The Abuja School
A Text of a Lecture Delivered by Dr. Sam Amadi, Director of Abuja School of Social and
Political Thought, at the Forum of South-East Academic Doctors (FOSAD) Lecture Series 01
at the NUJ Media Center on Friday, September 20, 2024
Let me start with greetings. Umu nne m na umu nna m, ndewo oo. Ututu oma oo.
Ya diri nwoke nma, diri nwanyi nma. Udo na onyu. Ndu mmiri, ndu azu; mmiri
atala, azu anwula.
It is also important to start this conversation with a song. The reason is that as
one of the most famous Igbo diasporans, Gustavus Vassal, told the world, the
Igbos are a people of songs. He put it this way:
“We are almost a nation of dancers, musicians, and poets. Thus every great event,
such as a triumphant return from battle, or other cause of public rejoicing is
celebrated in public dances, which are accompanied with songs and music suited
to the occasion. The assembly is separated into four divisions, which dance either
apart or in succession, and each with a character peculiar to itself. The first
division contains the married men, who in their dances frequently exhibit feats of
arms, and the representation of a battle. To these succeed the married women,
who dance in the second division. The young men occupy the third; and the
maidens the fourth. Each represents some interesting scene of real life, such as a
great achievement, domestic employment, a pathetic story, or some rural sport;
and as the subject is generally founded on some recent event, it is therefore ever
new. This gives our dances a spirit and variety which I have scarcely seen
elsewhere.”
Anyone who grew up in Igboland with a grandmother, a grandfather, or even aged
relatives would realize that songs accompany every task. We sing when we are
rejoicing, we sing when we are mourning, and we sing when we deal with arduous
tasks. If it is true, as Chinua Achebe said, that amongst the Igbos, words are eaten
with proverbs, it is also true that tasks are accomplished with songs amongst the
Igbos. So, let us begin this difficult conversation with a legendary song, “Ka Esi
Le Onye Isi Oche” by the Gentleman Mike Ejeagha.1 This song came out in the
1980s, but modern technologies and the culture of social media have kindly
brought it to the notice of Generation Z.
Now, please stand up and sing along with me.
Nna m Eze akpata m enyi x2 My King, I have arrested the elephant x2
Nwa mbe isi ni kpata onye? Mr. Tortoise, who do you claim to have arrested?
Na-asi m ani ya dube enyi chebe enyi No, I asked the earth to guide and protect you, Mr. Elephant
Odi ka asi n’kpata m enyi x2 But it sounds as if I said that I have arrested the elephant
Okwa enyi ga abu isi oche x2 After all, you, the elephant, will be the Chair of the occasion
Enyi n’aga na anyi so gi n’azu x2 Mr. Elephant, please proceed, we are solidly behind you
Gwo gwo gwon gwo Gwo gwo gwon gwo
It is a delight that the skit maker, Brain Jotter, has made this song go viral, and
people from foreign cultures in faraway places like Tokyo and Beijing are dancing
to its tune. Gentleman Mike Ejeagha is a special breed. Like the legendary teacher
Chinua Achebe, Mike Ejeagha helps to preserve for future generations both the
wisdom of the Igbos and the beauties and elegance of Igbo literature, including
its repertoire of folklores. Sometimes, I mourn that my children do not have
access to the tremendous wisdom of Igbo worldviews because they do not listen
to the folklore and music of yesteryears. Now, social media and its culture of
content creation will, one way or another, bring these folklores to the
contemporary Igbos, born and bred in many communities outside Igbo land.
We danced to ‘Gwo Gwo Gwo’ not because it is trending. We danced to it because
it encodes a veritable truth for today’s world, a truth that is very relevant to the
topic of our conversation this morning. That truth is that we should always keep
1 “Ka Esi Le Onye Isi Oche” (“How the Chairman was sold”) is an Igbo highlife song by Mike Ejeagha, popularly
referred to as “Gentleman.” The song is in his 1983 album, Akuko N’Egwu Vol. 1. It is a folklore of the cunning tortoise who asked for the Princess’s hand in marriage. The King offered to grant his wish if he could do the impossible, which was to deliver the mighty elephant as a prisoner to the King. The song recounts how the tortoise tricked the elephant into an ambush by playing on his ego. The tortoise tricked the elephant into believing he would be the Chairman at a wedding feast in the King’s palace. Gentleman Mike Ejegha had a storied career in his prime but has been out of public view due to his advanced age. Brain Jotter, a comedian, turned the song to a hit in 2024 with a comedic dance routine that went viral.
