David Hundeyin suggests one crippling weakness of Ndi-Igbo that must be overcome if they are to become a dominant force.
Pardon me as an outsider saying this, but I’m saying it as a friend.
If there is one crippling weakness in what is generally an economically and culturally progressive culture, it is its total aversion to investment in things that do not create a direct financial return.
Things like media and public relations, arts & culture, lobby groups and think tanks, academic endowments and so on.
You cannot invest N1 in these things and directly trace how they return N5 to you. However they DO have substantial returns – just not direct or clearly visible.
The Igbo culture needs to create an accounting system that ascribes a valuation to things whose yields are indirect or intangible. These intangibles, such as politics, are more important than everything else including money and physical goods. The Arewas figured that out long ago
David Hundeyin
Have you ever wondered how the UK government always seems to be aligned politically with the (Nigerian) Northern establishment? Yes there is historical context, Harold Wilson, bla bla bla. But what else is the reason?
It’s because of several organisations like the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF).
These think tanks and lobby groups spend millions of dollars annually on local and foreign political astroturfing on a scale you cannot begin to comprehend.
For example, the ACF is funding a Muslim candidate (Mahamudu Bawumia) in Ghana’s 2024 election. You already know why.
Is there any kind of equivalent Igbo-funded organisation whose job is to further the social, cultural, economic and political goals of the Igbo, locally and internationally?
No, there is not.
And I know this for a fact because I’m friends with the guy who tried to start one.
He pitched the plan to an Igbo billionaire who loved the idea and agreed with its importance. The problem was that the oga needed to see how it would “make money.”
It doesn’t make money.
At least not directly.
And that’s where that conversation ended. I think that is a shame.
That attitude is why a majority population which is Nigeria’s most prosperous per capita, is treated as a minority with no foreign political influence.
It is why @UniofOxford solicits money from both Governors El-Rufai and Uzodinma, but only one of them gets an ASC International Advisory Board seat
The Igbo culture needs to create an accounting system that ascribes a valuation to things whose yields are indirect or intangible.
These intangibles such as politics, are more important than everything else including money and physical goods. The Arewas figured that out long ago
This is important because of Nigeria’s majority cultures, only the Igbo currently offers anything remotely resembling a path to the future.
The Arewa are stuck in 1850 and the Yoruba appear to have succumbed to the BAT mind virus. The less said about the Niger Delta the better.
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