By Okey Maduforo Awka
The face off between Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra and Professor Chidi Odinkalu over the fate of the South East economy took a new turn when the governor described Odinkalus submissions as mere rhetorics that mere begs the question and not hinged on the facts before the geopolitical zone.
Professor Chidi Odinkalu had differed with Soludo over what he called the economic challenges of the Igbo race caused by the rest of the country which Soludo sees as merely inciting the misplaced agitations of sepretists elements in the area without addressing issues on the ground.
According to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to Soludo on New Media Mazi Ejimofor Opara;
“It is precisely this kind of rhetoric that fuels the misplaced bravado of secessionists who have convinced themselves that Nigeria revolves around Ndi Igbo”
“This is a useless, unstrategic response to a question that strikes at the heart of the Igbo question. Great philosophers coined the phrase “man, know thyself” to admonish humanity to take measured decisions anchored on empiricism”
“Soludo’s pill is bitter. But if healing is the intention, we must swallow it”
Continuing Opara recalled that the position of the Governor about the Gross Domestic Products GDP of the South East accounts for less than 10 percent of that of the country on the whole contending that the growth of Nigeria do not revolve around the South East.
“Governor Soludo stated that in 1998 he decomposed Nigeria’s GDP state by state and aggregated it by zone. The entire Southeast accounted for 7.9% of Nigeria’s GDP then.’
“Economic semi-literates confuse the GDP of the Southeast with the income of Ndi Igbo all over Nigeria. They are not the same”
“,South East GDP in the 1990s was the value of goods and services produced within the Southeast at the time”
“But Ndi Igbo still generate a major part, if not the majority, of their income and production of goods and services outside Igboland’
“In blunt economic terms, unless Ndi Igbo are intentional about building a prosperous homeland, the Southeast region does not matter significantly in economic terms even today”
He also stated that the South East economy further nosedived with the execution of the Monday sit at home that lasted for five years which ultimately accounts for one full year of economic lost in Igbo land.
“Proof? We have endured a Monday sit-at-home for almost 5 years. That is nearly 20% of the 5-day work week, every week”
“In cumulative terms, we have lost roughly one full year of output in 5 years”
“If this happened in Lagos, Abuja, or the Niger Delta for just 6 months, the national economy would shake. Markets would react. GDP numbers would dip. The entire nation would feel it. That is economic leverage”
“The Southeast, as a region, does not currently wield that leverage. Ndi Igbo as a people do. That distinction matters”
Opara opined that most major investments of the South East people are not at home noting that it cannot be counted as economic gains of the geopolitical zone in clear terms but that of other zones where they all reside.
“The evidence is in our economic exile. Millions of Ndi Igbo, including Professor Odinkalu himself, are tucked away in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, and abroad pursuing careers, business, and “human rights” advocacy”
“If Odinkalu truly believes the Southeast’s economic weight is self-evident, let him relocate to his village, set up his enterprise there, and let us measure the national impact”
“This is not about emotive patriotism. It is about hard numbers. We have lost one full year of work to sit-at-home orders without Nigeria blinking. That should humble us”
“Soludo’s argument is not an insult. It is a mirror. It forces us to confront a reality: political noise without economic base is empty. Secessionist fervor without a productive homeland is a road to nowhere”
“The path to Igbo relevance is not built on delusions of indispensability. It is built on production, infrastructure, security, and deliberate homeland development’
“Rhetoric will not make the Southeast a production hub. Only intentional investment will”
“Until we grasp that difference, we will keep mistaking applause for achievement. And Nigeria will keep moving without us” he said.
