The 2018 Nnewi AfiaOlu football tournament in memory of the Former Acting President of Nigeria Dr. Akwaeke Abyssinia Nwafor Orizu was officially kicked off yesterday 19th August 2018 at the Nnewi High School field
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Nnewi and the challenge of waste management
By Ebubechukwuzuloke Brown
Waste management appears to have become a serious environmental challenge in the industrial city of Nnewi Anambra state. Dump sites have become a common sight to behold across the town.
Heaps of festering waste dumps is in almost every nooks and crannies. The growing dignity, beauty, image, class and elegance of the industrial city of Nnewi is
Nnewi Afia olu festival appears to be the only surviving traditional festivals among the 14 yearly festivals peculiar to Nnewi. It is a festival designed to mark the end of the year’s farming season and also offer thanksgiving to God for a bountiful harvest which is done across various communities in Igbo land. It comes up in the Month of August or early September.
Although little documentary evidence exist about the origin of the Nnewi Afia olu festival, however it is believed that Nnewi Afia Olu festival started with Uruagu and Nnewichi owning to their promxity to Ojoto and Ichi, where the festival held before Nnewi. Since then, it has remained part of Nnewi custom and tradition.
In the past, the festival was celebrated independently by the four quarters, but as events unfolded, the desire to come together to generate greater strength, love and unity became generally accepted.
However, it appears that the festival has become a shadow of it’s past; due to the poor participation by indigenes of the community and also the inefficiency of the organizers. In terms of content as it concerns activities, it is nowhere near that of other major festivals of large towns like Nnewi. The festival has become dominated by non-indigenes which have added little or no value to it.
The Afia olu festival which usually held at the Nkwo triangle (which is the rallying point for people living in Nnewi) is no longer available as the state government in collaboration with few individuals has taken over the land for commercial venture.
There is an urgent need to rebrand Nnewi Afia olu festival to ensure its sustenance in other to preserve, promote and project Nnewi’s rich cultural heritage.
The rebranding and repackaging of Nnewi Afia Olu festival will increase participation and attract tourist from other parts of Nigeria and the world.
Afia Olu should grow beyond a situation where masquerades are seen flogging people or each other. It should be made an entertainment rich in cultural display, dance, singing, different kinds of masquerade parades, theatrical performance etc.
To rebrand Nnewi Afia Olu festival, there is a need to set up a committee to facilitate the planning, this committee should be made of men and women of ideas and integrity across board.
The Committee should focus on the following objective:
- Organizing the festival through Public-Private Partnership arrangement. They should reach out to corporate organizations, Nnewi billionaires and millionaires, government agencies and culturally inclined groups of individuals to join us in the process of rejuvenation of our cultural heritage.
- Since Nkwo Nnewi triangle which is a holy ground handed to us by our ancestors is no longer available (Ka Chineke mere anyi ebere) they should carefully find a befitting arena to celebrate the event.
- A conference or summit should always be organized in one the conference centers in Nnewi during the festival. The Conference will provide a platform to facilitate discussions around the history of Nnewi people across the centuries, our identity, ideology, through the sharing of experiences, research and ideas. It will also open discussion on the need to reposition some of our cultural practices and the need to document and preserve the history, heritage and culture of Nnewi People.
The conference should also discuss Nnewi economy, political, social development and governance.
It should also feature exhibition of historical artifacts.
The conference should be attended by Nnewi historians, development experts, entrepreneurs, local stakeholders, professionals, archivists and the general public. - They should raise the public knowledge of Nnewi Afia Olu festival through increased publicity and press conferences before and after the festival.
- The football competition in memory of our great heroes should be expanded to accommodate all the villages that make up the four quarters in Nnewi.
- They should introduce cultural pageantry with full participation of male and female of the four quarters. This will produce Mr. and Miss. Nnewi.
- Free medical outreach should also be introduced.
- Cultural dancing and singing (Nnewi Songs) competition should be considered.
