Tag: Igbo culture

Being a lecture delivered by Prof Emeka Aniagolu on topical issues concerning Achebe’s legacy, Igbo culture and society at Sports Club, Enugu. The event was sponsored by FIT Consult.

Africans enslaved on the Island of Trinidad, even invented a miraculous musical instrument, which had it been invented by white people, would surely have been included as one of the wonders of the world: the Steel Drum.

The Steel Drum is a musical instrument made from discarded oil drum, which, with strategically placed bumps on its concave surface, is made to play every note on the musical scale! Today, Steel Drums are developed and institutionalized muscal instruments used to play everything from popular music to full orchestra performances of classical Western music: such as Beethoven’s celebrated 5th Symphony and others.

I do not have to go into a long epistle to remind everyone that the greatest athletes the United States has produced as a nation-state—have been Blacks—African Americans. Most of America’s greatest Heavy Weight boxers, field athletes, track-runners, American Football Players, Basketball Players, Baseball Players; have been Blacks—African Americans.

Even regarding American Democracy, African Americans, not only fought alongside white Americans in securing the United States as a republic from British colonial rule, in 1776; but gave America’s half-baked democracy, which allowed only white propertied males the right to vote; as well as institutionalized a system of racial discrimination against non-whites (especially

Blacks) called: “Jim Crow”—from the second decade of the end of the American Civil War (1870) to 1964, when the United States Congress finally passed the Civil Rights Act.

It was the Civil Rights Movement, instigated, organised and led by African Americans (especially, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.); that saw to the humanistic revalorization of America’s democracy.

And just before anyone goes thinking that the contributions I outline here are confined to the artistic, entertainment, sports and protest politics; let me assure you that the very same descendents of enslaved Africans in the Americas (especially in the United States of America), made prodigious contributions to the modern science and technology of the United States, despite the handicap of their second class, if not third class citizenship. FOUR (4) African American inventors and innovators stand out in bold relief in the realm of scientific and technological contributions to the modern industrialization and development of the United States: (1) Norbert Rillieux; (2) Lewis Howard Latimer; (3) Garrett Augustus Morgan; and (4) George Washington Carver.

Norbert Rillieux, a mechanical engineer by training, revolutionized the sugar industry throughout the world in the 1800s, with his patented invention called: the Multiple-Effect-Vacuum- Evaporator. Refined sugar is still made all over the world to this very day, using Rillieux process.

Lewis Howard Latimer, an electrical engineer by training, helped Thomas Edison with the invention of the incandescent electric bulb. Latimer wrote the first textbook on incandescent lighting in the world, invented and patented a process for making carbon filaments for light bulbs.

George Washington Carver, was a trained agricultural chemist, an ex-slave boy who escaped from his slave master; educated himself to university level, holding a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in agricultural chemistry from Iowa Agricultural College. George Washington Carver was a “Renaissance Man” in every sense of the word:

He introduced the growing of groundnuts into the agriculture of the South in the United States – in order to naturally replenish nitrogen in the soil, which had been depleted of nutrients from intensive cultivation of cotton. He derived 326 products from groundnuts alone. Came up with 108 uses of sweet potatoes.

Developed 75 products from pecans. And Developed 118 industrial applications from agricultural products.

In 1943, Carver’s homestead was incorporated into the George Washington Carver National Monument by the United States Government. And last, but no means least of my four examples of African American inventors, is: Garrett Augustus Morgan.

Garrett Morgan invented and patented a number of very useful gadgets, one of which people use every day and everywhere in the world, without even thinking about it, let alone thinking of a black man as its inventor: the Automatic Traffic Light! And what has all this that happened so far away and so long ago got to do with us here in Nigeria and in Igbo land? It was and still our genes—African genes—a great deal of which came from Nigeria and from Igbo stock; doing duty on the dancehall, the basketball court and the science lab in the Americas! So, what we did and still doing over there, we can also do over here!

In fact, we started to do just that over here, during the period of the Biafran War, before we were overwhelmed by the combined firepower of Nigerian, British, Russian and Egyptian armaments; and we finally capitulated in January of 1970, after a gallant and glorious 30-month war of resistance! No people should be prouder than us over what we were able to achieve in the face of the most daunting existential odds imaginable!

There are those who are of the view that what happens at the “Center” (meaning the capital, Abuja), is the primary if not the sole determinant of what happens in the “Region” (meaning the states). And one can be sympathetic to that point of view given the historical backdrop of 33 years of military rule, during which the governance of the country was highly centralized, not unlike the command and control structure of the military itself.

