By Chisom Asogwa
The most glaring aftermath of the civil war is the great divide it has created in Nigeria. This divide seems to expand with each passing year. For the longest time, South Easterners have always sang the song of marginalization, the tale of how an integral part of a supposedly ‘one’ nation is left out in important dealings.
For the longest time, they’ve been ignored, slapped with a project or two to tame the furnace when it burns too hot but never solving the problem.
The most recent stab came as a budget cut in the 2018 appropriation bill. According to the recently signed bill by president Muhammadu Buhari, the provision for the construction of the terminal building at Enugu airport was cut from 2billion naira to 500million. This slash will make the project impossible to complete in 2018.
The big question is; is this a resultant effect of the old game of marginalization and stalling progress in the South East?? Fair enough to mention that the Enugu airport project was not the only project whose proposed bill was slashed by the National Assembly but it is of consequence to note that the cut made was more than half, which is not the same for other projects.
The old blame game has surfaced with the South-East Caucus in the senate, opposing the alterations.
While the South-East caucus faulted the reduction in the funds allocated for the Second Niger Bridge and the Enugu Airport projects, the Centre Anti-Corruption and Open Leaders said the National Assembly did not follow due process.
The Senate, South-East Caucus expressed surprise over the slashing of the N2bn allocated to the Enugu Airport Terminal to N500m.
The Chairman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that members of the caucus were shocked to hear that the initial amount, which was jointly adopted by the Committees on Aviation at the Senate and House of Representatives, had been reduced.
Abaribe, who is representing Abia South Senatorial District, said an emergency meeting by senators from the South-East had been called to unravel who made the cut and at what point it was made.
The lawmaker, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, said the caucus was set to meet to find out what went wrong especially at what point the cut in the allocation was made.
He pointed out that budget documents were verifiable and “we are committed and determined to find out who made the cut.”
The senator recalled that the South-East lawmakers lobbied for the allocation to the airport to be increased to N3.5bn but were told by the Ministry of Aviation that it had an envelope budgetary plan, which would not allow an increment beyond the N2bn.
It is glaring that there is a big hand in play, purposefully suppressing progress in the South East. This goes beyond the budget cut, this traces back to the perception of the Igbo man.
Since the emergence of Nigeria as an independent country, the political leadership has favoured the North more than any other ethnicity although that can be blamed on the enactment of the Lugardian administrative superstructure in 1914. Since independence, Nigeria has had many heads of state and commanders-in-chief all from different ethnic groups.
Barring the six months Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi was a military head of state in 1966, barring when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was a ceremonial president without executive powers during the first republic; no Igbo man has occupied the exalted position as an elected executive president of Nigeria.
No one is begrudging other ethnicities who have occupied the presidential seat, it borders on natural justice for the Igbo man to serve Nigeria in the capacity of an executive president.
There is this almost ‘sad’ ideology that the Igbo man cannot be trusted with power after the events of the civil war, such utterances are sheer prejudice coming from enemy nationals who cannot associate with genuine intentions.
The Igbo man has served this country in different capacities and acquitted himself honorably. Second big question: why has the Igbo man not occupied the seat of the presidency? Agreed that the seat cannot be offered to the Igbo on a platter, it is a function of sustained political participation, friendship and affable consultations.
However, the wallowing in self-pity, spreading hate speeches and singing the stale and sterile song of marginalization, is getting boring. Instead of IPOB, why not IFOP? Igbo for Presidency.
It sounds like a long shot, Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo has asked us to wait till 2023, but the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. If we ever want to reach to the top, we need to start today.