Reminiscences with Chief Nduka Eya
A former secretary-general of the Igbo apex socio-cultural group, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Nduka Eya, served as the pioneer registrar of the Federal Polytechnic, Idah (1975-79) and later became a commissioner for education in Anambra State. Although he will be 80 years on August 28 this year, as a special marshal of the Federal Road Safety […]
A former secretary-general of the Igbo apex socio-cultural group, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Chief Nduka Eya, served as the pioneer registrar of the Federal Polytechnic, Idah (1975-79) and later became a commissioner for education in Anambra State. Although he will be 80 years on August 28 this year, as a special marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps, he still controls traffic on busy roads whenever the need arises. In this interview he spoke on how Major-General Aguiyi Ironsi took over government, why he introduced the unitary system of government, and other interesting issues.
On August 28 you will be 80 years. Can you give us an insight into how you got to where you are today?
The title, Chief, was given to me by my family and community. I went to primary school like every other child in the very old times when some schools didn’t have Standard Six. If you finished at Standard Four you had to go to another location that had Standard Six to finish up. So I finished up primaries Five and Five in a school at Ngwo before I went to Dennis Memorial Grammar School (DMGS), Onitsha, Anambra State, where I spent five years.
I didn’t make the university qualification immediately as I had a pass in English instead of credit. I had to do some teaching work and took the General Certificate of Education (GCE) through the Rapid Results College, which was an equivalent of an Open University. I made my credit in English and I went to the Nigerian College of Arts. These are history now.
The then leaders of this country knew the importance of science and technology. They established the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology. If you were doing arts, your location was Enugu, which is now University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC). If you were interested in science and technology, your location was Ibadan. If you were interested in engineering you would go to Zaria, plus other professions like education. The branches gave the people a chance for advanced level GCE in two subjects. If you did it you would qualify for a direct entry into a university.
After my two years in Enugu, I had to go to Zaria for a teachers’ diploma certificate in order to teach in a secondary school. At that time, if you had an advanced level certificate you would have the opportunity to teach; and you would be paid 690pounds per annum. If you had an extra qualification in teaching, you had 720pounds per annum.
While I was in Zaria for the one-year programme, the University of Nigeria opened and I went there as a pioneer student, with registration number, 184, out of the first 200 who registered. We came out in 1963 with a brand new ‘local’ degree because the university was seen as a glorified secondary school. People didn’t believe the institution could start indigenously and make it. The thinking was that we must be under the tutelage of the University College, Ibadan, which was affiliated to London and their system was elitist. They studied Classics and all those things. But the University of Nigeria came down to earth because Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the then Premier of Eastern Region, had a vision, that they had to train their people for the service of their country. So we started things like Home Economics, now Department of Food Technology, Journalism – Jackson College of Journalism – now Department of Mass Communication.
What course did you read in the university?
I read English. I don’t know what happened, but I was so inclined to English and it worked for me. English was a very important subject in schools. While waiting for a university job, I was in Owerri Girls’ Secondary School teaching English Literature and Mathematics, which were my courses in the Nigerian College of Arts and Science, Enugu. It was a question of gradual growth, climbing the ladder.
I was lucky to be called to my alma mater to start on the lowest rung of academic administration – administrative officer, not even an assistant registrar. The irony is that when we applied, before our results came out, those who believed in elitist development thought that we should not be interviewed because we needed to gain experience. They interviewed those they thought had got experience and brought them to the council.
Dr Azikiwe was the chancellor and chairman of the council. The first question he put to them was: Where are your first graduates, your first seed? They said, “Oh, we didn’t think they had experience. Zik, as he was popularly called, said, “Where do you think they should get the experience? Go and interview them. That’s how I found myself in the University of Nigeria.
You see, at that time education was integrated. What happened in primary school determined what happened in secondary school, as well as what happened in tertiary institutions. It was pleasant.
