Rethinking Africa is a forward looking blog dedicated to the exchange of innovative thinking on issues affecting the advancement of African peoples wherever they are. We provide rigorous and insightful analyses on the issues affecting Africans and their vision of the world.
One of
the preeminent tenor saxophonists of all time, composer of leading jazz
standards including “St Thomas”, “Oleo” and “Doxy”, and composer of “Tenor Madness” where he engages in the historic dialogue with fellow tenor master John Coltrane
(Sonny
Rollins Quartet and John Coltrane, “Tenor Madness” – with that historic
dialogue between the great two tenors [personnel: Rollins, tenor saxophone {takes
second solo before the later engaging dialogue with Trane!}; Coltrane, tenor
saxophone {takes first solo}; Red Garland, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Philly Jo
Jones, drums; recorded: Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, US, 24 May 1956])
Firm,
determined, resilient, self-taught aviator after admission rejections from
flying schools because he is African America, founder of Chicago’s Coffee
aeronautical school (1938) which soon becomes part of the country’s civilian pilot
training programme and trains many African American pilots and technicians who
later pursue careers in both civil
aviation and the military, continues flying well into his 80s Twitter@HerbertEkweEkwe
There
is presently a visionary and purposeful spirit felt by the Igbo as well as
across Igboland. This development is immensely uplifting. The Igbo appear
poised to complete the race begun on 29 May 1966 – the reinforcement of their
inalienable right to freedom, in the wake of the outbreak of the genocide.
Surely, the sun is on its ascent. These are indeed extraordinary times the
likes of which have not been seen since the 12 January 1970 end of phase-III of
the genocide and the progression to phase-IV. During the previous, phases
I-III-harrowing 44 months (29 May 1966-12 January 1970), the Nigeria state and
its allies murdered 3.1 million Igbo people, or one-quarter of this nation’s
population, in this foundational and most gruesome genocide of
post-(European)conquest Africa. 20 years
before… As
this race to the restoration of freedom dawns, the Igbo should, as a matter of
urgency, retrieve from the archives the plan for the reconstruction and
transformation of the then east Nigeria drawn up in the 1950s by Mbonu Ojike,
the cerebral Chicago University scholar and African-centred economist, who was
the minister of the region’s economic development and planning. The Ojike Plan
had envisaged a 20-year timeframe, beginning in 1954, during which the east
would be transformed into an advanced multifaceted industrial and agricultural
economy. The main thrust of this plan is still valid and should be reworked and
adapted to 21st century priorities and the advantage of new technologies. Such
was the impressive pace of this programme that, by 1964, ten years later, the
overall economic performance of the east had not only outstripped the rest of
Nigeria but was in fact Africa’s fastest growing economy. The east had the best
schools and the first independent university system in the country, the best
humanpower development in the country across a range of fields including,
crucially, engineering, medicine, the arts, and the middle-range technical
cadre. The region also had the most integrated infrastructural development in
Nigeria and its manufacturing, distributive and extractive enterprises centred
in the Enuugwu-Nkalagu-Emene conurbation to the north, Onicha (commercial
capital and home to the future Oshimili stock exchange and index) to the west and Igwe Ocha/Port
Harcourt-Aba-Calabar to the south were clearly the hubs of the making of this
African industrial revolution of recent history. But for the Igbo genocide, the
east was on course to construct the “Taiwan”
or the “China” or the “South Korea” or the “India”
in Africa – 20 years before these post-World
War II much-vaunted “economic transformational miracles” of the era emerged!
