Nigeria @ 51: Nigeria is a Pathetic Story - Uko

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE, VANGUARD

AS Nigeria marks 51 years of independence and the National Assembly begins another round of constitution amendment, President of the Igbo Youth Movement (IYM), Evangelist Elliot Uko, has called for restructuring of the polity into a true federal state to address the myriad of socio-economic, political and development problems plaguing the country, saying government must begin the urgent processes to rebuild the country after 51 years of missed opportunities. Excerpts:

AT 51, how would you assess Nigeria’s history so far?

Our story as a country struggling to become a nation is a very pathetic story. The story of missed opportunities and maladministration. A story of disaffection, anger and ethnic militias; insecurity, unemployment, poverty, hunger and decayed infrastructure. The younger generation are disappointed and the nation is left with no other choice than to begin the processes of building a modern state and regaining our rightful position among the comity of nations. The time to start is now. The current administration inherited multifaceted problems that threaten our future especially corruption and an unworkable unitary structure. Something must be done now to correct these grave anomalies in order to move on to the next level. Nigeria is sick and only Nigerians will save Nigeria. South Africa and Ghana are teaching us lessons that ought to make us sit up, we pray that the hope Nigerians have placed on this young government will not be dashed.

Can the current government be trusted to begin the processes that would rebuild Nigeria?

Yes, this is the first time Nigerians genuinely voted in a president of their choice. Expectations are high and we pray that we don’t get disappointed at the end of the day. We are praying for a new nation to emerge, where things will actually work, where no man is oppressed. There is so much injustice in Nigeria, a case of “monkey dey work baboon dey chop”.

Secured future

Things must change for the better. Malaysia, Brazil, etc were at par with Nigeria in 1960. Today, there are light years ahead. The military destroyed this country. We should all be praying for a secured future. This government must not fail.

What is your assessment of President Goodluck Jonathan’s first 100 days in office?

I can’t assess his first100 days in office but I can tell you that we wish him well, we are solidly behind him. Nobody should harass him. We voted Jonathan on his personal steam, if he had left the PDP and joined another party, Ndigbo would still have followed him en mass. The reason is simple, we believe in him, we still do. Nigeria deliberately humiliated Ndigbo for 40 years, denying us all our dues just to punish us for losing the war.

We suffered untold denials, frustrated from this scorched earth policy and war of attrition visited on Ndigbo over the years, we began to pray for deliverance. When President Jonathan emerged, the Igbo masses rose up stoutly behind him, the elite and Igbo politicians cleverly joined the train and as usual pretending they mobilized Ndigbo for Jonathan. Nobody mobilized Ndigbo for Jonathan, it was the 40 years of humiliation that informed our people’s decision to try another route. Ndigbo reasoned that President Jonathan will never let them down.

He is an upright and God fearing man. He knows what they need: massive infrastructure development, international airport in Enugu, sea port in Onitsha, power station in Igbo land, etc. We want Jonathan to succeed, to repair Nigeria and rebuild our battered image. I cannot assess him now, I can only tell him the truth which is that Nigerians believe in him.

We want him to fight corruption and enthrone equity and good governance. We want him to be fair to the Kanuri, fair to the Ibibio, fair to the Fulani, fair to the Yoruba. He has a huge opportunity to begin the processes of building a modern state where no man is oppressed. The truth is also that Ndigbo want infrastructure development that has been denied us over the years more than anything else. President Jonathan has no reason to fail.

At your 12th anniversary celebration held in Enugu recently, the police reportedly arrested MASSOB members and later their leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, what really happened?

The MASSOB members accompanied their leader to IYM 12th anniversary and the police took them away on account of the Biafran Flag on their buses but they have been released. There are no militant or violent groups in Igboland. The police intimidation was uncalled for.

It is a pity Nigeria has refused to give Ndigbo justice for 44 years. We are caged into five states out of 36 states but we represent about one-third of Nigeria’s population. Our roads are the worst in the country. Ndigbo are stocked with only 95 local governments almost at-par with Kano and Jigawa states. No sea port, no international air port, no reliable source of energy. Our youth migrate to other zones. We are denied our dues. Nigeria cannot continue this way. This country must be re-structured. This country is sick, let’s start to rebuild it now.

What do you mean by re-structure?

In May 1966 and the months following May 1966, over 100,000 Ndigbo, mostly women and children were slaughtered in cold blood by people who were protesting Decree 34 or Unification Decree. They said they preferred that every region should develop at its own pace. General Ironsi was killed and Nigeria went to war, General Gowon asked for emergency powers to prosecute the war and that unitary system was maintained through out the war.

At the end of the war, it became convenient for the victorious army to continue running the country in a unitary fashion. The people who protested against this unitary format and killed thousands of their country men, were now in power, so this unitary system suddenly became okay. Nigeria has been Federal only in name ever since. This nation cannot endure nor survive unless we revert to true federalism and regional autonomy with out delay.

Is that the panacea to the myriad of problems plaguing this country?

Yes, every problem including corruption is tied to this unwieldy and unworkable structure which encourages corruption and nepotism. Everybody knows Nigeria will fare better under a truly Federal system, government will become more responsible and responsive to the people and the six regions would explode economically and corruption and discontent would evaporate.

The truth is that those benefitting from this present unitary structure are just afraid of change. A re-structured Nigeria will not experience Boko-Haram or Niger-Delta militancy nor any ethnic army for that matter.