Moreover, the military-sponsored 1999 Constitution of Nigeria likewise centralized power, authority, revenue allocation and distribution at the “Center.” Still, in a post-military democratic dispensation, what happens in the “Region”—positive and/or negative—can also affect what

happens not only in the “Region” itself, but also at the “Center.” The power of positive or negative example has no geopolitical limits. It can emanate from and/or migrate to the East, West, North or South!

Every now and again, as an opening gambit for my students, when I used to teach at the university in the United States; I would ask them to name any one of the fabulously wealthy so-called “Merchants of Venice” in Florentine Italy. And, of course, my question will be met with blank stares and deafening silence. But if I ask if they know the following individuals: Leonardo Fibonacci, Leoardo da Vinci, Marco Polo and Michael Angelo; all of whom came from the very same Florentine Italy; their eyes light up with excitement and recognition and their hands shoot up into the air.

I wish to suggest that there was cultural nobility and pride, moral certitude and philosophical clarity, that was imbued and ensued in Igbo culture and society; that manifested itself in an ethos of self-appropriation and proper public conduct.

That cultural nobility and pride, moral certitude and philosophical clarity; was what made possible the creation by Ndigbo of the only “meritocratic-aristocracy” in the history of the African continent, and perhaps, the world: the Ozo-Title.

Here was an institution, nobility and aristocracy attainable only through a system of meritocracy; a nobility that could not be inherited through bloodlines. The individual members of each and every generation must give a meritocratic account of their own capabilities, achievements and credentials; in order to gain admission into the ranks of that exalted aristocracy. Hence, an Okonkwo, in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, could rise from being the son of an indolent and indigent father, to become one of the Lords of Umuofia; based solely on his individual achievement.

It was what prompted me to write a historical novel in 2005, titled: Ozo: A Story of an African Knighthood. Truth, honor, integrity, courage, self-edification and dignity; were the watchwords of that incredible institution. It could not be bought or sold; and having all the money in the world, especially, if it were ill-gotten; would not qualify you for entry into its exalted ranks. An

Ozo’s word was his bond. Honor meant everything to him. He would rather die than lie, steal or cheat!

It was that traditional theosophical value system of Igbo society (later, interspersed with Christian morality and piety), that brought forth men like: Nnamdi Azikiwe, M.I. Okpara, Akanu Ibiam, Sir Louis Mbanefo, Charles Dadi Onyeama, Anthony Nnaemezie Aniagolu, Pius Okigbo,

Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi, Chukwuemeka Ike, and so many others too numerous to mention here.

Wither is gone that remarkable institution with its accompanying sociopolitical ethos in Igbo land? Instead of our marshaling our truly remarkable cast of characters—at the cusp of Nigeria’s independence and later still—to do duty for us all, by heralding the brilliance of their professional careers; the moral fiber of their lives; the unassailable legacies they left behind for posterity; we consign them to the shadows, muttering under our breaths, as though we want our youth to forget them, to wallow in the illusion that they are reinventing the wheel!

If you ask most Enugu State citizens—young and old—the history of how Enugu State was created, most would not have the slightest idea. The older ones among them might have a vague notion that the late Chief C.C. Onoh had something to do with it, and that would, most likely, be the extent of their “knowledge.”

Similarly, if you ask most Igbo youth—thirty years or younger—about the history of the Nigeria-Biafra War; a war in which Ndigbo lost an estimated 3 million human beings, they will likely give you vague generalities or sometimes, startling counter-intuitive, not to speak of

counterfactual commentaries, that have little or no basis in historical facts.

But the fault is not theirs. Where are our Great War Memorials, Museums, Monuments and Citadels of knowledge and information on that single greatest peril Ndigbo faced as a nation of people? The answer is little or nothing! Except for the “Civil War Museum” in Umuahia, which, with all due respect, is a national joke compared to similar places around the world; there is nothing to show, memorializing – in brick and mortar – in penned letters and erudite expression, that monumental suffering and sacrifice in Igbo historical experience.

➢ We can cite the historical example of the Pyramids in Ancient Egypt – built some 10,000 years ago;

➢ We can cite China’s ‘Forbidden City,’ constructed between: 1407-1420 AD (or CECommon Era), not to speak of the Great Wall of China;

➢ We can cite St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome (whose construction began in 1506 and was completed in 1626 AD (or CE – Common Era); And

➢ We can cite India’s Taj Mahal – a monument to the great love an Indian king had for his queen (whose construction began in 1632 and was completed in 1648); to name a few examples.

What is the consequence of that self-imposed historical lacuna; that self-imposed historical illiteracy and vacuum in iconic symbolic monuments and architectural buildings? Impassioned youth motivated by a myriad of economic hardships and  frustrations, half-baked truths and jingoistic leadership, goaded into self-serving, messianic, cult-like organizations that leave them vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and even death!

