Igbo were not prepared for Biafra -- Metuh

By Ajibola Abayomi, Daily Independent



National Vice Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), South East, Olisa Metuh, believes the realisation of Igbo presidency is not far-fetched. In this interview with Acting News Editor , Saturday, Ajibola Abayomi, he speaks on issues affecting the growth of PDP in the region. He also speaks on other salient issues.


nite With the indifferences within the South East over the National Assembly (NASS) leadership zoning, do you not think this may igcrises within the PDP in the region soon?

The leadership of the party that cuts across the country, within the rank and file of our party, is talking; elected legislators too would have their say. At the end of the day, we would come up with something that is best for the country and the party. Controversial views are necessary for democratic development. Yes, some are not happy about what they assume about the NASS zoning order, but we would resolve whatever it is at the end of the day in the interest of our party and the country.

Are you not bothered that some Igbo leaders like former Governor of Anambra State, Emeka Ezeife, are beginning to call on the people to dump the PDP for another party in their own interest?

Chief Ezeife has never been a member of PDP. I am not saying he cannot comment on issues as a citizen of this country, but it is not for him to tell PDP what to do in its own affairs. When we have differences in the party, we have a channel of communication of reaching out to our leaders. We can table our matter before the President as a party man or the acting national chairman of the party. I am not bothered about people making comments to gain relevance; after all, the Igbo were led to Biafra. We were not prepared for it. Check for yourself, whether the reason for that was wrong or right. A discussion with leadership of the party is much more rewarding than to be crying wolf. Through that approach, we can negotiate or agree on several things.

Other concerned Igbo have criticised those who claimed to be the eye of the zone in PDP. Frankly, would you say you people have let down the South East zone in the party’s sharing formula?

I don’t want to make any categorical comment on this for now. Recently, I attended a meeting with South East governors and we are already making some moves that would be rewarding. I want to keep that to myself for now. So far, I am impressed with the way the governors are handling the matter, whether they negotiated before they gave their support to the President is a matter for discussion for another day.

Going by the way PDP in the South East lost some of the seats it won during the 2003 elections, don’t you think that the opposition was right to have accused your party of rigging?

In 2003, the PDP won virtually all seats in the South East including that of the governors. The trend did not really change during the last election. The only thing was that we lost the governorship election in Imo State. Again, if you recall, we didn’t win that in 2007. Right now we have over 85 per cent of the elective seats in our zone. What else do we want? We are on course; in Imo State, we are in the majority in the House of Assembly and in Anambra we also have a good showing, which in any case have now silenced those who think we have been rigging elections in that state. We are leading other parties with wide margin with the number of seats we have won so far.

Talking about the national chairman of PDP, why is that even among the governors, there were divisions as to whether the zone should have it?

The truth is that when the last national chairman of the party resigned the feeling was that another person should be nominated from the South East but for some reasons our leaders never bothered about that. Nature does abhor vacuum, the constitution of the party allows for the deputy chairman to become acting chairman and he has been performing creditably well. The party is moving and whenever the leaders decide to have a national convention another chairman would emerge. Apart from the leadership of the party, there are lots of things that are bothering our people in the South East that we must articulate in our own interest. For instance, the position of permanent secretary has been eluding our people. Apart from the ministry of transport and labour, the other sectors numbering about 13 have no Igbo representation. When you even rank these sectors in whatever category, our people are not in any of the leading ones. We shall make a strong case for that. Our people have been constantly denied opportunity to grow in the civil service. Other zones have six states and we have five states. People from other zones have been heading several ministries while our people have been denied clear opportunities. We would no longer close our eyes to that. In Abuja for instance, what is bad if an Igbo man becomes the minister of the Federal Capital Territory? Our people have contributed about 70 per cent of the total development in the city. We have the worst road network in the entire country when you take a sample of federal roads. Let them give us minister of works and see maybe that road would not be repaired. The Enugu-Onitsha road is the worst I have ever seen. Something must be done to correct all these. In terms of erosion, our people are seriously affected. What is bad to have minister of environment from the East?

Your agitations bother on the impact of the Federal Government in the South East and your party has been in power at the centre since 1999, is that not a failure on the part of the PDP not to have met the infrastructure demand and the call for equal representation at the federal cabinet?

It is not a failure. It is a neglect of the zone because these issues have been highlighted several times, even before I became the national vice chairman of PDP in the South East. I also championed this cause when I was a youth leader of PDP. All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and several Igbo groups have also agitated for these including former governors. So, we have been neglected.

So who is to be blamed for the neglect, is it Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) or which party?

I won’t say that PDP as a party has neglected the South East but I can say it over and over again that the South East has not been treated well. We are beyond the issue of House of Representatives Speaker. What we are asking for is beyond that. We are bothered about equal representation and equitable distribution of national wealth.

But you are not going to table the agitation of your people before the government of the ACN or Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). If you can’t get anything for your people under the PDP, where else do you want to go?


The PDP has never failed the people of the South East but has failed to have a role in governance. The truth is that for the past 12 years the party has never had a position on governance in the country. The past Federal Government failed to have a clear role in governance. All you hear was that the politicians should not have a role in governance. They were saying the parties should concern themselves with organising congresses and settling disputes. The new leadership of PDP is now canvassing for the participation of professionals and party men in governance by charting a new course for the nation.

To what extend have you engaged the governors of the South East in ensuring that the dividends of democracy are provided for the people to start with at home?

In 2008, good politicians and the governors of PDP in the South East ensured that I was elected as national vice chairman of PDP. I would ever remain grateful to them for that honour. The issue of my influence over them as national vice chairman has been minimised. In 2010, I assisted the President to win the party’s primaries as well as all the governors in the South East. We were there for them during the planning of their election campaigns and manifestoes and we mobilised resources for them, so whatever favour they have done for me, we have repaid them. We also assisted our candidates who vied for House of Assembly and National Assembly polls. So now is the time to start the business of working for our people in ensuring that the dividends of democracy get to them. The most important thing for us is to swing into action within the first two or three months because if we fail to plan with them within the first one year in office, we may never have control over them.

There have been controversies as to what the South East PDP leaders negotiated with President Goodluck Jonathan before leading the people to endorse him. What did you demand from the President on behalf of the people?

I was never involved. The governors and Ohanaeze Ndigbo were involved in that. When I challenged the governors that they have not been carrying the leadership of the party along all through the negotiation with the President they apologised and promised to involve everybody and since then we have resoled to work together on that.

