Dr. Nnaemeka Onyeka Obiaraeri is an investment banker, development economist who also identifies as a volunteer change agent. Beyond resource control and the presidency of the country, Obiaraeri, in this chat with STEVE UZOECHI, speaks on President Bola Tinubu’s borrowing plans and dispels conjectures while bringing clarity to what the South-East really wants
Your recent writings seem to convey the demands of the South-East. Can you clarify this position?
On the agitations in the South-East, the Federal Government of Nigeria has two clear options: Restructure Nigeria to the 1957-1963 constitutional framework – the only foundation willingly agreed upon by our founding fathers (Azikiwe, Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, Enahoro) and all ethnic nationalities. This framework rewarded merit, excellence, and productivity.
Or in the alternative, grant Ndi Igbo an independent homeland – whether it is called Biafra, Dotland, or the Rising Sun. There is no middle ground. This is not a bargaining position; it’s the collective will of about 99% of true-blooded Igbos. This desire predates the Mazi Nnamdi Kanu (MNK) phenomenon – it rather fueled it. And let me be unequivocal: This agitation will persist until justice is served, even if it takes the last Igbo man standing.
Critics dismiss this as divisive antics. How do you respond?
That is untrue. Talking about critics, those critics fall into three categories: Beneficiaries of the status quo; mainly those elites who profit from our suffocation. They’ll never voluntarily relinquish unearned advantage. Also, the foreign observers whose ignorance is understandable but frustrating and the most perplexing group are the Igbo elites in the diaspora who’ve escaped Nigeria’s chokehold yet feign confusion about their people’s pain – that betrayal stings deepest.
Many claim Igbo agitation stems from hatred or a lust for power. What’s your take?
This is a dangerous lie, maliciously fabricated too. I will address it point by point:
The claim that Igbos hate other tribes is absurd. We don’t hate Buhari or northerners. We don’t hate Tinubu or South-Westerners. Our quarrel is with the oppressive systems, not ethnicities. Social media trolls don’t represent our spirit and realities.
Also, the claim that Igbos are agitating because they want the Presidency is nonsense! Why chase a poisoned chalice? Look at Katsina and Daura – they are still battling poverty and underdevelopment despite producing presidents. So the 1999 Constitution largely empowers ‘thieves’, not leaders. It’s loopholes promote misrule and not leadership. So we are not interested in this throne, all we want is a system that works for all.
Furthermore, the claim that it is about oil and other natural resources is also false! If we craved oil, we wouldn’t champion resource control for the Niger Delta and all regions. We want Zamfara to keep its gold, the SouthWest to keep its cocoa, the Niger-Delta to keep its oil and every other region to own and develop using their God-given endowments.
What then is the core grievance?
Justice. Equity. Fairness. Nigeria’s current architecture is a military-imposed fraud, antithetical to the 1957-1963 mutual pact. That pact allowed regions autonomy under a true federation. Today, we have a unitary Leviathan disguised as federalism. Our demand is simple: Revert to the consensual foundation or dissolve the union.
Paint a practical picture. How would restructuring transform Igboland?
The change would be revolutionary: With resource control, the SouthEast Region will partner with SouthSouth States to develop seaports at Azumini Blue River or Oguta Lake. Our imports will clear in Onitsha and Aba, not Lagos, saving importers huge sums of money and beating down the cost of the imported goods. Trillions in capital, jobs, and infrastructure will rapidly shift eastward.
A “Plantain Island” will emerge along the Niger and Orange groves will bloom near our waterways. Igbo entrepreneurs will relocate home, building Dubai-like cities without Abuja’s repressive grip.
We will be able to exploit our untapped limestone, iron ore, and clay, because there will be no more need to seek approval from Abuja to mine our own soil for the development of our land and the good of our people. The role of the federal government would have been reduced to defense and foreign affairs only. No more suffocating overreach into our schools, roads, or hospitals.
A region-controlled security force will end the activities of bandits and terrorists’ herdsmen. The era of begging the Army to protect farmers would be over.
Consulates of the US, UK, China, and EU will open in Enugu or Owerri. My 80-year-old mother won’t need a visa pilgrimage to Abuja or Lagos before she can travel overseas.
In the area of education, our autonomy will ensure that no Igbo child will again score 200/300 in an entrance examination and still lose a federal school slot to a child from the North who scored 15/300. Our regional government will fund schools reflecting our culture of excellence and reward for hard work.
In the area of infrastructure and innovation, we will partner with SS/SW regions via PPP (no freebies!) to build rail lines to Cameroon or Gabon. Toll roads! We value ROI, unlike those who demand “federal projects” to nowhere.
Regional power grids using gas from the Niger Delta will power our new industries and establishments, and ultimately end monopolies in the power sector.
You argue that restructuring would eliminate groups like IPOB? How?