Being a lecture delivered by Prof Emeka Aniagolu on topical issues concerning Achebe’s legacy, Igbo culture and society at Sports Club, Enugu. The event was sponsored by FIT Consult.

Little wonder Prof Chinua Achebe, in his powerful critical essay: The Trouble with Nigeria (1983), states without equivocation, that: “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely the failure of leadership . . . The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility of personal example, which are the hallmarks of true leadership.”

The great Igbo scholar, Prof Ben Nwabueze, rightly observed that: “. . . to be in politics in Nigeria or even merely to hold a political office and not enrich oneself by it through corruption is seen as a mark of naivety, if not idiocy, and earns for the person concerned derision and mockery by his friends and clansmen.”

The second reason for my skepticism about the explanatory power of the “marginalization” school of thought is the following empirical data, provided in the SDGs Monitor of July –September, 2017; regarding poverty rates across the 36 states in Nigeria.

Of the five core Igbo States: Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States, three—Anambra, Abia and Imo States—feature among the first ten of Nigeria’s States with the least levels of poverty. The other two—Enugu and Ebonyi States—feature at numbers 16 and 22 respectively, on that poverty list.

In the meantime, every Northern State in the Federation, without exception, fell within the bottom half of that poverty list; with seven (7) Northern States: Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Bauchi, Jigawa, Yobe and Zamfara States, having over 80% poverty rates; and the two that fell at the very bottom of that list—Yobe and Zamfara States—having over 90% poverty rates!

If Igbo States are systemically as well as systematically “marginalized,” what explains that poverty distribution in the 36 States of the Nigerian Federation? It could be argued that it is because of the extraordinary work ethic, enterprise and creativity of Ndigbo, which is demonstrably true, that they have managed to dig themselves out of the economic hole dug for them by outside undertakers! Or, could it be that the same elite phenomena of a corrupt comprador bourgeoisie, operational among so-called Igbo “leaders,” is also operational among so-called Hausa-Fulani “leaders;” the ostensible controllers of the presumed “lion’s share” of the “national cake?” Governing elites, who have more or less, turned their backs on Nigeria’s middle and working classes, never mind Nigeria’s rurally-based peasant class.

In addition to the distribution of poverty among the 36 States of Nigeria, of which the Igbo states featured among the first ten states with the least amount of poverty; is the list of the latest WAEC Ranking of the 36 States of Nigeria. Once again, all the Igbo states fell among the first 10 highest ranked states in Nigeria.

And that, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, is precisely my point: with committed leadership—at the local government, gubernatorial and national levels; with effective husbanding of resources—at the local government, state, national and international levels; the sky is the limit of what Ndigbo can achieve in and for Igbo States in Nigeria; regardless of so-called “marginalization” that is said to be the stumbling block placed before us! Once we correct our warped value system, by restoring our traditional values of integrity, self-respect, honesty, self-edification, achievement-based status assignment—like the traditional meritocratic aristocracy of Igbo society: the Ozo-title—as well as the reintroduction of the cultural and historical conservation of our traditional ethical and theosophical system of—nso

ani (sacrilegious and heinous acts); ugwu (dignity); ebube (pride and majesty); and ofor na ogu (truth and justice)—the power and dynamism of the “Inside-Out Development Model,” the opposite of the “Outside-In Development Model;” will reanimate Igbo culture and society and make for irreversible positive development.

Many people mistakenly assume that technological and scientific underdevelopment is tantamount to a state of omnibus underdevelopment. Yet, in my book on world history: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: A Multicultural History of Western & World Civilization (Vol. 1) (2008); I argued that a society can be technologically and scientifically underdeveloped, but socially, culturally and philosophically developed; and that industrialization is not the sole measure of civilization. I noted that: “In the world history that was composed by the Western World since the 17th century, perhaps no  other term has been as bastardized as the term civilization. The term has come to be so closely equated with scientific and technological sophistication and advancement since the modern Industrial Revolution as to render it virtually inapplicable, if not, in fact, meaningless in relation to other spheres of human social life. That near total association of the concept of civilization with scientific and technological sophistication and advancement by the Western World since the modern Industrial Revolution was and is self-serving. One of the major characteristics that distinguish the Western World from the rest of the non-Western World since the advent of the modern Industrial Revolution is and has been, precisely the degree of scientific and technological sophistication and advancement the Western World has attained from that time onward.”

To define civilization solely, or, at the very least, primarily in those terms, therefore, is, to use the very yardstick as measurement that ensures, by definition, the Western World’s “superiority” and thus, “higher civilization.” Using that measure, for example, the English, who for centuries were at the bottom, or very nearly at the bottom of not only several other European peoples, but many non-European peoples of the so-called “Known World,” could claim themselves to be one of, if not, in fact, the most civilized people in the world! Yet, the history of civilization among the English—the Angles, Saxons and Jutes had its humble beginnings only as late as 1066 – 1154 A.D. when, under the heavy-handed but steady sway of the Norman Kings England was welded into “. . . one State and one system of law and order . . .”

