There is no doubt that most people, particularly those that do not have either basic or international economics background are overwhelmed by the subject of INDIGENIZATION OF FOREIGN COMPANIES IN NIGERIA because of their inability to understand the economics of it and the efficacies to make the necessary connections and relate it to the present economic doldrums, some simply brush it aside or worse, simple minimize its far reaching implications particularly on the Igbo. In so doing, majority of us dabble into analysis of how terrible Igbo has managed their affairs since after the civil war, while leaving out a huge chunk of the elements that need to be factored into their analysis. The unspeakable effect of the policy of indigenization on the Nigerians was wicked and dastardly. The economic damage on the Igbo is impossible to calculate. The psychological toll on the Igbo is still reverberating amongst the Igbo today and creating identity crisis.


Some folks will argue that we should drop the subject because it happened forty years ago, which is equivalent to saying that because slavery, Jim Crow and the holocaust happened years ago, and for that reason, they have no relevance in today’s analysis. How can any credible analysis of American history not include slavery and its implications, or how can any Jewish history not include the Holocaust and its implications and effects, but that is what some folks want us to do, to avoid or forget one of the most devastating economic policies that changed the economic landmark of Nigeria, second to the genocide of more than three million Igbo committed by the same man, Awo, and still arrive at any meaningful analysis. I believe that the incredulity that any ethnic group is capable of visiting such devastation on another is still an obstacle that the subject is struggling against and must overcome. It is not that most people do not know what happened, it is simply that they do not want to believe that it happened because it is mind-bending. I also believe that if we do not tell the story over and over, the Yorubas will not tell and neither will the Hausa tell it, as a matter of fact they always wish that it will go away. So whether they like it or not, we must continue to broadcast what happened until people start to understand the effect of the policy not only on the Igbo but on the nation as a whole. Suffice to say that after Awo and the Yoruba succeeded in executing the indigenization decree and became overnight millionaires, many Igbo packed their bags and left Lagos to the East –ala Igbo, where they shortly died out of heart break because some of them also suffered the deprivation of their properties due to Abandon Property Policy in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

It is no more news worthy to point out that before the civil war that Igbo out of their capacity for honesty, to work hard, to produce, to innovate, to manage, create and persevere were able to penetrate all facets of Nigerian endeavor, when the British used merit as a yard stick. It is an irrefragable fact that even Yoruba would not dare challenge that fact, if not, what started the Yoruba hate, envy and jealousy against the Ibo in the first place, Yoruba and Hausa claimed that Ibo was dominating everything in the country but what they will not acknowledge publicly was the fact that the British were making the decisions about who to hire by their own standard and not by Igbo standard and that Igbo was good at what they did and better than them. The Yoruba and Hausa wanted not only equal opportunity they also wanted equal outcome regardless of effort and everyone knows that that is impossible.

There is one very important fact in my analysis that I want everyone to get, and that is that before the civil war, Nigeria as a nation did not have an economy of its own. Let me say it again, that Nigeria as a nation before the British/Biafran civil war did not have an economy of its own. I emphasized that point in other to say that whatever seemed like Nigerian economy were British owned. Put differently, if you excluded few of the regional cooperatives and some joint ventures businesses which were mostly British engineered to make buying raw materials easy for the British, every other aspect of the economy were owned majorly by the British, even the military, given the fact that almost every military supply came from Britain. It is then safe to say that British investment in Nigeria amounted to a great totality of Nigerian economy or that Nigerian economy was at that time synonymous to the total investment of the British....

Mtcheeew..

Na copy and paste from Upper Iweka writer...

Summarize the damn epistle and let's argue about it

The story went like this, before the war the Igbo dominated the economic work force followed by the Yoruba, when the civil war started, Igbo, for their safety left their jobs in different parts of the country to return to the East, the Igbo land. After the end of the war, the Igbo went back to seek for their jobs that they left for security reasons, the Yoruba who took advantage and occupied the positions that Igbo left decided that they will not relinquish those position because according to the Yoruba, Igbo abandoned their positions and do not deserve their position back, reminiscent of the abandon property thievery in Port Harcourt River State and Lagos.

