IGBOS, EVERYWHERE.

Some years back, I traveled to my hometown for Christmas holidays. One evening while I was returning from somewhere, at that same time, the village holiday football match had just ended and the spectators were returning to their various homes. I was moving against "the traffic". The number of people walking past was teeming. Within myself, I wondered where all the people stay, how my little village accommodates them all.

Of course, it was not exactly a Chelsea match, so it is certain all of them were locals. The large number of people pointed to two main things for me. First, I could rightfully say that "my village people" love football. Secondly, and more importantly, I could say that my village is home to a shocking large number of people. Of course the entire village did not turn up for the football game, so we have far more headcount.

Well, like I said, it was during Christmas holidays, a long walk down that road in the next two weeks would not be the same. Everyone would have gone back to where ever they returned from, leaving the grandmothers, old men, very few young people and even fewer little children.

I was in Anambra State during the yuletide a few years ago. Anyone who has been in Anambra during Christmas can bear witness to how difficult it is to move around. The hold-up makes everything frustrating. I am not talking of Onitsha city, no,I am talking about villages far from the Capital or city.

The hold-up may point to how prosperous Anambraians are, but more importantly, it points to the high number of "Christmas returnees". That in turn points to the high number of people who do not reside within their hometowns, or state of origin.

Migration is a good thing. In fact, it's a plus for survival. People move from one place to another in search of better opportunities, more favorable conditions, safety of their lives, or in the spirit of adventure. It has become the characteristics of Igbo people,it is considered our nature.

They say if you go to any place and you do not see an Igbo man(and Coca-Cola product), just know the place is a ghost land. Igbos have spread out, survived and succeeded,attaining great heights wherever they are.

Now here comes my point. If for any reason there is a call for all Igbos to return home, would we all fit-in? How would we?

Just take for a second and imagine if the teeming headcount in my village were permanent residents in my community. And all Anambraians resided within Anambra or anywhere in the East. The catastrophy of highly densed population would undermine everything.

During the last census, some Igbos living in other parts of Nigeria returned to the East, so they be counted in their place of origin, despite the Government stating that it was needless. The logic behind that is that so their number does not swell up the population of other States. So those other States do not "reap" any political benefit that comes with having a large population.

The population of Igbos is hard to exact. CIA Factbook estimated it at 33 million as at 2016. 18% of the Nigerian population of 177 million people. I am not sure if this figure include Igbos that reside abroad, some of whom have naturalized and become citizens of other Nations. Or if the figure only include Igbos that live in Nigeria. Though I think the former is most likely the case. If we make up (only) 18% of the Nigerian population, that means that if the "proverbial" national cake is cut into 5 parts, Igbos would not even get up to 1 out of the 5 parts.

Igbos are great, both in strength and in number. But in our many sojourns to other lands, some of us become people whose identity as Igbo is only a fact they know, are told or reminded. Their sense of "Igbohood" hang at the mercy of whatever remnant acculluration is yet to erode.

If the teeming population witnessed in the seasonal mass return are to live within the borders of South-eastern Nigeria, we would have great problems in our hand. Any event(s)that will necessitate or call on the return of (all) Igbos back home would not be in our best interest.

If there is anything to learn from this, it is that it is pertinent we remain at peace with people from other lands, region, tribe and country. So that we would live in peace with them(in their land).

We should always have this at the back of our minds.