- Award Night or Award day will feature different categories of award to Nnewi sons and daughter who are doing well in different sectors of the economy.
Award and Prizes should be given to winners of the pageantry, dancing, singing and football competition and also the most colourful cultural troupe.
The award day or night should features different kind of activities like music concert and the rest. - The committee should review critically the issue of masquerading, part of what has have caused poor participation in Nnewi Afia Olu festival is the issue of masquerading. During the festival, most churches organize programmes on all the days of the festival to ensure that members do not participate in the festival.
Personally for me, contrary to religious belief, the Nnewi Afia Olu (New yam festival) has nothing to do with diabolic practices. It is simply the Igbo traditional way of thanking God for a bountiful harvest. - They should also introduce fundraising to facilities community development and also sponsor children of the poor in the town in Education through scholarship award.
- The festival should be rounded up with an Interdenominational Service of Thanksgiving and Prayers for Nnewi in a neutral ground.
Nnewi Afia Olu if rebranded willl attract people from all over the world to our Nnewi, the festival provide a platform to call home Nnewi sons and daughters abroad to renew and reaffirm the bond of brotherhood, it also brings to mind a sense of belonging and to plan for community development.
The festival will also generate business opportunities especially for small medium enterprises.
Nnewi the second largest city in Anambra State remains the industrial and commercial hub in Anambra and Nigeria. Despite the growing number of industries in Nnewi, the town came to limelight in Nigeria in 1970, when the town Nnewi started controlling approximately 80 to 90 percent of the motor-parts and motorcycle trade in Nigeria. This necessitated the numerous large and small markets in the town including Nkwo Nnewi which is the largest auto and motorcycle spare parts market in West Africa. Nkwo Nnewi Market is the major import and wholesale point for motor spare parts in Nigeria.
According to history, the love for auto industry by Nnewi people was what made Sir Louis Ojukwu, the father of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Ikemba Nnewi) and HRH Igwe Orizu I (Eze Ugbo Onya Mba) to be the first Igbo men to own and drive a car.
The motorcycle market at Nnewi has developed to the extent that dealers in collaboration with their manufacturers now have products made and sold in local branded names.
From the records, it appears that Nkwo Nnewi remains the only economic attraction in Nnewi despite the few industries in the town. However, if urgent and responsible steps are not taken in the nearest possible time by Nnewi Stakeholders and the government, the economy of Nnewi will collapse and this will lead to massive loss of jobs.
With the attendant challenges being faced with the use of motorcycle as a means of transportation and with the growing availability of modern means of transport, motorcycle spare parts business will soon collapse.
In Nigeria today, the banning of motorcycle popularly known as Okada as a means of transportation in many state have increased due criminal activities perpetrated by some of the motorcycle operators. Criminal activities like snatching of bags, phones, jewelries, goods and wallets are associated with motorcycle operators as motorcycle provides the easiest means of escape for perpetrators of crimes and with other safety and environmental issues.
In the past, walking was the main means of transportation on land but later it became the use of carriages, bicycles, trains, cars and motorcycles, the traditional motorcycles have also been improved into tricycles, long buses and even saloon cars.
Most industrialist in Nnewi like Innoson, Tummy Tummy Group, Coscharis, Ngoobros and few others were all in motorcycle parts business, but being visionary businessmen they realized the need to diversify into production. Who knows, their decision was premised on the fact that they knew that machine parts business will one day lose its usefulness. The truth of the matter is that day is nearer than expected: with the banning of motorcycle at Onitsha and Awka and Nnewi to follow soonest, Nkwo Nnewi traders have already begun to experience a sharp decline in sales and there will be no recovery moving forward. No amount of prayers can reverse this.
It is believed that anybody who wants to fight progress and civilization will always end up on the wrong side of history. There is no civilization with motorcycles as a “major” means of transportation in a world where electric cars are expected to completely take over fuel cars in 10-20 years from now. So the question is what is the future and relevance of Nnewi in few years time with the decline of motorcycle trade?