However, a dynamic developed as Igbo every morning dressed up and went and occupied the lobbies of their different offices that they used to work in. Tell me, if this is not manifest bravery of the highest order ever exhibited by any group in Nigeria and we are talking about days and weeks immediately after the war was declared over. But the final say as to whether or not the positions that Ibo left for dire life was going to be declared abandoned rested on the British that owned these companies.

As the back and forth went on, the British started angling to make an economic decision because they understood the difference between the Ibo worker and the Yoruba worker and the three years of the civil war made that difference even more crystal clear to the British, if not, why would the British bother to accommodate the Igbo after such a long time? What became clear to the Yoruba was that the British were willing to make extra provision to re-absorb the Igbo any way possible.

Yoruba was not ready to tolerate any of that because they knew that it was a matter of time before the wheat will be separated from the shaft that Igbo will assume their prominent positions. In order to prevent the British from re-absorbing the Igbo into these British owned companies, the corporate Yoruba decided to solicit the help of Awolowo who was then the finance minister and chairman of the federal military council.
This is where a plan was hashed to wrest the control of these companies, consisting of banks, insurance companies, corporations of different kinds and types from the British.

The best way Awo and his cabal found fit was to convince Gowon and the military leadership who in all probability have never had the word indigenization in their lives to promulgate the INDIGENIZATION DECREE in 1972 that stipulated that every foreign owned venture must transfer majority ownership to Nigerian indigenes within a year of the promulgation of the decree or they will forfeit the assets of the company to the Nigerian government. (Emphasis within a year) As expected, the British were caught off guard, not understanding the motive behind the policy, the British thought it was a dream or a joke that will go away, particularly given the fact that they just won the war against the Igbo for the Yoruba and Hausa.

After exhausting six months out of the one year in their bid to reverse the decree, the British became frantic and concluded that they could not reverse the decree and went about trying to salvage whatever they could. What was worse was that the British did not even have enough time to evaluate the worth of their ventures because of the limited time the decree allowed, courtesy of Awo and cabal. The situation gave chaos a new name because the British were in chaos. So the first problem the British ran into was limited time that they couldn’t figure what the value of majority of their ventures were, they could not tell how much to sell them for.

Mind you that this was happening within a year after the end of the civil war. At this time the Yoruba was running every conceivable federal ministries, departments and agencies plus all the corporations listed above and more that the British owned. It is important to point out that the North had little or no presence in the commerce economy of the country before the war and after the war except in the military leadership and infantry.

The economy of the country was dominated by Igbo first and Yoruba second before the war. In order to solidify the economic dominance that the Yoruba attained during and after the war and to make their position even more potent in acquiring the British spoils, Awo as the finance minister and chairman of the federal military council and his Yoruba cabal decided to economically emasculate the Igbo understanding


a) That Yoruba was fully running every conceivable federal parastatal
b) That Yoruba was running every conceivable corporation that the British owned or had majority ownership as listed above.
c) That Yoruba was managing all the Nigerian banks, insurance corporations, National shipping line, Nigerian airways, Nigerian’s Ports authority, Nigerian Railways and all the ministries, Departments and Agencies conceivable.
Decided to destroy whatever was left of the Igbo and putting a finishing touch to it by
a) Stealing through confiscating all the millions of pounds that Igbo had in all the Nigerian banks
b) Offering every Igbo person £20 pounds regardless of how many millions they had in the Nigerian banks before the war.
c) Militarizing every part of Igbo land.
d) Rendering every Igbo without exception a pauper.
e) Banning every importation of stock fish and used clothes to deprive the Igbo of any economic ability to compete with the Yoruba in buying into the British assets.