Our eyes open and our minds acute to decode deceptions and avoid harm. Just
as individuals are often in competitive situations with one another, ethnic groups
and political societies are in competitive situations. In such situations, you need
a particular kind of wisdom rooted in memory and remembrance, as our wise
forebears put it in the names they give to their children: ‘Echezona,’ Ezefula,
Elozona, etc. To say it bluntly, remembering is surviving. I was once invited to
deliver a lecture in 2001 at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
The lecture examined what was described as ‘near-genocide.’ Biafra was one of
the identified case studies where mass violence against an ethnic group led to
near-genocide. One of the interesting facts to me is that the names of those who
died in Hitler’s attack against Jews are written on a memorial wall for all to see.
The Jews need to keep afresh in their memory the fact of the genocide and the
details of the tragedy they suffered at the hands of the Nazi government. For me,
it is a lesson on the importance of remembering for the survival of a nation. If
people do not remember their history and keep proper perspectives, they could
easily forget who they are and who their enemies are. Forgetting is dying. Selfawareness and other awareness are the most important aspects of existence.Self-awareness
When we forget the events and their meanings, we expose ourselves to deception
by our competitors and enemies.
Gwo gwo gwo is a warning against deception. It is an awakening to the reality of
the world of competitive pressure, where one’s neighbour could be one’s enemy.
It calls for vigilance. It calls for navigational intelligence, the ability to get through
the world of hostility and deviousness. In this context, the Igbos value ‘ako na
uche,’ the intelligence or smartness rooted in prudence, in paying attention to the
true nature of things, not how they appear, because the bitter cola is not as sweet
as it sounds. We should bear this truth in mind as we proceed with this
conversation.
I presume that the immediate context of this lecture is the inaugural lecture
recently delivered at the Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, by a history
professor at the University, Professor Ahmed Bako. Professor Bako used the
occasion of an inaugural to sell a false and dangerous narrative against the Igbo
people and their activities in Kano. The narrative is false because it is based on
false facts and embellishments not backed by historical evidence. Professor
Bako’s narrative about Igbos in the diaspora is not just false; it is also dangerous.
Apparently, it was timed at a period like this when Igbos faced great distress and
persecution in some parts of Nigeria because an Igbo contested the 2023
presidential election and won in many important states of Nigeria, in some cases
defeating a local titan. So, the purpose of the narrative would seem to be to
expose the Igbos to more resentment and rejection by the neighbours, to make
the Igbos collectively appear as menace to justify a possible final solution.
I guess the reason the leadership of the Forum of South-East Academic Doctors
(FOSAD) chose this topic for its inaugural public lecture is to counter such
audacious and pernicious lies about Igbos and their activities outside Igbo land.
It is important to robustly rebut the presumptions and falsehoods in Professor
Bako’s inaugural lecture. Many able scholars and intellectuals, including Professor
Moses Ochonu, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, and Dr. Okey Anueyiagu, have done a
good job of putting Professor Bako’s contrived narrative where it belongs: dustbin
of intellectual dishonesty and hatchery. I will not dwell much on it. I will instead
focus on the truth about Igbos and their activities in the Diaspora, which Professor
Bako could not bear to accept.
Before I move away from Professor Bako’s falsehood, I will make a few comments
about it. Professor Moses Ochonu concedes that Professor Bako has a long
career as a historian such that his inaugural deserves considerable respect and
attention. He has taught many historians such that we should presume that he
clearly understands that the most fundamental attribute of a historian is the ability
to pay attention to facts and subject sentiments to some evidential review. Sadly,
he failed this most basic approach to a historical analysis of something as
complex as Igbos in the diaspora. Professor Ochonu captures this failure in clear
terms:
“Professor Bako is a great historian who is an authority on migrant quarters, or
Sabon Garuruwa, in urban Northern Nigeria. I read his dissertation and papers
on the Sabon Gari in Kano as an undergrad and was thoroughly enlightened.
