By Vincent Ujumadu
Awka- SECOND Republic vice president, Dr. Alex
Ekwueme has reiterated the need for Igbo people to unite and trust each other
as they were doing in the past, arguing that it is only by so doing that their
area would move forward in the Nigeria project. Ekwueme, spoke at the traders’
summit and award ceremony organized by Anambra Consensus Project, ACP, to
honour outstanding traders in all the 57 major markets in Anambra State. The
ceremony took place at Amaokpala in Orumba Norht local government area of the
state.
He recalled that Igbo were strongly united
before and immediately after Nigerian Independence and wondered what went wrong
over the years, considering what is currently happening in the Igbo –speaking
states of the country. He said: “When I returned to Nigeria after my studies
abroad, I worked for the then ESSO West Africa Limited and the job took me to
many cities in the Northern part of the country.
I found out that there was no place you would
go and won’t find an Igbo man and they all cooperated well. “If you wanted to
buy APC medicine in any city in the North, whether it was Kano, Maiduguri,
Kaduna, Bauchi, Bida, Minna, anywhere, it was an Igbo person that would sell it
to you.
Igbo people were so industrious that
Northerners were saying that after the white man, the next most important
person created by God was Igbo. “
When Igbo was Igbo, there was so much unity,
such that once Igbo leaders met and took a decision, every Igbo person would
abide by it.
The trust among Igbo was responsible for the
reason apprenticeship became popular with the result that parents would allow
their children to stay with an established Igbo man to learn a trade for
periods ranging from five to 10 years after which the apprentice would then be
settled to start his own business. “
Even after the settlement, the newly settled
young trader would be getting goods on credit from his former master and return
the money after sale because of the trust that existed.
But lack of trust has diminished that age long
cooperation between the master and his former apprentice, which is very
worrisome. “
The main problem of the Igbo today is lack of
trust. If we can rebuild the trust among ourselves, our people will be better
for it.” While the former vice president appreciated the efforts of Igbo
traders engaged in import business, he advised them to pay more attention to
areas that would enhance export, arguing that it was by so doing that they
would be in a position to withstand the uncertainties in the foreign exchange
trade.
President of Anambra Consensus Project, Dr.
Emeka Eze explained that the organization was committed to promoting Igbo
ideology, as well as oneness of the Igbo and a unified direction of Igbo growth
and development.
He explained that the 57 best practicing traders
of the year would enjoy some privileges, adding that ACP would register the
certificates awarded to the traders with some embassies to enhance their visa
opportunities whenever the need arose.
He said that the recognition of the
outstanding traders would be annual event, which would in future, be extended
to the markets in Aba, Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt. Secretary to the Anambra
State Government, SSG, Professor Solo Chukwulobelu, who represented Governor
Willie Obiano at the ceremony, said the state government would adopt the same
template in rewarding outstanding civil servants in the state. He also said
that government would meet with the leadership of the traders to work out ways
of partnering with them to boost trade and commerce in the state.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/10/white-man-next-important-person-created-god-igbo-ekwueme/
No comments:
Post a Comment