IGBO'S AS A BLESSING TO NIGERIA

On the 15th of August 1945, the axis nations fighting in the
Pacific theater defeated imperial Japan and two weeks
later , Japan formally surrendered to allied forces led by
the U.S. General, Douglas McArthur, who formally
accepted the signed articles of surrender.

But though the U.S. defeated Japan, they never decimated

Japan's great technological and industrial complex. They

were visionary enough to distinguish these from Japan's

military industrial complex, which they scrapped.

Realizing that Japan was decades ahead of the West in

many technologies, the allied powers, led by the US,

allowed those industries to remain as a going concern and

took the unique step of enacting legislation and policies to

enable them flourish.

What they did in Japan, they also did in Europe. In Europe,

the US, acting unilaterally, even went a step further by

introducing the Marshall Plan through which America sent

financial and other types of aid to help Europe (and

especially Germany) recover from the ravages of the

Second World War.

The point of the allied and American actions in Japan and

Europe is that technological advancement belongs to the

human race and should not be allowed to suffer because of

a quarrel or war amongst humans.

This lesson was thoroughly established in 642 AD when the

Library of Alexandria was burnt to the ground during the

Muslim conquest of Egypt.

It has been argued that that act set the world several

centuries back in technological advancement and has

become something to watch out for during the prosecution

of a war.

A war is a quarrel between or amongst people that is

settled by means of violence. It is not a quarrel between or

amongst technology, so civilized nations have pursued the

policy of fighting wars while preserving technology.

Gone should be the days of the scorched earth policy

which is why despite the bestiality of the apartheid regime,

President Nelson Mandela did not do a Mugabe, but rather

left intact White owned farms, industry and universities and

only insisted that they be opened to Blacks and other

races.

This brings me to Nigeria. I would like to state a fact that

will be argued against, but still a fact that even those who

would argue against it know to be true.

The Igbo (or Ibo) ethnic nationality of Nigeria are the most

technologically advanced Black race on planet earth, bar

none!

This is a fact. A fact that was proven to be true for 30

months while they were landlocked in their constantly

shrinking enclave known as Biafra.

Cut off from the rest of the world, the ingenuity of the Igbo

came to the fore during the civil war as they constructed

the Uli airstrip and when that airstrip was bombed, they

repaired it in record time and under the most trying

circumstances. They would go on to repair Uli not once

and not twice.

The Igbos refined petrol from a variety of non fossil fuels,

including from but not limited to palm products (from

which they also produced diesel) and manufactured

surface to air missiles which they also adapted to surface

to surface missiles (theOgbunigwe).

They converted commercial planes to fighter jets and

weaponized them. That was no mean feat in 1967.

In fact, when in 2012, the Nigerian Army rolled out the

igirigi and promoted it as the first indigenous armored

personnel carrier, they were wrong. I am not a Biafran. I

am proudly Nigerian. And beyond that, I am a proud dark

skinned Black African yet I make bold to say that the igirigi

is not the first indigenous APC.

In fact, the first indigenous armored personnel carrier in

Black Africa is the Red Devil, built by the Igbos during the

Nigerian Civil War.

The Nigerian Civil War ended in January 1970 and the

Nigerian Army unveiled theigirigi in July of 2012. If they

had converted the Red Devil to their own use, they would

probably be talking about a greater feat in the year 2012.

My question is what happened in the intervening 42 years

between 1970 and 2012? Why didn't the Nigerian Army

integrate the military industrial complex of Biafra into its

Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria, DICON?

Why did we have to reinvent the wheel at great cost in

terms of time and money?

The Nigerian Civil War ended on a note of 'no victor no

vanquished'. That was a watershed moment inspired by

the Christlike mind of General Yakubu Gowon. That gesture

is to be applauded.

But why did we as a nation not go the whole hog and take

advantage of Biafra's technological advances and

integrate her scientists into our Research and Development

sector much like the US did with German and Japanese

scientists?

That is where we failed as a nation.

I remember growing up as a child and how other Nigerians

scoffed at 'Igbo made' electronic products. There was

hardly anything including electronics, pharmaceuticals,

spirits and wines that the Igbos could not counterfeit.