How long do you think the Igbo can wait to actualise the dream of producing an elected president?

When the environment is right and when our people understand what leadership is all about. For now, our people do not understand what leadership is all about. God appoints and gives leaders to the people based on what they deserve. It would happen when our people stop infighting, work together and be united as we are doing right now. Then God would smile on us and say this is the time to produce the president of the country. We don’t want to produce a president that would be stopped by court injunction from performing his duty. Our people are becoming more matured and exposed about political happenings now. Maybe now God will continue to consider us but God was right in the past.

It is said in some quarters that the Igbo have settled for the post of vice president come 2015. How true is it?

We are focused now with what we shall get from the current dispensation under President Goodluck Jonathan. Our approach is that we don’t bother him too much such that he would be distracted from performing his duties as president. If you help to produce somebody and he gets elected as President, you should not bother him too much. If you elect a man in Jonathan’s posture, all you need is to trust him and allow him to work. If there are things to discuss or negotiate with him, then we will do that diligently by involving all those that matter.

Nwabueze On A Nigerian Revolution

DAILY INDEPENDENT

Just how acute and unbearable the deficits in our national circumstances have become was driven home recently when Ben Nwabueze, erudite scholar and professor of constitutional law, called for a bloody revolution in Nigeria. It was on Wednesday July 7 on the occasion of the public presentation of his book, Colonialism in Africa: Ancient and Modern, published in two volumes. But he was instantly opposed by his colleague on the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC), Lt.-General Theophilus Danjuma, who disagreed with him on the way out of Nigeria’s political and economic quagmire. Alarmed at the unspeakable rate of corruption in the Nigerian system, Nwabueze, an elder statesman and pioneer Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, and also a leading member of The Patriots, a group of eminent Nigerians crusading for enduring change in the country, insisted that only a bloody revolution could halt the decadence in governance.

He expressed shock at what he called “the looting spree” at the National Assembly, “where lawmakers vote billions of naira to themselves while those who voted them into the House live in abject poverty”. According to him, “people who were voted to serve the country go there to loot – you need to know what we (members of PAC) now know.” Announcing that the deterioration in the state of affairs is such that the country has been listed among 11 failed states in Africa and 17 failed states in the world, Prof. Nwabueze argued that only a violent revolution like that of France in 1789 could salvage Nigeria. “I don’t believe in small changes,” he said. “We have had ad hoc arrangements; Nigeria needs a revolutionary change and it has to be bloody. Those who survive it will pick up the pieces. I cannot see Nigeria survive any other way.” Radical words from an old man!

For his part, Danjuma, who chaired the occasion, countered that a transformational leadership, not a revolution, was the best solution.

A retired Army general, who recently declared publicly that he had made over one billion U.S. dollars from an oil well allocated to him which he didn’t know how to spend, Danjuma said: ‘A revolution devours its scions; it knows no friends or enemies; it is an exceedingly dangerous means of transformation. I am an optimist; I believe that one right man in a position of authority can transform the entire country. We have not been lucky to have such a man, but we shall muddle through.”

This is really no joking matter. For somebody of Nwabueze’s calibre, and in the evening of his years, to make such a statement in public, we believe the nation may be truly in injury time. The Nigerian system is already bursting at the seams. Nwabueze’s point, it seems, is that the political class is recolonising Nigeria, and we can no longer muddle through. Radical or alarming as his views may appear, we think he deserves commendation for his courage and candour.

Extreme frustration with Nigeria’s chronic systemic crises, and the seeming hopelessness of the situation, must be compelling true patriots such as Nwabueze to openly express their grave anxieties. It is a danger sign.

Government has done practically little, from 1999 to date, to address critical issues like infrastructural failure, degeneration of public insecurity and endemic corruption and impunity in the political class – thus creating a strangulating environment for citizens and corporate bodies to engage in productive work in a fiercely competitive global order. That Nigeria, with proven gas reserves of 192 trillion standard cubic feet and other generous endowments in crude oil, coal, water, wind, solar and other natural resources, including foreign reserves in excess of S50 billion, cannot generate enough electricity to drive economic growth is an intolerable disgrace. And it exposes the ruling class—at the federal, state and local council levels –as unproductive and a liability to the country. Just like electricity, water supply too, is lacking in all parts of the country, with less than five per cent of our population enjoying access to safe drinking water. Top government functionaries have been very unhelpful when they indulge in unremitting sloganeering or willingly play down the gravity of the crises confronting the nation.

Nwabueze reportedly spoke of what he “now knows” as a PAC member that the people don’t know. He may care to share this knowledge with the longsuffering citizens. We believe, however, that Nigerians already know more than enough. Just how much longer the Nigerian governing elite will persist in willful misgovernance and perversion of democratic norms remains uncertain. But one thing is sure: disenchantment has peaked among the people of this country and the clouds are thickening. Since 1999, Nigerians have unequivocally expressed their resentment at the several anti-people policies and, especially, the criminal manipulation of the electoral process, which undermines the capacity of citizens to effectively influence political developments and the quality of governance through the ballot box. To say, therefore, as some argue, that Nigeria, despite its flaws, is better than some war-torn countries only begs the issue.

If political unrest, turmoil, violence, conflicts and dislocations are the criteria that qualify citizens of a given country to seek asylum elsewhere, as Nigerians now do in large numbers all over the world, then there is already an ongoing revolution in the land. It is shameful that more than eleven years into a civil democratic dispensation, things are so bad that many Nigerians are desperate to abandon their fatherland even in preference for some less endowed countries. What is apparent is that Nigerians have lost faith in the capacity of their government to create an enabling environment for worthwhile engagement in productive activities and self-advancement. Due largely to leadership failure, it is understandable that Nigerians now crave change, either in the personnel constituting government or in the direction of policies, state priorities and resource management. The frustrations and bitterness occasioned by the mismanagement of over N37 trillion of the nation’s wealth generated between 1999 and 2007, leaving about 80 per cent of the population in abject poverty, cannot be cheering to Nigerians.

Emphasis On First Son: Still Worth It?

By Dr. Chuks Osuji, Daily Independent

In February 13, 1976, in Dallas Texas, a group of Igbo ethnic stock gathered in my room for a kind of get-together when a telephone call came from Nigeria. It was indeed a bad call, as the caller told me that our Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed, had been assassinated. What was more intriguing was the other aspect of the message; that he had already been buried in Kano. When I broke the news to my fellow Igbo, they were equally shocked. But they could not agree on one thing: whether it was proper to have buried such a Head of State so fast without giving other leaders from other African countries and beyond opportunity to attend his burial. The same thing happened in 1998 when Sani Abacha died and recently when Umaru Yar’Adua died.