However, the senior colleague goofed in his inaugural lecture. What he stated is
a staple, popular anti-Igbo political rhetoric in Northern Nigeria. It has been
circulating in various iterations and with fluctuating degrees of reception since
the late colonial period when Northern political elites feared Igbo domination
more than anything else and proceeded to structure both their politics and
policies around that fear. Aguiyi-Ironsi’s unitary decree only solidified the
paranoia, and the Nzeogwu coup’s perception in the north as an Igbo coup and
the killing of Ahmadu Bello and other prominent Northern politicians further
cemented this popular Igbophobic narrative of Igbo domination or intent to
dominate. The Professor’s professional “crime” is to repackage this popular
narrative as a historical argument or thesis, and in an inaugural lecture no less.
The other error is to not consider or critique the logic and facticity of the claim,
which is what we’re trained to do as historians.”
Professor Chidi Odinkalu’s critique of Professor Bako’s gibberish of an inaugural
lecture was unsparing. He pointed out many grammatical errors and sloppy
reasonings that challenged the professor’s mental stability and presence of mind
when he rushed to peddle falsehoods. Professor Odinkalu showed that
notwithstanding whatever academic laurels Professor Bako may possess, his
lectures’ methodological and grammatical sordidness speaks to a disorganised
mind further unbalanced by hatred.
Dr. Okey Anueyiagu feels personally hurt by Professor Bako’s mendacity about
the activities of Igbos in Kano. His father lived and practiced journalism in Kano.
He rose and became the editor of the Comet, one of the newspapers established
by the great Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first president and its foremost
nationalist. Dr Anueyiagu starts his review by noting that “The cynicism
embedded in this Lecture, and the arrogance, or perhaps the ignorance of the
facts in the history of that era, were grossly exposed in Bako’s lies and utter
embellishment of half-truths in his widely advertised “academic work,” which
embarrassingly, turned out to be a reprehensible tales-by-moonlight gloating of a
revisionist with an imbued tribal sentimentalism, by a thorough-bred clannish
apologist.” In his view, the Professor’s lecture is a gross disservice to the academic
profession and the science of historical analysis. As he puts it, “Professor Bako’s
objective in writing and giving that Lecture must have been anything other than
to give the world a candid glimpse into the history of our country’s past; a past
that is so checkered, and soaked in the blood of many of its citizens. Bako’s history
had its story backward. He forgot that it is the duty, and the unequivocal right of
Nigerians, historians or not, to investigate and interrogate his story and to dissect
what he has produced for the world to view as truths. Even as we must grant Bako
his constitutional right of freedom of speech, this freedom does not warrant the
telling and spreading of lies, as it constitutes a bad law and warped ethics to do
so. It must worry us as being part of the unfortunate relic of the government
dominated by Professor Bako’s kinsmen and allies who banned, banished, and
descended on the study of history in our schools after the rancid civil war.”
These critiques should be enough to denounce and consign the gibberish by
Professor Bako to the dustbin of history. It is not surprising that a scholar of such
presumed pedigree could end up deliberately spreading pernicious falsehoods
against fellow citizens. We have evidence throughout history of how academics
and intellectuals paved the way for racial slandering that ultimately led to
massacres and genocides. It is noteworthy that racism was built on the false
theories of evil-minded scholars. There is nothing new about scholars and
prejudices. In my view, we should pay more attention to the lesson of the
inaugural lecture and less to its falsification of historical facts. What lesson should
we learn from the lecture? The lesson we should learn from the unfortunate
lecture is the importance of narratives. Today, we hear a lot about misinformation
and disinformation. Misinformation is different from false narratives and less
damaging than it is. Misinformation relates to a piece of fact. So, if a man shoots
someone in Wuse Market and a newspaper reports the shooter as a woman, it is
misinformation. But if a newspaper reports the incident to present women in the
Wuse District as more violent than men, it is more than misinformation. It is a
false narrative.
The objective of Professor Bako’s laboured peddling of falsehood about Igbo
activities in Kano is not to spread false information. It is to peddle a false
narrative. It is to paint Igbos in a bad light as people who are selfish, mindless,
and domineering and deserve to be despised and resisted. His lecture was titled
“The Igbo Factor in the History of Inter-Group Relations and Commerce in
Kano.” But he said just one thing: mark the Igbos; they are about to dominate you.
In the narrow prism of Professor Bako’s narrative, all forms of Igbo
entrepreneurship and the remarkable Igbo love of and accomplishment in
educational pursuits are nothing but strategic actions to dominate others.
Professor Bako has done great injury by his lecture. He did not just retail
incomplete and untrue facts. He painted a false generalized narrative of a people.
