Keynote Address Delivered by Dr. Omakoji Oyiguh
On the occasion of The Great Igala Conversation Summit
Merit House, Abuja
25th November, 2017.
Protocol.
I wish to appreciate the Almighty God for bringing all of us to this great and historic meeting and to appreciate the organizers for considering me to give the keynote address.
I welcome you all great people to this great meeting with the theme Great Igala Conversation.
Once upon a time the Igala people very great and prominent, were the Lords of the Niger- Benue Confluence controlling activities on River Niger downstream almost to the Atlantic Ocean. There is hardly any State in the South East of Nigeria that people of Igala descent are not found. Today Igala still plays an important role in the coronation of the Obi of Onitsha.
In the South-South State of Delta the Itsekiri people do not tell the complete story of their ancestry without reference and linkage to the Igala ethnicity. Having schooled in the then Bendel State myself, I am aware that there is a strong linguistic relationship between the Itsekiri and Igala language.
In the Midwest Nigeria the story is no different as the Ejubeju Ailo mask that adorns the royal regalia of Atta Igala is a symbol of Igala heroic conquest and sovereignty as it were. I am informed by an Edo man that the first Ovierhoba of Benin Kingdom, third in the traditional royal hierarchy was an Igala man.
In the North of Nigeria the Nupe Kingdom of Bida was found by an Igala Prince called Tsoede. Bida for example is said to mean the people from Idah. There is a place in Idah called Ojuwo Atogwu where a prominent Princess from the North of Nigeria who came to test Igala gallantry and source of power met her waterloo. The place has been declared a national monument, yet to be developed. Igala kingdom was neither defeated nor conquered.
In Ghana is a group called the Lingala with very strong linguistic similarity with Igala. Suffice it to say that Igala has a strong linguistic affinity with Yoruba. It is believed that many people addressed as Yoruba people today are actually Igala people who have found themselves in large number in the western part of Nigeria for one reason or the other and assimilated by Yoruba being similar to Igala language.
Late Honorable Daniel Ogbadu, a first Republic Parliamentarian confirmed that Late Atta Ameh Oboni actually placed Igala at par with any other ethnic nationality in the then Northern Nigeria. He said the swarm of bees that once invaded the Northern House of Chiefs, Kaduna on account of a taboo foisted on the gathering knew him as an Igala man”.
In the Constituencies of the Northern Region, Igala had four House of Representative seats out of seven in Kabba Province. For the avoidance of doubt they were Igala North East, Igala North West, Igala East, Igala South, Igbirra, Kabba and Kwara Kaduna.
This generation is contending with the history of Igala exploit, gallantry and greatness but not the experience. As a people it seems that we have become a shadow of our great past. The younger generation may not know where we missed it, but there is need to know. That some others failed before us is no excuse why we must continue in that path. This great conversation of great people is an attempt to glimpse into that great past, tell ourselves the truth of how we have arrived at where we are, forgive ourselves, re-tool, re-strategize and re-plan to place Igala Kingdom on a path of rediscovery that showcases our resilience and elastic ability to recoil to the path of greatness.
Igala land is the most strategic and most productive in Nigeria given to us by God. The problem is not the land, but we the people who live in the land according to Dr Moses Alidu Abu. We have been created and equipped by God to be a blessing to ourselves and the entire Nigerian nation. We can do better.
I am aware that the first leg of this meeting, the Igala Unity Conference held at the Kogi State University, Anyigba, with the theme Igala +20 Development Plan” on the 7-8th July, 2016. Some of the young people of this generation have come to a firm conclusion that the report card of Igala people seen today reflects the activities of the past twenty to thirty years. For the present generation of elders and young people to be able to deliver a better report card to the children that are born today and those yet to be born, and to give a good account of Igala people to the next generation the Great Igala Conversation is imperative.
We are poised to agree on steps to take moving forward and agree on the things we ought to begin to do differently.
The Comrade Akubo Adegbe Committee was put in place to develop a socio-cultural blue print that can be used to hold accountable in a social contract ourselves interse and our leadership on the other. The committee recommended interim consideration of economic and political blueprint for the next twenty years. The committee thought right that once economic and political processes and outcomes become corrected and connected then every other area be it security, health, agriculture, education, technology, creative arts etc, will fall in place.
