Reconstructing Igbo political capacity

It is time to reconstruct Igbo political capacity. As we enter into this season of celebration, a season when medley of foods are marinated in varieties of seasoning—including the traditional food, dressed up for splurging, most of us will not resist the overindulgence. Do not limit on food; work to strengthen Igbo race. I encourage everyone to work judiciously and diligently toward finding a solution to Igbo problems. History will remember us well as those who sacrificed personality for the future and collective benefit of Ndi Igbo.
We cannot keep dwelling on our lost glory or in our past mistakes. Let this be a new day filled with hope, optimism, and abundance of opportunities. If we can utilize only 50% of the opportunities we have now, 90% of our problems will be solved. We know what our problems are. As a matter of fact, we have plethora of articles enunciating Igbo problems in the Nigerian body polity. Yet the Igbo and her political survival in the mainstream of the Nigerian body polity are still resting in danger. As a result, if immediate corrective actions are not taken, our place in the Nigerian history would be obliterated. We should realize that for what will be tomorrow’s history of the Igbo in Nigeria, has its makings in today’s activities.
The Igbo problems are many and complex due to societal socio-cultural hegemony. Our problem could be reduced to lack of constructive, transformational, and unselfish leadership. South-East Zone has suffered an immense economic dilapidation for a long period of time because of lack of constructive, transformational, and unselfish leadership. Unlike Dr. Akanu Ibiam, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. M.I. Okpara, and others, our current leaders are practicing politics of self-interest. Instead of imbibing politics of collective interest and common good, our current leaders focus on their selfish interests. Leaders should serve the people. As a result, we have to make the current elected and appointed Igbo leaders accountable to the people they serve. Ndi-Igbo should come up with sanctions against leaders that are not transparent and accountable. We should not let individuals that do not serve the interest of Ndi-Igbo to represent us. We need to reform the electoral process to be able to carry out some of our actions and design ways to groom new leaders.
Another Igbo problem is lack of unity. This problem negatively affects the Igbo as a people; it particularly hinders their capacity to influence policies in Nigeria. Also, the Igbo do not have anything that serves as a rallying point—no unifying symbol—nothing unifies the Igbo. Our culture and language no longer serve as unifying factors for Ndi-Igbo. As a result, we lack shared vision and common purpose. In the absence of the unifying factors, the Igbo are in disarray.
Again, we lack collective economic base. The Igbo do not have viable, sustainable, and collective economic base. As a result, the Igbo control no sector of the economy. For instance, the South-East Zone lags behind in infrastructure necessary for investment and economic growth. We are nowhere to be found in the ownership of mass media compared to other tribes.
Most importantly, most of our leaders lack ideology and their activities are devoid of principles. Due to the fact that we have lost sight of our culture, coupled with our quest for money, all our activities are devoid of ideological underpinnings. Operationally speaking, ideology comprises of all the beliefs, ideas, attitudes, and doctrines that are held by the members of a group. Ideology inherently guides individual and collective decision of a group. In its absence, the group becomes dysfunctional.
Lack of Agenda: It is generally believed that either the Igbo do not have a clear agenda or they have one that lacks the collective vision and purpose of the people.
What are the plausible solutions? Ndi-Igbo must adopt an integrated approach to solving our problems. Lack of constructive, transformational, and unselfish leadership; lack of unity; lack of collective economic base; lack of ideology; and lack of agenda cannot be solved in isolation. They must be tackled simultaneously. We must have a working collective strategic plan to deal with amorphous situations arising from the nascent democracy. Since history shows that the political climate in Nigeria could be characterized as turbulent and unstable, Ndi Igbo must have a dynamic, but constructive plan that has series of options for uncertain situations. We should be proactive in our actions and not reactive for the most part.
Constructive and Ideological Igbo Agenda: Let me begin with this Chinese Proverb, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” First of all, the Igbo have to systematically through the grassroots reconstruct Igbo agenda replete with ideological underpinnings. To contextually understand an agenda, one has to look at its components such as program, plan, outline, list of items, schedule, and schema. Schema has to do with scheme and representation. Under the scheme, one will have a system, plan, method, format, idea, proposal, and design.
These variables are essentially important in understanding, constructing or defining, and implementing Igbo agenda. It is imperative that we begin now to articulate constructive, dynamic, and lasting Igbo Agenda, enshrined in ideology, but suited for Nigeria’s socio-economic and socio-political environment.
Constructive, Transformational, and Unselfish Leadership: Constructive, transformational, and unselfish leadership will only thrive in an environment where there is a shared vision and common purpose. In a situation like that the leaders would know their responsibilities to the masses. Accountability of elected and appointed officials would be the norm.