And rather than our leaders seeing the potential in those

products, we all scoffed at them. Igbo made products were

a pariah.

Did it ever occur to any of our leaders that if government

had supported these technological advancement, Nigeria

could have become an industrialized nation today and Igbo

made products would have been exported abroad as made

in Nigeria products?

It would surprise many that a number of the greatest

technological advancement and products that came out of

America after the Second World War were the work of

German or Japanese scientists!

In an operation code named Operation Paperclip, 1500

German scientists, engineers and technicians were airlifted

to the United States and given US permanent US residency

and citizenship immediately after the defeat of Germany in

1945. The primary aim of Operation Paperclip was to

prevent these skilled men and women from falling into

Soviet Russian hands.

Hans Erich (Eric) Hollmann who was one of the fathers of

radar technology was one of such scientists airlifted to

America.

Kurt Lehovec the pioneer of the integrated circuit systems

in electrical engineering is another. He was airlifted to

America in 1945 where he became a Professor at the

University of Southern California and passed on his

knowledge to America's next generation of scientists.

The allies had been having issues with the jet engine and

were not able to develop planes like the German

Messerschmitt Me 262. But after the defeat of Germany,

US forces gave safe passage to Rudi Beichel who went to

the US and became an adviser to the US army on liquid

propulsion. Other German scientists such as Magnus

"Mac" Freiherr von Braun and his brother, Wernher Von

Braun helped reverse engineer German jets which led to

the development of the US American F-86 Sabres, a plane

that helped the US dominate the air during the Korean War.

More importantly, Wernher Von Braun provided much of

the know how that helped America build the Apollo

spacecraft which allowed America beat Russia as the first

nation to get to the moon.

Methamphetamine was invented by Japanese a Japanese

chemist, Nagai Nagayoshi and the drug was shared with

their German allies and helped their soldiers stay awake

and focus. After the war, German scientists helped

American scientist synthesize the drug which

revolutionized the US health industry.

Why can't we do the same in Nigeria? Can you imagine

what our technological base would have been if we as a

nation had a policy of patronizing the so called Igbo made

products right from the end of the war till today? What if

we had absorbed the the Research and Production

Organisation of Biafra (RAP as it was then known) into the

Nigerian Army Corps of Engineers?

By now, we may have been manufacturing jets and we

would not be dependent on foreign nations for weapons to

fight terrorists.

This is why I was so disgusted with the minister of science

and technology, Ogbonnaya Onu for aspiring, on Nigeria's

behalf, to produce pencils by 2018!

I mean this man is the first civilian governor of the old Abia

state which today encompasses both Abia and Ebonyi

states.

Right there, under his own nose, Nigerians of Igbo

extraction, without ANY governmental support, are

manufacturing electronics and heavy machinery

components and Onu is caught up on pencils!

Onu should visit Nnewi if he knows where it is. Right there

he would see a city that does not wait for government.

Nnewi people are so industrious that after years of waiting

endlessly for government to provide basic amenities, they

have built their own roads, have their own power stations

and their own water works.

Just like Japan, Nnewi has manufacturers of such things

like batteries, pistons, automobiles and other products.

These Nnewi manufacturers have built schools for the kids

of their workers on site, just like in Japan.

You just need to visit Nnewi or Aba to see what is going on

in Nigeria. These guys are Nigeria's most guarded secret

because even the federal government is not aware of

them.

And the reason why this is so is because these people are

Igbos!

It is time for Nigeria to forgive the Igbos for being Igbo and

accept them as full partners and equal partners in the

Nigerian project and use the entire strength of the Nigerian

federal government to provide them the support to fulfill

their destiny as the Black African people that are nucleus

of the technological advancement of Africa.

Notice I say Africa, not just Nigeria. I don't say this lightly.

All over West and Central Africa, Nigerians of Igbo

extraction are the backbone of the commercial and

technological sectors.

I can say what I have said above without any accusation

of self or group interest promotion because I am not Igbo

neither am I married to one. I have said the truth as my

conscience sees it because I am committed to

advancement of the Black Race because as a proud Black

man, I know that no black African tribe is as great as the

Black Race when it is united.

source: vanguard