Happy New Year, dear reader, and welcome to 2020. We arrive at the year of promise with hope as the primary article of faith across Nigeria. Hope is the elixir of life and a perfect thing to have, but hope is not one of the items in any plan document.
2020 is the year that rang loudly in government circles in Nigeria many years ago. Many of the good things in life were supposed to happen in 2020. Health for all, water for all, education for all – they were all supposed to happen in 2020. The year seemed so distant then.
Well, 2020 is here, and the promises of deliverance have turned to non-deliverance of pledges. Nothing of government promised has come to pass. The people hold on to hope, which coincidentally did not feature in the promises.
We enter a significant yet confusing year. Is 2020 the beginning of the third decade of the 20s? Or is it the endpoint of the second decade?
Wherever you stand on the matter, 2020 is a significant year for the people of Nigeria. It is even more so for Ala Igbo and Southern Nigeria.
2020 is the year of preparation for the South East for the new era. It is the year that would set the stage for the many things that should happen in Ala Igbo going forward. Many things have happened to prepare people.
The incarceration of the first official of the Class of 1999 is significant for the promise of accountability. Another was the release of snippets of the robbery officials of the Niger Delta Development Commission working with indigenes of Abia State and other contractors performed against the state. Both the government and NDDC have played the usual game of failing to give a full accounting. The people deserve to know the names, company names, addresses, project names and sums involved in the NDDC scam.
2020 should be the year of the recovery of the values that defined and guided Ndigbo. Considerable turmoil and dissatisfaction attend the current normlessness. The celebration of villains as heroes because of their financial worth is beginning to grate all across the land.
The Society of Igbo Professionals, one of the many groups birthed on WhatsApp, commenced the effort at rediscovering and popularising our values in 2017. They need to gather speed this year. They need to roll out the Ndigbo Values Initiative as an advocacy, mobilisation and education tool to bring the people up to speed.
The NVI commences with ten values. They are Ezi Okwu Bu Ndu (Integrity), Ako na uche, na uchu (Creativity), Igwe bu ike anyi (Collaboration and unity), Aku Luo Uno (Service), Ome Mgbe Oji Ka Ohi Mma (Discipline), and Egbe Belu Ugo Belu (Empathy). Others are Onye Aghana Nwanne (Brotherliness and loyalty), Isi m na mmụọ mụ juru oyi (Humility), Onwe m juru m afọ (Contentment) and ndụ mmadụ niile dị mkpa (Sanctity of life).
A critical value that the Igbo must acquire for these times is political engagement and focus on the homefront. The Igbo middle class must engage their class and school mates in the political class and demand effective representation based on shared values. A key value should be that public office means service not stealing from the people. Peer pressure must now count for good in the land.
2020 offers the opportunity to plant new seeds, water and nurture them for the future of the land. It is the year for pruning all the weeks in the gardens and farmlands of Ala Igbo.
Ndigbo subscribe to the philosophy of Aku ruo ulo. For it to work, we must get government working. Our representatives in government are the ones that would bring out the policies, build the infrastructure, provide facilities and amenities that would make the return feasible. Madu ruo ulo should accompany aku ruo ulo. Human capital is what will activate all the returning assets and make them profitable.
Ndigbo should use 2020 to do a thorough SWOT and PEST analysis to prepare for the new decade. So much is possible and achievable. Many risks also attend the year. May Ndigbo and the rest of Nigeria find more opportunities than threats as well as strengths that outnumber the weaknesses in 2020. Happy New Year.
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