman is regarded as a mystical figure.  Britain hoped that the Queen’s visit would keep the country within the British framework of nations when the conference on self-government was held later in the year.

 

---------------------------

On Monday, January 6, 2014 2:42 AM, Ugo Harris Ukandu <abuj...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

What did Zik do to make any meaningful impact on any part of Igboland?

Igbos are shameless!
Shikena,

AFIS SEE MANY LISTS BELOW WITH RECORDS AND FACTS ON EDUCATION, TRADE, INDUSTRY AND MEDIA -  SEE MANY IGBO ACHIEVEMENTS OF AZIKIWE MEANINGFUL IMPACT TO IGBOS AND NIGERIA

On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 4:58 PM, afis <odide...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Ugo Ikamidu you are a disgrace to Igbos. Agbero comparison. Azikwe known around the world for what? That he held a paper tiger post and was useless to make any meaningful changes? What did Zik do to make any meaningful impact on any part of Igboland? Igbos are shameless! Shikena, Afis

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

AFIS-  SEE MANY IGBO ACHIEVEMENTS OF AZIKIWE MEANINGFUL IMPACT TO IGBOS AND NIGERIA

 

Between 1947 and 1960 Azikiwe, as leader of the NCNC, held a number of elected public offices. He was a member of the Nigerian Legislative Council (1947-1951), member of the Western House of Assembly (1952-1953), premier of the Eastern Region (1954-1959), and president of the Nigerian Senate (1959-1960). On Oct. 1, 1960, Nigeria became independent, and Azikiwe was appointed governor general . On Oct. 1, 1963, Nigeria became a republic, and Azikiwe was named its first president, a position he held until he was deposed by the military coup of Jan. 15, 1966.During these years he had continued to play the single most vigorous role in Nigeria's march toward independence. While premier, he greatly expanded economic and educational facilities in the Eastern Region and laid the foundation of the University of Nigeria at Nsukka, formally opened in September 1960.  Because of Dr. Azikiwe educational foundation and leadership for Igbos, in the 1950-1966 and present Igbos according to An Igbo scholar, Dr. Samuel Okafor of UNN.  http://www.newsexpressngr.com/news/detail.php?news=2547&title=Igbo-scholar-disgraces-Femi-Fani-Kayode- "The true facts from the Federal Office of Statistics on education tell otherwise, showing that 3 Ibo states for the past 12 years have constantly had the largest number of graduates in the country, producing more graduates than Ondo, Osun, Ekiti and Oyo states. These eastern states are Imo, Anambra and Abia. Yet he calls Ibos traders. Indeed, the Igbos dominate because excellence dominates mediocrity – truth. Let me enlighten this falsehood’s mouthpiece even further: before the civil war Ibos controlled and dominated all institutions in the formal sector in Nigeria from the universities to the police to the military to politics: •The first Black Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan was an Ibo man •The first Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos was an Ibo man •The first Nigerian Rector of the then Yaba College of Technology was also an Ibo man •The police was run by an Ibo IG Who was the first Nigerian Professor of Mathematics – an Ibo man – Professor Chike Obi – the man who solved Fermat’s Last Theorem. He was followed by another Ibo man, Professor James Ezeilo, Professor of Differentail Calculus and the founder of the Ezeilo Constant. Please do some research on this great Ibo man. He later became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka and one of the founders of the Nigerian Mathematical Centre. Who was Nigeria’s first Professor of Histroy – Professor Kenneth Dike who published the first account of trade in Nigeria in pre-colonial times. He was also the first African Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Who was the first Professor of Microbiology – Professor Eni Njoku; he was also the first African Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos. Anatomy and Physiology – Professor Chike Edozien is an Asaba man and current Obi of Asaba. Who was the first Professor of Anatomy at the University College Ibadan? Who was the first Professor of Physics? Professor Okoye, who became a Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1960. He was followed by the likes of Professor Alexander Anumalu who has been nominated for the Nobel Prize for Physics three times for his research in Intermediate Quantum Physics. He was also a founding member of the Nigerian Mathematical Centre. Nuclear Physics and Chemistry – again another Ibo man – Professor Frank Ndili who gained a Ph.D in his early ’20s at Cambridge Univesity in Nuclear Physics and Chemistry in the early ’60s. This young Asaba man had made a First Class in Physics and Mathematics at the then University College Ibadan in the early ’50s. First Professor of Statistics – Professor Adichie who’s research on Non-Parametric Statistics led to new areas in statistical research. What about the first Nigerian Professor of Medicine – Professor Kodilinye – he was appointed a Professor of Medicine at the University of London in 1952. He later became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka after the war. What about Astronomy – again another Ibo man was the first Professor of Astronomy – please, look up Professor Ntukoju – he was the first to earn a double Ph.D in Astronomy and Mathematics. Let’s go to the Social Sciences – Demography and statistical research into population studies – again another Ibo man – Professor Okonjo who set up the first Centre for Population Research in Ibadan in the early ’60s. A double Ph.D in Mathematics and Economics. Philosophy – Professor G D Okafor, who became a Professor of Philosophy at the Amherst College USA in 1953. Economics – Dr. Pius Okigbo who became a visiting scholar and Professor of Economics at the University of London in 1954. He is also the first Nigerian Ph.D in Economics. Theology and theological research – Professor Njoku who became the first Nigerian to earn a Ph.D in Theology from Queens University Belfast in Ireland. He was appointed a Professor of Theology at the University College Zambia in 1952.I find it difficult not to respond to some of these long-held lies that are constantly being peddled by Yorubas. One is that the Yoruba have the largest number of professors in the country. I would again ask that we stick to facts and statistical records. The Nigerian Universities Commission has a record of the state with the largest number of professors on their records and as at 2010 that state is Imo State followed by Ondo State and then Anambra State; the next state is Ekiti and then Delta before Kwara State. I am sure you Yorubas are surprised. When you sit in the South-West do not think others are sleeping but I wish to address another historical fact and that is who were the first Nigerians to receive Western education. It is important that these issues be examined in their historical context and evidence through research be presented for all to examine.An Igbo scholar, Dr. Samuel Okafor of UNN. http://www.newsexpressngr.com/news/detail.php?news=2547&title=Igbo-scholar-disgraces-Femi-Fani-Kayode ------------------------------------ TRADE AND INDUSTRIES Chairman of the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) Engr. Chris Okoye in this interview outlines the SENEC philosophy South-East Nigeria Economic Commission -Engr. Chris Okoye, how far have we gone. I want to point them to Nnamdi Azikiwes Eastern Nigerian Economic Reconstruction plan, 1954-1964  the 10-year plan which, under the strict compliance of M.I Okpara as premier, transformed the East into the fastest growing economy in the world by 1964. Id like to summarize with the following suggestions: When you look carefully, the then premier of the Eastern region, Dr. M.I. Okpara seemed to have used that model very extensively almost in everything they did. Although, the Eastern Development Corporation was a government institution as against the model that we are now trying to put in place, everything done in the former Eastern Nigeria government was done by the defunct Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation. If you recall, the first one million pounds sterling for the setting up of University of Nigeria, Nsukka was accentually raised by the marketing board under Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, father of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and that was an institution under the Eastern Nigeria Development. It was the one million pounds that they gave Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe for take-off of the University of Nigeria Nsukka. With our model of private public community partnership, because before the war, most of what we did, especially in the Igbo area, were through the town unions and by 1966, the Igbo had made significant impact in the education sector that the Yoruba began to wonder if these are the people that started school some years ago and yet we have been going to school for over 100 years and had not made the kind of impact the Igbo made and they were wondering how the Igbo made it because by 1960, the vice chancellor of University of Ibadan was an Igbo and that was Prof. Kenneth Dike. The vice chancellor of University of Lagos was an Igbo man, Prof. Eni Njoku. You do remember also that Yaba College of Technology; the rector, Engr. Agbasi was an Igbo man. So the pre-centre for excellence in Nigeria were in the hands of Igbomen and they also controlled the UNN.  In the area of agriculture, the vegetable oil now in Malaysia was set up with the oil palms taken from the east courtesy of the same corporation and so you could imagine that if they had continued from 1970, Eastern Nigeria would have become the largest producer of vegetable oil in the world. But they couldn't continue because of the Civil War. Again in eggs production, then, people were buying eggs almost at one kobo not to talk about meat and so on. On the industrial aspect, they established the glass factory at Port-Harcourt, the steel factory in Enugu, the Nkalagu Cement factory which was probably the first cement manufacturing factory in Africa. As a matter of fact, I am aware that the limestone at Nkalagu cement factory is enough to guarantee production of cement for the next 300 years.   Two banks at least  African Continental Bank and Cooperative Bank of Eastern Nigeria all once headquartered in the East  were at the centre of Eastern Nigerian post-colonial economic renaissance. Azikiwes banking policy and Mbonu Ojikes protectionist policies (remember boycott the boycottable) instigated the rise of indigenous entrepreneurial initiatives at a massive scale in the East from 1953 to 1983. Chairman of the South-East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC) Engr. Chris Okoye ----------------------------------------- Eastern Nigeria Regional Government under the leadership of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dr. Michael Okpara immediately set up University of Nigeria Nsukka with emphasis on all aspects of Science and Technology and professional courses including Economics, Land Economics and Mineral Studies, then unknown in the University College Ibadan, to facilitate the development of Eastern Nigeria’s economy and also established industrial estates at Enugu, Port Harcourt, Sea Port in Portharcourt, Obudu  entertainment Ranch in Cross Rivers State, Farm settlements in all the Divisions and Local Government Areas. Azikwe created the Massive development of Palm Kernel, Rubber and palm produce and massive export of raw materials and  industrial goods and by 1964 leapfrogged to be the fastest growing economy in West Africa. paraphrase from Oragwu, Technology Development Consultant lives in Lagos - The first International Trade Fair was opened by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe at Victoria Island on October 27, 1962. - Launching of the National Savings Scheme (Premium Bond) by Mrs. Flora Azikiwe at General Post Office, Marina on 8th December, 1962. - Opening of the ?2 million Guinness Breweries at Ikeja on 6th March, 1963 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. - Opening of the New Engineering Base and Hangar at Lagos Airport Ikeja by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe on December 13, 1963. - Opening of the Royal Mint at Victoria Island on April 10, 1965 by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the subsequent issuance and circulation of New Currency notes in the denomination of £5; £10s and 5s on July 1, 1965. Opening of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka on October 7, 1960. ----------------------------------- I cannot conclude without reiterating the value of education in leveraging national development and how the small Nsukka field experiment by the Right Honourable Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in establishing the University of Nigeria in 1960 has contributed immensely to Nigerian development. The University of Nigeria has led in the production of much-needed human capital in atypical disciplines such as Architecture, Estate Management, Journalism, Music, Nursing, Physical/Health Education, and Surveying. It has also recorded innumerable scientific feats that include the first-ever cholera vaccine production in Africa, and the open-heart surgery at the Teaching Hospital, among others. There is no doubt that it will continue to contribute to Nigeria’s development in the years to come, judging by the quality of the students, staff and teachers today, and the eagerness with which many JAMB applicants make it their first choice. It is with a great sense of responsibility that I personally associate myself with the philosophy of the University: To seek the Truth; To teach the Truth; To preserve the Truth, and thereby To restore the dignity of man. Yes, we will get there. I thank you all for listening. At the 2012 Graduation Ceremonies of University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria, January 26, 2012 ------------------------------------------------------ ZIK-A Force in Library Development in Nigeria C.C. Aguolu and L.E. Aguolu http://www.worlib.org/vol07no2/aguolu_v07n2.shtml  Abstract This is the first attempt to coherently document the immense contributions of one of Africa’s foremost nationalists and pan–Africanists to the development of libraries in Nigeria. Although he is best known for his achievements in