IPOB/MASSOB are symptoms, not the disease. Remove the injustice, and the agitation dies overnight. Why seek Biafra if Onitsha rivals Rotterdam? Why chant “referendum” if Enugu hosts the EU Embassy? The “MNK phenomenon” thrives because Abuja offers only suffocation and frustration to the people and businesses in the South-East. Restore oxygen, and the rebellion suffocates and agitation fizzles out. No one can exploit grievances in a just and flourishing system.
Why do you criticise some Igbo elite?
This is because the pain of their betrayal runs deep. While our youth, farmers, businessmen bleed, the diaspora elites enjoy Canadian passports, and the political class lick crumbs from Abuja’s table.
To them I say, your negotiations are farcical if they ignore our irreducible demand. Your pursuit of ‘Presidency’ under the 1999 Constitution is collaborating with the oppressor. You are a modern-day quisling – traitors trading ancestral dignity for a title. I’d rather be a guard in paradise than a chief in hell.
What of those who say, “Be patient – unity takes time”?
About 53 million Igbos are out of time. While others tolerate mediocrity and injustice, our spirit chokes in this cage. We don’t seek conquest – we seek space. We don’t covet anybody’s land or natural resources – we’ll pay for every inch we develop. We don’t want grazing reserves – our livestock are ranched. Our only crime is refusing to kneel in a rigged system.
To Nigeria, this is not rebellion; it’s historical inevitability. Restructure or allow us our inalienable right to self-determination. The yoke is broken; the mental chains are shattered. Delay only deepens the people’s resolve.
And to the SE Governors, Ohaneze Ndigbo, and the clergy, stop playing Abuja’s game. Your legitimacy hangs on embracing your people’s mandate. Champion restructuring, or be swept aside by the generation you failed.
To the rest of the world, we threaten no one, ours is just a demand for the innate right to thrive. Document this moment, because you will witness a people reclaiming their destiny. As long as God lives and heaven and earth remain, justice will prevail. It’s no longer a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’.
Critics are not happy with the FG’s plan to borrow over $21bn, but supporters of the plan say the funds are needed to fix the economy. Where do you stand on this debate?
To be honest with you, I’m an investment banker and I have nothing against leverage financing. Leverage financing is one of the ways critical assets are funded. I also know that the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2007, under Ngozi Okonjo Iweala developed a global infrastructural development masterplan that required at least $3trillion investment over 30 years, $100billion capital investment into the economy annually sustained and unbroken for Nigeria to move from the present precarious shithole jungle status to that of a second world economy. Borrowing is good but the problem is that the federal government of Nigeria did not list what they intend to spend the $21billion on. That is the major challenge and it is not just enough to blanketly say you are borrowing money to develop the economy. What aspect of the economy are you developing? Is it insecurity? Is it agro-development and production? It is neither here nor there. We are not against borrowing but borrowing must be tied to assets and capital investments that will catalyze real sector growth, employment and productivity.
The CBN has kept interest rates high to tackle inflation. But critics say this is not really reducing inflation and it is making it difficult for businesses to get affordable credit. Do you agree?
I do not believe that the CBN can actually reduce inflation by keeping interest rate high, what they will simply achieve by keeping interest rate high is to continue to attract hot money, portfolio investors who would take money from Japan at less than single interest, maybe at 1% and then buy bonds here, make so much money and do a buy back agreement with the CBN, then after one year they will take back their dollars.
By putting the interest rate high at 27.5%, they are actually trying to borrow more dollars to stabilize the forex market but there is a terrible trade-off on that. CBN interest rate is a benchmark rate, that simply means that commercial banks will only lend money at a premium of that. So, if you look at the cost of borrowing now at a commercial rate of 32-35% and you put other costs of doing projects, it will even put inflation on the rise because the cost of goods and services will keep on rising. To tackle inflation, we must have to be very productive and most of these assignments are for those on the fiscal side of the economy and they are not doing their job the way it ought to be done.
March 31st next year is the deadline for banking recapitalisation. What is your prediction regarding how many banks will be able to beat the deadline?
I think all the banks will meet up the recapitalization requirement. Like I have always said, the truth of the matter is, even if you recapitalize the banks to $1billion, if the banks are not willing to do the right thing, financial intermediation, linking the economic surplus to the economic deficit in it and then just charging minimal fees, there is nothing anybody can do. The fact that we have an annual transaction volume of over N6trillion shows you the capacity of this market, that is the documented ones that passed through electronic channels. Basically, we have a very …economy. We need to take banking to the next level. What we need in Nigeria is total financial inclusion. Look at Kenya, financial inclusion in Kenya is over 87% while Nigeria is struggling with about 60 per cent. So, we need to put in place infrastructure, the processes, the incentives to drive 90% financial inclusion, so that we can capture most of our activities in the formal sector. It will help us to plan the economy better.
