Edited by: Ndubisi Ofondu, Ogbonna Oleka, Kalu Onuma
Volume: 260 pages
Reviewer: Rev. Okey Ifionu
If you want to know a man you have not met, you probably need to talk to
some of his friends and relatives. What they tell you about him may be either
an overstatement or understatement of who he really is. But if you go through a
good number of the speeches he has given over the years, you will find out who
he is indeed. We are often what we say. How we think and what we believe often
shine through in our speeches. And so there is hardly a better way of
presenting a man than to put in the public domain what that man has said over
the years on a wide range of issues.
If that man is an Admiral Godwin Ndubisi Kanu, you want to pay closer
attention. This is not simply because he has had the privilege of being the
governor of Imo and Lagos states as well as a member of the Armed Forces Ruling
Council, but more so because of the
stridency and consistency of his views on nearly every issue that is central to
the survival and development of Nigeria as a nation.
In this 260-page book edited by three gentlemen who have worked closely
with the subject, are parked some of the most momentous, even if controversial,
speeches made by this patriot and
tireless social-cultural activist in a period spanning more than 30 years.
For a man who has just turned the land mark age of 70 years, Admiral Kanu
looms much larger than many a septuagenarian in the popular imagination,
essentially because of his active involvement in most public conversations at
both national and subnational levels.
As you guessed, the book under review is in the words of the editors
"an encapsulation of Admiral Kanu's thoughts on a new Nigeria and the Igbo
nation; his vision and roles as a stakeholder, having at different times served
as the military governor of the old Imo state and Lagos state, and more
recently as the chairman of Ohan'eze Transition/Caretaker Committee."
In their foreword, the editors provide a snap biography of Admiral Kanu who
was born 70 years ago in Enugu, the capital of the former Eastern Nigeria, of
parents from Ovim, in the present Abia state; and who was educated in some of
the best military academies around the world. We also read in this section what
many Nigerians know already about Kanu: his unflinching commitment to justice
and equity in the sharing of the national patrimony, and his courageous stance
against political injustice.
In all, the book contains 21 mostly epochal speeches made on different
occasions and before different audiences. In speech after speech, Admiral
Kanu's candour, nationalistic fervour and versatility stand out like an
electric lamp in pitch darkness. The consistency and continuing relevance of
his views despite the passage of time are remarkable. Some of the views he
expressed decades ago remain as pertinent today as they were when he first
expressed them. You may or may not agree with his thoughts on what is wrong
with Nigeria and his prescriptions for fixing them but his persuasiveness is
endearing.
You will certainly find some controversial but highly thoughtful and
original positions by Admiral Kanu on a number of national questions. He pulls
no punches and can be brutally frank on some of the issues that some would
consider too prickly. Not every reader would accept his position on June 12 or
the Ohan'eze crisis. His speech at the 2004 edition of the Wole Soyinka Annual Lecture,
from which the title of this book is taken, is exceptionally thought-provoking.
So are his submissions on the clamour for a sovereign national conference. No
less imaginative are his prescriptions for a more functional federalism.
The first speech in the book happens to be a lecture he delivered in 2010
at the Inaugural Owerri Club Heartland Lectures while the last is a rather
exultant welcome address on the occasion of the arrival of an indigenous
merchant ship on the waters of Nigeria. In between them are an assortment of
speeches touching on issues as varied as the Ohan'eze crisis of 2005, the June
12 political debacle, effective administration of federalism in Nigeria and a
homage address to a one-time president of Ohan'eze, Dr 'Dozie Ikedife . The
tone of each address varies, depending on the nature of the audience. The most
somber and elucidating of the speeches are the ones on the Ohan'eze crisis and
June 12. And both are understandably among the longest. On both matters his
position was unmistakable and unambiguous.
The very first speech was a detailed account of his tenure as the pioneer
governor of Imo state which was created in 1976. There he chronicled for
posterity how the state started, the teething problems of mobilising the civil
servants, providing take-off infrastructure and so on. The challenges could
have overwhelmed a less determined 34 year-old military officer who had never
had any meaningful exposure to public administration. Kanu's vision for the
young state was clearly spelt out in the speech. And a glorious vision it was
indeed--modern urban and town planning,
massive and aggressive education of the youth, road construction, health and housing provision, public
utilities, job creation and so on and so forth.
Admiral Kanu left his audience in no doubt about where he stood on the
issue of our fiscal federalism. The nation's wealth should be equitably shared
among the three tiers of government, with the principle of derivation taking
pre-eminence as was the case during the first Republic.
He believes, just as many Nigerians do, that the introduction of unitarism
in 1967 in place of "true federalism" marked the beginning of
continuous retrogression of the nation. In his words, "for Nigeria to make
progress, we must revert to true federalism, otherwise we will continue looking
forward and backwards."
In the second speech titled "The Challenges of a Growing City,"
which was delivered in 1977, Kanu who had recently been reassigned to Lagos as
its governor was appealing to Lagosians to adopt a better attitude to
environmental sanitation. Improper refuse disposal which remains a problem in
this megacity was the core subject of the address. Then, as now, some Lagosians
were in the habit of dumping their solid waste on the highway median. It was
something that the young military governor disliked a lot. In his appeal for a
change of habit, he lamented the common habit of Nigerians to turn round to
complain about things they have brought upon themselves. If Lagos was the
filthiest city in Nigeria, it was made so by residents. What was of concern to
the former military governor in 1977 has also been of concern to his
successors, including the incumbent. Lagos appears to be a giant killer when it
has to do with environmental sanitation.
Another gripping chapter is the one addressing what Admiral Kanu called the
unfinished business of making Nigeria a nation state-- one that is really
cohesive and that can compete effectively in the world. That for me is the
jewel of this book. No wonder the editors took their title from that address. The
unfinished business is that of turning Nigeria into a "just and egalitarian
society." As far as Admiral Kanu is concerned it includes the task of
restructuring Nigeria through the convocation of a sovereign national conference. In intellectual circles, this has been a
major point of debate. Should we have a sovereign national conference or simply
a national conference as the present federal government is proposing? Admiral
Kanu and his co-travellers in the National Democratic Coalition have been
strong advocates for the former. And in that address he made quite a pitch for
it. It is for me the most scholarly of all the speeches in this volume. He also
addressed, though not in great detail, the issue of a Nigerian president of
Igbo origin and why the time is ripe for it.
By and large, running through this book is Admiral Kanu's concern for the
peace and unity of Nigeria, based on justice and equity, and nothing less.
The time spent reading the book is
compensated with the pleasure of sharing the wits, thoughts and humours of a
man who has been deeply involved in the difficult task of policy making and
execution at both the state and federal levels. But for a couple of
typographical errors, the speeches are altogether a delight to read. The
thoughts and arguments are rigorous and edifying. The jokes are clean and
decent. Although some of the speeches appear over extended, they are neither
tedious nor threadbare. For me and, I guess,
for most people who would read this book, it is not merely a collection
of speeches but indeed a piece of Nigeria's contemporary history, told by a man
who should know. It is quite expansive and regaling in its breadth and depth.
To know more of Admiral Kanu, and more of this country and the forces that
shape it, you need to read this book.
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