In fact, from the first incident, the death and prompt burial of Mohammed, I have been saddled with the rationale of that Islamic injunction of burying every Muslim without any funfair. For quite sometime now, I have come irrevocably to the conclusion that, it is the best way to bid farewell to the departed and not by subjecting the living to untold hardship of getting ourselves involved in “brass-banding” and other orchestrated and unrealistic considerations.

Then I asked myself, what of my culture which puts a lot of burden on the living? This has further led me to begin to reflect on so many aspects of my people’s culture, which places a lot of emphasis on the cultural and traditional roles on the concept of first son as very inevitable in the maintenance of the family lineage.

Although as a solid Christian, I believe in the supremacy of the Almighty God, and Christ as the head of faith, I have undiluted belief in my people’s culture, which does not infringe on my Christian beliefs. Yet, within this general belief, I abhor some of the imported behaviours, particularly those that have come to downgrade our cultures and tend to regard them as idolatry and primitive. However, if in any given issue, there is a conflict between my religious obligation and my culture, I will rather defend my culture because my culture is under constant threat, but Christianity is ever gaining ground and is not under threat, except by the wave and influx of so-called “new generation prosperity evangelical pulpit magicians”.

There is one aspect of my culture which has constantly agitated my mind for which we, the entire Igbo ethnic nationality and others, such as non-Christian Yoruba, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhbo, Efik, Ibibio in Nigeria, can go to any length in search of a son among their children for one principal reason: to ensure the existence of the family lineage.

Today, having travelled far and wide and with experiences gathered so far, I realised that this issue of the concept of first son headache is more acute and entrenched among Nigerians than other cultures particularly outside Africa.

Added to this is the pivotal role ascribed to the first son in every family matter. Every father places very high premium on his first son. Even his wife too, although she may sometimes behave as if she has her choice heavily weighed towards her first daughter, once the issue of lineage and inheritance comes in focus, she will instantly recoil.

Today, in Igbo ethnic nationality, any man without a son is not a happy man at all. Even if you ask him the commonest greetings among our people “how are you?” although he is likely to reply “it is all well”, it will be preceded with an inaudible sigh. Why must it be so? On the other hand, if we see a man with several male children without a female child, he would in all probability be boasting that “I have special favour from my maker”. His wife may, inside her, be worried somehow, perhaps for social and economic reasons, such a situation may not cause her loss of sleep. But a man without a male child can do anything under the planet to get one. He may marry another wife. To do this, he may tactically chase out the first ‘helpless’ wife or reduce her to the status of senior housemaid.

Unfortunately, as it often happens, once the new wife comes in, the first may deliver a male child if she is still enjoying the favour of her husband. Otherwise she has done what she has not been able to do in the past for keeping faith in her marriage. And the husband will have neither the conscience nor the strength to ask her “what happened?” If she is chased out of the marriage and has only female children, in future, she may be brought back by her daughters, particularly when they begin to have financial influence in the family. And their father and his new wife become dependent on his daughters, who can now be deciding vital issues in the family? What is more unfortunate is that if the woman chased away is still within marriageable and productive age, if she remarries, she is likely to become a quasi-industry of procreation of children, males and females. Because she has been liberated from an ignorant and culturally imprisoned man, ignorant husband who does not know that sex selection depends more on the man than the woman, in Biology.

Fortunately, daughters in many families in Igbo ethnic nationality have become not only breadwinners for their families, but lifelines also.

Today, due to opportunities of migration, particularly to America, Europe and Asia, many daughters have either travelled out with their husbands or made fortunes under their husbands, or independently. With such opportunities today, many Igbo families have seen success through the efforts of their first daughters.

While they are in far away countries with their husbands, or on their own, and while desirous to build their nuclear family in their husbands’ homes, they could not forget their roots.

In fact, while many of today’s first sons have gone with the wind and virtually become a lost generation, first daughters in the Diaspora and at their biological environment, have not forgotten to take care of their ageing parents. In fact, it is an incontestable fact, within Igbo ethnic nationality, that many parents, ageing ones, would not attain mature age without the support of their first daughters, wherever they may be. First sons care less and think not of home, even when they are around. They rarely visit their parents let alone take care of them. Even if either of them dies, they are likely to depend on their sisters to bring money for the burial, and sometimes make fortunes out of the burial of their parents from their brothers-in-law. Sad again. These are some of the reasons that have persuaded me to have a rethink about some of our cultural emphasis on the concept and roles of first sons. No doubt, many will disagree with me. Fine, but I am sure that a few will stop for a moment to think about this. That is the essence of education and enlightenment.

In conclusion, I want to make it absolutely clear that I am not against our cultural and traditional patterns and settings. What I am advocating here is for us to begin to appreciate the fact that in many nuclear families in those nationalities in the southern part of Nigeria, evidence abounds of the impact of daughters on their biological homes; and correspondingly, the lack of impact by some sons, particularly first sons. Quite a number of them in the Diaspora, particularly those in the U.S. and in Europe, have been deceived by western cultures in several behaviours. Marriage, which is the crux of our family growth and the growth of a nation, has been reduced to a casual matter. Training of kids and bringing them in the way of perceived cultural norms and traditional practices have been neglected.

In other aspects of our cultural set-up, as already alluded, the issue of maintaining an unbroken chain of linkage with our ageing parents has been eroded by the influence of other cultures. Although we may assert economic pressures and other mundane reasons, the well-known tradition of extended family system has virtually evaporated. It is a matter of fact that more of us with good qualifications, higher education and top level employments and appointments were beneficiaries of extended family system within Igbo ethnic nationality. These days, instead of practising extended family system, we are practising disintegrated family system. It is a matter of, “to your tents Oh Israel.” This is not the way it should be.

I strongly posit that our marriage must be strengthened. The roles of first sons must be de-emphasised and equal weight be given to our first daughters because modern civilisation has given them equal opportunity to contribute to the success of their biological families. Parents, wherever they may be found, must ensure that they do not forget their roots. And once they do this, their children will not forget such roots and the rising wave of lost generation could be reversed and reversed for the better.

