By Dele Sobowale

“Ideas are capital; the rest is money.” Anonymous.

Last week, in the first part of this series on ideas that would help us achieve sustainable development, I started with Obong Victor Attah, former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and his advocacy of NEW TOWNS. I stopped at the point where Attah called for a dialogue. Please read on.

“The danger in separate group discussions is that whatever the governments come up with after that may favour only some of the groups and will be considered as biased by other groups. Since there is need for a consensual Agenda or Programme, the preferred method of discussion must be a joint Summit of Niger Deltans at which every interest group will be represented.

A recent report in one of the national dailies claimed that Imo State Government had set up a committee of its own experts to articulate the Imo position on the development of the Niger Delta. I have no doubt that their submission will draw from a number of existing reports that they consider relevant and appropriate while adding other new ideas of their own. This is what I thought every interest group in the Niger Delta should now be doing.

To avoid the charge of “fiddling while Rome burns”, the Federal Government should IMMEDIATELY set up a committee of experts to receive and collate such materials to form the basis of the Niger Delta Summit, by Niger Deltans in the first place.

It bears repetition to state, in the final analysis, only three things need to be done in the Niger Delta to end all militancy and restiveness, and bring about permanent peace. These are:

1.Massive infrastructural and Human Development.

2. Employment creation and
3. Restoration of Human Dignity.

A close examination of these demands will show that the second derives from the first and they both will give birth to the third. The big question has always been the method of achieving these goals. It is here that I would like to make my input as an architect and a town planner.

THE CONCEPT OF NEW TOWNS

The destruction caused by the Second World War was widespread throughout Europe. The war ended in 1945, and by the following year, 1946, Britain enacted its first New Towns Act. This Act has since been reviewed and re-enacted in 1959 and 1965. Unlike the better known American-initiated Marshall Plan, which was interim, the British New Towns Act was, and has remained key to the reconstruction  of Britain, the creation of employment opportunities, augmentation of its housing stock, and rejuvenation of its economy.  Starting with Stevenage in 1946, Britain has built several new towns – by last count, twenty-two – the latest of which is Milton Keynes, started about the same time as Abuja, our Federal Capital Territory…”

To be continued.

OPEN LETTER TO BUHARI ON BEHALF OF LAGOS STATE INDIGENES – 3

“When people talk about indigene-ship, I wonder what they mean. I ask them to tell me who is an indigene of Lagos State Show me the man or woman who germinated from the soils of Lagos..”Barrister Okoroji, APGA unsuccessful Governorship aspirant in Lagos State in the last elections. Daily Independent, August 31, 2015.

If you have never heard of Okoroji, rest assured you missed nothing. He has not made a sterling success of anything – law or politics. He is even more ignorant about history and is deficient in logic. He, however represents the few Igbos who are contesting the right of Lagos indigenes to be appointed by Buhari when the position is zoned to Lagos. I was not surprised.

When I wrote the first installment of this series, I knew that out of the six zones and over two hundred ethnic groups living in Lagos, the only objection would come from the South East. Okoroji asked who grew from the soil of Lagos; he must be deficient in the history of his own State and community in the East, as well as other parts of Nigeria. Who does not know that the Fulani came into Nigeria with Usman Dan Fodio?

Or the Kanuri came from Sudan? Is it because they came from somewhere else more than a thousand years ago that no Igbo person is contesting the Governorship of Sokoto or Borno State? Let’s even go global. White Americans and white Australians migrated to those countries and took over. Why is Okoroji not going to contest for the Governor of Texas? Back home, if Okoroji ever steps across the borders of his own state in the South East to claim one square inch of any other Igbo State, a funeral will follow. Is it because the Igbos of Abia, Ananmbra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo “germinated from the soil” that a Hausa, Yoruba, Birom, Idoma etc cannot go there and claim the right to appointments or contest elections or be given a stall in any market, or issued a C of O for land in any of those states?

In that interview Okoroji  mentioned Fashola’s “deportation” of Igbos as “proof” of hatred for Igbos. But, Fashola deported thousands of Northerners, as well as people from Oyo and Ogun States. And, before that Governor Peter Obi deported people from Akwa Ibom State from Anambra. Apparently, Ibibios, Anangs and Orons have no right in Anambra but Igbos have right everywhere.

Trouble dey sleep yanga go wake am.