My civil war experience – Ezeife
Daily Trust
Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife was a former federal permanent secretary, as well as ex-Governor of Anambra State. He was also the Chairman of the Igbo Elders Consultative Forum (IECF). In his last interview with published on Sunday, July 24, 2022, he shared his experiences, including how he prepared for the General Certificate of Education (GCE) examination without attending secondary school and got admission into the University College Ibadan (UCI).
Your biography suggests that you didn’t attend secondary school but went to the university. How was
that? It was not an option. I was forced. After primary school I went to become an apprentice. I sold medicine, then motor spare parts. After two years I went back to the village to teach, and after teaching for two years I felt I should go back to school.
While I was moving around a certain Hausa teacher showed me a result. He told me it was from a correspondence course. I asked what it stood for and he told me about GCE, explaining that one could do it by taking correspondence lessons. I applied for correspondence courses. I took the first qualifying test in 1959. I took the ordinary level in 1960 and the advanced level in 1961. By the time I got my result of the advanced level, they had virtually closed admission in UCI. I had also applied to the University of Nigeria. Eventually, I was admitted into both schools.
What did you do after graduating from UCI with a degree in economics?
I was employed by the Nigerian Breweries Limited (NBL) as a marketing person. I later applied for an administration job and was taken.
A lot of people wanted to go to Harvard, and you were among the first to go there, not only to do a master’s degree, but a PhD as well; how did that happen?
From the Ministry of Economic Development I was sent for a course at Cambridge Massachusetts, and I worked where they took people from developing countries.
Was that your first trip outside Nigeria?
No. In those days there were opportunities. The ministry sent me to Japan to do some courses. After that we went there again for about one year.
My way to Harvard was made easy. Professors from the school were teaching us. They knew everything about us, so when I applied, I was taken. But when I finished my course, there was war in Nigeria, so I could not come back. I rather went to Uganda, Makerere University, as a lecturer. That is one of the best parts of my life. The president would invite us to come and discuss economic stuff.
How long did you stay in Uganda?
I stayed two years and had the best experience. But the war in Nigeria made it a little bit difficult because they were inviting me to be on television to talk about the war.
You said the war prevented you from coming back to Nigeria, but I assume your sympathy was be with Biafra? Of course. Did you contribute to the war effort?
I did. We saw pictures of our children dried up. You would see the bones in some of them. With the pictures we had to go begging for money. It wasn’t easy for any Igbo boy or girl in Europe. You had to go and beg for money to give to people who would transmit it home.
After your PhD, did you come back home?
I didn’t stay a minute longer in America because I had a daughter who was about
three and another one who was about a year and half and I didn’t want them to absorb inferiority complex from the television. There was still some discrimination in the US against blacks.
At that time had the civil war wound started healing for you as an Igbo intellectual?
Yes. Lagos was very good. When I came back, after a few months I adjusted fully and was no longer afraid. I was with my friend, Olu Falae. I was properly guided and promoted.
At what point did you become a permanent secretary?
In 1984. You and Falae were the economic gurus of a military government. In fact, many people would accuse you of bringing the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) to Nigeria?
Yes, Falae, myself, Ayo Oyelu and a few more can accept that we caused a problem. But I can tell you that we worked very hard; and the ministers of those days recognised the problems but didn’t know enough.
After your career in the civil service you went into politics; as an intellectual, I wonder what motivated you into that?
I was a permanent secretary and saw politicians and what they were doing. I decided to make more sacrifices as governor. We had a rough time during our campaign. Thirteen people from my party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who were going for the governorship were sleeping in the house of Arthur Nzeribe who wanted to be the decision maker.
Even as a former permanent secretary?
Oh yes; of course a former permanent secretary did not have money. There was no money. Nzeribe gave us a very good reception and a paper to sign, that whoever was brought out among us, others should support him. We went to our rooms, slept and woke up in the morning and he asked for our signatures on the paper. Everybody signed, except me.
Why?
I decided to come out for the governorship and didn’t want anybody to choose for me.
So, you didn’t accept Nzeribe as a godfather?
No.
When you became governor, how did you cope with people like Nzeribe?
Nzeribe was fantastic. When my elder brother died, he brought a big truck with drinks and food and served the people by himself. We were friends.
How would you compare your tenure with that of Mr Peter Obi, who is now touted as the star of Anambra?
I worked for one year and some months. I built more roads than many other governors. I was famous for saving money. I left a lot of money - N400m. Peter saved N75bn, and that was a decade after me.
Obi is better than me in one aspect - he is more economical, and when he makes statement he lives by it. Public money was used for public welfare.
When I was governor, there were people who carried my bags, but many years after I left office, I saw Peter at the Enugu airport and he was carrying his bag. That was unusual. He was the only governor I saw carrying his bag.
From what you have said, it seems the hope of an Igbo presidency is invested in Obi?
I will say that God has taken over the events of Nigerian politics after that big money affair, where the highest bidders got the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) tickets.
I think we are entering a new Nigeria where men without conscience who have been messing with God’s great designs for Nigeria are being pushed aside.
Peter is not for Igbo; he doesn’t care whether you are Fulani, Yoruba or whatever, what he knows is his economic and development principles and how to lead Nigeria to answer what God wants it to answer, be a superpower and raise the respect and dignity of all blacks on earth. That is what I see as God’s purpose for Nigeria.
Peter is not coming for the Igbo nation, you know we don’t ask for favours from the government; what we want is a level-playing ground. Look at your village and you will see Igbo people there; and they are doing well.
Peter is more favourable to the poor. He will make the Fulani happy and loved in Nigeria. He will make the Yoruba and all groups in Nigeria happy because they will find a transformed and great country.
So, you have a passionate belief that there’s the need for the Igbo to become the next president?
Why not? You just listened to me. The Igbo are the people who make Nigeria to look national because everywhere you go you will see them.
The North has monopolised executive power at the national level; that is the presidency. The Yoruba, through Obasanjo, spent years as a military head of state, then eight years as a democratically elected president. Osinbajo spent years as vice president. Are we slaves? Even slaves won’t take that.
We are practising democracy like America, so, such a position is not given but contested.
Yes, it is not given, but if you despise some groups, is it going to be credible? If you remember, our man, General Aguiyi Ironsi, in a bid to remove him from office, was tied to a car until he died.
We want a change that will be good for every Nigerian.
Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has created a theatre of violence in the South East, yet elders like you are calling for his release, is that proper?
Kanu does not inspire any violence. He is not a terrorist; he is just saying the Igbo should not be slaves in Nigeria. He is making contributions to the Igbo situation because ex-President Muhammadu Buhari seemed to be making efforts to push the people out of Nigeria. Young men are only reacting to what the president was doing—our exclusion, intimidation and others. Do you know that not even one Igbo man was in the National Security Council? Our boys are not getting jobs. They go into secondary schools with an average of 300 plus, but your people in Katsina will go with an average of four plus, and when they come out of the school you get them employed and our people will be relegated.
You are now 80? I am 84. What do you do to keep going?
God is in charge. I think part of my appearance is because I don’t keep anything. I think I have a clean heart.
Also, I eat fruits and do exercises. I read books, make friends and move around. Family life is very good. I married three wives, but two of them were married by my wife, who just died.