Chief Joseph Ikunna
Nature is one thing everyone and everything identifies with. It is the sum total of the eco system hence when it is not yet tampered with, it remains a beauty to behold little wonder, the likes of Joe Ikunna, despite being born and groomed in the UK, got hooked to his Mgbidi village in Imo state where he feels and live nature raw.
The story of Chief Joseph Chukwuma Ikwunna, who is popularly known and called Joe Ikunna is a story of ambiguity, a realism which is often read about but may never be found anywhere. Joe Ikunna was born in the UK. He schooled there. He is a father of now three fully grown adults. His also Nigerian wife and the children are still over there. He came to explore the business environment of Nigeria in the early 2000 with a mind set of settling in the Lagos hub. He did do his business for few years in Lagos from where it was easier to access his ancestral Mgbidi community on a more regular basis. Along the line, he discovered Mgbidi and Igbo land in its entirety from another dimension hence in 2012, he relocated his business to Mgbidi and says he may never leave the locality again for any boisterous city no matter how much is involved.
Joe Ikunna’s, major attraction is the serenity he enjoys all around him. Hear him: . I am surrounded by green environment. I have fertile land to grow anything I want. I can live on organic food here if I so desire. When you combine the organic food you eat here with an uncontaminated air to breath, you begin to understand why people die at age 90 and above in the villages. I enjoy 6-8 hours uninterrupted sleep here every night. These are luxuries you cannot contemplate anywhere outside your natural habitat.
By his experiment, he maintains that any business can thrive in the villages just as business over head bills are much cheaper.
Technology he also identifies as a major driver of life globally hence one could do business from anywhere with clear network signals. His only snag is that he had to shut down his kernel extracting outfit due to poor electricity supply but added quickly that he is ready to get back to the business with diversification to use of gas generator.
Though he has shut down the company but he said he still makes good income via his agricultural investment. He is into poultry, piggery and some cash crops including bitter kola plantation. He is enthralled by the fact that often he eats vegetable or corn, pulled straight from farm to pot or fire.
He celebrates the natural vegetation as every side is green and a beauty to behold. He cannot quantify the peaceful and unpolluted air quality that is exclusive to such natural habitat. He was quick to add that the only thing that could compromise air quality though minimally considering the number and availability is power generating plants.
He told SSWatch his harrowing experience in Lagos where he must wake every 04.00 A.M, to leave for office at 05.00 A.M to avoid getting stuck in traffic. To return home without sweating it out in traffic, he had to leave office very late.
No doubt all the stressors impact negatively on the quality of life on the long run in most cities.
You will begin to wonder which of the planets he dropped from when he said; Yes I was making money in the city but don’t forget that we came to the world with no money and will leave it with no money. What is the whole essence of not maximizing your life he queried as he ascribes the many stressors as responsible for prevailing low life expectancy in the country which gets lower as the clock ticks away.
To see reasons with him as well as share in his discovery is the fact that since his nine years in his village, he has never had an asthmatic attack as an asthmatic patient. This is reason why he took caution for granted once on a trip to nearby Port Harcourt, Rivers State, without his inhaler but found himself in a precarious situation that compelled him to look for one promptly.
To demonstrate that he has indeed explored and come in terms with his vicinity, Joe also noted: for those into womanizing, there are beautiful, decent and safer women here that cost you close to nothing. There are also higher institutions in nearby Owerri where you could go and socialize if you need company with quality girls at close to no cost. If you stay here and understand life you will never want to go anywhere else. You get addicted to the environs. Occasionally you have locals come to you for one need or the other. I have no problem with that because its better to help your people than outsiders. I also attend some of their outings like funerals, weddings, coronations and other social events. I also politik with them. You just have to adapt to be happy but one thing is sure: they respect you.
On insecurity which engulfed the south east at a time with the likes of unknown gunmen, IPOB and the ESN (Eastern Security Network) and the Ebube Agus of this world, Joe simply said; The experience of gun running at a time, I think was politically motivated. There was a time some politicians reportedly told the governor that they will make the State ungovernable for him. I think that was what played out then and even then they knew their targets but now we enjoy peace.
We have military check points to forestall any breach. Some say the presence of the military is unwarranted, I do not ascribe to that because I have been to some parts of the north and saw similar arrangement in States where some sort of violence is present. This is not unusual.
On the ongoing appointments at the federal level at the moment, Chief Ikunna frankly pointed out; do not forget that APC was created from two political parties: CPC (Congress for Progressive Change) and ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria). CPC under former President Muhammadu Buhari occupied most of the top notch offices in his government. With the Tinubu led government, ACN has taken over that position. Truth about it is that there are very few Igbo people in those parties which make up the ruling APC today.
Again, what I see in President Tinubu’s selection for Service Chiefs are, credibility and excellence. For instance, the person he appointed as his chief of army staff, Major General Taoreed Lagbaja is some one who has credibility and knows his job. On these notes, I am happy with his appointments so far. It is natural to appoint his people to surround him to protect and not sabotage his efforts. Also people that worked hard for him deserve his reward.
Whether marginalized or not, I will advice my Igbo people to stop focusing on the center and come down to ala Igbo (Ibo land). Nobody will make a Fulani man or Yoruba man our governor or senators in a democratic setting as we have today. They should come back home to develop ala Igbo (the East). However, electricity is an issue here but when a good number of us come to invest at home as I am doing, we will find a way around it I trust them. Further more, the yankee turned villager says: I have taken to farming, someone else could go into education by opening world class schools or as educational consultants; Another can invest in healthcare because such facilities are lacking and these are what make the cities attractive.
English.