politics, journalism, and sports, Dr. Azikiwe saw the library as a vehicle for the intellectual emancipation of Nigerians from colonial rule. As President of Eastern Nigeria in the 1950s, the first and only indigenous Governor–General, and first President of Nigeria in the 1960s, he was able to wield sufficient political influence to ensure a legal basis for public library development in Nigeria, the establishment of the University of Nigeria Library – named after himself – and the eventual creation of the National Library of Nigeria. -------------------------------------- Today, the gains of sound laws, policies and adult suffrage which reorganized the administrative, social and economic development of the Eastern region of Nigeria still stand as one of his greatest achievements as the premier of that region. He also saw the vision of African civilization rooted in its culture and peculiarity; hence he pushed for a co-educational university which metamorphosed into the first indigenous university in Africa-University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He also participated in developing the curricula of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and donated books from his personal library to ensure its commencement of full academic business.   In an era when Nigeria is still grappling with ethnic challenges and songs, Zik was already exuding a pan-African dream; practising exactly what he preaches, the great Zik propelled the emergence of Altine Umoru and Bashorun Balogun as the mayors of Igbo dominated Enugu and Port Harcourt districts respectively. It is no more news that the cross-carpeting of members of the Western Regional Assembly momentarily thwarted Zik’s dream of building a Nigeria where every Nigerian will live and become the best he or she can achieve without any hindrance of tribe, religion and sex. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.blackpast.org/1955-nnamdi-azikiwe-university-nigeria-speech (1955) Nnamdi Azikiwe, “The University of Nigeria Speech”           On May 18, 1955 the Eastern House of Assembly, the regional legislature for Eastern Nigeria, moved a resolution to established the first university in Eastern Nigeria.  Nnamdi Azikiwe gave a speech seconding the motion introduced by the Eastern Region Minister of Education. That eastern university became the University of Nigeria.  Azikiwe's remarks given on May 18, 1955, appear below. Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to second this historic motion and in doing so I wish to confine my remarks to one aspect of the speech so ably made by the Honourable the Minister of Education. I have in mind his statement about the philosophy of education which animates the introduction of this Bill. I must admit that I have been impressed by the recommendations made by the African Education Commission, which visited Nigeria in 1920 with the late Kwegyir Aggrey, under the auspices of the Phelps-Stokes Fund and the Foreign Mission Societies of North America and Europe, particularly the following: 1. That all concerned distinguish clearly the educational needs, namely, the education of the masses of the people, the training of teachers and leaders for the masses, and the preparation of professional men who must pass the conventional requirements of British universities. 2. That the education of the masses and their teachers be determined by the following elements, namely, health, ability to develop the resources of the country, household arts, sound recreation, rudiments of knowledge, character development, and community responsibility. The native teachers should also have access to the great truths of physical and social science and the inspiration of history and literature. I make the above admission because, after 35 years, the observations and recommendations of the Commission are still timely. Indeed, I can say that this report forms a basis of the philosophy of education for Africa, not because Africans deserve a separate philosophy but, in the words of Dr Anson Phelps-Stokes, the purpose of the Commission was to help Africans ‘by encouraging an education adapted to their actual needs. . . . The time has passed when the old thesis can be successfully maintained that a curriculum well suited to the needs of a group on a given scale of civilization in one country is necessarily the best for other groups on a different level of advancement in another country or section.’ But Dr Stokes did not end on a dogmatic note. After pointing out that agricultural or industrial training, under Christian auspices, proved to be the best type of education for the majority of the freed Negroes, ‘at this particular time of their development’, he cautioned that ‘the door was and always should be kept wide open for a higher education’ for those who had the ability and the character to profit by university training. In appreciating any philosophy of education we should always find out the aims of those who postulate such ideas. As far as one can observe from a subsequent statement by the Phelps-Stokes group, the objective sought was Nigerian leadership. In one of their latest reports, it is said: In terms of the African continent, this should clearly imply such changes as that there should be more emphasis on education for native leadership; that European officials should gradually give way to a trained native African civil service; that duly elected Africans should play a larger part in the legislative councils of the colonies; and that investments should be further controlled in the interest of better wages for native workmen, and better working and living conditions. It is believed that if such things are done the African people, and the nations in which they will form the large majority, will be happier, and will ultimately have an important contribution to make to the civilization of the world. I believe that, side by side with higher vocational education, opportunities should be created to enable the trained individuals to play a useful role in the development of the country. Here is where I agree with the founders of Achimota College that, The immediate aim of African education should be to develop character, initiative, and ability of the youth of the country, so that they may be reliable, useful, and intelligent in the rapidly changing life and circumstances of their own people. In other words, the aim of education is to develop the manhood and womanhood of the rising generation for the sake of their peoples. Anything narrower than this must lead to a stagnant and menacing flood of unemployed and unemployable youth. It is important that higher educational facilities should be provided locally to enable those to be benefited to make full use of them. It is said that a fully educated person should be ‘enlightened in im interests, impersonal in his judgment, ready in his sympathy for whatever is just and right, effective in the work he sets himself to do, and willing to lend a hand to anyone who is in need of it.’ I strongly support the belief of the late Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg that ‘the keystone of progress is education; but all that will be idle rhetoric if we mix the materials of the keystone badly.’ In this connection, this former Governor of the Gold Coast confessed that the British would never succeed ‘if the sole place in which the African can get his higher education and his professional training is Europe. Much learning, and of the best, he can get there; character-training, none. . . . We must aim at giving the whole of our education locally, and, where it is essential that an African should go to Europe for the final steps to enter a profession, we must arrange our system in such a manner that his absence will be reduced to the shortest possible time and the foundations of his character firmly laid before he goes. . . . To stand the pressure brought to bear on the Arch of Progress by the hurricane of material development, the storm of criticism, and the windy tornadoes of political agitation, the keystone must be well and truly laid and composed of strong materials.’ In order that the foundations of Nigerian leadership shall be securely laid, to the end that this country shall cease to imitate the excrescences of a civilization which is not rooted in African life, I strongly support this Bill to the effect that a full-fledged university should be established in this Region without further delay. Such a higher institution of learning should not only be cultural, according to the classical concept of universities, but it should also be vocational in its objective and Nigerian in its content. We should not offer any apologies for making such a progressive move. After all, we must do f or ourselves what others hesitate to do for us. In the thoughts of a great American Negro historian, ‘History shows that it does not matter who is in power or what revolutionary forces take over the government, those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they had in the beginning.’ I notice that it is envisaged that the university should have six degree-conferring Faculties: Arts, Science, Law, Theology, Engineering, and Medicine. I hope that the curricula of the university will be related to the day-to-day life of our people and that they will be so organized as to relate the mission of the university to the social and economic needs of the Region. I also observe that the following twenty diploma-conferring Institutes are among those which will be established for the professional and technical education of our men and women on whom we shall have to rely heavily in the difficult years ahead: Agriculture, Architecture, Diplomacy, Domestic Science, Dramatics, Education, Finance, Fine Arts, Fishery, Forestry, Journalism, Librarianship, Music, Pharmacy, Physical Education, Public Administrations, Public Health, Secretarial Studies, Social Work, Surveying and Veterinary Science. If these Institutes are so organized as to operate pari passu with the Faculties, then this Region will embark upon an historic renaissance in the fields of academic, cultural, professional and technical education on the same lines as the leading countries of the world. I wish to make it emphatic that the university should be coeducational. It will be remembered that the Cambridge Conference on African Education made reference to this subject in their report, which says: Women and girls need an education that fits them to live in a world of social change; and they need the tools of learning to help them to understand and take a fuller part in daily life. The increasing numbers need opportunities for professional and occupational training so that they can be both economically independent and fitted to take over progressively their responsibility for educating and training their own people. The main task for education among women and girls therefore is to provide so sound a training in the techniques of living that the whole level of African life can be raised socially, intellectually, and spiritually by the full co-operation of women in the home and in the community at large. . . . We recommend that priority should now be given to providing trades and technical training for women and girls in the fields of needlecraft, catering, institutional management, and secretarial arts. It is now accepted in progressive circles that male and female students of any modem university should be allowed to live side by side on the same campus, where residence is available; they should study together, play together, and share together the vicissitudes of the cultural atmosphere of secondary school or university life. The aim of such co-education should be to enable male and female students to engage together in academic, vocational and co-curricular activities in developing their personalities. I feel that it is of utmost importance that we should inculcate in our university students not only the dignity of labour, but also the idea that by hard work, sacrifice and self-determination, a poor student can obtain university education. In many colleges and universities of the world today, thousands of students are demonstrating that lack of funds is not an unsurmountable barrier to higher education. The fact that students are not affluent enough to pay all their bills need not make them ashamed. It is my earnest hope that indigent male and female students of the new university will be encouraged to work in order to be able to meet their university expenses. The experience gained thereby will stand them in good stead in the struggle for survival in life. By making sacrifices, by being thrifty, and by working hard, such students will cultivate self-reliance and confidence. As experience has shown in American and German universities, many elements which, ordinarily, would have discouraged the average student and possibly caused him to be a failure in life, are usually encountered by such working students with remarkable fortitude and determination to rely on his own resources to succeed, no matter the handicaps. Later in life, he can always recount the turning point of his life with pride. It is my fondest wish that when the University of Nigeria ultimately becomes a reality, our young men and women will find opportunities for gaining experience in life’s battle, so that lack of money will not deter them from obtaining higher vocational education in any of the faculties or institutes of the university. I hope that the training in self-help and the experience in self- reliance will make them more confident of themselves and enable them to puncture the myth of the proverbial lack of initiative and drive on the part of the Nigerian worker. Finally, I trust that, with the establishment of this university, it will be complementary with the Ibadan University College, co-operating with it, drawing inspiration from its efforts, and gaining experience from this pioneer institution of higher education in this country. Sir, I beg to second. Sources: Nnamdi Azikiwe, Zik: A Selection from the Speeches of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Governor-General of the Federation of Nigeria formerly President of the Nigerian Senate formerly Premier of the Eastern Region of Nigeria (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961).   - See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/1955-nnamdi-azikiwe-university-nigeria-speech#sthash.JBlM30tl.dpuf ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://biography.yourdictionary.com/nnamdi-azikiwe

