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soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire

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THE PROBLEM WITH THE IGBOS

ermit me to begin this treatise, an academic exercise that represents one of my hobbies aside travelling and reading, by declaring unequivocally that I am from the east, a full-blooded Igboman from Anambra extraction. I was born and bred in a sleepy town kilometers away from Onitsha, a burstling city across the River Niger where the raw quest for money/wealth is generally seen as a determining factor of one's manhood. The Igbos generally are known primarily as a very harworking and brutally ambitious race, one whose industrious resolve and spirit of survival are hard to break.

The average Igboman knows how to make money by hook or by crook and how to make best use of it when acquired. Sometimes the issues of the day as they concern money boil over and are settled with blood and iron, apology to late Otto Von Bismarck, the former German world war 1 leader.

Get it right respected reader before we proceed further. I am not in any way insinuating that my people do not like education or appreciate it's priceless values, far from that. After all the first university in Nigeria was establised in Nsukka. Again 'Ndigbo' has produced intellectual giants like Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi, Arthur Nwankwo, Chinweizu and lately Governor Chimaroke Nnamani whose eloquence makes me proud indeed. Great political leaders like the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Biafran hero Dim Emeka Ojukwu, Dr Alex Ekwueme and Chief Emeka Anyaoku are from Igboland. What is more, the Obasanjo administration has had distinguished Igbo amazons like Dora Akinyuli, the NAFDAC boss, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Kema Chikwe, Prof. Joy Ogwu and Oby Ezekwesili contributing their quotas. And the first female executive governor ever in Nigeria has been produced in Anambra State in the person of Dame Virgy Etiaba. Never mind the circumstances that led to her emergence.

With these and more one is bound to conclude that Igbos are not only excelling in the field of commerce but also in other areas of human endeavour--all tailored towards assisting the growth of the Nigerian project. Without sounding immodest or accused unduely of ethnic jingoism let me state emphatically that the Igbos rank among the best brains in every sphere of human endeavour in Nigeria and elsewhere across the Atlantic.

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In the course of pursuing an academic excellence (in deference/adherence to James Madison, the late former American President who made me to understand early enough in life that "education will forever govern ignorance and it behoves on the privileged governors to exercise this noble acquisition with sobriety) I had been to Lagos, Jos, Kano, PH, Warri, Ibadan and Ilorin. But in these engaging 'Wa-zo-bia' trips outside Benin City, my academic homebase, I had never come across a stronger ethnic nationality like the Igbos whose deadly passion and religious interest in wealth and it's acquisition surpasses even the urge to worship God or Allah.

The late Guatemalan catholic bishop stoned to death for his principled consistent stand against the horrors of war and misrule in his country wrote a book captioned "Never Again" in which he postulated that "truth sometimes hurts but it remains a healthy and liberating act". The truth therefore must be told here no matter whose ox is gored. Telling the truth in my reckoning against mounting odds constitutes part of our duty here on earth to the glory of our Creator.

For decades now the Igbos have had to deal with naked neglect and marginalisation by the successive powers-that-be because of the failed Biafran project (or so it seems) and it's dashed hopes and dreams; we have had to bear the brunt that failure brings, that is why development in the rural areas and even towns and cities are assured by the people themselves in the absence of genuine help by the authorities of state. The Imo Airport is a classical case in point. Abandoned federal projects abound everywhere especially in the east.

Yet the problem with us, the Igbos, apart from the foregoing, stems from certain fundamental characteristics or factors which I am going to analyse here. To start with, the Igbos by nature abhors the idea of king or kingdom. The average Igboman recognises communal or family governance more than a broad-based one. The family circle plays a major role in the way and manner (s)he is brought up and behaves in the broader perspective. Leadership therefore behoves on the elders in a communal or family setting devoid of conventional paraphernalia. "Igbo Ama Eze" is a popular saying in Igboland which literally means "Igbos do not know a king". In some communities half-educated or outright illiterates apply common sense and natural wisdom to lead their subjects.

Secondly, the problem of poverty in the hinterland and how to conquer same is seen as a tall challenge and abiding duty. That is why some men and women go to any lenght (419, drug running, prostitution, money rituals, secret society, armed robbery etc) to break even. Breaking away thus from the pangs of poverty and liberating one's people from it's excruciating dehumanising effects becomes synonymous with war and victory. The war against indigence therefore encourages all sorts of (mis)adventues in the religious quest for positive results. In a land where richness (no matter the source) determines how successful you are in life and the way society recognises you nothing short is expected but outright triumph. Agressive manhunt for materialism becomes the order of the day.

Thirdly the relationship existing between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' is like the relationship between the master and the slave. If you have money in Igboland you are the equivalent of a king and if you are poor then you are no more than a glorified slave. The word or advice of the 'king', the well-to-do is wisdom while that of the victim of poverty is seen as worthless. It is a perfect setting where everyone knows the status or class he/she belongs and nothing must be done by the 'slave' to challenge any action of the rich. Rather in some cases the rich imposes certain things and decides how things should be run.

The last element against the Igbo race is the lust/love of money. The Holy Bible makes the Christendom, which majority of Igbos profess to, understand without mincing words that money answereth all things but the love of same is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10, Eccelst 10:19). The root of all evil Nigerian in broader perspectives is money and that is the crux of the matter.

It was the love of money that pushed Arthur Nzeribe to use the infamous ABN and late Justice Bassey Ikpeme in criminal connivance with IBB to scuttle the June 12 presidential election convincingly won by late Chief MKO Abiola (may his generous soul rest in peace). It was the love of money that made the late Clement Akpamgbo, Walter Ofonagoro and Uche Chukwumerije to defend the indefensible while serving the Babangida/Abacha dictatorships in various capacities. Even today Frank Nweke, the Information Minister is doing the same cannon fodding job without qualms. The Igbos like every other Nigerians love power and it's apurtenances.

It was the love of money that brought out the youthful worst in the uncouth Daniel Kanu to sell his soul to Abacha while leading the YEAA in the hey days of the one-man demented despotic bulldozer. It was the love of money that made Emeka Offor and Chris Uba the godfathers of Anambra politics hiring and firing as it were those governors like Mbadinuju and Ngige who dared to challenge the unwritten oral accord that guaranteed steady flow of state resources into the pockets of these conscienceless moneybags.

What's more, it was the love of money that led to the fall of Peter Obi as governor of Anambra state. It was the love of money that provoked the 'Otokoto' horrible tale of murder and rutuals involving the high and mighty in Owerri and it's environs. The Okija evil shrine was established to service the growing apetite for money. Orji Uzor Kalu or his mother can explain better here since he allegedly took his commissioners and staff there!

The love of money has steadily turned the Igboland into a vast empire where money is the undisputed king. Those who made money approach and heavily pay local and international musicians like 'Morroco', Oliver De Coque or Osita Osadebe for praise-singing songs.

I make bold to conclude by saying that education and emancipation of the masses more than the unbriddled ego and ruthless attitude towards wealth and it's acquisition are the prerequisite for rediscovery and recovery. The future of the Igbo dynamic society is indeed bright and that future in all intents and purposes is NOW.