“…Igbos invest heavily in Lagos, deserve to hold some positions…”
By Adejumo David Adebayo
Igbos were even latecomers to Lagos’s non-Yoruba community.
The first census to show an Igbo majority was in 1931, while the Hausa had previously lived in Lagos around 1865, Kanuri around 1880, Edo/Ijaw around 1570 AD, etc.
The value of Igbo investments in Lagos is dwarfed by that of Dangote, Samad, and other Hausa people (This is actually because I don’t want to list all the Yorùbá-owned investments that have been in Lagos for centuries).
The Dangote Refinery and Other Manufacturing Industries will employ thousands of Lagos residents and other Nigerians in their day-to-day operations, helping to feed thousands of families and pay taxes to the governments.Its presence in the corridor will also draw more investors in real estate, manufacturing hubs, etc., which will have a multiplier effect on Lagos’s economy and that of Nigeria.
Will 5×5 Phone and Accessories Shops do that?
Lagos Revenue is largely financed by Pay as You Earn (PAYE), and the majority of Igbos are retail merchants who work primarily in the unorganised/Informal sector of the economy and pay very little in taxes.
The State and Federal Governments of Nigeria receive taxes from corporate entities such as banks, manufacturing industries, service companies, commercial hubs, real estate, limited liability companies, etc., while the so-called “Igbo heavily invest in Lagos..” are primarily “shopping complexes, phone and accessory shops, GiG motors, spare parts, and a large portion of underworld businesses like hard drug pushing, human trafficking, the manufacturing of fake and counterfeit drugs, and others that have not only damaged the country’s reputation but also put the health of Lagos residents and all of Nigeria into danger.
When you see headlines and click on the news link, you are almost always correct in your guesses that it’s one Ikechukwu or Emeka caught.
This raises concerns for the “Prestigious” Igbo sociocultural group, Ohanaeze, whose goal is to improve Igbo culture and society.
However, it has obviously strayed from this goal by concentrating on the unsuccessful conquistador campaign in Lagos, as if Lagos were the Igbo equivalent of Bakhmut (Artemovsk in Russian) or Kalinigrad.
By addressing the persistently negative perceptions of Igbos in South Africa, Indonesia, and more recently, Ghana, Ohaneze Ndigbo will be able to win awards.They may even be able to change the label of “bad immigrant group” that they currently wear with pride.
Well, it’s simple to deal with—just hold the Yorùbá accountable for “damaging the reputation of Igbos in those nations.
“We hope you don’t stop your nightmares because by then, Ohanaeze Ndigbo will boldly say, “We, Ndigbo, Built South-West, Built Yorùbáland…”
No matter how many times it repeats its calculated and incendiary remarks about Lagos, Yorùbá will continue to work to replicate Lagos’s successes in other Yorùbá States like Ondo, Ogun, and others ( We have started already, for those with eyes can see ).
It is regrettable that such a little area—about 29000 square kilometres to the southeast, or the size of Òyó State is being ignored.
How have Yorùbá enslaved Igbos without chains?
They have forced them to disregard their own region and are not patriotic enough to want it to be Lagos, as they fantasise.
Ancestors of the Igbo “Ndi Ofemanu” has taken your children as slaves when they went renegade.
Or is it fate?
Nnamdi Azikwe followed this path as well.
The author is quite depressed.