 

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[Ayo Ojutalayo]

"And by the way, start thinking about another name for your  dream country when you embark on another secessionist  move - Biafra is a bight on the coast; and that coast DOES NOT BORDER/INCLUDE ANY IBO TERRITORY!

WE, the MINORITY PEOPLES of former Eastern Nigeria, WHO NATURALLY LAY CLAIM to that bight,  GIVEN to us by Almighty God,  WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO USE that name again, should you embark on carving out a country from present Nigeria, for yourselves!!" . . . . Odudu Abasi  

 

This calls into question, the legitimacy of the internet biafrans who invariably are never "MINORITY PEOPLES of former Eastern Nigeria". The owners of the name BIAFRA have now declared the Peter Oparas of this world personal non grata in the use of the name.

 

Ayo Ojutalayo

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[Vin Otuonye]

Ayo Ojuotele:
 
Anything Igbo must be causing you sleepless night. Odudu Abasi has proved time again that he is ignorant. Even though he is in his 60s or even 70s, he knows nothing about what he's talking about. When the name Biafra was initially chosen, did Ojukwu get his consent? 
 
Vin Cool Breeze Otuonye
 

---

Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2014 22:25:21 -0700
From: ayooju...@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [africanworldforum] ODUDU ABASI AND IBIBIOS NARCISSISTIC OBSESSION WITH IGBO : RE-EDUCATE ODUDU ABASI IBIBIOS AND EASTERN MINORITIES ON FACTS THEY FAIL TO KNOW - RE: Fighting against secession: General Ike Nwachukwu's only offence
To: africanw...@googlegroups.com; niger...@yahoogroups.com; talkn...@yahoogroups.com; odudu...@yahoo.com; IgboWor...@yahoogroups.com; nigeriaw...@yahoogroups.com; Niger...@yahoogroups.com
CC: USAAfric...@googlegroups.com; igbo_...@yahoogroups.com; nido...@niamericas.org

---------------------------------------------

From: vincent...@msn.com   To: africanw...@googlegroups.com

----------------------------------------- okoiad...@gmail.com

Rex Marinus

ByDaniel Olisa IwezeDepartment of HistoryBayero University, Kano, Nigeriae-mail:danie...@gmail.comdanielol...@ymail.comTel:+2340836056351

"The purpose of British colonial control of the colonies was to stimulate the production of raw materials needed by the British industries and to create markets for the products of these industries in the colonized territories. Thus, right from the onset when the basicinfrastructures of the Indirect rule system was established, the British colonialgovernment embarked on polices intended to stimulate the production of raw materialsespecially cotton and groundnut in northern Nigeria which were fundamental to thesurvival of the textile industry which constituted more than one third of Britain’smanufactured export. Railway was therefore, considered necessary as trade carried out by the use of animal transportation in the north was described as being too costly andtoo slow. The type of transportation in the pre-colonial period in the Northern provincesof Nigeria was characterized by the use of donkeys, horses and camels.

3

Recognizingthe need to shift from the traditional modes of transport to modern transport system andthe transformative force of railway development in the colonized territories in Africa,

Lugard believed that “the development of African continent is impossible withoutrailway.”

4

The Objectives of Railway Construction

Railway construction in Nigeria began in 1896 with the construction of the western linewhich started at Ebute Metta near Lagos and extended to Ibadan in 1900 and Jebba in1909. The Northern line started from Baro to Kano (350 miles) constructed between1907 and 1911, and Jebba-Minna line was completed in 1913. In 1911, a branch rail linefrom Zaria to the Tin-mines at Jos was constructed. The discovery of coal at Enugu in1911 made the eastern line necessary. It began from Port-Harcourt in 1913 and reachedKaduna in 1926, thus linking the eastern and western lines. Extensions of the railwayfrom Kano to Nguru (opened in 1927) and from Zaria to Kaura-Namoda (opened in1927) was completed later. The building of Jebba bridge in 1916 and the Makurdi bridgein 1932 completed the linking up of the north and south. By 1930’s, Nigeria had railwaynetwork of about 2,178, miles.

5

Railway construction right from the beginning had military, administrative and economic functions."

Railway Construction and the Development of Kaduna inthe Northern Provinces of Colonial Nigeria

ByDaniel Olisa IwezeDepartment of HistoryBayero University, Kano, Nigeriae-mail:danie...@gmail.comdanielol...@ymail.comTel:+2340836056351

 

Nnamdi Azikiwe Facts

  

Uwazurike, P. Chudi, The Man Called Zik of Africa: Portrait of Nigeria's Pan-African Statesman (Triatlantic Books, 1996). ?

