Nigeria skewered history
The problem with writing skewered history is that it equally misinforms its target: Kayode Esho was a great jurist,
but Akunne Oputa was the “Socrates” of the Supreme court. Enahoro was a young editor, but Azikiwe made him that
young editor with Osita Agwuna as his assistant, at his paper, the Southern Nigerian Defender in Ibadan,
where my own father, incidentally started as a rookie before shortly abandoning journalism for the stable berth
of the civil service.
The myth of Awolowo as building the first this and that does not match the documented
economic history of the period.
The eastern house of Assembly 1960 Enugu
Between 1954 and 1964, Eastern Nigeria was described as “the fastest growing economy in the world,” by the Harvard
Review; faster than China, faster than Singapore, and all the so-called “Asian Tigers.” Awolowo is often credited
with “free education”
Passengers boarding the Onitsha Asaba bound ferry at the Oron boat terminal Akwa Ibom
Comparisons of Eastern Developmental project with the Western Nigeria in 1959 to 1960s
But no one yet has pointed out any surviving school buildings of the period built by Awo. But all over the East there
were quality schools built by the various communities using the Town Development Unions from 1954, and accessing the
matching grants of the Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation
Sir Louis Ojukwu (Left); Queen Elizabeth in Louis Ojukwu’s Rolls Royce -1956
And this was the East with the poorest revenue resources
of any of the regions. The Mbaise secondary school exists, the National High School Okigwe exists, the Ngwa High school
exists, the Enyiogugu Grammar School exists, etc. These were solid schools built all over the East with matching
government grants.
But where are the buildings of the Modern schools in Western Nigeria? They do not exist. They were makeshift.
The Catholic church forced the Azikiwe government from its scholarship program, but it is also on record, that the Eastern
government was the only government in the world that invested 45% of its revenues in education.
The East had the highest number of schools; the highest school enrollment; the broadest penetration of medical services;
and the best modern road network in west Africa.
Indeed if we look carefully, the only public hospitals and most of the schools still standing in the East today, at various
stages of run down are the schools and hospitals built by Azikiwe/Okpara. Every division of the East had a Joint Hospital as
part of the Eastern Medical services. So it is often claimed Awo built the first television station; the first sky scraper,
and the first Sports stadium, the liberty stadium in Ibadan. Well, these are prestige or white elephant investments.
Enugu airport 1960
Igbo innovative idea Armored Tank Biafra vs Nigeria war 1957-1960
First, the Eastern Outlook, the government paper of Eastern Nigeria was the first newspaper established by any government
in Nigeria, and it was of such quality and impact that the literacy level of Easterners, and the depth of public information
retailed by Outlook was without compare.
This is besides the fact that Western Nigerian Broadcast Services, WNBS-TV founded in 1958 only preceded the ENBC-TV founded
in 1959, by only seven months. But Outlook preceded Sketch by about 15 years.
Dr. M.I.Okpara -This is not Nigeria they fought for
Now Azikiwe built the Onitsha Modern market, the first modern mall or trade emporium in West Africa. Onitsha was effectively
Dubai before Dubai. People traveled all over Africa, from as far as the Congo and Sudan and Egypt, to come and buy and trade
in Onitsha.
The economic impact of this was humonguos. So, give me the vast Onitsha modern market over Cocoa House in Ibadan.
Azikiwe built the first Nigerian University at Nsukka with the first School of Law, the first School of Engineering, the first
Business School; the first school of journalism, and the first school of music and performance, etc. By the time its first
graduates took the Nigerian civil service exams in 1963, everybody began to raise the cry of “Igbo domination” starting with
Akintola and Ayo Rosiji. Give me UNN over Liberty stadium.
Onitsha Aeriel View
Obi of Onitsha, Alfred Achebe
Azikiwe began the first modern library system in West Africa. The East had a system of city libraries starting with the very
modern Ziks Library in Enugu. I Literally grew up in the Umuahia Divisional Library.
These libraries were built all over the East. Schools in the East were built with libraries. Moreover the Eastern Nigerian
Library Board had a sysem of rural amd mobile libraries. There was nothing like it anywhere else in Nigeria: kids having
library cards and able to borrow or order books from the public library. Give me the the first library over the first TV.
I do not by this mean that Awolowo did not make his contributions, but the regular skewering of the facts, and angling of
contemporary national narratives often makes it seem these days like the greatest contributor to the founding of Nigeria
and its development is Awolowo and the Yoruba, when the actual facts speak differently.
The great Ibadan historian, Tekena Tamuno, was unambiguous in stating once at NIPPS, Jos, that “the Igbos are the makers
of moderm Nigeria. When they abandoned their project, Nigeria collapsed.” We must remind Nigerians, particularly Igbo children,
daily of these fact, to achieve what Achebe called ” a balance of stories.” And that also means we must read beyond the surface
of things.
The national library concept originated in the early 1960s, when Dr. Azikiwe was the first indigenous Governor–General in 1960 and later the first President of Nigeria when it achieved republican status in 1963. He helped to ensure that a feasibility study was conducted on the national library by Dr.
Babarinsa’s Guardian essay is angled carefully to maintain a revisionist narrative. And that is to be always challenged, however
innocent it might seem.
Even today, most Yoruba think that Awolowo founded the Universities of Ibadan and Lagos. No one has reminded them that it took
Azikiwe’s pressures for a university for Nigeria, in his meeting with Arthur Richards in 1946, that led to the cobstitution of
the Eliot commision and subsequently the founding of the University College, Ibadan.
This fact is even clearly conveyed in Michael Crowder’s eponymous book, The Story of Nigeria. Nsukka was Azikiwe’s critique of
what he felt to be the conceptual limitations of Ibadan.
Nnamdi Benjamin Azikiwe, PC, usually referred to as “Zik”, was a Nigerian statesman and political leader who served as the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966. Considered a driving force behind the nation’s independence, he came to be known as the “father of Nigerian Nationalism
Tekena Nitonye Tamuno was a Nigerian historian and Vice-chancellor of the University of Ibadan. He was the President of the Board of Trustees of Bells University of Technology
Biafra pound is N368 (Naira) trading currently in West Africa–International currency experts
The University of Lagos was the result of NCNC’s ideological contributions to the federal policy during the ill fated coalition
government with the NPC. UNILAG was an NCNC project, shepherded by Aja Wachukwu as minister for education. Even the great UNILAG
in her 50th anniversary failed to mention Prof Eni Njoku as the pioneer Vice Chancellor of the university, a man that layed the
solid foundation of what made Unilag is today.
These facts must be made known and put as forcefully accross as possible. Again, until the lion tells his own story, the story
of the hunt will belong to the hunter.
(To be continuing)
*GOD BLESS EVERY UNBIASED MIND*
GOD BLESS BIAFRA
GOD BLESS MNOK
