Sir Chris Okoye is the Chairman, Planning and Strategy Ohanaeze Anambra state chapter. A civil society campaigner, Okoye is deeply involved in making Ohanaeze Anambra an effective institution that would play a more active role in helping this troubled Igbo state regain her pride of place as a beacon of hope in the politics of the region. In this chat he outlines how the group plans to achieve their objectives.
Excerpts:
As Chairman of Planning and Strategy Committee, Ohanaeze, Anambra State chapter, can you tell us what this means and your vision?
I will like to liken the Planning and Strategy Committee as the engine room of a very important machine or ship which if it fails, makes the machine or ship to lose direction. Obviously, the absence of focus or direction ultimately leads to a collapse or sinking of the system. I have been appointed to husband an instrument essentially for refocusing and redirecting Ohanaeze, Anambra State. I feel humbled and privileged to be called upon to be part of an important agency for articulating the strategic initiatives for the re-engineering of Anambra State for sustainable growth and development.
On the aspect of the Ohanaeze vision in Anambra State, it will be pertinent to break up our vision into 6 different components, namely: Firstly, Anambra State has decided to take its destiny in its hands. We have decided we cannot continue to blame outsiders for our failures and the time to ensure that the ball is now placed squarely in the courts of Anambra people has come. What this means is that we are now determined to re-invent the tremendous and unique qualities and resources that have always been associated with the people of Anambra State.
What follows next?
Secondly, one of the things that have eluded our people is the issue of peace, unity and esprit de corps, among our various communities. One is aware that in any environment in which there is no peace, that environment is bound to be saddled with all kinds of hiccups. Absence of peace stifles sustainable growth and development in any society.
So we have a vision of where our people will be wielded together with the maxim, “Anyuko mamili onu ogbo ufufu” and “Igwe bu ike” meaning unity is strength. Consequently, the era of speaking with multiple voices shall be brought to an end, giving way to an era in which we shall pursue the same goals, even though we may approach them from different directions. It will also mark an era in which self-centredness shall be brought to controllable limits.
Thirdly, it is our vision to re-invent the core values that had been associated with the Igbos — those of hard work, excellence, patriotism, honesty, integrity, loyalty, being your brother’s keeper, love and faith in each other etc. It appears that in our mad pursuit for money, power and politics, these core values were abandoned. This is the time to re-invent these values.
Fourthly, we want to re-invent the basic structures that gave Igboland its strength of character.
These can be categorized as town unions, age grades, chieftaincy institutions, etc. These institutions played significant roles in modeling the kind of society we had before the collapse of our values in our larger society. Fifthly, we want to re-invent and reinstate the collectiveness of decision taking in matters that affect the entire society. The Igbo society had always believed in consensus decisions, which was central to the political system they operated .
They believed that people were the key and whatever the people decided became the norm. Accordingly, it is our intention to recreate that symbiotic relationship in which the leadership nurtures the people and the people, in turn, nurture the leadership. The scenario we have just painted is the one that enables the emergence of appropriate leadership in each instance. We also want to put in place socio-cultural and economic empowerment where capacity building takes the center stage. In this, education will be cutting across every strata of the Igbo society.
We shall have all forms of education — in the trades, arts, skills acquisition, formal and informal, adult education, in all fields of human endeavour, etc. We shall strive to get our people into the productive sector of the economy. This means getting them into the mainstream of production rather than the buying — and — selling that has been pre-dominant among the Igbos. There is this determination we have to decisively move our people into industrial production.
Do you have a programme of action to actualise your vision, and may we know what they are?
Obviously we have embarked on a massive programme towards the realization of our vision. The key areas are to put in place the building blocks that will, hopefully, propel this effort. One fundamental thing to be done is to institutionalize the tools that will, hopefully, facilitate the realization of the goals we have set. The key Action Programme which will put in place the building blocks that will, hopefully, husband the concepts we have developed is in the form of establishing institutions that will guide and sustain our action plans.
We shall de-emphasize individuals and rather talk about institutions that will propel the realization of our goals. Recreating the Town Unions which are the basic element of development in Igboland. They were the first NGOs, in short, the Igbo Nation created the first NGOs. These Town Unions built roads, schools, hospitals, and what have you. We have to depend on Town Unions as basic instruments and