[img]http://junglejournalist.files./2012/10/lagos11.jpg?w=630[/img]

When that day of infamy arrived for the British to start selling their assets, Igbo having been disenfranchised and emasculated in any and every way stood on the sideline watching the Yoruba in their glee as they scrambled to obtain loans from their Yoruba dominated banks to make the most minimal of offers to the British as there were no competitions. The British had no choice but to accept any offer as the alternative was losing everything to the federal government.

The British lost pretty much all their investment to the Yoruba whose stock in trade is robbing and stealing any and everything they can get their hands on. Thousands of Yoruba became millionaires overnight and there was jubilation and owanbe all over Yoruba land. Yoruba had parties day and night and weekends. They closed streets to display their new found wealth as they partied. That day marked the economic death of Nigeria, that day marked the death of Nigerian’s aspiration to join the civilized world.

The implication was enormous and it sent a shock wave throughout the Igbo land, It was a dark history day, it was a day of manifest wickedness and viciousness, Igbo was dumbfounded, the days that followed were days of economic, social and psychological morose and confusion that are still lingering today within the Igbo. It might be hard to accept but Awo got the Igbo good and the country as well, he brought the Igbo to his knees economically at least temporarily and Igbo has never recovered from that one blow seven akpus in any appreciable way but Nigeria as whole is worse off for it. I believe that what was more devastating was that Ibo had no place or body to turn to. To be blunt, Awo decapitated the Igbo leadership and threw Igbo into great confusion.

It is important to note that by this singular act of INDIGENIZATION DECREE engineered by the Yoruba, the Yoruba de facto constituted the new economic foundation, the sole owner and manager of Nigerian economy without any rivals. So, for those that have wondered why Igbo became traders, this is the why. The Yoruba will not let any Igbo near the management of any of these stolen corporations, will not let Igbo buy any shares of these corporations for decades following the heist.

Now, some people without the capacity to comprehend the full seismic implication of this economic shift and restructuring will want us to believe that this does not matter and I will beg to disagree because it is like everything else, the foundation of everything matters and determines the success or failure, be it a house or business. As time has revealed, Yoruba stealing and forming the economic foundation for Nigeria was a bad idea and a monumental disaster.

For the ignorants, all things being equal (in a fair fight) the Yoruba knew it, the British knew it, the Igbo knew it and the world knew it that the Yoruba did not possess the capacity, creativity, drive, perseverance, hard work and the competence to do what some are crediting to it if they did not conspire to steal not only from the British and Igbo but from everybody else that had any assets in Nigeria.

The apparent dominant control the Yoruba has on the economy since after the war was not out of great honest smartness or creativity or innovation or hard work or competence but out of share robbery of the British and Igbo sweat and hard work. I believe that the question that the benign ignorant should be asking going forward is what did Yoruba do with all these assets and corporations that they stole. How did the country fair under the Yoruba management of the Nigerian economy? How did the Yoruba managed economy relate to today’s economic malaise? Hope they can make the connections......

helinues:
Still searching for the headline in the body of the news

Be patient, you will get the full memo.

Nigerians really need to understand how we ended in such unenviable palous state.

It's a really sad story but we need to hear it and hopefully make amends.

proeast:


Be patient, you will get the full memo.

Nigerians really need to understand how we ended in such unenviable palous state.

It's a really sad story but we need to hear it and hopefully make amends.

You have read the whole epistle,why not summarize it?

helinues:
Mtcheeew..

Na copy and paste from Upper Iweka writer...

Summarize the damn epistle and let's argue about it

Of course, I'm not the author and I will give full credit to him once I'm done pasting the historical masterpiece.

Be patient please.

Ibo baseless propaganda to attack Yoruba while claiming victims

Awolowo a Minister of Finance had no power to Issue decrees unbehalf of General Yakubu Gowon the Head of State, infact as much as it was a dictatorship General Yakubu never took decision or issue decree outside the Supreme Military Council


.

