Chief Gary Enwo-Igariwey, President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo receiving the Igbo Union Ireland position paper from Mazi Kelechi JK Onwumereh

 'The first of its kind by a Diaspora community of Igbo extraction.' -Enwo-Igariwey

Recently, the Leader of Igbo Union Ireland, Mazi Kelechi JK Onwumereh, delivered the Igbo Diaspora documented position on the ongoing National Conference in Abuja to Chief Gary Enwo-Igariwey, President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. The paper entitled: ‘TOWARDS LASTING PEACE, UNITY AND PROGRESS IN NIGERIA: THE CONTRIBUTION OF NDIGBO IN IRELAND TO THE IGBO AGENDA FOR THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2014’  was to effect the contribution of the Igbo Diaspora in Ireland. The obviously elated Ohanaeze Ndigbo chieftain commended their hard work, saying that it "was the first of its kind by a Diaspora community of Igbo extraction". Please read on...

TOWARDS LASTING PEACE, UNITY AND PROGRESS IN NIGERIA: THE CONTRIBUTION OF NDIGBO IN IRELAND TO THE IGBO AGENDA FOR THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2014.

OVERVIEW:
Ndigbo in the Republic of Ireland consider it a privilege to have convened the Igbo Diaspora Conference on National Dialogue on the 29th of March 2014 with the aim of enabling Igbos in Ireland to contribute to the on-going National Dialogue in Nigeria.

We were heartened by the words of Victor Hugo who said ‘nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come’. Over the years, Nigerians have yearned and agitated for an opportunity to discuss the numerous issues bedevilling the country.

The call by President Goodluck Jonathan for Nigerians to discuss the future of the country with a view to "engaging in intense introspection about the political and socio-economic challenges confronting our nation and to chart the best and most acceptable way for the resolution of such challenges in the collective interest of all the constituent parts of our fatherland" is a timely and welcome opportunity to chart a path of success for the country in the next centenary.

Ndigbo in the Republic of Ireland therefore welcomed the opportunity to participate in any measure, no matter how small, by discussing topical issues affecting them and the rest of the country and to postulate practical steps that could shape and determine the overall outcome of the dialogue and the attendant constitution which could in turn bring about change and progress in Nigeria.

In view of the above, we therefore issue the following memorandum being outcomes of the conference in response to the issues listed below.

Issue 1:
EDUCATION, TRAINING AND REORIENTATION
The conference looked into the deteriorating level of infrastructure that has resulted in the alarming dearth of basic education in our public schools in Nigeria especially in the South Eastern states. Education is the key to empowering and unlocking the latent skills of individuals. We recommend therefore urgent reintroduction of free and mandatory basic education in our public schools in the South Eastern states. While the south East delegates at the confab should campaign vigorously for Federal government’s reintroduction of free and quality basic education in South East, our governors should immediately commence training and re-training of our youths as obtainable in other zones in Nigeria.

The delegates, including our south East governors should immediately push for the justiceability of chapter 11 of the 1999 constitution in accordance with the implementation of the ECOWAS Court ruling on SERAP v. Federal Republic of Nigeria, ECW/CCJ/JUD/18/12 where denial of educational rights to a child, was ruled to violate human rights in Nigeria.

The legislature should immediately commence the enactment of the abolition of hawking, begging, child-labour or trade apprenticeship by a child of school age, followed by the inauguration of enforcement units to ensure strict compliance. The gains of this Education proposal, was demonstrated during the reign of the defunct Action Group in the western Nigeria, which gave birth to a generation of academics and leaders in the South West today. The astronomical increase in private schools in Nigeria owned by the rich and powerful in our society, is another means of pauperising and depriving the children of the less privileged the basic rights of acquiring education. If education is truly the great equalizer, then the country owes it as a duty to free education to its citizenry from our oil wealth.

Issue 2:
IGBO DIASPORA REPRESENTATION & ELECTORAL SUFFRAGE
Ndigbo in the Diaspora should henceforth be co-opted in subsequent government projects. The purpose of involving Ndigbo in the Diaspora in the determination of Igbo destiny in Nigeria is to tap from their wealth of experience and expertise and give them a sense of belonging in determining the future of millions of Ndigbo in the Diaspora. It is on record that while the socio-economic contribution of Ndigbo in the Diaspora to the economic development in the country remains huge, Ndigbo in the Diaspora are always neglected and marginalised when national issues that decide their future is at stake. A test case is the selection process for the on-going National Dialogue, which once again seems to have neglected the Diaspora population.

The Federal Government should as a matter of urgency enable the INEC to constitute a Diaspora Electoral Commission charged with the task of conducting elections for Nigerians in the Diaspora. It has been proven that participation in elections gives the electorate a sense of inclusion and ownership of the government. The logistics of this basic civic right should be completed and implementable at the next general elections in 2019.