As South East Governors Unite…

By Nnedi Ogaziechi, Daily Independent

“Coming together is a beginning

keeping together is progress

working together is success”

- Henry Ford



For once in a very long time, the South East Governors of Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Imo and Ebonyi put behind them the negative politicking that has kept the zone down for a while now as they collectively gathered in the ancient city of Enugu for the reception of the new Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman, Okwesilieze Nwodo. Despite the divisionist antagonisms of hangers on, the two (outsider) Governors (by virtue of their belonging to a different political party), Peter Obi of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and his new colleague, Theodore Orji of Abia defied all odds to attend.

The South East geopolitical zone has had the bad fortune of underdevelopment since the end of the civil war about four decades ago. For so long, the zone has cried out about the neglect it has had to endure from the Federal government for both infrastructural and human developmental stagnation. To a large extent, some politicians from the zone (undoubtedly those that arrived after the Ziks, the Oparas, the Akanu Ibiams etc.) have been at the engine room of this mischief as they had consistently placed self over communal good.

The setting aside of egos (and men do politicians have huge egos!), party sentiments and the obtrusive pull-him-down syndrome might just be the tonic the zone needs to kick-start a regional rejuvenation. For too long, the ‘marginalisation’ mantra has been dangled across the world. It is time indigenes reinvigorate the ‘igwe bu ike’ (there’s strength in unity) of Ndigbo. Let’s not continue with the illusion that having some positive regional parapoism is anti-national integration. Charity, as they say, begins at home.

It is good that the respective governors are realising that party affiliation cannot be divorced from the democratic obligation to the greater number. For long, selfish individuals whose personal and professional pedigrees are monumentally questionable have held the zone by the jugular and have severally betrayed the voiceless number in the South East.

There have been individuals who seizing the rare opportunity of political visibility had colluded with dubious individuals from other regions to shortchange Ndigbo while reveling in their assumed popularity as ‘ Abuja ’ politicians. These are individuals who pride themselves in the vanity of being ‘known’ to the so-called ‘ Abuja ’ political big men. Their stock in trade is generally the destabilisation of the zone and priding themselves as the only cocks that crow in the region. Their myopic perception does not give them the advantage of the bigger picture.

The sad part of their activities is that they were almost succeeding in labeling the people of the South East the most disorganised set of Nigerians. Because these individuals usually lack the requisite intellect and character needed to galvanise and serve the people, they hide in far away Abuja and grandstand about oftentimes-illusory ‘leadership’ and put in so much effort at destabilising the home front when they feel their ‘relevance’ is threatened. They are the ones whose stock in trade is causing the most ignominious political and electoral confusions in their effort to remain relevant.

The Peoples Democratic Party has been notorious since 1999 for making false promises for the economic rejuvenation of the South East with our so-called sons and daughters in the party being prime cheerleaders. It is hoped that the Nwodo leadership of the party would open a new vista for the people irrespective of party affiliations.

Equally gratifying is his recognition of the redemptive role he is expected to play as the chairman of the biggest political party on the African continent. It is good that he is very aware of the kind of image his party has in the country. Coming from a zone notorious for political brigandage (remember the Mbadinuju-Ngige-Obi-Etiaba-Obi debacle in Anambra, the ebeano hooliganism in his home state, Enugu, the 2006 PDP-money primaries in Imo State etc.) the whole world expects the new chairman to clean up the mess.

According to Nwodo at the reception, “let the message be sent that we have come to a stage where we look at merit, where we look at dignity, not a time where leadership is based on tribe or religion.” Hopefully coming to the table with a fair sense of purpose and a solid professional and political history, Nwodo would remember the saying that to whom much is given much is required. Having made a pledge before the people and being a core Igbo son, one only hopes he won’t go the way of his predecessors.

The Governors of the five states that make up the zone must be given credit for taking the bold step of teamwork to rescue a zone that is almost at the edge of the precipice. Economically, the zone is at its worst. Socially, the admirable social cohesion and cultural ethos of the people have been on a downward spiral. The crime rate is amazing and the male population is largely illiterate as there is too much apathy for education. No people without modern education can comfortably key into a modern economy that is technology driven.

The interdependence of the five states whether the Governors acknowledge it or not makes one state’s problem a problem of the rest. Playing the Ostrich in the name of ‘different party’ sentiments can only be like cutting one’s nose to spite the face. Let the normal communal spirit of Ndigbo that has been renewed at the reception be kept alive for the good of all. Any advice to the contrary must be seen as coming from the usual enemies of progress.

As the new PDP Chairman promised, let the next leaders be people of unquestionable moral pedigree who have development at the heart and not those who seek political office as a means of livelihood or a means to launder a dirty image built over the years. The umunna system of electing family heads ought to be the guiding principle. Here, family pedigree, character, professional achievement and integrity are the watchwords. Leadership to the Igbos has never been about naira and kobo. The deviation from the noble and core values of the Igbos is what has kept the zone down for so long.

The governors have seemingly put the hands of development on the plough and there should be no looking back. They must see themselves as trailblazers and jettison any advice to do the contrary because definitely those who feel they would lose out if there is no chaos would fight back for the status quo to remain. They should realise that political parties are just a means to an end and not an end in themselves. The people is the reason for the party in the first place

Women In Politics, What Lessons?

Penultimate week, some female politicians had a rally at Eagle square in Abuja. Speaker after speaker wanted the males to actualise the promise of a thirty per cent slot for the womenfolk or even better, a bigger percentage. Prominent in the crowd were women who are already playing some roles at both the executive and legislative arms of government.

Looking at their radiant faces, one could not but ask how far a majority of these women has used their positions to uplift fellow women who are unarguably the ones who bear the brunt of bad leadership? How far has their conduct made them admirable role models to the younger women? What contributions have they made to advance the education of the girl child? How many have their female home helps in school? How far have they campaigned against child marriage, maternal and child mortality? The future is for the educated. Methinks the campaign skews unfavourably in favour of the status quo. Women being majority of the voters have the power to put more women in power. Really, the men are too enamoured by their ‘success’ to bend to pleas. Education for women is the key.

Igboland: When Did Things Really Begin To Fall Apart?

By Jideofor Adibe, Daily Independent

That the level of insecurity in Igboland has reached unacceptable level is no longer news. In virtually all parts of South East, daily reports of kidnapping, armed robberies and ritual murders have morphed from the gory to the macabre. The Daily Independent (online) of July 1, 2010 reported that commercial and industrial activities in the entire South East zone risk unravelling if the situation is not halted soon. The paper for instance reported that in Anambra state, a “total of 62 wealthy businessmen have fled Nnewi industrial town, while half of the businessmen in Igbo land have relocated to other parts of the country for fear of falling victim to kidnappers and armed robbers.”

