By Ethelbert Okere.
There have been talks as to whether or not the people of the Southeast, if you like Ndigbo, should get involved in the ongoing public protests against the rising cost of living in the country; and the arguments range from the mundane to the sublime. Those who say the Southeast should not take part in the protests because its people will be made scapegoats and killed have a point but it is cheap and cowardly. Ndigbo are not known for being at the rear of a fight.
Some say it should not be the business of Ndigbo because they were denied their turn to rule at the last general election. That argument is faulted for the simple reason that a sidon look attitude by the Igbo will create a precedence; so that when eventually the Igbo inevitably take their turn at the helm of affairs of the country, a similar posturing may be put up by other sections of the country and it will not be to their, Igbo, overall interest. But far more important is that the Igbo are probably the most nationalistic and patriotic of all sections of the country.
The Igbo are the most dispersed people in the Nigerian geographical space. There is this popular joke that if you get to any part of Nigeria and you could not find an Igbo there, quickly get out of the place. There might be a tendency to see it as a mockery but it is not. It is an endorsement that the Igbo love their country, Nigeria. Some might argue that their ubiquity is informed more by the search for economic survival or even wealth than patriotism; but the fact is that the Igbo, in the first place, see every part of Nigeria as their home.
Hence, they feel free to move in, invest and pursue a living in any part they deem fit. So, it will be a contradiction for Ndigbo to reverse that culture of seeing Nigeria as their own irrespective of prejudices that some uniformed tribal bigots might be suffering from. Concerning the ongoing economic crisis, Ndigbo – the people of the Southeast especially – should not adopt a lackadaisical attitude, not necessarily by taking part in the protest but by adopting a practical and pragmatic approach of the type being pursued by the leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo under the headship of Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu. We will come to that later but let us first examine a short trajectory of public protests in our clime.
Protests are, of course, legitimate ways of showing a people’s displeasure over a particular social, political or economic condition especially if they are peaceful. But they almost always achieve nothing, whether immediately, short term or long term. In the immediate term, a protest may achieve practically nothing except things like palliatives – the type being recommended or already being pursued in the instant case. But a palliative is what it is. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary has two definitions of it. One is in the medical parlance: “a medicine or medical treatment that reduces pain without curing its cause”. The second definition describes palliative as “an action, a decision etc that is designed to make a difficult situation seem better without solving the cause of the problem”. The two definitions are applicable to our current situation but the second appears more apt or appropriate.
Nigerians have seen palliatives and discovered that there is nothing in it. When they are not being shortchanged by those whose responsibility it is to dispense them, their country is completely defrauded by the same people. There have been talks about different types of rice palliatives but over ninety per cent of Nigerians never saw a milk cup of it. Then there were talks about cash transfers but which went into private pockets. In short, it has since been concluded that palliatives in the Nigerian context are unworkable because the necessary machinery to make them work – honesty, patriotism, logistics etc – are not there.
At best the immediate gain of public protests are promises from government which in most cases – especially as we saw in the last eight years – are hardly fulfilled. Then, of course, where it turns violent, the protesters, themselves, are the main victims. In the short to long term, protests peter into nothingness because shortly after the euphoria of “we no go gree”, the people return to their normal activities and the reason for the protest are forgotten.
In 2012, there were protests over the withdrawal of subsidy on petroleum products in the country. The government retraced its steps and Nigerians went back to their businesses as if Eldorado had come. Eleven years later in 2023 when the same Nigerians discovered that they have been living under a grand illusion as far as petroleum subsidy is concerned, it was eventually removed and the consequences of that action are the reasons for the current protests. Those who are in a position to know have said it over and over again that had the subsidy being removed earlier than it was eventually done – in May 2023 – the situation would not have been as bad as it is today. The reason, they point out, is that the capacity – both at the macro and micro levels – to absorb the shocks were higher then.