From the university I was seconded to the Federal Polytechnic, Idah. By that time, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka was getting congested and promotion was becoming slow. There was an advertisement by the then Colonel Ahmadu Ali who was the education secretary (you remember the Ali-must-go saga). Under the military regime, Ali decided to open three brand new polytechnics because people found that there was the need for middle management training. It was like what the technical college was doing in the Eastern Region – you had Trade Test One, Trade Test Two, Trade Test Three. But where are they now? Everybody is now talking of the Higher National Diploma (HND) and so on.
In my interview, one was to be in Idah, one in Akure and one in Jos. Our vice chancellor, Kodilinye was not happy about my leaving. In fact, he tried to stop me, but I said the difference in salary made a lot of difference for me. At the interview, I was asked why I preferred Idah to Jos? I said the colonial masters came and died of mosquito-infested diseases as they were trying to improve the situation. Jos was developed, Akure was equivalent to modern city, so I opted to go to Idah so that I would become a pioneer. My name still rings bell at the Federal Polytechnic, Idah. As a matter of fact, I have a street named after me. A street was also named after the late Professor Chukwujekwu, who was the rector, as well as Nwadialor, the bursar. Ahmadu Ali said, “Don’t mind my people, they will always complain, but they are lazy. You see, the rector was Igbo, the bursar was Igbo and the registrar was Igbo. And the system worked very well.
When you left Idah, what happened?
When I left Idah I was dragged into the civil service because at that time Jim Nwobodo won an election as governor of the old Anambra State under the banner of the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP), led by Zik. And you know the usual ethnic sentiments. Anambra north had a low rate of development – they were drivers and messengers. The highest they could go was clerical officers and the rest of the high positions were occupied by Anambra south. They saw the light of education before us; it is natural. When Nwobodo won election, he thought there was the need to balance. In Igbo land, we say that when you treat a child as you treated his mates he or she will be happy. It is an all-inclusive thing. This thing belongs to all of us. Why must some people think that it belongs to them and others don’t matter? This is the main national problem that has been troubling this country since Zik and his group of nationalists left the scene. I was dragged in to become a permanent secretary in 1979.
Which ministry?
I started in the Ministry of Information with Nweke Anyingo as my commissioner. It was very interesting. Of course, as a civil servant, you would move from place to place, so I left the place and went to the School Board because there was trouble there. I left School Board and went to the Ministry of Local Government, and so on and so forth. As a matter of fact, during the change of regime, when Chief C.C. Onoh won election on the plank of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), I was posted as a permanent secretary to the Vanguard Industry. Again, you could see some type of ‘ethnic cleansing,’ but I didn’t mind.
Where was the Vanguard Industry?
It was at Iva Valley, Enugu. It was a wonderful company, but as usual, the Nigerian type. You see, if you get into an establishment and don’t support it because it is government property, it will crumble. When I took a trip to Vanguard Industry I thought it was a goldmine. The Israelis built that place.
What was it manufacturing?
It was manufacturing furniture – Eastern Nigeria Furniture Construction Company. That is where the Head of Service is now. The quality of products was incredible because they had sophisticated machines. When I got to the place, I wrote a memo to the governor, stating that the industry was a goldmine. I told him that I was ready to bring back the industry on one condition – it is on a cash-and-carry basis. The answer I got was that I was posted out of the place. Vanguard Industry started dying from there. The first bed I bought was from the company and it is still in my house.
When the military came, Colonel Robert Akonobi found me worthy and appointed me a commissioner. The old Anambra State was a large place that comprised Enugu and part of the present Ebonyi State. I think I did my beat as commissioner for education. The testimony is there.
Looking back at your days in the Federal Polytechnic, Idah, especially coming from the southeastern part of this country, how do you feel when you see how things are being done in the country these days, in terms of tribalism, nepotism, sectionalism and mediocrity?
