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The Igbo As A Blessing To Nigeria by Greensea1(m): 4:55pm On Aug 23, 2016 |
By Reno Omokri
On the 15th of August 1945, the axis
nations fighting in the Pacific theater
defeated imperial Japan and two weeks
later , Japan formally surrendered to allied
forces led by the U.S. General, Douglas
McArthur, who formally accepted the signed
articles of surrender.
Igbo Chiefs
But though the U.S. defeated Japan, they
never decimated Japan's great
technological and industrial complex. They
were visionary enough to distinguish these
from Japan's military industrial complex,
which they scrapped.
Realizing that Japan was decades ahead of
the West in many technologies, the allied
powers, led by the US, allowed those
industries to remain as a going concern and
took the unique step of enacting legislation
and policies to enable them flourish.
What they did in Japan, they also did in
Europe. In Europe, the US, acting
unilaterally, even went a step further by
introducing the Marshall Plan through which
America sent financial and other types of
aid to help Europe (and especially Germany)
recover from the ravages of the Second
World War.
The point of the allied and American actions
in Japan and Europe is that technological
advancement belongs to the human race
and should not be allowed to suffer because
of a quarrel or war amongst humans.
This lesson was thoroughly established in
642 AD when the Library of Alexandria was
burnt to the ground during the Muslim
conquest of Egypt.
It has been argued that that act set the
world several centuries back in technological
advancement and has become something to
watch out for during the prosecution of a
war.
A war is a quarrel between or amongst
people that is settled by means of violence.
It is not a quarrel between or amongst
technology, so civilized nations have
pursued the policy of fighting wars while
preserving technology.
Gone should be the days of the scorched
earth policy which is why despite the
bestiality of the apartheid regime, President
Nelson Mandela did not do a Mugabe, but
rather left intact White owned farms,
industry and universities and only insisted
that they be opened to Blacks and other
races.
This brings me to Nigeria. I would like to
state a fact that will be argued against, but
still a fact that even those who would argue
against it know to be true.
The Igbo (or Ibo) ethnic nationality of
Nigeria are the most technologically
advanced Black race on planet earth, bar
none!
This is a fact. A fact that was proven to be
true for 30 months while they were
landlocked in their constantly shrinking
enclave known as Biafra.
Cut off from the rest of the world, the
ingenuity of the Igbo came to the fore
during the civil war as they constructed the
Uli airstrip and when that airstrip was
bombed, they repaired it in record time and
under the most trying circumstances. They
would go on to repair Uli not once and not
twice.
The Igbos refined petrol from a variety of
non fossil fuels, including from but not
limited to palm products (from which they
also produced diesel) and manufactured
surface to air missiles which they also
adapted to surface to surface missiles
(theOgbunigwe).
They converted commercial planes to fighter
jets and weaponized them. That was no
mean feat in 1967.
In fact, when in 2012, the Nigerian Army
rolled out the igirigi and promoted it as the
first indigenous armored personnel carrier,
they were wrong. I am not a Biafran. I am
proudly Nigerian. And beyond that, I am a
proud dark skinned Black African yet I make
bold to say that the igirigi is not the first
indigenous APC.
In fact, the first indigenous armored
personnel carrier in Black Africa is the Red
Devil, built by the Igbos during the Nigerian
Civil War.
The Nigerian Civil War ended in January
1970 and the Nigerian Army unveiled
theigirigi in July of 2012. If they had
converted the Red Devil to their own use,
they would probably be talking about a
greater feat in the year 2012.
My question is what happened in the
intervening 42 years between 1970 and
2012? Why didn't the Nigerian Army
integrate the military industrial complex of
Biafra into its Defence Industry Corporation
of Nigeria, DICON?
Why did we have to reinvent the wheel at
great cost in terms of time and money?
The Nigerian Civil War ended on a note of
'no victor no vanquished'. That was a
watershed moment inspired by the Christlike
mind of General Yakubu Gowon. That
gesture is to be applauded.