(Alice Coltrane Sextet, “Something about John Coltrane”
[Coltrane, piano; Pharoah Sanders, soprano saxophone, bells; Cecil McBee, bass;
Tulsi, tambura; Rashied Ali, drums; Majid Shabazz, tambourine, bells; recorded
Impulse! Records, New York,
8 November 1970])
Complementarity The
Igbo should now resume this journey in earnest. Right from the outset, Igbo
women, who, in the past (i.e. prior to the British conquest and occupation),
controlled and exercised extensive rights and authority over their own affairs
as well as those of the rest of society, must be repositioned at the epicentre
of the shared dual-gender complementary spaces of responsibility, power and
authority in this historic transformation of Biafra. The Igbo have one of Africa’s best-developed, multidisciplinary humanpower
contingents to work this transformation. Given their well-known hardworking
ethic and entrepreneurial drive, the Igbo should be able to achieve an annual
10 per cent growth rate in their economy to effectuate this transformation
without difficulty. They should immediately set up a trust fund foundation to
finance the enterprise in the next decade. The foundation should have a core
membership of distinguished Igbo men and women of which the Igbo have unlimited
number. An appeal should be sent out at once, calling on every adult Igbo woman
and man at home and in the diaspora in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world to make
an annual voluntary contribution of
US$100 dollars to the fund with allowances made of course for those who wish to
contribute more than this stipulated figure or indeed less. The foundation
should set up actualising working/implementation committees made up of experts
in their fields to focus on various sectors of the Biafran economy: power
generation, town-city/urban revival/development, industrial manufacturing,
agriculture, information technology, communication/infrastructure, healthcare,
education, culture/history/heritage, recreation/leisure, rural embodiment,
environment/regeneration – particularly focusing on the heightened erosion and
landslide occurrence in the northwest region.
Hubs
of industrial and agricultural activities are already in place in their
designated sites of operation in Igboland and these would form the foci of this
transformation: the Onicha-Nnewi-Oka-Ihiala industrial conurbation for machine
tools and heavy industry; the Enuugwu-Emene-Nsukka information technology
valley; the Aba-Umuahia-Abiriba-Igwe Ocha precision equipment/light industry;
the Uburu-Okposi-Egbema sodium carbonate deposits/other minerals for potential
pharmaceutical and food-processing manufacturing; reactivation of Enuugwu-Udi
coal fields for unlimited power generation to work this manufacturing
enterprise and provide affordable lighting and other energy requirements for
domestic and industrial requirements in addition to exports to countries across
west Africa and elsewhere; work on renewable energy resources such as solar,
wind, refuse – it is indeed incumbent on Biafran engineers to exponentially
increase the country’s access to these renewables in this first vital phase of
redevelopment; enhanced agricultural activities in the central and east
Asu/Ebonyi valleys/Abakaleke corridor and the Onicha/upper Anambra farming
belt...
(Andrew Hill Trio, “Tripping” or “Naked spirit” [Hill,
piano; Rufus Reid, bass; Ben Riley, drums; recorded: Barrigozi Studio, Milan,
Italy, 3/4 July 1986])
Skills
& talents The involvement of Igbo expertise, especially that
currently based abroad in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australasia, and
elsewhere in the world is of utmost importance in this transformation project.
The utilisation of this asset will understandably be managed with obvious
flexibility in the drive and implementation of the enterprise. This will
involve opportunities for visiting/adjunct professorships with appropriate
colleges/schools/hospitals/laboratories/industrial facilities in Igboland to
work in, summertime slots, and sabbatical emplacements.
Restructuring the communication/infrastructure base of Biafra
would appear to be the trigger to impact tremendously on other sectors of the
economy. Igbo road, rail, waterway and air networks should now be rehabilitated
and expanded radically. The entire length and breadth of Igboland from Igwe
Nga/Opobo, Azumini, Umuebelengwu, Umu Ubani/Bonny, Ahoada, Igwe Ocha, Asaba,
Onicha, Aboh, Ogwashi-Ukwu in the Oshimili Delta to Enuugwu, Nsukka, Agbo,
Eha-Amuufu and Abakeleke in the central, north and northeas should be comprehensively networked
by these services. There should, for instance, be daily express rail services
linking Igwe Nga, Azumini and Igwe Ocha in the south to Nsukka and Eha Amuufu
in the north, via Aba
and Enuugwu, and from Umu Ubani and Ahoada in the south to Orlu, Okigwe,
Ugwuta, Onicha, Asaba and Agbo in the west/northwest. Other trains should be
crisscrossing on the east-west routes originating from Abakaleke, Aruchukwu,
Ohafia, Umuahia, Abriba and Ehuugbo to Enuugwu, Oka, Onicha, Asaba, Ogwashi-Ukwu and
Agbo and vice versa. This transformation should envisage dredging the Oshimili
south of Onicha to the Atlantic coast and the construction of additional international
ocean-bound port facility at Azumini and Onicha and a dry dock at Aba.