Additionally, Guest notes that: “Henry II (1154-89) further strengthened the royal arm by introducing a national system of law. In 1295, under Edward I, there was convened the Model Parliament, representatives of nobles, clergy, and commons—an expression of national unity . ..” Compared to the ancient civilizations of antiquity—Ancient Egypt XE “Egypt” , Persia, Babylonia, China XE “China” and India, this relatively recent and comparatively shallow history of civilization in England is not much more than a drop in the proverbial bucket. What, anyway, is civilization? What does it mean for a people, nation, or society to be civilized? As the Encyclopaedia Americana Vol. 7 (1989), observes: “The term “civilization” is widely used by historians, anthropologists, and other workers in the social sciences, but it has no single, fixed meaning. Any discussion of the concept must begin with the question of definition.” Shillington (1989) explains that the word ‘civilized’ “. . . is of Greek origin. In general terms, it refers to an organized society in which people can practice their arts and culture and live in harmony.”

Notice that that original Greek meaning of the word civilized, does not include science and technology at all; supporting [my] earlier point of the self-serving nature of modern Western reconceptualization of the phenomena of human civilization: a re-conceptualization designed to fit the new level of scientific and technological sophistication, power, prestige and prominence attained by the West from the 18th century onwards. [Consequently] Shillington (1989) notes that: “In recent times the word has fallen into disrepute as European colonizers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries used it to suit their own racist ideologies. In their view only people of their own culture could be called ‘civilized.’ All other cultures they regarded as ‘uncivilized,’ by which they meant ‘inferior.’” Landsman (2001) points out that: “Civilization XE “Civilization” has almost always been defined in [such] textbooks as something built, written, composed [and] completed by white men. It is always a finished product. While symphonies were art, jazz, with its improvisation, scat singing, and unexpected long solos when the mood came on, was entertainment. Rarely do our students see improvisation as part of culture. And along with this, history is rarely seen as a constantly changing field, with new discoveries being made all the time, discoveries that can change the way events and phenomena from years ago are perceived today.”

Though confirming Shillington’s point and that of Landsman, Bulliet (2004), with a bit more reservation, notes that: “An uncharitable observer might opine that European Christians happily equated the spread of their faith with the spread of civilization right down to the point when it became evident that their faith was no longer spreading very effectively, and then switched to a different set of civilizational indices: miles of railroad track, factory output, military might, size of empire etc”. The celebrated African political scientist and Africanist, Ali Mazrui XE “Mazrui” (1990), in his magisterial work, Cultural Forces in World Politics, makes a subtle, but profound distinction between the phenomena of culture and that of civilization. “Culture,” he avers, “may be defined as a system of inter-related values, active enough to condition perception, judgment, communication, and behavior in a given society. Civilization XE “Civilization” , in those terms, is a culture which has endured, expanded, innovated, and been elevated to new moral sensibilities.” With that elevation “. . . to new moral sensibilities,” as one of the preconditions for the existence of civilization, Mazrui argues that, “It was presumably the last criterion of ‘moral sensibilities’ which Mahatma Gandhi was implicitly questioning when he queried whether the West had evolved a civilization.”

Thus, the modern Industrial Revolution in the Western World came to be automatically equated with higher civilization and racial superiority, over and above the non-Western, non-White world. Chamberlain (1974) captured well that Western European equation in relation to Africa.

He notes that: “When Europeans XE “Europeans” first penetrated into Africa south of the Sahara XE “Great Sahara” XE “Sahara” a number of African communities were in decline. The Atlantic slave trade in the west and the Arab slave trade in the east accounted for some of this, but other African states, like the savannah empires, seem to have declined for purely local reasons . . . If it is true that it was African strength that kept the European on the coast in the past, this may itself be a contributory factor in the timing of the European ‘opening up’ of Africa.” More pertinent to  the issue at hand, however, Chamberlain adds that: Probably, though, this was secondary to another factor, [was] the enormous technological gap which had appeared between European and African civilizations. When the Portuguese first reached the Congo XE “Congo Free State” XE “Congo” in the late fifteenth century they found a powerful and well-organized state. In the sixteenth century cordial relations developed between the two powers. Congolese came to Europe XE “European peninsula” XE “Europe” , Portuguese ‘experts,’ including even printers (8), went to the Congo XE “Congo Free State” XE “Congo” to instruct the inhabitants.

To be continued