...

Nnamdi Azikiwe Facts

  

Uwazurike, P. Chudi, The Man Called Zik of Africa: Portrait of Nigeria's Pan-African Statesman (Triatlantic Books, 1996). ?

Nnamdi Azikiwe Facts

  

Uwazurike, P. Chudi, The Man Called Zik of Africa: Portrait of Nigeria's Pan-African Statesman (Triatlantic Books, 1996). ?

 

.

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[Odudu Abasi]

Vin Otuonye,

Why spend time  talking?

Actualize your 'biafra'; that is the challenge! 

OduduAbasi

DFW

On Wednesday, April 2, 2014 6:28 AM, Vin Otuonye <vincent...@msn.com> wrote:

Ayo Ojuotele:
 
Anything Igbo must be causing you sleepless night. Odudu Abasi has proved time again that he is ignorant. Even though he is in his 60s or even 70s, he knows nothing about what he's talking about. When the name Biafra was initially chosen, did Ojukwu get his consent? 
 
Vin Cool Breeze Otuonye
 

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[Ugo Harris Ukandu]

 

Odudu Abasi,

Why are you and some Ibibio people so obsessed with Igbos and their ways. It seems you don't have better things to do for your Ibibio clan. The uncivil war ended more than 40 years ago and many tribes, people and  ethnic groups in Nigeria have all forgotten about the war and are moving on with their lives. Many of the Igbos defeated in the war are dead and are old now. The is a new generation of Igbos who are doing great things all over the world,  and are moving ahead and in the same token there are many Igbos who have chosen different part out of Nigeria;  and are making living and living life outside Nigeria still achieving success. some Igbos engage in crime and other nefarious activities and this you gloat about constantly as if Ibibio people do not commit crime and criminality, when you compare estimates  Igbo population of about 30 million people worldwide compare to Ibibio of 3 Million people estimated.

Even the Middle Belt Plateau ( Gowon people) have moved on from the war  issues, and are now facing their own war and threats of elimination from the jihadist,  Fulani herdmen and Boko Haram who are your partners to taste for War with Igbos and Biafra . Then Since the end of the  4 years  war in 1970, the  Middle Belt Plateau people (Gowon people)  have even voted for an Igbo man Dr. Azikiwe for Presidency during the NPP and NPN election two times in the 80s preferring an Igbo man the presidency of Nigeria. Gowon Middle Belt Plateau people have always voted for and voted with Igbos in all elections. They have forgiven and forgotten by their actions and deeds.

In the former  Eastern Region,  many minority groups like the Ijaws have moved on with their lives and are working with Igbos for a new generation partnership of  rebuilding trusts and  growth. For example, The Ijaw people, Ijaw nation and Igbos are now partners in progress and have recently been having meetings and gathering  for better future for their children. Ijaw high chief Dr.Edwin Clark and Ijaw youth Leader Asari Dokubo have started a new page of peace with Igbos and both have said that they have forgiven and want new partnership with Igbos. The Okrika people today are also at peace with Igbos. The Ogonis  and  their leaders including their well known leader Ken Sara Wiwa made  peace with Igbos before his  jail time and execution by General Abacha. Many Igbos neighbors in Southern Nigeria have nothing but goodwill for the Igbos today, because cooperation and meeting are being held with Igbos and all Southerners to move forward positively. The Ananngs have made peace with Igbos. Even the Efiks have made peace with Igbos to the level of naming their only national Airport in Calabar after an Igbo woman (Margareth Ekpo National Airport Calabar) and so on.

Why is it that some Ibibios who are by DNA closest and related by blood with Igbos are the ones so angry and do not want to let go the past. Every misfortune an Ibibio man encounters anywhere in Nigeria even in Akwa Ibom State it is Igbo fault. If an Annang man like Governor Akpabio defeats an Ibibio man in election it is Igbo fault. If the prize of Garri, Rice, Beans, Building materials, Cement, Timber, motor parts increases in Uyo and Akwa Ibom State, Some Ibibio man and woman in Akwa Ibom State and everywhere will blame the Igbo people everywhere in Aba, Enugu and Onitsha etc.  for the prize increase.  Why is this constant Ibibio attacks on Igbos and innocent Igbos for that matter. Why is this type of mob mentality coming from Ibibios  neighbors when other neighbors have forgotten, forgave and moving on.

Why is these types of obsession from Ibibios happening 40 years after the war and 46 years after Eastern Region. Igbos as a people have expressed gratefulness and respect for Ibibios like General Effiong and the sacrifice many Ibibios made before, during and after the war with their Igbo partners. An average Igbo man has nothing but goodwill for their Ibibios, but why is these negative obsession with any thing Igbo coming from some and average Ibibio person all the time.

Ibibios have a State of their own call Akwa Ibom State with other tribes like Annags, Ekets, Oron, Efiks etc. and  they should be happiness with Ibibio man with that, but it seems that most of them blames any of their present or anticipated  political, economic, social and commercial problems on their Igbo neighbors without facts and proof.

