Igbo Land To Be Like Dubai Through Aku Ruo Ulo —Diwe, ASETU leader

The National President of the Association of South East Town Unions (ASETU), Chief Emeka Diwe, has stressed the need for Igbo homeland investments, and said Igboland can spring economic and technological wonders through the ‘Aku Ruo Ulo’ investment model. In this interview with Emma Emenike, the renowned town union leader highlights the urgency for the development of the region. He also discusses efforts at ensuring the safety of the people in the face of increasing insecurity and the agitations for a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction come 2023.

Q: There is formation of the South East Development Initiative to cater for the development of the region. And this is coming even as the clamours for restructuring keep resonating. But it appears Igbo self-development has more appeal lately. Are the Igbo in the Town Unions ready to be part of the initiative?

A: In the first place, restructuring is a very vague, nebulous and controversial concept. It means different things to different people. To an Igbo person, restructuring may mean the lifting of all barriers to the realization of his full potentials within the context of Nigeria. By this the systemic injustices against the Igbo come to mind. But to someone in the North, restructuring may mean an attempt to break up the country. So, the issue of restructuring has been mired in suspicions, distrust and apprehension. And since the term itself has yet to be operationalized and the actors yet to agree on what and what constitute the components of restructuring and the modalities for its realization, it can hardly be relied upon as solution to the nagging challenges of Ndigbo. Is there any template mutually agreed upon by the proponents of restructuring?

It is therefore exciting that efforts are being made by some Igbo groups to grapple with the issue of development of our land. The initiative you just mentioned is one of them. But the question of Igbo Town Unions being part of an initiative to develop our land really does not arise, because there has never been any structure, platform, coalition or formation that has contributed to the development of Igboland more than the Town Unions. As a matter of fact, the landmark social infrastructural facilities found in most communities in Igboland are products of the Town Unions. The town halls, markets, roads, schools, water schemes and electrification projects are all there for everyone to see. So, the function of development has been the mandate of the Town Unions from inception. We are fully part of every genuine, credible and value-driven agenda to accelerate the pace of development in Igboland and unleash the potentials of our people.

But beyond that, we are working on bringing back our wealth to develop our land. We have developed the Aku Ruo Ulo investment initiative. This well thought out plan aims at recalibrating the course of our homeland economic growth by making our wealthy brothers and sisters who reside outside Igboland to consciously, gradually and seamlessly repatriate their wealth back home. In this way, more jobs will spring up and social vices will take a nosedive in Igboland.

We must develop the Igboman in Igboland. It is sad that the greatest number of individual wealthy Nigerians is among the Igbo yet this reality has not reflected in the existential conditions of our people in Igboland. The aggregate wealth of our people is scattered across the globe, and their business nestling everywhere.

But with the repatriation of just 20% of our wealth back home, no Igboman will think of residing outside Igboland. We will be cheating ourselves if we don’t realize this. We are blessed with human resources to become the Dubai of the UAE and the California of the USA. We must therefore end the ongoing capital flight which will also lead to an end to brain drain, and with the multiplier and accelerator effects, Igboland will become the attraction of Nigeria and Africa.

You saw the technological heights we attained even in a war situation under Biafra? You see what Innoson and Coscharis are doing? That’s the way to go! The Igboman doesn’t believe in sharing other people’s resources or unearned wealth. We even bring out our best under excruciating conditions. We have the capacity, the ingenuity and the technology. The sharing of oil money has taken us backwards.
The people that need oil should keep taking oil, but after looking inward and implementing our Aku Ruo Ulo Initiative, they will bring the oil money back to us by purchasing our goods and services. They will need our shoes, cars and textiles. They will come to us. That is the ultimate restructuring that makes meaning. It is the economic restructuring of Nigeria. It is what we can do for ourselves as Igbo people. That is a restructuring that can never be re-restructured. That is what we are working on as ASETU.

Q: The discussion on South East security between Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Governors appears to have broken down. What do you think is the way forward considering the current security threats in the region?

A: What we have strongly canvassed in ASETU, as a matter of topmost priority, is the reinvigoration of our local vigilantes and enactment of anti-open grazing law by the State Houses of Assembly in the South East. As you already know, the Town Union is the assembly of the people themselves in all the communities. So, we have the advantage of connecting with and looking at issues from the prism of the ordinary people at the grassroots. And in this issue of insecurity, the people know that they are susceptible to attacks by the herdsmen because open-grazing remains legal in all of the South East.

It is because open-grazing has not been proscribed that the herdsmen move freely in the cultivated farmlands, destroying crops, killing the owners and raping the women, sometimes to death. Even if a pan-Igbo security architecture is birthed today, nothing much can be achieved if it does not entail coalescing, training and equipping our vigilantes, and if the herdsmen who wander freely and unleash havoc on our people remain on the green side of the law. Their unbridled liberty to move everywhere, which till now is legally permissible, is the cause of the whole issue. So, at the heart of the question of the menace of the herdsmen is the issue of open-grazing and incapacitation of our home-grown security architecture, and unless and until this issue is addressed, every hope that the situation will abate will amount to an exercise in futility.

Q: Igbo socio-cultural groups world over are being enjoined to speak with one voice on the Igbo 2023 political agenda. How can these groups leverage on this call to speak and support the actualization of Igbo presidency in 2023?

A: It is always in the consciousness of man to aspire to be equal with his kind, and every republic is built on this foundation. Nigeria cannot be an exception to this. The individual aspirations of some Igbo political actors to be President of Nigeria are in order. However, we are worried that the main issues have been ignored in this discourse. Integrity, competence and credibility are scarcely talked about.

It is not enough to have a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction. We are concerned about pedigree, track record. If we as Igbo people wish to put forward one of us to run for President, the first criterion should be integrity, not just because he is Igbo. The Town Union system, which is built on popular acceptability and the power of trust, cannot lend itself to the promotion of a rogue for President simply because he is Igbo. Never! The Igbo will be worse off for it. We need somebody with a proven track record of integrity and poised to lift the people off the economic quagmire and dung pit the country has been plunged into.

But in the meantime, we are roundly focused on ensuring that the lives and livelihoods of our people at the grassroots are safe. Issues of presidency are diversionary and a big distraction for now.

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