The foundation started when we were small. We went for Empire Day under colonial masters. Our national anthem was ‘God Bless the Queen of England.’ We didn’t have a Queen here in Nigeria. We had the British flag, but they taught us that the common denominator was our country; it didn’t matter where you came from. This is why I sometimes say that people who hate the Igbo are wicked because there was a time they ran this country and it worked perfectly. Whether you believe it or not, the Igbo were all over the place contributing while neglecting their own. This is why I have always said that the only true Nigerian I know is the Igbo man who accepts Nigeria as his home anywhere. Are the others doing it? Instead, they look at the Igbo man with jealousy. When you go to the North, like Kano, they put you in Sabongeri (the place for strangers). You don’t venture into Tudunwada where they legislate. It is called segregation. We were trained to believe that this country belongs to us and we needed to develop it.
Don’t forget that the colonial masters trained people for the benefit of their economy and government. All the civil service rules and regulations were to strengthen their trade and government; and it worked. You didn’t know who was who; we were all Nigerians. There was joy when the Union Jack came down and the Nigerian flag, the Green-White-Green went up. All those things seem to have been killed. The colonial masters saw the difference.
Do you think Nigeria can go back to that era of high sense of patriotism, nationalism and brotherhood?
We can. Recently, I was listening to Chief Mbazulike Amaechi on AIT or whatever station and he was telling us history. At that time, Umaru Altine, who went to jail with Mbazulike Amaechi as members of the youth wing of the Zikist Movement became the first Mayor of Enugu. He was a Hausa man.
I can trace the division from what I’m going to say to you now. People won’t like it. The difference is very clear in culture and development in social contract. The typical northerner believed in Ahmadu Bello. They believe that whatever the emir says is law. Their culture and religion believe in alms giving. So, if you are a child, you may not need to go to school. You carry your plate in the morning and go to emir’s palace and they give you food. They give you breakfast, lunch and dinner and you go and sleep. What else do you need? That’s where it started. But in the South, our fathers sold lands to send some of us to school, expecting that when you finished and got a job you would buy back the land. In other words, they would pay everything for education.
Then the British suddenly amalgamated the two different cultures, one down there, one up there. That’s where the trouble began. But our early leaders – Ahmadu Bello, Awolowo, Azikiwe – tried to pull these things together. I don’t know why people are not asking questions concerning the clip they now play on AIT. On that clip, Zik said: “Look, I’m not playing politics, I’ve fought for this country for 25 years and Nigeria is going to be free in 1960. It does not matter to me whether Ahmadu Bello or Tafawa Balewa or Awolowo or myself becomes the prime minister. The important thing is that we’ve got our independence.”
In 1958 when the British government said they would grant the nation self-government as soon as two regions agreed, Awolowo in the West agreed, Zik in the East agreed, but the North said they were not ready. If Zik and Awolowo had gone on to have self-government, probably what is happening now would not be happening. Zik was a pan-Africanist born in Zungeru in the present day Niger State. He spoke Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo fluently. How many of our leaders do it today? Zik was an integrated man who believed in one Nigeria like Kwame Nkrumah believed in Ghana and Africa. Zik wasn’t even the head of the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC). It was Herbart Macaulay. They all believed in one country called Nigeria, with a green-white-green flag, but each region had its own coat of arms at the centre. The government at the centre controlled what was common to all of us.
At what point did all these things go down?
That is the question. I was talking with one journalist the other day and he said that Major-General Aguiyi Ironsi destroyed Nigeria. And I asked the journalist who said so. I reminded him that Aguiyi Ironsi did not take over government after Kaduna Nzeogwu staged a coup. I reminded the journalist that it was the then Senate, on a motion by Nwafor Orizu, that invited the military to come and help the country because the coup was staged by a group of young elements in the army who saw what they called corruption. Ironsi came, having risen from the ranks to become major-general. As the British colonial masters were going, he was made the head of the army. He didn’t have a degree, but he went to professional trainings and came out tops.
But it is said that the unitary system of government Ironsi introduced disorganised the country’s political structure?
Well, when he came, he made it clear to us that soldiers were not politicians. They work by commands; therefore, he was going to run the country as a military leader on a unitary command. At that time, the heat was on.