But why did we as a nation not go the
whole hog and take advantage of Biafra's
technological advances and integrate her
scientists into our Research and
Development sector much like the US did
with German and Japanese scientists?
That is where we failed as a nation.
I remember growing up as a child and how
other Nigerians scoffed at 'Igbo made'
electronic products. There was hardly
anything including electronics,
pharmaceuticals, spirits and wines that the
Igbos could not counterfeit.
And rather than our leaders seeing the
potential in those products, we all scoffed
at them. Igbo made products were a pariah.
Did it ever occur to any of our leaders that
if government had supported these
technological advancement, Nigeria could
have become an industrialized nation today
and Igbo made products would have been
exported abroad as made in Nigeria
products?
It would surprise many that a number of the
greatest technological advancement and
products that came out of America after the
Second World War were the work of German
or Japanese scientists!
In an operation code named Operation
Paperclip, 1500 German scientists,
engineers and technicians were airlifted to
the United States and given US permanent
US residency and citizenship immediately
after the defeat of Germany in 1945. The
primary aim of Operation Paperclip was to
prevent these skilled men and women from
falling into Soviet Russian hands.
Hans Erich (Eric) Hollmann who was one of
the fathers of radar technology was one of
such scientists airlifted to America.
Kurt Lehovec the pioneer of the integrated
circuit systems in electrical engineering is
another. He was airlifted to America in 1945
where he became a Professor at the
University of Southern California and passed
on his knowledge to America's next
generation of scientists.
The allies had been having issues with the
jet engine and were not able to develop
planes like the German Messerschmitt Me
262. But after the defeat of Germany, US
forces gave safe passage to Rudi Beichel
who went to the US and became an adviser
to the US army on liquid propulsion. Other
German scientists such as Magnus "Mac"
Freiherr von Braun and his brother, Wernher
Von Braun helped reverse engineer German
jets which led to the development of the US
American F-86 Sabres, a plane that helped
the US dominate the air during the Korean
War.
More importantly, Wernher Von Braun
provided much of the know how that helped
America build the Apollo spacecraft which
allowed America beat Russia as the first
nation to get to the moon.
Methamphetamine was invented by
Japanese a Japanese chemist, Nagai
Nagayoshi and the drug was shared with
their German allies and helped their soldiers
stay awake and focus. After the war,
German scientists helped American scientist
synthesize the drug which revolutionized the
US health industry.
Why can't we do the same in Nigeria? Can
you imagine what our technological base
would have been if we as a nation had a
policy of patronizing the so called Igbo
made products right from the end of the
war till today? What if we had absorbed the
the Research and Production Organisation
of Biafra (RAP as it was then known) into
the Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers?
By now, we may have been manufacturing
jets and we would not be dependent on
foreign nations for weapons to fight
terrorists.
This is why I was so disgusted with the
minister of science and technology,
Ogbonnaya Onu for aspiring, on Nigeria's
behalf, to produce pencils by 2018!
I mean this man is the first civilian governor
of the old Abia state which today
encompasses both Abia and Ebonyi states.
Right there, under his own nose, Nigerians
of Igbo extraction, without ANY
governmental support, are manufacturing
electronics and heavy machinery
components and Onu is caught up on
pencils!
Onu should visit Nnewi if he knows where it
is. Right there he would see a city that does
not wait for government. Nnewi people are
so industrious that after years of waiting
endlessly for government to provide basic
amenities, they have built their own roads,
have their own power stations and their own
water works.
Just like Japan, Nnewi has manufacturers of
such things like batteries, pistons,
automobiles and other products. These
Nnewi manufacturers have built schools for
the kids of their workers on site, just like in
Japan.
You just need to visit Nnewi or Aba to see
what is going on in Nigeria. These guys are
Nigeria's most guarded secret because even
the federal government is not aware of
them.
And the reason why this is so is because
these people are Igbos!
