OPINION: How Not To Bury A Nigerian Statesman, By Ichie Chukwunonso Elvis

Nigeria is an unusual country. 

If this is added to the fact that we currently live in the most interesting times - a smooth blend of sheer misery, epic strife and hopelessness, one may just agree that it actually is permissible for a whopping N1B to be spent on the burial of former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ifeanyi Ekwueme.

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Already, I can guess that someone; I mean a governor, most likely Anayo Rochas Okorocha has told handlers of President Muhammadu Buhari to tell Baba that if He rolls out the drums in celebration of the life and times of Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the APC will have added one more pillar to the bridge of friendship the party requires with the South East ahead of the 2019 polls.

The only reason I think this breaking news is in some ways acceptable is because no one can say for sure how much expenses was incurred for similar purposes in other parts of Nigeria.

This is because I already have a hunch which suggests that if the cost of burying prominent Nigerians who died in the last decade is jointly probed by the EFCC and DSS, Ndi Igbo will agree that even in death, there is still partiality and marginalization. How can one burial gulp N5B and another N1B; aren't we one Nigeria?‎

‎Now guys, on a more serious note, I really think Nigeria must learn about better methods to immortalize Her leaders beyond throwing lavish parties and feasts. To be exact, we must imbibe a culture of allowing immediate family of deceased burying their dead with government playing complementary roles. To this end, I'd like to just suggest 4 crucial interventions the N1B spent so far could have been deployed to serve.

N1B if spent to bridge the shortfall in the housing needs of Nigerians will translate to 200 units of 3 bedroom apartments built at N5M each built in Oko community and named after the late vice president. Don't ask of land because if government shows seriousness, 100 plots of land can be donated by the Ekwueme Royal Family for take off. At N5M, if handed to the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, civil servants could be availed 3 years credit lines to pay N4M upon down payment of 20% of the cost each unit being N1M only. ‎This scenario played out in Otueke, Bayelsa State during the burial of the mother of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

N1B could have been set aside as counterpart fund by the Federal Government in a trust. A special intervention of another N2B can be sourced from the TETFUND and ETF by exercise of executive fiat of Mr. President. An additional N2B can be accessed from the private sector totaling N5B to be spent to improve infrastructure and research at the Federal Polytechnic, Oko - a brainchild of the Late former VeeP aimed at upgrading it to a Federal University of Technology named after Him. Don't say this is utopian. An Obasanjo library exists in Abeokuta.

N1B ‎for the records is just N14B short of the N15B capital requirement for regional banks according to the CBN. I therefore wonder why starting an ORIENT BANK LIMITED or maybe BANK OF THE EAST wasn't considered a better idea. N15B is a paltry sum which governors of the South East can raise in 90 days. Vehicles, plants, machinery, building and staff are walkover in a South East which has Innosson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited, a high turnover of university graduates and hundreds of abandoned buildings that's served as branches of defunct African Continental Bank, Savanah Bank, Efex Bank, Hallmark Bank, Citizens Bank et al. The medium and long term benefits of this to the large pool of traders, manufacturers, large scale farmers and other Igbo owned businesses in the South East is better imagined.

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Finally, since the late Late Dr. Alex Ekwueme was at the forefront of calls for community development, N1B could have simply been given out as contracts for immediate construction of 19 rural roads or 19 capital projects - one in each of the 19 ‎towns which make up Orumba North LGA at N52.2M each.

In all honesty, I think this N1B bazaar comes across as ‎a robbery of the living of more reasons to live, availing  them plenty reasons to want to die, give the dead a loud ode while society remains left at the mercy of ineffective persons who do not often see beyond instant pecuniary benefits conferred on them as leaders by a society that has a culture of low expectations.