I told the journalist that General T. Y Danjuma is being caught in his own web because what happened to the Igbo is happening to him. Danjuma was used. I am wondering if Gowon and Buhari actually believe in Nigeria’s unity, after what they did. Do they think that all of us are idiots? Aguiyi Ironsi came and introduced the unitary system of government, but instead of looking at it from the perspective I told you, there was heat.
Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna was given an assignment in the East, Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu for the North while another soldier, whose name I’ve forgotten, was assigned in the West. The West succeeded, just like the North, but the East failed. In military operations you court-martial the man who failed in his operation. But because of the heat, everybody was expressing sentiment and emotion. I want to tell you something that may shock you; some people won’t like it, but it is the simple truth.
What is it?
The North never believed in the country called Nigeria, right from the beginning. There was a marked difference. Their party then was called the Northern People’s Congress (NPC). Even the youth called themselves the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU). But we had the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons. In order to retain that name, when Cameroon left, they called it the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). So do you see the difference between those who believed in Nigeria and those who did not? Ahmadu Bello once said that “Nigeria can only be when a northerner is in charge.’’ If you Google you would see it. Can you imagine the mindset? Do you remember that a certain state in northern Nigeria had its vehicle number plate with the inscription, “Born to Rule?” How can you do such a thing in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country? That is why we are clamouring for true federation, the type we had when Nigeria worked, when we had regions.
How do you view T.Y Danjuma’s recent call for Nigerians to defend themselves rather than depending on the armed forces who he accused of conniving with herdsmen to wreak havoc?
I said the Senate should find a way of defending itself because our security has broken down. Thanks to the Nigeria police who rescued me from kidnappers. The police did a wonderful job, but don’t ask me what motivated it. If they did not rescue me I would have probably been dead. However, there are bad eggs among the police. We have one of the best police forces in the world. They work when they want to work and if they have reasons to work.
Do you still have confidence in the Nigeria police?
Yes, but it is not the Nigeria police some of us knew. Things have changed because criminals find their way into the police force. That is why, despite the number of security checks you pass through before you step into the Senate, people were able to walk into the main chambers and take away the mace. And there were security men there. What do you think? Somebody was looking the other way when things were happening. Let’s stop deceiving ourselves.
Considering Danjuma’s accusation against the military; in Benue State, are the killings not continuing despite Operation Cat Race? That’s why some of us say to President Buhari that he is doing his best; nobody doubts it, but his best is not good enough. And I stand by it.
You are wearing a jacket with the inscription, National Anti-corruption Volunteer Corps. What’s your assessment of the anti-corruption crusade of the Federal Government?
They have changed it, and I don’t know what they answer now. It was not even Buhari’s thing when we joined it.
What are the aims and objectives of the organination?
Ordinary Nigerians are trying to help stop corruption because it has been embedded in our system, and it is killing us. People think that corruption is all about money. The money they are talking about is security fund. That’s what many Nigerians don’t know. Sambo Dasuki was the National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, just like Babagana Monguno is National Security Adviser to President Buhari. I want Buhari to tell Nigerians how he spends his security votes. I want Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State to tell his people how he spends his security votes. If Dasuki and Jonathan are being prosecuted for spending security votes, I want Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi my good friend who is doing wonderful works in Enugu State to tell Nigerians how a governor spends his security funds.
I worked in government, so I can tell you that security fund is unaccountable. But all the anti-corruption wars we are fighting are based on security fund. Ibrahim Babangida should come and tell Nigerians how he spent security funds. Not only Jonathan, for goodness sake. Buhari himself was head of state and he had security funds; let him tell us what he spent his security funds on. Security fund is for things that don’t have any head in the budget. It’s a huge amount of money in our federal territory. And I told the National Assembly that they had three options – reduce that money, scrap it or put it in a proper head of charge. Because that vote is unaccountable, it is on the discretion of the president, governor or chairman of the council, or whoever has security funds. Ngozi Okonji Iweala said so.