It is time for Nigeria to forgive the Igbos for
being Igbo and accept them as full partners
and equal partners in the Nigerian project
and use the entire strength of the Nigerian
federal government to provide them the
support to fulfill their destiny as the Black
African people that are nucleus of the
technological advancement of Africa.
Notice I say Africa, not just Nigeria. I don't
say this lightly. All over West and Central
Africa, Nigerians of Igbo extraction are the
backbone of the commercial and
technological sectors.
I can say what I have said above without
any accusation of self or group interest
promotion because I am not Igbo neither am
I married to one. I have said the truth as my
conscience sees it because I am committed
to advancement of the Black Race because
as a proud Black man, I know that no black
African tribe is as great as the Black Race
when it is united.
Curled from The Vanguard (23rd August 2016) 1 Like |
Re: The Igbo As A Blessing To Nigeria by cosby02(m): 5:02pm On Aug 23, 2016 |
Mr Reno Omokiri... So what do you suggest ![]() |
Re: The Igbo As A Blessing To Nigeria by Nobody: 5:07pm On Aug 23, 2016 |
in as much as I detest our untamed insatiable urge to get rich, I can't help but admit that that has been our backbone for economic stability. NCAN is a menace on nairaland. we all got bad eggs everywhere..even Jesus had Judas but that doesn't justify condemnation a whole tribe or Nation. we were humans before tribe and religion separated us nice one OP proudly Nigerian (Igbo but not Biafran) |
Re: The Igbo As A Blessing To Nigeria by Greensea1(m): 5:18pm On Aug 23, 2016 |
cosby02:Forget who Reno Omokiri is and concentrate on the facts my brother. |
Re: The Igbo As A Blessing To Nigeria by cosby02(m): 5:35pm On Aug 23, 2016 |
Greensea1:I have no problem with the fact neither do i have issues with Reno Omokiri... I just dont know what he's insinuating. Meanwhile, are you Reno, why do you have to quote me ![]() ![]() |
Re: The Igbo As A Blessing To Nigeria by ibedun: 5:45pm On Aug 23, 2016 |
Yimu! Blessing ko Blessing ni, ask Indonesia. 1 Like |
Re: The Igbo As A Blessing To Nigeria by Greensea1(m): 5:51pm On Aug 23, 2016 |
ibedun:A Bigot spotted! |
Re: The Igbo As A Blessing To Nigeria by Greensea1(m): 5:51pm On Aug 23, 2016 |
ibedun:A Bigot spotted! |
Re: The Igbo As A Blessing To Nigeria by attackgat: 7:08pm On Aug 23, 2016 |
I don't know us if Igbos are a blessing to Nigeria or not but I know that Nigeria has been a curse to Igbos. Igbos have suffered for being roped into Lord Lugards phantom country, and we lost millions of souls for this. In the name of this Nigeria, someone will tell the Igbos to be proud of being named after a stupid River by the White man. In the name of Nigeria, someone will tell me as an Igbo man that Abuja is more of my fatherland than Enugu or Owerri. In the name of Nigeria, someone will tell an over 45 million strong Igbo nation that they have no right to decide their destiny and fate because it has already been decided by Lord Lugard almighty. In the name of Nigeria, a Hausa or Yoruba man will claim to be 'one' with Igbos even though the Igbos didn't even know about the existence of these two tribes 150 years ago. Well, we look to the future with optimism because history has taught us all that no charade, deciet or falsehood lasts forever. Someday, the Igbo nation will exhale again. 3 Likes |
Re: The Igbo As A Blessing To Nigeria by chiefobdk(m): 7:23pm On Aug 23, 2016 |
Re: The Igbo As A Blessing To Nigeria by cheruv: 7:27pm On Aug 23, 2016 |
Of course we're a blessing to ourselves... Though unfortunately Nigeria has been a CURSE to us Kpom otu obula ka ebule ocha kamanu kpogbuo gi ![]() |
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