True, Igboland is not the only area of the country with security problems. The distinguishing feature is its absurd level, which recently prompted President Jonathan to order joint military operations to flush out the hoodlums in the area. Okey Ndibe, an activist columnist and novelist, who himself is an Igbo, used the metaphor of war to describe the near state of nature that the area is fast degenerating into. In a brilliantly written piece, “War in Igboland”, (Daily Sun online, June 22, 2010), Ndibe locates the cause of the ‘war’ in what he calls the “crisis of values”, typified in people’s apparent deification of wealth. He blames the ‘oti nkpu’ (praise singer) musicians like the late Oliver De Coque and Osita Osadbe for contributing to this ‘crisis of values’ with their songs that seemingly glorified charlatans who came into wealth by questionable means as ‘owners of their community’.

While I agree with many aspects of Okey’s arguments, I am however not too sure that ‘oti nkpu’ musicians should be blamed for the alleged crisis because praise singing is often an important leitmotif of the folk music genre in many parts of Nigeria. Every type of music – just like in literature or any work of art – tends to have a defining characteristic: racial soldering in reggae, social rebellion in rap, love in blues, spiritual awakening in gospel and political rascality in Fela’s afrobeat. Most people enjoy music for what it invokes in them, not necessarily because of its message: the rhythm, the voice and the creative mix of voice and sound. Similarly many people read a novel more because of an author’s narrative skills than for his/her message. I feel blaming ‘oti nkpu’ musicians for the assumed ‘crisis of values’ in Igboland will be akin to blaming Western thriller novels, war films, wrestling and boxing for violence and crimes in these societies.

I share the frustration in Okey’s voice in the aforementioned important article. I am however not sure I agree with his suggestion that the alleged ‘crisis of values’ is a recent phenomenon in Igboland. It could in fact be argued that ‘crisis of values’ was a primary concern of the Igbos at the turn of the century. We can see this in Chinua Achebe’s most famous work, Things Fall Apart, first published in 1958. The novel is not only a great work of fiction but also one of the most important narratives on Igbo sociology. Here Achebe tells us how the introduction of Christianity and subsequently colonialism led to the adoption of new values by the Igbo town (or village) of Umuofia, and how the new values ‘put a knife’ in those things that held the community together. The novel’s main character, Okonkwo, on returning from a seven-year exile, found to his chagrin, that the Umuofia he left behind had fallen apart because of the new values: people no longer acted like one and respected personalities and institutions had lost their prestige and relevance. In what is perhaps an echo of the ‘crisis of values’ identified by Okey, in which wealthy Igbo ruffians are now ‘crowned’ as ‘owners of their community’, Okonkwo returned to find that people previously regarded as social outcasts and scoundrels (who were of course the first to embrace the new ways of the White man and his religion) had become the new elites. Okonkwo did his best to re-awaken the old values in his people but it was a futile and solo effort that was doomed to fail. This could be called the first ‘crisis of values’ in Igboland.

In many ways the first ‘crisis of values’ was successfully resolved by the onset of full colonialism and the creation of the colonial urban centres. Though there was no consciousness of being Igbo before colonialism, and many Igbo villages were in fact oblivious of the existence of one another, in the colonial enclaves the consciousness of being Igbo was developed as they competed with other ethnic groups for scarce values like jobs and scholarships. The first ‘crisis of values’ was therefore successfully resolved through efforts to develop a pan-Igbo identity (buoyed by the prestige of prominent Igbos like Zik, Nwafor Orizu and K.O. Mabdiwe as well as institutions like Igbo State Union) and aggressive encouragement of Igbos to embrace the new values of the White man. The project of pan-Igbo nationalism was given a further fillip during the events that preceded the civil war, which culminated in the proclamation of the Republic of Biafra. It will seem however that since the end of the civil war, the Igbos have been engulfed in an identity crisis that has remained unresolved.

Okey is right that Chinua Achebe is not given the sort of recognition accorded to many moneybags in Igboland. But this has probably nothing to do with ‘crisis of values’ but more because Achebe as a novelist has a specialist skill set, which only people familiar with such skills will appreciate. Among the educated, Achebe remains one of the symbols of Igbo pride. In virtually every society, it is often easier for the masses (especially when most are hungry) to know and lionise men of wealth than it is for them to recognise people who have distinguished themselves in specialist fields like medicine, IT, sports or creative writing.

I agree with Okey that there is less scrutiny these days on how people come about their wealth. But this is not peculiar to Igboland. I will therefore argue that what Okey identified as the ‘crisis of values’ in Igboland is more a crisis of the Nigerian state writ large because as often happens, any practice borrowed by the Igbos – whether home video making, kidnapping or 419 – is guaranteed to be taken to dizzying heights. I do not think the Igbos necessarily love money more than other ethnic groups in the country.

My take is that the fundamental crisis in Igboland today is the crisis of the elites – not that of values. In the ‘Iron Law of Oligarchy’, the German sociologist Robert Mitchels tells us that all forms of organisations or societies are eventually effectively controlled by an oligarchy – a small group of elites distinguished by either royalty, wealth, family ties, military control, or religious hegemony. This oligarchic group - whether called cabals, mafias or kitchen cabinet – are usually Cohesive, Conscious and Conspiratorial. It could be argued that any society without a set of elites with these three important Cs is unlikely to be able to present a common front or effectively defend the group’s interest. I will argue that since the end of the civil war, the crisis in Igboland is the inability to produce enlightened elites with the aforementioned three Cs.

Despite the current challenges, however, there are many grounds for optimism that the Igbos will successfully re-invent themselves as they did after the first ‘crisis of values’ following the Christian and colonial intrusions.

Nigeria: Hobbling Towards A Failed State

By Chiedu Uche/Daily Independent/All Africa


Our freedom fighters envisaged and dreamed of a country that would be the bastion of democracy in Africa, an ocean of peace and unity, and a land filled with economic prosperity. Sadly, almost fifty years after we became a sovereign and independent state, Nigeria is like a toddling baby in diapers. I know for sure that Awolowo, Azikiwe, Tafewa Balewa and other early nationalists would turn in their graves whenever the news broke that a political leader diverted public money into his private pocket.