It will be hard for any body to believe that Igbos were defeated in a war going by what is on ground in Nigeria and in Diaspora, despite the huge loss, massacre and killing of innocent Igbos and these are what ODUDU ABASI AND SOME IBIBIOS IS ALWAYS GLOATING ABOUT. BUT As it is today in Nigeria, Igbos by every measure and indices among the 370 tribes and ethnic groups in Nigeria Igbos are EITHER NUMBER ONE OR NUMBER TWO  IN ALL AND THE FOLLOWING MEASURES OF SUCCESS IN NIGERIA BY TRIBE OR ETHNICITY : IGBOS ARE  LEADING IN --

(1) Education either number one or two

(2) Highest graduating students in schools and  higher education either number one or two

(3) Highest medical Doctors either number one or two

(4) Highest number of Lawyers either number one or two

(5) Controls many sectors of the Economy in all States and West Africa.

(6) Has the highest and best Women and Girls education and empowerment programs

(7) Has the best and active  SKILLS enterprising Zone in ABa, Onitsha and Nnewi

(8) Igbos Dominates and control commerce and business in all the major markets in Nigeria (Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Jos, Port etc.)

(9) Igbos are spread out more than any tribes all over Nigeria  building the economy of Nigeria.

(10) The Nigerian Nollywood movies and entertainment  sector is dominated by Igbo in both marketing and production.

(11) Igbos dominates transportation and haulage industry across all states and areas in Nigeria.

(12) Igbos are one of the top LEADING tribes in all sports and football in Nigeria. 

(12) Igbo Business and venture are pioneers in computer manufacturing, car/trucks manufacturing, pharmaceuticals manufacturing and massive small scale industries engaging in food production, leaders, shoes, textiles,  small engines, crafts, skills, artisan, motor parts etc. in Onitsha, Aba, Nnewi, Owerri, Ebonyi and Emene Enugu, Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port harcourt, Benin. etc.

Among the 370 tribes in Nigeria, Some  Ibibios should go and measure their own level and as water it has to find its level and stop this Obsession with a tribe that is millions of miles ahead of them despite their gloating of Igbo misfortune.

 Some smaller States and tribes smaller than Ibibios and Akwa Ibom States like Edo, Bini, Itshekiri, Rivers, Kwara and Ekiti have some of the best schools, best education, graduates,  healthcare  and other parameters measuring better than Akwa Ibom state until Governor Akpabio came in and reversed it,  and changed the State for good and these improvements is what an average Ibibio man like Odudu Abasi should focus his or her attention is to rejoice over the success of Governor Akpabio in transforming Akwa Ibom State for better.  instead of this Narcissistic obsession with Igbos all the time.

Ugo Harris Ukandu

---------------------------------------------

From: vincent...@msn.com   To: africanworldforum@googlegroups.com

----------------------------------------- okoiad...@gmail.com

Rex Marinus

ByDaniel Olisa IwezeDepartment of HistoryBayero University, Kano, Nigeriae-mail:danielolisa@gmail.comdanielolisaiweze@ymail.comTel:+2340836056351

"The purpose of British colonial control of the colonies was to stimulate the production of raw materials needed by the British industries and to create markets for the products of these industries in the colonized territories. Thus, right from the onset when the basicinfrastructures of the Indirect rule system was established, the British colonialgovernment embarked on polices intended to stimulate the production of raw materialsespecially cotton and groundnut in northern Nigeria which were fundamental to thesurvival of the textile industry which constituted more than one third of Britain’smanufactured export. Railway was therefore, considered necessary as trade carried out by the use of animal transportation in the north was described as being too costly andtoo slow. The type of transportation in the pre-colonial period in the Northern provincesof Nigeria was characterized by the use of donkeys, horses and camels.

3

Recognizingthe need to shift from the traditional modes of transport to modern transport system andthe transformative force of railway development in the colonized territories in Africa,

Lugard believed that “the development of African continent is impossible withoutrailway.”

4

The Objectives of Railway Construction

Railway construction in Nigeria began in 1896 with the construction of the western linewhich started at Ebute Metta near Lagos and extended to Ibadan in 1900 and Jebba in1909. The Northern line started from Baro to Kano (350 miles) constructed between1907 and 1911, and Jebba-Minna line was completed in 1913. In 1911, a branch rail linefrom Zaria to the Tin-mines at Jos was constructed. The discovery of coal at Enugu in1911 made the eastern line necessary. It began from Port-Harcourt in 1913 and reachedKaduna in 1926, thus linking the eastern and western lines. Extensions of the railwayfrom Kano to Nguru (opened in 1927) and from Zaria to Kaura-Namoda (opened in1927) was completed later. The building of Jebba bridge in 1916 and the Makurdi bridgein 1932 completed the linking up of the north and south. By 1930’s, Nigeria had railwaynetwork of about 2,178, miles.

5

Railway construction right from the beginning had military, administrative and economic functions."

Railway Construction and the Development of Kaduna inthe Northern Provinces of Colonial Nigeria

ByDaniel Olisa IwezeDepartment of HistoryBayero University, Kano, Nigeriae-mail:danielolisa@gmail.comdanielolisaiweze@ymail.comTel:+2340836056351

 

Nnamdi Azikiwe Facts

  

Uwazurike, P. Chudi, The Man Called Zik of Africa: Portrait of Nigeria's Pan-African Statesman (Triatlantic Books, 1996). □

...