Speaking with Mazi Tobe Osigwe, he proposed technology. In his words, “Nnewi must embrace the learning and use of technology as quickly as possible. This will help to turn Nnewi into a Silicon Valley or turn Nnewi into a new Industrial hub that majors in production and not buying and selling as we have now”. Mazi Tobe’s proposed solution may sound elitist and elusive however one thing is certain, Nkwo Nnewi is beginning to lose its relevance and something proactive needs to be done.
It is time for Nnewi should go beyond buying and selling, start investing in other businesses that will continue to make Nnewi economically relevant in Anambra state and Nigeria. It is time to start looking at other Products we can import or even Producing.
We should stop neglecting businesses like the Hospitality industry, Real Estate, integrated transport system, Media, the entertainment industry, revolutionizing fashion designing, event planning and Internet Companies.
Nigerians have the habit of celebrating and recognizing noisemakers, the pilferers, nitwits, chameleons, bandits and the destroyers of our collective dreams while neglecting our best and brightest visionaries, this is a clear indication of how we appreciate loudness and falsehood, and substitute them for substance and the truth.
If there was ever a man that is worthy of celebration in the context of Nigerian history, education and politics that man is Akwaeke Abyssinia Nwafor Orizu. From whichever angle you look at it, the story of Nigeria, education and Africa irredentism, cannot be written without references to the contributions of Nwafor Orizu. He was the propounder of Zikism and founder of the Zikist movement.
July 17th remains memorable for those who share and identify in the ideals and ideologies of Nwafor Orizu as that was the date this apostle of horizontal education and African irredentism was born.
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The narrative of any society cannot be written in isolation of her heroes: remembering or celebrating the birth date of heroes like Nwafor Orizu offers us an opportunity to critically think, discuss and consolidate on their ideologies.
Despite being from my town Nnewi and even with his Status erected in the town, I never knew about his exploits until sometime last year when my Mentor Mazi Tobe Osigwe gave me his autobiography “Liberty or Chains: Africa Must be” to read. Mazi Tobe Osigwe went further to take me to God’s village which is his country home.
Also the same year, I had the opportunity of meeting one his sons Nnamsom Nwafor-Orizu who exposed to me some of the notable life experiences of his Father.
Nwafor Orizu was a man whose story of humble beginning will inspire any living being. He had a very turbulent life in his early years in life especially after the death of his father, Eze Ugboayamba, Igwe Orizu 1, but later emerged victorious through his deep rooted belief, implicit confidence and unshakable faith in God as the supreme father of the universe.
Nwafor Orizu was one of the few Nigerians in his days, who genuinely believed in the unity of Nigeria. He was a dogged freedom fighter, social crusader, philosopher, nationalist, Pan-Africanist and a man of vision. He was a selfless man who sacrificed personal comfort for the common good of Nigeria and Africa.
He did not acquire education for knowledge but as a tool to liberate the black man who is deeply rooted in his message of horizontal education and Africa irredentism.
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As a student, while studying public law and government in Ohio State University, Nwafor Orizu wrote a book seen as the African Bible titled “Without Bitterness”,
During his days as a student in the United States of America, Nwafor Orizu organized the African Students Association and founded a magazine known as the African Interpreter. He was also the brain that initiated the American Council on African Education, under which umbrella he secured more than 500 scholarships for many African students to study in different places in America.
He was a pen soldier and eloquent speaker who used his pen and oratorial power to fight colonialists, along with other nationalists until the British Government had no option than to give Nigeria independence in 1960.
Nwafor-Orizu was not just a leader but he is also a seer and a visionary. He was a gifted man who saw deep and far into the future. His books, speeches projections and words over the years appear to have been prophetic because those issues and problems which he pointed out in most of his books are now affecting us.
It is very unfortunate that Nwafor Orizu appears underappreciated and few Nigerians know him in for his exploits in Nigeria and Africa.
However, I am confident that history will never forget his timeless contributions to the development of Nigeria and Africa at Africa.
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