Nigeria, the so called giant of Africa with a potential to be a great country, is bringing up the rear in economic and technological development among the comity of nations because of some factors, chiefly among them is ethnicity, religious intolerance and bumbling, incompetent and corrupt political leadership.

Nigerians are very conscious of their ethnic origins, and owe allegiance to their ethnic group. They place the interest of their ethnic groups above the interest of Nigeria. This attitude undermines the unity of Nigeria. The Nigerian civil war which claimed millions of lives was partly caused by ethnic hatred which existed among Nigerians, then. Now, Igbos living in the north have dropped their cultural names to assume non-igbo names in order to be absorbed in schools in the north. As ethnicity plays a crucial role in one's securing a Job or admission into schools, many Nigerians who were qualified to be given jobs or admissions into schools were by-passed. Using ethnicity as a bench mark or criterion for offering jobs or admissions to people means the dethronement of meritocracy and enthronement of mediocrity. And, today, Nigeria is the worse for it. Can Nigeria advance when very gifted people are denied opportunity for self-actualization?

Ethnicity as well as incessant religious crisis, especially in the north, militates against development. The north is now a hotbed of religious violence. Many Nigerians who lived and did businesses in the north are now derelicts in their villages because their shops and wares were burnt by rampaging Moslem marauders. Non-Muslims in the north cannot afford to sleep with their two-eyes closed. Can economic activities boom and thrive in a milieu of fear, uncertainty and violence?

Now, Jos has last its innocence; it is the metaphor for ethnic religious conflicts. The recurrence as well as the frequency of bloody violence in Jos is an indication of the state insecurity of lives and properties in the country. The police and other state security outfits, ineffective as ever, can't gather intelligence and forestall the visitation of violence on innocent people in Jos by murderous religious gangs.

The Nigerian police men and women who mount road locks on our roads and extort money from commercial bus drivers can't combat criminal activities in the country. Armed robbers who wield dangerous weapons operate unchallenged on our roads. And, political killings have assumed a dangerous dimension in the south-west of the country. Recently, a roving band of blood thirsty human vampires invaded a village in Benue state and killed some people.

Do we still have a government in Nigeria? Is anarchy not looming in the horizons given the frequency of eruption of violence in Jos and north in general, the recent killing in Benue state, and the unresolved killing of politicians and journalists in Nigeria?

This is not the best of times for Nigeria. The constitutional imbroglio created by the failure of President Umaru Musa Yar'adua to transmit a letter to the national assembling informing them of his trip to Saudi-Arabia for medical treatment has not been successfully settled. Are some people not insisting that the acting president Dr. Jonathan Goodluck be made the president, and Umaru Musa Yar'adua impeached? Uneasy calm is reigning in the country. We are experiencing the peace of the grave-yard.

The ship of state is rocking to and fro, and moving towards the precipice considering the happenings in Nigeria. I would like the acting president to utilize and seize the opportunity offered him to lead; he should steady the floundering ship of state, offer us quality leadership and douse the tension in the land.

We should not be deluded by what Hugo Grotious says: "Government comes and goes; but a state remains forever". But, have U.S.S.R, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia not disintegrated? Nigeria is reputed to have come out of every major political crisis not dismembered. But, the bible warns those who think that they're standing firm to be careful least they fall.

May God save Nigeria.

Political Leadership Has Failed Nd'Igbo - Onuma

Interview/Daily Independent/All Africa

KALU ONUMA, political historian, is the Secretary General of Ndigbo, Lagos. He champions the cause of justice in the country, but more importantly the cause of Igbo people. In this interview with Senior Correspondent, DANIEL KANU, the scribe of the Igbo socio-political organisation speaks on the state of health of President Umaru Yar'Adua, the Igbo nation and the nation's democratic journey so far among other salient issues. Excerpts:

We have had 10 years of uninterrupted democracy, what is your assessment so far?

Well, we have to congratulate ourselves for having seen 10 uninterrupted years of democracy in Nigeria as you have rightly pointed out. But let's not forget that it is coming at the same time when we ought to be celebrating 50 years of Nigeria's independence. And when we look at Nigeria from the perspective of our 50 years anniversary, you would find out that there is so much that needs to be done. So much that requires our analysis and equally progressive thought. But if I should summarise it in a few sentences I will say I am disappointed with our achievement so far.

In which area are you hinging your disappointment?

Well, there is so much to say about what has been the problem of Nigeria. But I think that leadership is neither here nor there in terms of looking at Nigeria and moving it forward. We have had some remarkable turns in this country but I will rather say that the whole problem of Nigeria hinges on our inability to create a constitution truly federal that would take into consideration all the diversities at the various levels and various competing issues that has been the bane of development for this country. I am under no illusion that if we get the constitution right, that is, a people's constitution from which will emerge the kind of leadership that we are looking for it will not be difficult for the various regions, like it has been tested and tried before, to pick up again and develop each according to its own ability and each according to its own pace. Without this, get a good leader, get a good crop of people and it will still be the same old story, because the instrumentality of carrying out what ever we have asked them to carry out is faulty and there is nothing they could do about it.

Many believe that even if you bring the American constitution wholesale to Nigeria that it will still fail because the problem is with the people, the operators and not the constitution per se.

Yes, I agree with you that the American constitution definitely will not work in Nigeria. The mode of government even in Republic of Benin or Cameroon, which are our nearest neighbors, however you look at it, will not work in Nigeria. Therefore what exactly will work in Nigeria is something that evolves from the people. We know that our history or histories as it were is not the same history or histories as the people of Republic of Benin or Cameroon or even America that you have used as an example. So what I am actually saying here is that the people knowing themselves, knowing the various confusions, knowing the various characteristics that make them up should be able to come up with the way of managing themselves. I will tell you this if you look at the microcosm of how villages and towns have been managed autonomously or collectively in the Southern Nigeria, you will realise that what we are actually trying to say for those of us who think that the constitution is the problem or the instrument of carrying this out is the problem or even the system of government that we are carrying out is the problem is that when you look closer these villages or towns run smoothly without hitches and it is only on very few occasions that issues come up here and there, and within their own system unwritten constitutions are in this villages but they still carry it out and know how to nip any problem in the bud. I am equally of the opinion that Southern Nigeria as it were divided into South South or South East cannot develop at the same pace with South West, cannot develop at the same pace with North Central or North East and so on. These are distinct geographical areas with different types of people, with different kinds of beliefs, and different kinds of cultural values and these values cannot be thrown as a blanket all over the country and expect them to develop at the same pace. We cannot continue in this path if we do not trace back ourselves and look at the constitution again and see how we can correct some of the problems.