The point, therefore, is that the protests of 2012 yielded no positive result in the long run. The 2012 protests merely postponed the evil day to a date far more devastating that it would have been had the subsidy been removed then or earlier than it was eventually. During the 2012 protest, about twelve people were reportedly killed across the country. The question to ask is, was it worth it? But there we go again.
In reminiscence over the events of those days eleven years later in 2023, former governor of Ekiti state, Kayode Feyemi, was reported as saying that the protests (in 2012) where borne more out of political interest than altruistic motives. “All political parties in the country agreed and they even put in their manifesto that subsidy must be removed. We all said the subsidy must be removed. But we in ACN at that time in 2012, we know the truth … but it was all politics”. Feyemi reportedly said.
Except that we have agreed in the Southeast not to take part in the current protests, my own placard would have paraphrased Fayemi: “WE KNOW THE TRUTH… IT IS ALL POLITICS” and I am certain that in another eleven years from now, some fellows will again capture it as Fayemi did. There might not be a 100 per cent compliance with the directive of Ohaneze Ndigbo and other well meaning leaders in the Southeast but the latter’s ideas on how the people of the zone (Ndigbo) should go about the current economic challenges as a people ought to be reiterated.
Chief Iwuanyanwu himself is of the view that rather than protest, the best thing for the Igbo is to rally round President Tinubu and his administration as they grapple with how to find a solution to the current crisis. But it is not just the usual politically motivated support. The apex Igbo socio-cultural body has a scientific approach to the matter. It intends to convene a meeting of top economists and experts from various areas of endeavour so that together, they can strategise on how to overcome the economic hardship tormenting the country. Chief Iwuanayanwu further said that the proposed gathering will offer valuable advice to President Tinubu with respect to the current economic challenges. Later in a television interview, the Ohaneze Ndigbo president-general disassociated the Igbo from rumoured calls for either a military coup or the impeachment of President Tinubu; pointing out that Ndigbo will not accept military rule in Nigeria again. On impeachment, Chief Iwuanyanwu noted that it would be impossible to achieve since the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has an upper hand in both arms of the national assembly. We can see that on both points, Ndi Igbo need not waste their time and efforts. Chief Iwuanaynwu further pointed out that minus the apparent mistakes over the fuel subsidy matter and floating of the national currency, President Tinubu has shown promise and that if given necessary support will do better. Of course, some may dismiss this as an attempt to curry personal favour but such jibes are the price of leadership.
The advise by Chief Iwuanaynwu to his kinsmen is coming from a fellow who knows the in and out of Nigeria and has been part of intrigues that have shaped its socio political landscape over the years. Protests will yield nothing good to Ndigbo in particular. Besides that the people of the Southeast have an empirical reason not to take part as aptly espoused by Chief Iwuanyanwu and Ohaneze Ndigbo, there is the additional reason of being more vulnerable to further destabilization of the Nigerian economy.
The people of the Southeast are still battling with the devastating effects of the self-imposed sit-at-home. Apart from the security fall outs as hoodlums try to enforce it in parts of the zone every Monday, the effect on the economy of the zone has been devastating. According to a report, Southeast micro businesses lose about N4.618 trillion naira annually to the sit-at-home conundrum. Although the compliance is no longer as religiously followed as it used to in 2021-2022, the impact is still being felt economically across the region.
Studies have shown that states in the Southeast are known for recording the highest surge in food due to the “activities of shylock commodity union leaders” who push up prices of goods at the slightest excuse. According to reports, these shylock merchants and union leaders take advantage of the security situation in the region. For example, each time there is a delay in the arrival of trucks shipping goods to the region due to one security matter or the other, the union leaders are said to increase the prices of such commodities once they are off loaded; and the spiral begins.
We can go on and on but the final point to note is that the Igbo being what they are – resilient and steadfast – could turn the current situation into an advantage. If they heed the advice of their leaders and comport themselves in the face of the current crisis, it would have laid a foundation for further self re-awakening and retooling.
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