Another road and rail bridge should link the historic twin cities of Asaba and
Onicha and a tunnel service under the Oshimili to carry these dual modes of
transport should also be constructed. Both bridge and tunnel should be
appropriately named Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. Asaba and Onicha should also
have a modern hovercraft service in operation. Commuter bus, coach, tram and
rail services in Igbo cities and towns should quickly replace the ill-suited
and unsafe “okada” or motorcycle provisions of the present. The Igbo, a much
travelled people worldwide, must now establish direct flight access entry to
Igboland from the outside world that is not dependent on Nigeria via Lagos,
Abuja and Kano
or any of its other “entry points”. The Enuugwu and Owere airports should be
transformed immediately to the full, operational
status of international airports to ensure the uninterrupted movement of
people, goods and services overseas flying directly into Biafra
and vice versa. Direct flight routes from Igboland to Equatorial Guinea, Gabon,
São Tomé and Principe, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Sénégal, South Africa, United States, Canada, Britain, France, Spain,
Germany, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, China, Brazil, Jamaica, Barbados and Australia should
be in operation here as of utmost priority in this first phase of the
implementation, given the high number of Igbo people who live and work in the
cited countries. Igbo émigrés in these countries should negotiate with their
hosts for the latter to establish or augment existing consular/diplomatic
presence in Igboland to ease travel plans and processing, especially for those
starting their journeys from Igboland: Asaba, Onicha, Enuugwu, Oka, Owere,
Umuahia, Igwe Nga, Aba,
Abakaleke, Ugwuta and Igwe Ocha should enjoy these upgraded facilities.
International airports should also be built at Onicha and Ugwuta to cater for
the movement of people, goods and services in the west, and at Nsukka and
Abakaleke to respond to demands in the north and east of the country
respectively. Culture
The restructuring of city and local governments in Biafra is vital in this transformation project. Igbo
cities and towns should enjoy extensive autonomous status in order to transform
themselves into advanced modern spaces for living, working, recreating, and the
growth and development of culture. Each Biafran city and town should have a
municipal authority to raise its own taxes, power its own development including
the establishment of educational institutions at all levels, transport systems,
including buses, trams and rail services (underground and overground) and city
airport facility, cultural institutions (including homes for orchestras and
bands of varying musical genres and traditions) and recreational facilities
such as parks, theatres, museums, galleries, concert halls, stadiums and the
like.
Every Igbo child must have access to a computer and every school in Igboland
linked to the internet. Equally crucial, technical colleges should be set up in
Igbo cities and towns to develop and expand on that sphere of humanpower
resource upon which the advancement of society is largely predicated – growth
of plumbers, electricians, draughtspeople, carpenters, builders, etc., etc.
Cities and towns including Aba, Nnewi, Agbo, Nsukka, Eha Amuufu, Abakaleke,
Ohafia, Mbano, Item, Umuahia, Onicha-Ugbo, Owere, Ogwashi-Ukwu, Aboh, Ozubulu,
Agbaani, Akaeze, Abaa, Okigwe, Enuugwu, Asaba, Ogidi, Igwe Ocha, Isele-Ukwu,
Igwe Nga, Onicha, Mbaise, Okpana, Oshiri, Ahoada, Ogwu, Ehuugbo, Ehuugbo Road,
Uburu, Aguleri, Nnobi, Umu Ubani, Ahiara, Abiriba, should be sites for these
colleges. These urban centres could also have their own city universities to
cope with the continuously high demands from Igbo youths and others who have,
since 1970, consistently maintained top position for the highest number of
students seeking university places in Nigeria, despite the occupation. The existing universities in Igboland need
to expand even further to respond to these needs. The trust fund will no doubt
be looking into ways to increase funding to these institutions after 44 years
of programmed neglect and degradation, which have, all along, been critical
features of the overarching strategy of phase-IV of the genocide by the occupation
regime. The 50 million Igbo should now set to work as determinably as ever. The