Here are some of the companies the British either owned completely or partially before the 1972 Indignization decree

Pharmaceutical Nigeria Plc ,May and Baker Nigeria Plc, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Wahum Nigeria Limited ,CAP Nigeria Plc , International Paints of West Africa [IPWA], Berger Paints Nigeria Plc, Berec Nigeria Limited, Kabelmetal, Nigeria Bottling Company Plc, Leventis Nigeria Plc ,West African Portland Cement Company,[Lafarge ],Wema Bank Nigeria Plc, Scoa Nigeria Plc ,CFAO Nigeria Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Livestock Feeds Nigeria Plc , Nigerian Breweries Plc, new Nigerian Bank, Batta, Kingsway Stores, Crittal Hope (Nigeria) Limited, Mushin, Lagos State. Dunlop (Nig.) Industries Plc, Ikeja, Lagos State. Galvanising Industries Limited, Ikeja, Lagos State. Nigeria Construction & Water Resources Development Company Limited, Ibadan, Oyo State Nigerian Wire & Cable Plc, Ibadan, Oyo State Nigerite PLC, Ikeja, Lagos State Nipol Limited, Ibadan, Oyo State Odu’a Textile Industries Limited, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State Soleh Boneh Overseas (Nigeria) Limited, Ibadan, Oyo State Vono Products Plc, Mushin, Lagos West African Portland Cement Plc, Ikeja, Lagos State Great Nigeria Insurance PLC, Ikoyi, Lagos State Glanvill Enthoven & Company Limited ◦Guinness (Nig.) Plc, Ikeja, Lagos State. ◦International Breweries Plc, Ilesa, Osun State. ◦Macmillian Publishers (Nig) Limited, Ilupeju, Lagos ◦Nestle Food (Nig) Plc, Ikeja, Lagos State ◦Nidogas Company Limited, Lagos State ◦Niger Mills Company Limited, Calabar, Cross River State ◦Nigerian Aluminium Extrusions Limited, Lagos ◦SKG-Pharma (Nig.) Limited, Lagos ◦Tower Aluminium (Nig.) Plc, Lagos ◦U. A. C. of Nigeria Plc., Lagos etc.

Credit

-FREDRICK ONWUMBIKO

Here we go again?
Yoruba this
Yoruba that

Is it inferiority complex?

solmusdesigns:




Ibo baseless propaganda to attack Yoruba while claiming victims

Awolowo a Minister of Finance had no power to Issue decrees unbehalf of General Yakubu Gowon the Head of State, infact as much as it was a dictatorship General Yakubu never took decision or issue decree outside the Supreme Military Council


.

Lol awo was more than a finance minister .....gowon relied on him completely for advice ....

Anyhow Sha today how far ? ...Igbo man is the chairman of uac ....most of the rest done fold ...houses sold to igbos. ...next 50 years go funny Sha

Igbochief001:

Lol awo was more than a finance minister ..... gowon relied on him completely for advice ....

Anyhow Sha today how far ? ...Igbo man is the chairman of uac ....most of the rest done fold ...houses sold to igbos. ...next 50 years go funny Sha

Yes oo 50 years after SouthEast is the poorest region in southern Nigeria while Southwest is the richest

Ibos open hundreds of threads daily on Yoruba , Awolowo, Tinubu , Lagos, Osinbajo and Marginalisation which Omoluabis simply mind their business and develop

solmusdesigns:




Ibo baseless propaganda to attack Yoruba while claiming victims

Awolowo a Minister of Finance had no power to Issue decrees unbehalf of General Yakubu Gowon the Head of State, infact as much as it was a dictatorship General Yakubu never took decision or issue decree outside the Supreme Military Council


.

There is a difference between propaganda and historical facts that can be easily verified by anyone. Granted that teaching of history was abolished in Nigeria, but we are in the information age and facts can be easily cross-checked.

