An activist and youth leader, Comrade Bright Ezeocha, is the immediate past President, Igbo Youth Congress, IPC, and one-time, Caretaker Committee member, Oru-West Local Government Area of Imo State. Currently, he supervises Young Igbo Empowerment Foundation as Executive Director.
In this interview with The Nigeria Xpress in Lagos, the youth leader asserted that, it would be disrespectful to the host communities for an Igbo man to aspire to the office of the governor either in Lagos or in other states of the South-West.
He scored President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term in office low, just as he suggests what he should do in his second term to succeed.
By Razaq Bamidele
hat are the objectives of the Young Igbo Empowerment Foundation?
It is also as that of the Igbo Youth Congress, IYC. We are trying to reposition Igbo youth to a place that would enhance meaningful development to Igbo land by engaging them in things that would be very productive. We are trying to take idle hands out of crime and empower them out of little resources we can gather here and there to do something legitimate. We started the Foundation two years ago.
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How far have you gone with the project?
Up till now, we have been able to empower up to 100 youths. Some of them were empowered with N50,000, some with N100,000, while some with N250,000, depending on the trade and business they want to embark upon. It is a revolving loan re-payable within two years, three years or even eight years depending again on the kind of business they put the money into. We don’t want them to pay back quickly and become idle again. We want them to be fully established before starting to pay back.
Most of them are into buying and selling. We discovered thst some of them have energy to trade but their problem is lack of capital. So, they need help. As little as N20,000, you will be surprised that some of them are doing wonderfully in their chosen careers like fashion designing, barbing, hair dressing, shoe cobbling, vulcanising and the likes. We are trying to introduce machines to make block moulding and brick laying jobs easier for them.
Some of them have gone into food processing business, which is a fast business at the bus stops.
Does the Foundation have political undertone?
No, there is nothing like that. I have opted out of politics long time ago. But I don’t know what the future holds for me. I believe if my people need me and they come for me, I will be very willing to serve them in any capacity they want. I don’t believe in lording or imposing myself on the people. If they need me and invite me, I will not deny them the opportunity to serve them.
When I served the last time, it was through an appointment. I never lobbied for it. I just woke up one day to hear my name announced on the radio for Caretaker Committee of my Oru West Local Government in Imo State. And I think I tried my best.
In your estimation, do you think Igbo in Lagos have the numerical strength to win a governorship contest in the state?
If the population of Lagos generally is truly 40 million, I can assure you that Igbo population would be 20 million. Our population is very high in Lagos.
But I don’t want to talk about Igbo contesting governorship position in Lagos State. You know why? If it pleases the South-West, our very accommodating hosts to choose one of us to be the next governor of the state, we will gladly accept the offer. But we don’t need to force ourselves on our hosts.
Although in civilised societies all over the world, wherever you find yourself becomes your home. But it is not yet an ideal in Nigeria. In Nigeria, we must also realise that there is ethnic colouration, religious colouration and so on in anything we do. So, what you feel is not possible in your area, don’t try to lord it over other people in their own areas.
If I look at the population as I have told you, I may in the nearest future want to aspire to be governor of Lagos State. But I won’t do that. Do you know why I would not want to? It is because I respect my host community. We enjoy a level of peace in South-West, which is not so in other regions. If for instance, I belongs to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, in Lagos and if by my being super active, one day the leadership of the party says, look, we want to give an Ibo man a trial and they call upon me to come over, I will. But I could not lord it on my hosts because I view that as being disrespectful and to me, not acceptable. As things are in Nigeria today where ethnicity plays major and frontal roles in decision making, we are not yet ripe for such.
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How can you score President Muhammadu Buhari’s first time in office and what do you expect from him in his second term?
That is a very big question. If you ask me to score Buhari via his first term, I will score him low. And from his own recent comment, he appears to have realised that he was a failure in his first term. Why do I say so? His comment that he will do better during his last lap than his performance in the first tenure means, to me, an admittance of failure. He knew he did not do well.
So, I expect him, this time to change the situation of things in the country, especially in the area of security. You and I know that there cannot be meaningful development anywhere in Nigeria where people are not, at lease, 95 per cent secure. Even, the investors we are talking about would not come to Nigeria because anywhere you want to put your money must be secured. Nobody invests where his money would go down the drain and his staff either killed or kidnapped. I expect him to take the issue of security very seriously this second term.
On the issue of local government autonomy and the idea of state and local government police, it is a good step towards the right direction. If it is only these he is able to achieve in the next four years, people would respect him more. He should therefore expedite actions to get the structures on ground in the next three months. It is common knowledge that, only Lagos Police that can secure Lagos properly just as only Kano Police, Rivers Police and Edo Police that can effectively police their respective states.
Then on power, when APC was in the opposition, there was this assertion that when they get to power, they would hit the ground running and within six months, Nigeria would get 24/7 non-interrupted power supply. The question now is what is holding them back after four years? Is it that the cabal that controls the power sector is more powerful than the government? Nigerians want the government to improve the power situation because of its ripple effect on the economy.
On the rail project, if it can cut through all the local governments in the country, the economy will pick up because products from every nook and corner of the states would find easier ways to the market.
The health sector is also embarrassing. I keep on asking myself, what is there in London hospitals that we cannot replicate in Aso Villa hospital. The resources are there to make it possible so that our leaders would stop going abroad for treatment.
What is your take on the declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day by President Buhari?
Recognition of the date as Democracy Day is a laudable achievement of the Buhari administration. For several years after the demise of the principal of June 12, Bashorun MKO Abiola, we activists always gather to celebrate the day because we all believe in it. June 12 symbolises unity because it was the day all Nigerians spoke with one voice irrespective of our ethnicity, religion, culture and tradition.
The typical day as a reference point of unity was June 12 when Nigerians saw no big deal in Muslim/Muslim ticket. People saw rays of hope in Abiola for a better Nigeria and everybody voted for him. So, President Buhari should be commended for the feat of bringing back the date and recognising it as the authentic Democracy Day.
Also, somebody like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu deserves commendation as the real pillar of June 12. Since 1993, he has not relented in keeping the day alive.
However, having declared the day Democracy Day, we should design a way of discarding May 29 as handing over date. I expected President Buhari to have handed over to the Senate President on May 29 and take his oath of office on June 12. May 29 has to be discarded completely.