prospects are incredibly exciting. This resultant transformation of Biafra within a generation will at once be a
time-honoured memorial to the 3.1 million and the triumph of the nonnegotiable right to freedom by the
survivors and their children and grandchildren and theirs... Twitter@HerbertEkweEkwe
Prolific
novelist, poet, dramatist, essayist – author of, among others, The Ethics of Living Jim Crow (1937), Uncle Tom’s Children (1938) Native Son (1940), Black Boy (1945), I Choose
Exile (1951), The Outsider (1953),
The Color Curtain (1956), White Man, Listen! (1957) and American Hunger (1977) Twitter@HerbertEkweEkwe
Percipient
tenor saxophonist and composer who, for 30 years, beginning in the mid-1950s,
builds up an impressive range of collaborative work with leading rhythm and
brass instrument-bandleaders of the age including Roach, Mingus, Chambers,
Davis, Waldron, Walton, Weston, Hill, Gillespie, Morgan, Farmer, Reece as well as work
with multiinstrumentalist Dolphy and fellow tenorist Gilmore
(Andrew
Hill Quartet, “Monk’s glimpse”, featuring Clifford Jordan [{personnel: Hill, piano; Jordan, tenor
saxophone; Rufus Reid, bass; Ben Riley, drums; recorded: Barigozzi Studio, Milan,
Italy, 3/4 July 1986} “Domani” {personnel and recording as in “Monk’s glimpse”}, Andrew Hill Trio,“Tripping” {personnel: Hill, piano; Reid, bass; Riley, drums; recording as in
the previous}])
Mutifaceted pianist, composer and bandleader whose distinct Silverian sound and drive in
the jazz repertoire are enriched by the folk music traditions of his own father’s heritage
from Cape Verde
(Horace
Silver Quintet, “Song for my father” [personnel: Silver, piano; Carmell Jones,
trumpet; Joe Henderson, tenor saxophone; Teddy Smith, bass; Roger Humphries,
drums; recorded: Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, US, 26 October 1964])
“Boko Haram is everywhere in the executive arm
of [my] government, in the legislative arm of [my] government and even in the
judiciary. Some are also in the armed forces, the police and other security agencies
… Some continue to dip their hands and eat with you and you won’t even know the
person who will point a gun at you or plant a bomb behind your house”
- Goodluck Jonathan, head of regime, Nigeria, The Vanguard (Lagos), 12 January 2012
Questions: name & position
1. Who are the members of Boko Haram “everywhere
in the executive arm of … government”? – full names and positions stated
clearly
2. Who are
the members of Boko Haram “even in the judiciary … of
government”? – full names and positions stated clearly
3. Who are the members of Boko Haram “in the armed
forces”? – full names and positions stated clearly
4. Who are the members of Boko Haram “in the
police”? – full names and positions stated clearly
5. Who are the members of Boko Haram “in other
security agencies”? – full names and positions stated clearly
6. Who are the members of Boko Haram “who continue
to dip their hands and eat with you”? – full names and positions stated clearly
7. Who are the members of Boko Haram “[who] will
point a gun at you”?– full names and positions stated clearly
8. Who
are the members of Boko Haram “[who] will plant a bomb behind your house”?–
full names and positions stated clearly
Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe is specialist on the state and on genocide & wars in Africa in the post-1966 epoch – beginning with the Igbo genocide, 29 May 1966-present day, the foundational and most gruesome genocide of post-(European)conquest Africa. 3.1 million Igbo or 25 per cent of this nation’s population were murdered by Nigeria and its allies, principally Britain. Africa and the rest of the world largely stood by and watched as the perpetrators enacted this horror most ruthlessly. The world could have stopped this genocide; the world should have stopped this genocide. This genocide inaugurated Africa’s current age of pestilence. During the period, 12 million additional Africans have been murdered in further genocide in Rwanda (1994), Zaïre/DRCongo (variously, since the late 1990s) and Darfur – west of the Sudan – (since 2004) and in other wars in Africa. African peoples have, presently, no other choice but exit/dismantle the extant genocide-state (the bane of their existence & progress) & construct own nation-centred states that serve their interests. He is author of several books & papers on the subject and his new book is entitled The longest genocide – since 29 May 1966 (2019).