Awolowo was not just a finance minister, he was the defacto vice president.

He was cunning too, and while the North were only determined to be in control of Nigeria politically and militarily, it left the economy in Awolowo's hands and he was able to railroad Nigeria into that unfortunate Indignization decree of 1972.

proeast:


There is a difference between propaganda and historical facts that can be easily verified by anyone. Granted that teaching of history was abolished in Nigeria, but we are in the information age and facts can be easily cross-checked.

Awolowo was not just a finance minister, he was the defacto vice president.

He was cunning too, and while the North were only determined to be in control of Nigeria politically and militarily, it left the economy in Awolowo's hands and he was able to railroad Nigeria into that unfortunate Indignization decree of 1972.

Each decree was signed to law by signature of the commander in chief... Kindly show us any decree or Constitutional law Chief Awolowo signed into law regarding all you accused him of

Give Nigerians reading your hateful propaganda facts

Any fool can write a story to distort facts but intelligent people ask for proof


.

solmusdesigns:


Yes oo 50 years after SouthEast is the poorest region in southern Nigeria while Southwest is the richest

Ibos open hundreds of threads daily on Yoruba , Awolowo, Tinubu , Lagos, Osinbajo and Marginalisation which Omoluabis simply mind their business and develop

Whether you like it or not, we will not stop revisiting history and how Nigeria was destroyed.

You should be asking yourself why and how we ended up as the poverty capital of the world despite the enormous resources at our disposal.

BTW, Igbos have succeeded in clawing themselves back to the top of the food chain. I don't think there is any ethnic group doing better than us at the moment.

solmusdesigns:


Yes oo 50 years after SouthEast is the poorest region in southern Nigeria while Southwest is the richest

Ibos open hundreds of threads daily on Yoruba , Awolowo, Tinubu , Lagos, Osinbajo and Marginalisation which Omoluabis simply mind their business and develop

ok

proeast:


Whether you like it or not, we will not stop revisiting history and how Nigeria was destroyed.

You should be asking yourself why and how we ended up as the poverty capital of the world despite the enormous resources at our disposal.

BTW, Igbos have succeeded in clawing themselves back to the top of the food chain. I don't think there is any ethnic group doing better than us at the moment.

Lol

You lots are just revealing yourself more and more to over 300 tribes of Nigerians and they would judge you accordingly with all your propaganda because must understand the history and laugh at your sneaky attempt of rewriting history

An Average Hausa Fulani teenagers knows who whipped Sarduna and his last wife in cold blood , same as Ogbomosho people knows how Samuel Ladoke Akintola was murdered, all Ijaw people know how Ojukwu ended Major Isaac Adaka Boro ended


.

solmusdesigns:



Each decree was signed to law by signature of the commander in chief... Kindly show us any decree or Constitutional law Chief Awolowo signed into law regarding all you accused him of

Give Nigerians reading your hateful propaganda facts

Any fool can write a story to distort facts but intelligent people ask for proof


.

This is where they normally run away or derail the thread, u asked him a very good question

solmusdesigns:



Each decree was signed to law by signature of the commander in chief... Kindly show us any decree or Constitutional law Chief Awolowo signed into law regarding all you accused him of

Give Nigerians reading your hateful propaganda facts

Any fool can write a story to distort facts but intelligent people ask for proof


.

Yes, truth is bitter but we can't stop saying it because you guys don't like hearing it.

Gowon was just a young figure head leader who was easily influenced. He also went to Aburi, Ghana and accepted a truce with Ojukwu but when he returned to Nigeria, they told him that Aburi is not acceptable and it was discarded.

The North had very little educated class as at then and were only desperate to be in control of the army and politics, and happily granted Awolowo his wish through the unfortunate Indignization decree as their own spoils of war.