Issue 3:
SIXTH STATE IN THE SOUTH EASTERN REGION: A CASE FOR ANIOMA STATE
The conference in Ireland states without equivocation that it is totally unacceptable and unfair that all the other geopolitical zones in Nigeria have 6 or 7 States while only the South East has five states. Thus the need for two additional states in the South East to balance out the current regional inequity of State creation was the topmost concern to Ndigbo in Ireland. We therefore submit that making a strong case for two more states in the South East region must be on the priority list of things the Ohanaeze Ndigbo delegates agitate for at the National Conference in Abuja.

It was unanimously agreed upon that one of the two new states must go to the Anioma people, rather than splitting any of the existing five Igbo states.

Supporting a new Anioma State is a very important and strategic agenda-setting for the Igbos, as this would help bring Anioma people back to the Igbo clan and inclusive of the South East region where they naturally and rightful belong. Bringing Anioma people back to the South East would not only extend our boundary delineation (as we all know that Igwebuike), but will also, secure fully the Niger River and/or River Niger resource for the Igbos without any interference from the Delta State.

Issue 4:
DEVELOPMENTAL PATHWAY FOR THE SOUTH EAST: A CASE FOR REGIONALISM
Issues of boundary delineation are intricately linked to regionalism. The Conference in Ireland agreed that issues about regional development and concerns about poor governance, corruption and misappropriation of public funds by elected officials are issues that could be dealt with through the introduction of regionalism along cultural homogenous mappings. This is because regionalism structured along such compelling considerations such as language, religion and contingent historic markers are known to elicit compliance and cohesion. It has been argued that the lack of effective road-map for development in Igbo land is increasingly aiding corruption and criminality, which remain detrimental to our survival as a powerful Igbo nation.

In the creation of regions, the colonial authorities favoured geography over natural/cultural borders that would have allowed each unit to develop culturally, politically and economically as enshrined in the United Nations charter. Thus we had regions that excluded some from the same culture and included some from a different culture. This was no doubt a grave mistake. All over the world the standard practice is to locate people of similar culture in areas of contiguity in the same region. This explains why in the U.K the Scottish are in the same region, likewise the Welsh and the Irish. In Switzerland, the Germans are in the same region, likewise the French and the Italians. The same trend is obvious in Belgium, where the Flemish and the French have their own regions. In Africa, Ethiopia is a good example amongst others of best practice with regions created strictly along cultural lines.

Just before the civil war, Yakubu Gowon’s military government created states arbitrarily without a plebiscite which served to create further cultural distortions. The conference is an opportunity to redress those distortions and create sustainable regions along cultural markers. The proposed regions should as much as possible, locate people of similar culture in areas of contiguity in the same region. Whilst the states should remain to protect and guarantee the autonomy of each sub unit, regions should be created that comprise a group of states. Ideally, the Southeast region should include the already existing five states plus people of similar culture in Anioma to be created as a separate autonomous state. Likewise, in the Port Harcourt axis, people of similar culture annexed from the former Eastern region should also have an autonomous state created along cultural lines and returned to be part of the greater Southeast region. This would bring the total number of states in the Southeast “corporate region” to seven bringing it at par to the Northwest with seven states and thereby settling a contentious issue of equality.

In the Southwest region, the Kwara axis that has a substantial amount of people with the same culture should be carved out as a separate state and added to the Southwest region, bringing the total to seven states and also settling a vexed issue of equality amongst the three major ethnic groups as of right. The Northwest which already has seven states would be a region in its own right. The South-South because of a high level of diversity should be broken down along cultural markers; in that regards what is left of Delta state and Edo state can come together to form a region, Bayelsa state and what is left of Rivers state can form a region while Akwa Ibom and Cross River state can form a region, this is to ensure as much cultural homogeneity as possible given the high level of diversity in the area. Whilst there will be three regions from the South-South, the greater South-South comprising all three regions and states within can still remain as a geopolitical zone.

In the North central the high level of diversity should also result in grouping at least two states, each with the highest level of cultural homogeneity into a region which will see the emergence of two or three regions while the greater north central remains as a geopolitical zone. The Northeast if it is determined to have enough cultural homogeneity can become a region or alternatively broken down into at least two states each comprising a region. This model would for the first time give Nigeria a natural and sustainable structure of regions along cultural lines that can develop socially, economically, politically and culturally.

The states would remain to safeguard the autonomy of each unit while the regional structure with an appointed Chief executive officer who must be a technocrat with five year tenure will preside over areas of cooperation between the states within the region. Nigeria will thus have regions, states, and provinces or local governments. The six geopolitical zones can remain with states and regions from each zone remaining politically within the zone.

