Former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, has called on people of Igbo extraction to imbibe the culture of unity and trust for one another as was the practice in the past, saying that only that will enable the area move forward in the Nigeria project.

He made the call on Monday at the traders’ summit and award ceremony put together by Anambra Consensus Project (ACP) held at Amaokpala in Orumba North Local Government Area of the state, to honour outstanding traders in all the 57 major markets in Anambra State.

He recalled that the Igbo were strongly united before and immediately after Nigerian Independence and wondered what went wrong over the years, considering what is currently happening in the Igbo-speaking states of the country.

“When I returned to Nigeria after my studies abroad, I worked for the then ESSO West Africa Limited and the job took me to many cities in the Northern part of the country. I found out that there was no place you would go and won’t find an Igbo man and they all cooperated well.

“If you wanted to buy APC medicine in any city in the North, whether it was Kano, Maiduguri, Kaduna, Bauchi, Bida, Minna, anywhere, it was an Igbo person that would sell it to you. Igbo people were so industrious that Northerners were saying that after the white man, the next most important person created by God was Igbo.

“When Igbo was Igbo, there was so much unity, such that once Igbo leaders met and took a decision, every Igbo person would abide by it. The trust among Igbo people was responsible for the reason apprenticeship became popular with the result that parents would allow their children to stay with an established Igbo man to learn a trade for periods ranging from five to 10 years after which the apprentice would then be settled to start his own business,” Ekwueme stated.

The former Vice President noted that after the settlement, the newly settled young trader would be getting goods on credit from his former master and subsequently return the money after selling the goods because of the trust that existed then.

He stressed that loss of trust has diminished that age long cooperation between the master and his former apprentice, which is very worrisome.

“The main problem of the Igbo today is lack of trust. If we can rebuild the trust among ourselves, our people will be better for it,” he emphasised.

He, however, appreciated the efforts of Igbo traders engaged in import business urging them to pay more attention to areas that would enhance export adding that it was by so doing that they would be in a position to withstand the uncertainties in the foreign exchange trade.

On his part, President of Anambra Consensus Project, Dr. Emeka Eze, explained that the organisation was committed to promoting Igbo ideology, as well as oneness of the Igbo and a unified direction of Igbo growth and development.

He said that the 57 best practising traders of the year would enjoy some privileges noting that ACP would register the certificates awarded to the traders with some embassies to enhance their visa opportunities whenever the need arose.

Eze revealed that the recognition of the outstanding traders would be an annual event, which would in future, be extended to the markets in Aba, Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt.

Also, the representative of Anambra State government, Prof. Solo Chukwulobe, who is the Secretary to the Anambra State Government (SSG), said that the state government would adopt the same template in rewarding outstanding civil servants in the state.

He added that government would meet with the leadership of the traders to work out ways of partnering with them to boost trade and commerce in the state.

•Photo shows former Vice President Alex Ekwueme.