There are some people that are even worried that the value systems of Nigerians are no longer what it used to be...

Nothing is constant except change itself. What you are actually looking at in terms of values each generation redefines its own goal, redefines its own values, try to build on the shoulders of those that have been there before, tries to borrow from different cultures and in an age, where the world has been so narrowed down, you cannot expect values to remain the same. What you are trying to refer to is a situation where you find that some of the norms that have held people are now beginning to crumble. In the real sense of it, life moves on, people evolve; people try to see how they readapt some of the things that have been before and manage to find tools to help them improve on tomorrow. Having said that, you cannot see what is bad and call it good, you cannot see what is good and call it bad. What is good in one generation flows over into another generation and what we should be looking at is to try to create a kind of atmosphere, where a symbiotic exchange happens between cultures, happens between people and some of those ones that are not good tested by the society itself will die their natural deaths, and some of those that are good will move on. Things naturally must change, today the gadgets that you are using now to talk to me is more sophisticated and there are a lot of improvements from the ones used by journalists 15 or 20 years ago. Previously, they come with their pen and paper and when you talk they have to probably meet up with what you are saying by using their shorthand style but shorthand is already out of the question now and many do not even remembers how it is done, except those who still go to commercial schools. But even at that it is no longer fashionable anymore, so we keep moving. Values are defined, each generation by the people living within that generation and what becomes good for us is something we collectively decide by trials and error and there is nothing we can do about it. And, it has not been without challenge to do distinctively with the political arena where there is so much confusion based on the fact that we have continually refused to do the right thing.

Let's zero down to President Umaru Yar'Adua's ill health. Some say he should resign while some disagree, what is your take?

We don't need to over flog what has been said I belong to the group that says it's time to call it quit. Even if he comes back it is absolutely impossible for him. He is a very sick person and Nigeria needs a very strong person, somebody with all the health that God could give will even break down under the weight of the problem that Nigeria carry. We need a leader with all the health that will give all the attention needed, if possible more than 24-hour attention to the problems of this country. He did in Katsina State and got away with it for 8 years, this is Nigeria. you are not talking about Katsina State here, you are talking about over 450 distinct tribes or ethnic groups each with its own values, problems, challenges, headaches all concentrated in the center, heaped on your shoulders and that should not be and this is what we have been complaining all the while. If Nigeria has been truly federal where the regions are independent, where the regions have the powers to do their own things at their own pace, the center will be so weak and so irrelevant that yes, we could excuse this President Yar'Adua's absence, but it is not so in our present scenario. He should, even as he is back, tender his resignation; continuing is more like deceiving Nigerians and he did promise in his inaugural speech that he was not going to deceive Nigerians that he was going to be a listening President and the great majority of Nigerians are simply saying thank you very much, you have done quite well but your health cannot allow you to continue thus far. That is all.

What are your views on the issue of Eze Ndigbo in Diaspora, which are been banned in some states like Lagos?

This is an institution that emerged from the desires and aspirations of Ndigbo living in the Diaspora. I am a bit confused by how this whole issue has been politicised, how some of our Ezes in Igbo land have gone about this matter as if the question of that institution could not have been agreed better, could not have been looked into better and could not have been really analysed and taken care of. My view is simple, the institution of who culturally holds forth for Ndigbo is something that we have to promote in Lagos, in Kano, in Kaduna, anywhere there are Igbos there must be a place where they come together to promote our culture, our tradition and this does not in anyway stand in parallel with our Ezes in Igbo land and the question is quite simple; if there are things that the Eze Ndigbo in Diaspora have been doing, which does not look right in anyway, it is only in conversation, sitting together with the people, consulting widely with the Igbo communities, town union associations all over the world that you will come to a resolution of the matter. You do not just enter a town, go to the indigenes and tell them that you are an Eze from Igbo land and that you have banned so and so people, it smacks some lack of common sense and it smacks some irresponsibility because it shows that you are not even in control of what you are doing. And who says that one person or groups of persons without consulting the people, the Oha (the people), who are actually the people that make the Eze important make decisions which are contrary to the norms of the people already living in that place. There are so many fine gentlemen like the late Eze Ihejiahi, who have been monumentally instruments of sanity, at very terrible times. In Kaduna, he has been a stabling hand in what the Igbo have done and achieved, same with Ohazulike here in Lagos, same with so many of them in the North where our Ezes suddenly have woken up and realised that they are important, where have they been all this while? So, the point I am just making is that the issue of nomenclature, name, and title should be looked into again. Whether the institution is required my answer is yes, whether they have played very important role in the socio-political and cultural live of the people in Diaspora the answer is yes. Whether they will be useful to us politically, culturally and economically in the future my answer is yes. What becomes the problem? How to now liaise between the Ezes in Igbo land and the ones in Diaspora we have to look at it again. There are so many Igbo communities in Mali that have no direction, that hardly comes home, that hardly visits home, same in Cameroon, same in Gabon, same in Equatorial Guinea, same in Lome; these people have families, they have children; most of their children don't even speak Igbo, most of them don't even know anything about Igbo values and cultures, some of their parents are even beginning to forget their own personal identity. It is only by creating such institutions that we will be able to start slowly and quietly but surely re-instill our Igbo-ness even in very consequential ways. I think it is important that we look at this question strongly again and find ways to resolve the matter.

Achebe's Laboratory - Realising Father's Dream in Son

By Yemi Adebisi, Daily Independent/All Africa

Lagos — Most foremost African writers fight injustice, preach liberty, moral, through their pens while some prefer to confront their 'opponents' to iron out their differences physically. Though there are a number of these literary evangelists that never started as a writer, but as fate would have it, ended up being a voice to reckon with in the Diaspora. For instance, the late Cyprian Ekwensi read Pharmacy, but his fame would not shine in the drug laboratories. He breathed his last in the cold room of short stories and children literature. The acclaimed father of African literature, Chinua Achebe also started with the intention of becoming a world renowned medical doctor.

Today, his contributions in the world famous record of fiction cannot be overemphasised. He is also one of the few African writers that suffered the brunt of the gun, because of what he put down in one of his novels, A Man of the People. He didn't find it funny when the military was all out for him during the Nigeria's first military coup: "One Sunday morning I was telephoned from Broadcasting House and informed that armed soldiers who appeared drunk had come looking for me to test which was stronger, my pen or their gun.