Advantages of Regional Structures and Inter-state cooperation
It is not a secret that when resources are pooled together amongst many it becomes possible to achieve massive developmental projects. This same logic informed the creation of the European Union and other bodies of cooperation. The regions will serve the overriding purpose of being corporate in nature and thus a driver of aggressive internal development within each given region. Through cooperation and pulling resources together the corporate regions will be able to undertake major interstate projects such as roads, rail, industrial parks, agro projects, mass housing, research and technology, comprehensive health, education policy and other critical infrastructure. The regions will also be able to set-up development corporations which will be a public limited company that will raise capital through shares in a strategy of collective ownership. The development corporations will invest locally and internationally in critical areas of growth with annual profits redistributed in cash or kind amongst all citizens and residents of the region.

Each region overseen by a technocrat will focus on investing and maximising all resources within, while at the same time building capacity through infrastructural initiatives which will in turn usher in an industrial revolution that will create employment and prosperity, eradicate poverty and end youth restiveness and the attendant social violence.

The conference of ethnic nationalities is a great opportunity to find reconciliation from the civil war and all the abuses of the past and finally settle the Nigerian question through honest dialogue and bold initiatives such as the creation of regions along cultural lines which is tested and proven to be capable of finally launching the nation into concerted industrialisation and thus prosperity and harmony.

Issue 5:
NEW REVENUE SHARING FORMULA FOR COMPONENT STRUCTURES
The Conference in Ireland supports a 50-50 revenue sharing formula. This would ensure that areas of derivation receive enough revenue commensurate with natural justice and the impact of degradation.

Issue 6:
REPARATION, PEACE, TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION:
The Conference submits that the Federal Government should as a matter of urgency institute a process of reparation, peace, truth and reconciliation through the enactment of a bill that should recompense for losses suffered by Ndigbo during the Biafra civil war. The example of South Africa is instructive. Full measure should include, but not limited to:
• Financial reparation as currently proposed by Ohanaeze Ndigbo
• Free education for all children in South-East Nigeria from primary to university levels for next 50 years.
• Erecting a war monument in memory of Fallen Heroes and declaring a particular day as national holiday in their remembrance.
• An apology from the Federal Government to the people South-East.

Issue 7:
LOCAL GOVERNMENT: AUTONOMY, ELECTION & FUNDING
The Conference also submits that:
• Creation of two additional states in South-East Zone and additional local government areas, in order to balance with the other geopolitical zones in Nigeria
• The autonomy of local government areas as Third Tiers of Government should be maintained and enhanced without any interference from State government.
• Direct funding from federation Account rather than joint state/local government account
• Local government should both in purpose and practice be seen as real agents of change and development and also the government at the grassroots. As such the local government should have a direct revenue allocation from the Federation account.
• Election into Chairmen/Councillors should be conducted by INEC in all the local government wards without interference from the state governors.

Issue 8:
FEDERAL PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY
The Conference argued for a return to the Federal Parliamentary Democracy while considering the following facts: The law and system under which the British masters saw it fit to amalgamate and govern the many diverse tribes in Nigeria was parliamentary and federal.
The fathers of the Independence struggle concurred with the British vision for a system of governance in Nigeria that did not confer too much power in the centre but which allowed the citizens the right to discuss and reach acceptable outcomes. All that changed with the advent of the Military in 1966, when they replaced the Federal Constitution with a Unitary one.
This has subsisted ever since as a convoluted federal-presidential system, with its now well-known festering of ills which threaten the very existence of the polity.
It is needful to note that most of the countries that were once colonies of the British including the Republic of Ireland held onto the parliamentary democracy they inherited to date.

Having practiced both the presidential and the parliamentary systems, it is clear which system the preferred System and Constitution.
In the light of the foregoing, we therefore submit as follows:
A. We should return to a Parliamentary, true Federal democracy with the current six Zones, of South East, South South, South West, North East, North West, and North Central.
B. A Regional arrangement along culturally homogenous markers should be recognized and empowered to pursue development initiatives such as education, health care, industrialisation, rail and roads, research and agriculture with funds drawn from the Federal Concurrent list.
C. The Old revenue sharing formula of 50% for the Regions of generating funds, and 50% remitted to the Federal account, should be restored.
D. Regional police in lieu of the Native Authority police in former times should be reintroduced.
E. Right to self-determination should be inserted in the new constitution.
F. Regional format in line with 1963 Nigerian Republican Constitution, such as, principle of derivation, federal character and secularism.
G. Fiscal Federalism [using America model which allowed the state or regional structure to operate state police and allowed the federal police to investigate federal crimes and inter-state crimes]. This would help to ensure security of lives and property, easy crime dictations, and apprehension/prosecution of criminals since local police forces are known to the people.
H. Citizenship in Nigeria should be defined as the place of birth rather the place of Origin.

