Igbo Village in America and You -By Chris Aniedobe

Aniedobe

The Igbo Village in Staunton Virginia continues to expand into a tourist attraction. One of the joys of my kids was helping to make aja oto for building the village. We all had fun igba aja oto for those walls.

Igbo amaka.

The village is a crowning achievement of Igbo Studies Association, USA aided by CISA .. Council of Igbo States Americas. It has become a viable tourist attraction and growing.

This is an example of just how doing something, no matter how small, is everything. It takes a tiny seed to make a mighty tree.

We gather everyday as Igbo elite in various platforms to generate endless streams of ideas around the issues of the day.

Too many ideas is toxic.

Let’s stop talking and start executing, one tiny project at a time. Support those who are working with your money. It is better than tithing evangelicals.

Let’s not let the APC shenanigans of the day drown and blunten our focus.

When World Igbo Summit Group was booming, we came up with fantastic ideas such as:

1. World Igbo Heritage Center.
2. Igbo Aid
3.Igbo Local Content Initiative
4. Igbo Development Fund
5. Igbo Media
6. World Igbo Lobby
7. Igbo Food Sufficiency Program
8. Igbo History Project

Committees were formed around these projects. Summit was held. Declarations were made.

At the end of the day, they all died natural deaths at different levels of execution.

What killed most of them was toxicity of ideas. People who just won’t get their hands dirty always seemed to have a better idea. People didn’t know when to stop propounding newer and better ideas and just try to sow that tiny seed.

Then resources were not there. People were proposing billion naira ideas but there wasn’t one kobo to even start.

I blame no one. WISG brought together the best of Igboland. I love the intellectual passion Umuigbo bring to issues but I loathe their inability to just reduce the tiniest of those ideas to concrete reality.

At the end of the day other groups get bitten by the idea epidemic. They gather. They propose. They call the mother of all Summits. They release a Communique. Then they drift along to a nearby cemetery and all those ideas become interred only to reincarnate elsewhere.

The toxicity of Ideas di ka emelu anyi eme.

I belong to Igbobuigbo, Nzuko Umunna, World Igbo Summit Group, Town Hall meeting etc, all Igbo groups. The intellectual output on a daily basis is dizzing.

At the end of the day, not even the tiniest seed is sown. Nor will be sown

Can we freeze from generating too many ideas and just take a break for a week.

During that week, do something useful such as:

1. Phone call to Chief Nnia Nwodo to thank and encourage him for his leadership and donate whatever you can to keep Ohaneze afloat

2. Phone call to Prof Nwala re Adf and do the needful.

3. Call your Igwe and tell him that any body who still uses fulani nama for any ceremony in your town bu onye nzuzu. Gwa your PG.

4. Try. Rapu. Jisike. Avoid the temptation to build at Lekki or Dawaki. Build at Awka, Abakaliki or Owerri. Alaigbo amaka.

5. Close your ideas and invest in Sendef SouthEastNigeria Development Fund or Adf ..Alaigbo Development Fund. It is better than tithe

6. Make that Commitment today. Set aside one dollar a day or one pound a day or 100 naira a day, every day and just close your ideas, and sacrifice it into a frontline Igbo group such as Ipob, Ohaneze, Adf. If ndiIgbo are not fear worthy, we are nothing. Your generosity will make the difference

7. Etc.

In all, biko talk less. Idea toxicity is killing Umuigbo worldwide. Ideas not backed by funds is a waste of time. Chances are that your brilliant idea has already been thought of somewhere.

Regarding NdiFulani and us, a man who stares at a stronger man merely admires him. You should know. Ebube agu na eche agu. Igbo enwerozi ebube. Nwa mgbada abatago Oka maka ukwu jili agu.

So until we make Igbo fear worthy, all the hot air of empty ideas people are generating about Igbo condition in Nigeria is only adding to global warming and nothing else.

Gwazia ndi otu unu site na igbasa ozia.

Aniedobe