The economic subcommittee chaired by Professor Aaron Baba developed an interim plan for the establishment of Igala Kingdom Development Fund. The proposed fund is said to “aim at empowering micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in our urban and rural communities using local resources and skills, taking advantage of the economy of scale in the operation through cooperatives and other self help groups”. There are of course so many other broad objectives which are embedded for the benefit of our people.
One philosopher noted that there is no stopping an idea whose time has come. Some great Igala sons in another location working differently have also begun to strategize over same idea enumerated above. Surveyor Isaac Alaji Agbanwu now chairs the Board of Trustees for Igala Kingdom Development Initiative. He doubles to act in capacity of CEO to enable the ground work start immediately pending when the process is mature to take off within the next few months.
This initiative seeks to raise at least one million naira from at least one thousand Igala stakeholders who have love for the people and want to reduce poverty in Igala land and create opportunities and wealth for our population through agriculture, which is our natural endowment. This particular initiative is strictly business so that the fund the stakeholders bring in as investment should yield annual returns to them. Those that have the capacity and the heart of love for the new Igala land are charged to expeditiously support the take off of this initiative.
The political subcommittee on the other hand set up on 23rd October, 2016 headed by Mr J.K Umoru, a retired Permanent Secretary and Chairman, Igala Elders Forum, Lokoja, is to midwife a process crystallizing in a resolve by the Igala people to discuss their political destiny today. This committee has developed a vision statement, to wit to witness the emergence of a united, stable, peaceful and prosperous Igala society firmly anchored on Ujache ideology and the slogan of Udama in a healthy competition for a sustained growth and development in all fields of human endeavor in an ever changing world with thematic areas for consideration.
As the elite group of the Igala nation, this meeting has been brought to your doorstep to enable you have opportunity to make contribution and to develop a road map and what you may wish to call the Igala political marshal plan for the next twenty years. The next stage process can continue in Igala land.
The Igala nation obviously is at the cross road. Where, when, how and why we take any direction we may wish to follow as a people from today, should be anchored on wisdom and understanding of the times, in order to create and innovate the political order that will secure the present and the future of our dream, not only for us, but for our children.
Gentlemen and Ladies, if we are able to deliberately take the road that will take us in unity, love, justice, selflessness and peace to a common destination it will lead to our happiness, satisfaction and pride that we are arriving with the future of our children in mind, then the objective of this conference would have been achieved. We need to hold each others hand to cross the bridge that will lead us into the future.
I charge you the elders and elites of the great Igala kingdom who posterity has summoned to this parley, to demonstrate greatness in the conversation today which outcome will deliver greatness in times ahead for the great Igala people.
I am aware that the Late Atta Ameh Oboni said that Igala people will witness so much unity and development whenever his progeny becomes an Atta. Now is that time. May I therefore welcome you to this great season of unimaginable unity and development for Igala people. A season where whatever we agree and set our hearts and mind to achieve is possible.
I charge you that nobody takes the back seat in this new paradigm because history is always there and prepared to record the acts of those who work hard and contribute towards the greatness of the new Igala kingdom. Posterity will judge according to our works and according to the path we choose to take.
The Igala Project and the process moving forward from this meeting, is no longer about Ojuju Agbadufu Igala, or all of us. It is about the majority of us. All we need is the consent of the critical majority to succeed if we remember that in every community there are Judases and also that in a normal distribution graph there are those found outside the curve. We should allow for the liberty of those who may remain in the cold of their old ways.
This summit should seek to expand the political subcommittee that has supervised the process thus far to include the other socio-cultural groups and some critical stakeholders to be represented on the committee to drive the next level processes which this great conversation will identify to ensure that this program does not end as a talk shop. The key is the cooperation and unity of the socio-cultural groups.
The political process, moving forward can no longer be left in the hands of politicians alone. The politicians should be made to engage the socio-cultural groups and other critical stakeholders who should have a document for a social contract to be wooed by best candidates, to be able to experience the synergy, unity and victory.
This is no time to lament because it does not matter how long and deep we continue to lament, there will never be a second book of lamentation.
Thank you for the audience.
