Anytime, anyway one weighs the matter, a lot of economic, sociologic and political stuff about ndị Igbo in Nigeria are dis-jointed. They don't match consequential logic…
Lengthy observation makes me conclude that the Igbo group are the spirit, the engin, of the agitation agitation for a Biafra. Theirs in Nigeria are ironies of ironies… In the loveless union, better called mis-union, of Nigeria, The Igbo are seen as evil. Nearly everywhere they go in Nigeria, People and peoples allude to them as venturous bad people. But none ever says why the Igbo are hated. Nothing specific. Just that they are bad. For what are they bad? Well, that is in Nigeria: among ethnic kindreds…
Yet it is the Igbo who want "to go out" of Nigeria for a separate political existence. Nigerians, collaborating with colonial outsiders, bloodily refuse(d). Were it the "'evil NdịIgbo' from among whom…or who should never be allowed executive chance" who insist on political one(ness of) Nigeria, the Igbo-phobic situation in Nigeria of Nigerians would make some sense. And were it the Igbo who castigate themselves this way, it would have some logical explanation.
But if Nigeria decomposes politically now, just now, Ndị-Igbo are the, or one of the, unreadiest for any separate nationhood. Among ordinary people, that's: people without escort or armoured (bullet-proof) attire, if a Fula, Hausa, Tiv, Birom et sequens northerner is molested elsewheres, he'd hurry back home…and be welcomed by his people. Molest Odud'wa southerner: he'd relunctantly flee to his home…just as he might have travelled out reluctantly. Molested Igbo southerners away from native home often prefer to stay and pacify or appease their molestors; even if that entails giving up most of their right to freedom, residential welcomeness and private-ness of property.
It once happened in one province in northern Cameroun. The provincial authorities made punitive taxation laws. They affected many étrangers doing business there. The majority, more than half of Les étrangers were Biafrans. Most of the other peoples re-migrated away. Generally, the Biafrans did not. They accepted equanimously to pay taxes of more than 1000,000 (million) francs CFA annually. This consumed the biz capital of many of them. This happened before 2003.
Now, think also of what these people undergo in north(ern) Nigeria…, in Chad, in Niger. Living among lazy but hateful and religion-confused peoples. Why?
Probably because, back home, the condition awaiting them, though less drastic, is worse…
The Igbo are naturally democratic. "Democratic" not in the sense of a formally set-up cloak or nomenclature of government, but as a way of life, the encompassing informal business of living. But nowadays, NdịIgbo have largely lost that nature, or refuse to practice it as informally as they used to…The Igbo have largely become nigérianised. When sentient beings lose or abandone their nature without transformation, without internalizing a new and better nature, they become empty; strange to themselves. That is what has happened to NdịIgbô. One of the syndromes of this is seen in the igbo man's not feeling important unless he's a millionaire or billionaire. Extreme financial materialism took root in the spirit of the igbo youth. And since financial materialism is one of the most infectious phenomena (think of how the people of the United-States of America infected nearly the whole world with their 7-digit-salary sickness), one hardly meets onye-Igbo who has not been infected. Not that NdịIgbo are more materialistic than others in Nigeria. In fact, they are less. But being a people who work, a people who don't "talk" more than they "do", a people who'd rather "do" more than they "talk", a people who believe more practically in cause - and - effect than in intrigues and conspiracies, their style tend to pronounce their acquisitive tendencies louder than those of others; even though it from among NdịIgbo one encounters in Nigeria more individuals who give really generous gifts; gifts of their time, skill and material resources. From among them are more people whose gifts are not mere commercial investments or bribe, but free impartation from the heart...
Still ironic: NdịIgbo are likely the most patriotic inhabitants of the geographic enclave called Nigeria. Living in dense numbers every centre, nook and cranny…Nd'Igbô never cause trouble to their host communities. Many other peoples differ. For example, a dozen Fula wouldn't mind starting a war with their host community for more grazing space…
Still more ironic is the non utility of the language of NdịIgbo. Found everywhere in hundreds of thousands, and at home in dozens of millions, ndị Igbo often do not speak their language in its originality. The youths have even converted igbo language into a pidgin rather than a lingo with cultural traditions. They don't even know the names of numeral figures such as 1, 2, 5, 10, 100 et ceterix… In Yola, we the students of the language use it better than its indigenous owners. Were Igbo as much used as Ndị-Igbo are found, this language would be among the most universal languages on the surface of the earth...and even beyond...
|
Thursday, November 5, 2009
But For Biafra...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment