Professor Chidi Odinkalu’s response to Governor Charles Soludo’s fact-laden statement misses the point entirely. It is precisely this kind of rhetoric that fuels the misplaced bravado of secessionists who have convinced themselves that Nigeria revolves around Ndi Igbo.
This is a useless, unstrategic response to a question that strikes at the heart of the Igbo question. Great philosophers coined the phrase “man, know thyself” to admonish humanity to take measured decisions anchored on empiricism. Soludo’s pill is bitter. But if healing is the intention, we must swallow it.
The Facts Odinkalu Ignored
Governor Soludo stated that in 1998 he decomposed Nigeria’s GDP state by state and aggregated it by zone. The entire Southeast accounted for 7.9% of Nigeria’s GDP then.
Economic semi-literates confuse the GDP of the Southeast with the income of Ndi Igbo all over Nigeria. They are not the same.
SE GDP in the 1990s was the value of goods and services produced within the Southeast at the time. But Ndi Igbo still generate a major part, if not the majority, of their income and production of goods and services outside Igboland.
In blunt economic terms, unless Ndi Igbo are intentional about building a prosperous homeland, the Southeast region does not matter significantly in economic terms even today.
The Monday Sit-at-Home Test
Proof? We have endured a Monday sit-at-home for almost 5 years. That is nearly 20% of the 5-day work week, every week. In cumulative terms, we have lost roughly one full year of output in 5 years.
And the rest of Nigeria hardly noticed.
If this happened in Lagos, Abuja, or the Niger Delta for just 6 months, the national economy would shake. Markets would react. GDP numbers would dip. The entire nation would feel it. That is economic leverage.
The Southeast, as a region, does not currently wield that leverage. Ndi Igbo as a people do. That distinction matters.
Economic Exile Exposes the Gap
The evidence is in our economic exile. Millions of Ndi Igbo, including Professor Odinkalu himself, are tucked away in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, and abroad pursuing careers, business, and “human rights” advocacy.
If Odinkalu truly believes the Southeast’s economic weight is self-evident, let him relocate to his village, set up his enterprise there, and let us measure the national impact.
This is not about emotive patriotism. It is about hard numbers. We have lost one full year of work to sit-at-home orders without Nigeria blinking. That should humble us.
Know Thyself
Soludo’s argument is not an insult. It is a mirror. It forces us to confront a reality: political noise without economic base is empty. Secessionist fervor without a productive homeland is a road to nowhere.
The path to Igbo relevance is not built on delusions of indispensability. It is built on production, infrastructure, security, and deliberate homeland development.
Rhetoric will not make the Southeast a production hub. Only intentional investment will.
Until we grasp that difference, we will keep mistaking applause for achievement. And Nigeria will keep moving without us.
The question is simple: do we want to be heard, or do we want to matter?
Soludo chose to tell us how to matter. Odinkalu chose to be heard. History will judge which was wiser.