Nnamdi Azikiwe Facts

  

Uwazurike, P. Chudi, The Man Called Zik of Africa: Portrait of Nigeria's Pan-African Statesman (Triatlantic Books, 1996). □

Nnamdi Azikiwe Facts

  

Uwazurike, P. Chudi, The Man Called Zik of Africa: Portrait of Nigeria's Pan-African Statesman (Triatlantic Books, 1996). □

 

.

www.MandelaAchebeChido.com

 
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------
 

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Your NEWS n Insights on www.USAfricaonline.com
Your PROFILES n Features on www.CLASSmagazine.TV

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http://photoworks.tv/usafrica20th-anniversary-2013-hilton-houston-set3
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CLASS ... The social events and profiles glossy magazine for Africans
in the U.S. and North America. It's the 'Ebony' magazine for the African
professional class across the U.S., north America and the Diaspora

http://www.Classmagazine.tv

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Our community's photos mega-site of your special events, weddings, anniversaries, etc

http://www.PhotoWorks.tv

Visit Your Group

• New Members 1

• Privacy • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

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[Ayo Ojutalayo]

"The Ogonis  and  their leaders including their well known leader Ken Sara Wiwa made  peace with Igbos before his  jail time and execution by General Abacha." . . . . Ugo Harris Ukandu

Is Odera or Oderaigbo aware of this?

Ayo Ojutalayo

---

From: Ugo Harris Ukandu <abuj...@gmail.com>

To: "Nigeriaw...@yahoogroups.com" <nigeriaw...@yahoogroups.com>; NigerianIDENTITY <Niger...@yahoogroups.com>; NaijaB...@yahoogroups.com; NaijaObserver NaijaObserver <NaijaO...@yahoogroups.com>; USAAfrica Dialogue <USAAfric...@googlegroups.com>; "nigerian...@yahoogroups.com" <nigerian...@yahoogroups.com>; Obi Nwakama <rexmari...@yahoo.com>; odudu abasi <odudu...@yahoo.com>; Vin otuonye <vincent...@msn.com>; "nebuka...@aol.com" <nebuka...@aol.com>; Peter Opara <ogbuo...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 6, 2014 11:23 PM
Subject: [africanworldforum] ODUDU ABASI AND IBIBIOS NARCISSISTIC OBSESSION WITH IGBO : RE-EDUCATE ODUDU ABASI IBIBIOS AND EASTERN MINORITIES ON FACTS THEY FAIL TO KNOW - RE: Fighting against secession: General Ike Nwachukwu's only offence

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[Nigerian Fm]

Gunmen kill Ogun vigilance leader in church

IT was bloody yesterday at a church in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State where unknown gunmen killed a 69-year-old man.
Chief Tola Okuneye, a.k.a Ajagajigi, was seated during the service at St. John Anglican Church, Oke-Sopen, in the accient town when five gunmen, who rode in vehicles painted in Lagos commercial yellow colour, stormed the church and shot him. At about 11a.m.
The gunmen pretended to be worshippers.When they saw Okuneye, Chairman of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and Chairman of the Police Community Relations Committee, they shot him in the head and chest. He died on the spot.

One of the church leaders, Mr Kole Okunaiya, tried to challenge the gunmen, demanding what they were looking for, but the attempt was rebuffed.

“There was confusion when gunshots began to sound. We were shocked and everybody was jittery. The service came to an end abruptly. Some people, especially the elder are still in shock as I am talking to you now,” said a witness.

“Okuneye was well known in the town and neighbouring towns. He was among the earliest artisans in the business of furniture making in Ijebu,” the witness added.

Police Commissioner Ikemefuna Okoye said police were aware of the killing. “No arrest has been made yet but we are investigating.”

 

http://www.nigerianfm.com/23.html

[tijani...@oklng.com]

When it is in the North it is Boko haram whether verified or not. Else where it is Gunmen or militants

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

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From: Nigerian Fm <nigerianf...@aol.com>

Sender: africanw...@googlegroups.com

Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2014 00:56:34 -0400 (EDT)

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Subject: [africanworldforum] Gunmen kill Ogun vigilance leader in church

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[Pwaveno Bamaiyi]

Oh Nigeria Nigeria Nigeria! How long will you continue in lawlessness and barbarism? Your leaders have complicated your problems and your citizens are lost in pandemonium! God have mercy!

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"I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past." Clara Barton

[Okechukwu Okonjo]

The end times of Nigeria. Bombing and killings are the order of the day. It is hardly new.  It looks like the shooting of the OPC chairman is meant to anger the Yoruba and make them join the fight. Shooting in a church is meant to anger Christians in the South. If you look carefully, there are armed groups in the North, and we have the Delta armed groups. This seems to be crafted to make the Yoruba and Southern Christians at large pick up arms too, because every (interest or ethnic) group is gradually taking to arms.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/africanworldforum/CA%2BBeF5xCWMG-ipkD5J-U7bi1ipQOCoeykYZhZz2rFbvnjpqtBA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Okechukwu Okonjo]

Nigeria has wars going on now leading to it brake up.. there is an arms war, and there is what I would like to call the cold ruling class political power war , there is also the oil war, and the racial/ethnic war (all of which are tied together and will lead to Nigeria's break up)... and when Nigeria finally breaks up, guess what name SE Igbo will call their country? Well you guessed right. You guess is as good as mine - Biafra.

On Monday, 7 April 2014, 6:20, Ayo Ojutalayo <ayooju...@yahoo.com> wrote:

"The Ogonis  and  their leaders including their well known leader Ken Sara Wiwa made  peace with Igbos before his  jail time and execution by General Abacha." . . . . Ugo Harris Ukandu

Is Odera or Oderaigbo aware of this?

Ayo Ojutalayo

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