The offence of my pen was that it had written a novel called A Man of the People, a bitter satire on political corruption in an African country that resembled Nigeria.

I wanted the novel to be a denunciation of the kind of independence that people were experiencing in post-colonial Nigeria and many other countries in the 1960s, and I intended it to scare my countrymen into good behaviour with a frightening cautionary tale. The best monster I could come up with was a military coup de'tat, which every sane Nigerian at the time knew was rather far-fetched. But life and art had got so entangled that season that the publication of the novel and Nigeria's first military coup happened within two days of each other," Achebe recalled recently.

Claiming the reason behind his choice of 'war', he said Nigeria has not offered the best to justify her freedom from the colonial master going by the dividend of democracy: "Our 1960 National Anthem, given to us as a parting gift by a British housewife in England, had called Nigeria "our sovereign motherland." The current anthem, put together by a committee of Nigerian intellectuals and actually worse than the first one, invokes the father image. But it has occurred to me that Nigeria is neither my mother nor my father. Nigeria is a child. Gifted, enormously talented, prodigiously endowed and incredibly wayward."

What is Achebe's continuous worry about his country Nigeria? "Being a Nigerian is abysmally frustrating and unbelievably exciting. I have said somewhere that in my next reincarnation I want to be a Nigerian again, but I have also, in a rather angry book called The Trouble with Nigeria, dismissed Nigerian travel advertisements with the suggestion that only a tourist with a kinky addiction to self-flagellation would pick Nigeria for a holiday. And I mean both."

It is amazing that the only daughter that took after Achebe in the art of writing is Chinelo Achebe-Ejueyitche. She teaches and writes in New York, U.S., where she lives with her family. She has also worked in publishing. Her first book, The Last Laugh and Other Stories, was published by Heinemann in 1992. However, other children have proved to be the best in their various careers.

Chinua Achebe's dream to become a medical doctor was never a waste after all. His second child, Chidi Achebe has filled the gap with the latest world record he broke in the United States of America (USA).

He said recently, "In our family, several members have both science and art degrees or intersecting interests. Dad, as you know, started off in medicine and we can all be grateful that he ended up as a writer. My elder brother, Ike, holds a masters and a PhD in History from the University of Cambridge in the UK and another masters in Computer Sciences. My maternal uncle, the late Dr. Samuel Okoli (one of my mentors), was a UK trained physician, Obstetrician/Gynecologist, and apart from running a hospital in Lagos, also was deeply interested in the arts, music and literature."

Of recent, at a time of recession, he installs a new laboratory and dental clinic in Dorchester, the United States of America, catering to the health problems of the people. This report affirms why this promising Nigerian doctor is the future of healthcare.

"I used to always say to my family," recounts Dr. Chidi Achebe, "why is it that when you go to clinics in the wealthy neighbourhoods, like Wellesley, they have labs? Why don't we have that here in Dorchester? I don't ask that question anymore," he says. "If it's not in Wellesley, then I don't want it here. I just want the same standards, since we're in the same country."

However, many Nigerians have registered their displeasure to the choice of location of such edifice in the United States of America. A Nigerian writer, Godfrey Ebuchulam, in his reaction through a mail said this is the high time Africans learnt how to build their homes. "Congratulations to Dr. Chidi Achebe on his new lab. Now that he has built this facility in America, his father is at home, why not build the same facility at home (Nigeria)? Charity must begin at home, where this is a person from China, he/she would find a legal way to build it in China first, then he/she would build one in America, and later show others how to duplicate the same lab in their countries. Africans are here building in America, yet, our people at home who have no advocate die in silence, those who can afford it would come here (America) for care. What about the person who is unable to afford the costs to come to America, is her/his life worthless?" he queried.

Be that as it may, the record has been made through the dark pot of an African legendary writer.

The laboratory has been described as a gift of the University of Massachusetts Memorial Labs, one of the largest and growing lab companies in the New England region.

But it has only been since Achebe took the job and hired an outstanding team of medical workers that Harvard Street Health Centre has received, what he calls, a facelift.

The centre has historically concentrated on primary care, but with a difference, according to Achebe, they are open to black men with criminal records being released on parole.

"I am a black male, and I think that one of the things that we are suffering from in our community is the fact that our men have not gotten the kind of healthcare that they deserve. They're not able to function in the family unit to lift the whole family, and one of the things that we want to remind the men is that if the pathology is yours, then it's going to be ours as a community, because people look at themselves as silos. But if the men are not taking care of themselves and it's all about the women taking care of the kids then the balance isn't there."

The Centre also has a food pantry conspicuously tucked away in its basement.

"This is a big secret," says Achebe. "One of the reasons this pantry is arranged this way is to give our patients the respect that they deserve. We want to make it possible for people to come here and leave without drawing any undue attention to the fact that they are here picking up food."

Taking a moment to mention a handful of the doctors that he has on staff, Achebe continues, "We have been blessed with fantastic physicians committed to the community. My commitment to them is to work as hard as I can to help keep the standards similar to what you would expect in a mainstream hospital so that these well-trained doctors don't feel like they're slumming. You want them to know that they are working in our community and it's not so bad. That's why we're trying to get into this building next door, and if we get everything else that we're dreaming of then guess what? It's in Dorchester!"

With seven major health clinics located throughout the neighbourhood, there has never been a plan to have so much compacted into just one of the centres in Dorchester. The strategy, says Achebe, is to be the first.

"I spent two years getting an MBA from Yale University and one of the things that I loved the most about the time was a course I took on strategy. Getting to the finish line first is a humongous strategic advantage because you get to announce, 'Hey, I'm here!' Anyone else who is getting there behind you will look like a copy-cat."

When asked to suggest some strategic approaches to the national healthcare crisis, Achebe cited a unique trend-taking place in hospitals throughout the city of Boston, which involves hiring doctors who can run hospitals like him.

"A lot of these doctors can be productive towards the bottom line because they can see patients. I'm in clinic part of the week, so even though I have an MBA and I can speak the business language, I am also contributing to the bottom line as opposed to some figure clearly getting a big salary. Clinicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, any one of these people, with an MBA and the experience, can run a clinical setting. All of the major and tertiary hospitals in Boston are run by medical doctors and I think that is the future."