Issue 9:
SELF-DETERMINATION
The Conference in Ireland noted that autonomy and right to self-determination as presented in true Federalism is the beauty of the system. The right to develop at own pace, chart a healthy and unique path for the component units guarantees respect for the relationship. We have therefore decided that:
• The right to self-determination should be enshrined in the Nigeria constitution in line with the United Nations Charter, Article 1: 2. The Charter provides “To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace.”
• Also, in recognition of Africa Charter, Article 20: 1; the Charter provides “All peoples shall have right to existence. They shall have the unquestionable and inalienable right to self-determination. They shall freely determine their political status and shall pursue their economic and social development according to the policy they have freely chosen.”

Issue 10:
CHALLENGES OF SECURITY OF LIFE AND PROPERTY OF NDIGBO IN NIGERIA
The Conference noted with regret the violence that has spiralled out of control in Nigeria. They traced the problem of the insecurity of life and property of Ndigbo to the incessant intimidation and killing of Ndigbo by the Hausa/Fulanis and the mistrust between the West and the East engendered by the events that led to the 30 months civil war and the active involvement of the Yorubas in that war. With that in mind the group went ahead to identify the root cause and possible solution. The group identified and concluded as follows:
1. Origin of current grouse, mistrust and hatred between the east and their brothers in the north and west started since the coup in 1966, which subsequently led the Nigeria/Biafra war.
2. Need for re-orientation and education. A clear and concerted effort at creating cohesion among the disparate ethnic groups in Nigeria through re-orientation and education would re-focus our national values on fairness, equity, tolerance and integration.
3. Need for true Reconciliation as the efforts and policies (3 R’s) of the Gowon administration and subsequent governments in Nigeria have not fully addressed the issues that led to the 1966 coup and civil war. If anything, they have compounded the feeling of marginalisation and exacerbated the relationship between Ndigbo and the rest of the country.
4. Need for Ndigbo to retrace their steps and learn from their mistakes by avoiding actions that may be seen to imply domination, inordinate acquisition and insensitiveness to our host communities.
5. Need to adopt Place of Origin status for all citizens and dropping state of origin. For the purpose of sustaining the uniqueness of ethnic identity which has its numerous advantages, ‘Ethnicity’ and ‘Place of Birth’ should be inscribed on any legal documents that identifies an individual.
6. The importance of having minority groups involved and integrated in the political life of the local government, state or region where they reside was considered important. For example, applying the principles of positive discrimination to enable a member of a minority group to emerge a member of the house of assembly of a state would be critical to fostering unity. Minority group in this context is not the political party minority group, but a minority in the sense that if a Yoruba man is resident in Enugu he is a minority among the Ibos and vice versa. This would remove the current emphasis on ‘son of the soil’ syndrome and promote integration of the various ethnic nationalities in a particular state or region thereby increasing cohesion, unity and advancement based on merit.
7. The conference also identified the need for Ndigbo to invest equally at home. Quite achievable. Nnewi indigene’s home investment crusade was cited as an example. This can be achieved through a robust campaign aimed at attracting investment opportunities to the east.
8. Finally, the group decried the fact that Ndigbo lack love, cohesion and oneness among them. This plays itself out through our un-chivalrous political engagement that undermines our effort as a group.

Having deliberated and reached the above enumerated conclusions and suggestions, we Igbos in Ireland under the aegis of Igbo Union Ireland hope these our humble contribution would go a long way in assisting our representatives at the national conference, along with other suggestions from different Igbo organisations and individuals, in presenting and arguing an indubitable agenda for the benefit of the Igbo nation in particular and Nigeria in general, that would ensure a lasting peace, unity and progress in Nigeria in this 21st century and beyond.
We want to use this opportunity to express our appreciation and thank the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in particular and other Igbo associations and individuals for their effort in putting together the Igbo agenda for this conference, and our representatives and their advisers for their effort in making sure the agenda is driven home with passion and belief.

We also wish to thank all the conference participants in Ireland, especially our facilitators for helping to plan and moderate the conference. Special appreciation also goes to the executive of Igbo Union Ireland for their support.

Ndigbo in Ireland hope to continue making suggestions and to contribute to issues of general discuss concerning the betterment of Ndigbo in particular and Nigeria in general.


God bless Ndigbo
God bless Nigeria

Signed:

Mazi Kelechi JK Onwumereh
Onye Ndu (Leader), Igbo Union Ireland

Mazi Bruno O. Igwe
Conference Moderator