Thank You Dr Okezie for Enyimba Economic City and always implementing strategies we promote for the betterment of Igboland. To be honest, any Abia person campaigning against this man is shortsighted! I want Abians to give Okezie 90% vote in 2019.
The below post was written in 2015 December by my humble self. Two out of many suggestions to Igboland governors, Abia State Govt embraced and implemented.
God bless Dr Ikpeazu. Read and enjoy!
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SURVIVING WITHOUT OIL: A BIAFRAN CASE STUDY
Most Nigerians against Biafra agitation accuse Igbos of planning to take away their means of sustenance: OIL. In their argument, they posit; “Igboland is landlocked hence sustenance aside oil will be a herculean task”. This line of thought is not nursed by the northern and western Nigerians alone but even the people of SouthSouth, formerly of the Eastern region.
In such petty argument, they opine, “their plan is to incorporate south-south and take away our oil”. In conclusion, they resolve: “south-south must not join Biafra”. They also go to the long length of sponsoring media reports as well as using mushroom groups to issue press releases on the resolution not to join Biafra. Few, eclipse in an ecstatic condition when such announcements are published and argument advanced.
This being the case, they argue, Biafra case is already dead on arrival since the only hope (oil) they want to enjoy won’t be available for Biafra. This argument is now advanced by all Nigerians excluding the Biafrans.
Essentially, this argument is flawed. The current agitation is not on the premise of who controls the oil but on two things: regional autonomy and Economic regeneration.
Under economic revival comes the issue of Oil, Industrialisation and technology. In all Igbo think tank groups I belong that has the responsibility to advance strategically the economic blueprint of Igboland (mind you I used Igboland not South-East because Igboland includes some part of SouthSouth and all part of the south-east), oil has never been included in the blueprint of economic regeneration. The design is based on two major BENCHMARKS: Industrialisation and Technology: The Asian case study.
INDUSTRIALISATION
First, there is a need for an integrated development of Igboland, which would be transferred to Biafra whenever they are granted freedom. There won’t be states anymore rather we embrace districts and adopt the ASEAN (Association of South-Eastern Asia) formula to grow our developing economy and then diversify to Technology in which our model will focus on Japan, USA and Chinese technology. This is the same pattern China used to become world power today. However, Chinese template won’t be permissible in our contest due to incongruence factors hence, we need to disengage Chinese cultural factors and upload that of Igboland. That is the only modification needed.
The ASEAN countries were all small countries in Asia but attracted industries in Europe who could not maintain high taxation and high minimum wage. They closed shop in Europe and all relocated to Asian countries. Today, they are the industrial region of the world. They were able to produce goods at an affordable price.
These production pattern works for Biafrans because it fits perfectly into our strength and character and can logically be referred to as our unique selling proposition. All structures, business acumen we can use to grow are already located in Onitsha and Aba just like Guangzhou and Shanghai. What we need is importing the equipment that would give that Shoemaker at Aba to deliver a quality finishing. Once we can produce quality shoes with good design at an affordable rate, Biafra will compete favourably with Italian and Brazilian Shoes. Considering that Nigeria is a consuming nation, they would be one of our greatest suppliers. They will import goods manufactured in Biafra. This will be replicated in the clothing line. There won’t be much need to go to Turkey, China, India or Pakistan. We will create more incentives for those who buy locally made and high tax for those who imports. It is even happening now. To construct a bed in Nigeria (Lagos) is N100,000. To construct same bed in Enugu N50, 0000. Transport it with Young Shall grow at the cost of N10, 000. Your cost price for purchasing made in Biafra would be N60,000. You save a whopping N40,000. This is all facts that you can run and it will give you the same result.
TECHNOLOGY
The technological advancement would be divided int two: This is for automobiles that will be situated at Nnewi called Technology Centre for Automobiles (TCA), and our Silicon Valley will be located at Enugu.
Google would soon open brainstorming centre in Enugu.
AGRICULTURE
An average Igbo man is a farmer. That is why you will see a yam barn in all Igbo homes. However, there would be a rapid shift from Subsistent farming to commercial agriculture and Ebonyi state has been earmarked as the Agricultural powerhouse of Igboland with advanced agricultural technology made available. Recall, Abakaliki rice is the best in the whole world. It is very rich in nutrients.
TOURISM
Imo State will remain the tourist zone. If you visit Owerri, you won’t want to travel to Seychelles or Maldives. With the development of Oguta Lake in Imo state, most Nigerians would prefer to visit Biafra for a holiday instead of Ghana. I won’t dwell more on this to avoid Nigeria copying our intellectual property.
However, it is important to note that the above plan will commence in full force shortly after we realise that some states in south-south are not ready to join Biafra. Thus, this plan is the default setting to fall back if some south-south states want to remain in Nigeria.It is their right…No force.
Conversely, If they do want to join Biafra, all plans will remain but economic capital will move from Anambra or Abia to Rivers (Port-Harcourt) while the capital of Biafra goes to Calabar (Cross-River)
So empirically, the south-south will take all the administrative and economic landmark of Biafra, a position they can never get in Nigeria.
Remember in this structure, I did not mention Oil. This is because the oil in Biafra is not for export but internal consumption. So the argument that this agitation is based on control of petroleum that would soon be irrelevant in the market is flawed. So any futurology in which oil is a major income generating avenue is a bad futurology.
Thus, please desist from the argument that Biafra is interested in oil or the most ludicrous one, opposing Buhari. No! Biafra plans to show Africa that a country in Africa can move from perpetual developing country tag to developed country.
It is the hope and dreams that the new country will be the envy of all Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
Written by J Duke Anago
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