I have given you the facts, it is now up to you that is calling it propaganda to disprove it.

tamdun:

This is where they normally run away or derail the thread, u asked him a very good question

Lol


For him to write all this long epistle we need proof as this is Nairaland and not Biafla Facebook propaganda page

.

solmusdesigns:



Each decree was signed to law by signature of the commander in chief... Kindly show us any decree or Constitutional law Chief Awolowo signed into law regarding all you accused him of

Give Nigerians reading your hateful propaganda facts

Any fool can write a story to distort facts but intelligent people ask for proof


.

Can you also show us were Awolowo signed the blockade decree against Biafra.

proeast:


Yes, truth is bitter but we can't stop saying it because you guys don't like hearing it.

Gowon was just a young figure head leader who was easily influenced. He also went to Aburi, Ghana and accepted a truce with Ojukwu but when he returned to Nigeria, they told him that Aburi is not acceptable and it was discarded.

The North had very little educated class as at then and were only desperate to be in control of the army and politics, and happily granted Awolowo his wish through the unfortunate Indignization decree as their own spoils of war.

I have given you the facts, it is now up to you that is calling it propaganda to disprove it.

Who told him, Awolowo?

tamdun:

This is where they normally run away or derail the thread, u asked him a very good question

No one is running away from Owambe masters. The real economic saboteurs. Counter the points of the op with facts or shut your up.

helinues:


Who told him, Awolowo?

This thread is for those who already know their history. We are not in a kindergarten here abeg

solmusdesigns:

Lol

You lots are just revealing yourself more and more to over 300 tribes of Nigerians and they would judge you accordingly with all your propaganda because must understand the history and laugh at your sneaky attempt of rewriting history

An Average Hausa Fulani teenagers knows who whipped Sarduna and his last wife in cold blood , same as Ogbomosho people knows how Samuel Ladoke Akintola was murdered, all Ijaw people know how Ojukwu ended Major Isaac Adaka Boro ended


.

Lol, you guys are so ridiculous. Look at the rubbish you wrote above?!

I have been waiting for you all to counter these facts with superior arguments yet all you spew are emotional drivels and slander.

People who lack facts always resort to insults and vacous attempts at blackmail.

I believe that same Nigerians you are goading have educated and intelligent ones that can tell the truth when presented with facts.

proeast:


Yes, truth is bitter but we can't stop saying it because you guys don't like hearing it.

Gowon was just a young figure head leader who was easily influenced. He also went to Aburi, Ghana and accepted a truce with Ojukwu but when he returned to Nigeria, they told him that Aburi is not acceptable and it was discarded.

The North had very little educated class as at then and were only desperate to be in control of the army and politics, and happily granted Awolowo his wish through the unfortunate Indignization decree as their own spoils of war.

I have given you the facts, it is now up to you that is calling it propaganda to disprove it.

Decree number 1 and Number 2 are signed into law by Aguiyi Ironsi suspending Regional Government.. show us any single decree or law signed into law by Chief Obafemi Awolowo

This are list of decree



http://carllevan.com/data/nigerias-military-decrees/

gwafaeziokwu:




No one is running away from Owambe masters. The real economic saboteurs. Counter the points of the op with facts or shut your up.

It's simple, show us where awo signed the decree, the op accused awo and we ask for proof, is that too much?

proeast:


Yes, truth is bitter but we can't stop saying it because you guys don't like hearing it.

Gowon was just a young figure head leader who was easily influenced. He also went to Aburi, Ghana and accepted a truce with Ojukwu but when he returned to Nigeria, they told him that Aburi is not acceptable and it was discarded.

The North had very little educated class as at then and were only desperate to be in control of the army and politics, and happily granted Awolowo his wish through the unfortunate Indignization decree as their own spoils of war.

I have given you the facts, it is now up to you that is calling it propaganda to disprove it.

Nna m. Fire on.

These guys stamped their wasteful culture on the economy of this nation and it is yet to recover. Stolen things are difficult to manage because you did not sweat for it.