A CLOSE LOOK AT NIGERIA.

Let's take a look at our Nigerian map. Please don't mind my irregular lines. The area colored red is the whole of the South-Eastern Nigeria. The area above the green line is vaguely lumped together as Northern Nigeria. The area below the blue line is the South-Western region of Nigeria. Note that there are States that do not fall into any category.

A cursory look would show that the Northern region is by far the largest region. Followed far far behind by the S/West region. Then the South/East. The South/East can hardly be compared to the North in terms of geographical size. A handful of individual States in the North equal the size of the entire South-East. Niger, Borono, just to mention a few.

Nigeria is a multi ethnic Nation. The three main ethnic groups being the  Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba (in alphabetical order). The more known minority ethnic groups include Tiv, Nupe, Igala, Esan, Ijaw, Ibibio, etc. We have about 350 ethnic groups in all in Nigeria. Each being a people with their own unique ways, history, etc.

I said earlier that the area above the green line is vaguely lumped together as the North. Let me explain that. For people like me in the South-East, we assume that the North is a whole region, as in one region. When we lament that the North recieve more allocations compared to us, we do not take into cognizance the fact that within the North, there is  North-Central, North-East, and North-West. While the South has South-East, South-South and South-West.

We fully understand that the South is demaracted, yet we see the whole of the North as one. It is worthy of note too that not everyone from the North is Hausa. But pretty much everyone from the South-East is Igbo. I do not know if everyone from South-West can be called Yoruba. Then the South-South is occupied by the Ibibos, Ijaws, the Ikweres, etc.

One of the reasons of agitation for succession is that we are highly marginalized. The Dictionary meaning of marginalization is "to put or keep (someone) in a powerless or unimportant position within a society or group. On a serious note, how marginalized are we? People of the South-East I mean.

Spread out your map and look. Some people say that the census was rigged to inflate the number of people in the Northern region,so they can gain more benefits for their large. Do they really need a manipulated census for their number to be greater than ours? Let's keep in mind that people in the South-East are predominantly Christians. And Christianity encourages monogamy, so monogamy is largely imbibed by the people. This is in contrast to the Northern region with large number of Muslims who imbibe polygamy. Again, even in monogamy, South-Easterners find it convenient to birth few children. In contrast to the average Northerner who is happy to bear as many children as they can with their multiple wives.

This puts Northerners unarguably far ahead of Easterners in population size. Let's also keep in mind that culture leaves half the population unseen - the women I mean. They are not as visible both literally and figuratively as women in the South-East.

We hear that the South-East is cheated out in number of States. We have 5 states while "the North" has 19 States (all to themselves). Let's keep in mind that the North is further broken down into regions. North-Central has 7 states, FCT inclusive, North-East has 6 States and North-West has 7 States. One may say that the South-East is still being cheated out, but please roll out your map again and look. North-East alone has 3 States that the entire East can fit into each one. If States are to be dissected and sized as in contained in the South-East region, 5 more States should be made out from Borno alone.

When appointments are announced, "name-checkers" quickly look through the list to weigh ethnic considerations. If out of 10 appointments made, 2 are Easterners, 1 is South-South, 3 are South-West, and 4 are Northerners, some people would scream marginalization. The truth is "how many should we rightfully get" for the distribution to be fair to all, not just us?

It is so too in matters of employment. How many percent does South-East alone make up in the population? If all the regions receive the same slot as proportioned to their size and the percentage allotted to us, we would cry foul even more.

They say it should not be by geographical size, but by population. Igbos have this sojourn spirit. We take great pride in seeking out. We are scattered all over Nigeria and the world at large. While trying to gain points for ourselves to support that we are densely populated, we include people that are domiciled in far away lands as part of our population. These are people that build up the population of other lands. Contributing to their economy and reaping the benefits within. If we must claim to be people with a large and dense population, then we all should return home and make up the numbers that is required to favor us in gerrymandering.

Agaitators say we receive the least allocation among all the regions. And that is true. Please spread out that your map again. The South-East covers 76,145km square. Do we expect to be allocated the same amount with the North-East that has our size magnified in many folds over? The oil is mainly in the South-South, so it is not as though "our oil" builds up the national treasury and yet we receive the least allocation. We should keep in mind that Easterners are scattered all over these other regions, and enjoy the amenities provided with the "greater funding" these other regions recieve.

Our problem as a Nation is more than structural. If we continue to place Nationhood beneneath tribe and ethnicity, we would never make progress. No amendment or fractioning would douse perceived injustice. Above all, we would never find a common ground in order to achieve a common goal.

Undoubtedly, we Igbos are formidable people. That is how, and that is why we even have enough footing to demand better grounds. Equality nor equality neither favors us, still we gained prominence. Politics has always been what it is- a game where the one with leverage wins. The North has been winning with their leverage of size and number. We can find ours, we should find our own leverage.