The conclusory nature of his lecture without rigorous review of social patterns
and conduct is part of the strategy of peddling dangerous narratives. Igbos go to
school because they want to dominate others. But how is it that in communities
outside Nigeria, where Igbos have no chance of dominance, they are still one of
the most educated foreign ethnic groups? Recently, a leading commentator in the
UK noted that the Igbos are the most educated foreign ethnics in the society. Are
Igbo parents sending their children to school to dominate other people in the UK?
And what is the nature of the dominance? Is it political, social, or economic? How
about Igbos at home who are still sending their children to school? How about
Igbo communities competing amongst themselves in terms of the number of
medical doctors, professors, and lawyers from their communities? Are they doing
all these because they strive to determine who will first dominate the Kano
people? Does the fact that some wealthy Igbo merchants can pay shylock rents
that Hausa landlords fixed for their stores which some small Hausa traders cannot
pay, mean these Igbo traders are acting out a script delivered from Igbo land to
dominate northerners? How about fellow Igbo traders who cannot pay the rent
and also lose the use of their stores to more affluent Igbo traders? We cannot
make sense of the logic and evidence behind Professor Bako’s categorical
conclusion about Igbo activities in the diaspora without any evidential backing,
except we understand the power of narratives.
Narratives are not always logical or evidence-based. Narratives are designed to
present diversities in such simplicity that people buy into a message and get
motivated to act according to such message without bordering on crosschecking
the logic or the facts. As Anthea Roberts and Nicols Lamp argue in their book,
Six Faces of Globalization: Who Wins, Who Losses and What Does It Matter,
“narratives provide the storylines through which we perceive and communicate
our understanding of reality and express our values. Political scientists and policy
analysts have long recognized that narratives not only reflect and affect our
understanding of reality but also shape our reality”. Narratives are so important
that there is now a branch of economics or a set of economic discourses that are
aggregated under the ‘Narrative Economics’ rubric. This is the title of a recent
book by Professor Robert Schiller, a Nobel-Prize-winning economist. Shiller
argues that ‘An economic narrative is a contagious story that has the potential to
change how people make economic decisions, such as the decision to hire a
worker or to wait for better times, to stick one’s neck out or to be cautious in
business, or launch a business venture, or to invest in a volatile speculative asset”.
These narratives define how people respond to trends and events in the political
and economic spheres. Political or social narratives are urban legends nurtured
to constitute a filter through which people receive information about a people or
any event, which conditions how they respond. In an age of social media,
narratives could be dangerously effective. Just as an example, the diatribes
against Igbos in the name of a university inaugural lecture have filtered into an
English Literature classroom discourse at Nasarawa State University in the forms
of scholarly remarks about how domineering Igbos are in commerce and
unbearable in social life.
The important thing about narratives is that they may go against the weight of
logic and evidence, just as in Professor Bako’s lecture, yet they successfully set
off significant actions. The genocide against Igbos was procured, justified, or
supported by urban legends about Igbos’ selfishness and dominance. It is true, as
Roberts and Lamp argue, that “Narratives are often resistant to change, even in
the face of contradictory empirical evidence, because of their intuitive plausibility,
the force of their metaphors, the emotions they provoke and channel, and the
way they stabilize assumptions for decision-making. Accordingly, whether or not
we think a narrative is factually correct, we must understand its power in public
discourse and policy formulation”. The only effective action against a false
narrative is to counter it with a true narrative. Pietistic silence or intellectual
indifference would not address it. In Nigeria’s street wisdom, you meet false
narrative ‘bumper-to-bumper.’
Suppose Igbo intellectuals would ordinarily dismiss Professor Bako’s false and
dangerous narrative because of its lack of intellectual merits. In that case, they
should consider the danger this narrative poses to the survival of Igbos in Nigeria
and the Diaspora. We need to counter this sort of narrative. It is essential to recall
Winston Churchill’s boastful words that history will be kind to him because he
intends to write it. Those who write history actually make history. We need to
write the true history of Igbo activities in the Diaspora. Thankfully, we do not
need to be academic historians to shape narratives. We are all able to remember
and articulate. We can all tell stories. So, we should all be pushing the right
narratives about Igbos in the Diaspora.
This paper is about the historical truths of Igbos in the Diaspora. I argue that we
can sketch the history of Igbos in the Diaspora by recounting the lives of notable
Igbos who lived in the Diaspora. History is a record of past events. One of the
best ways to know history is to observe people’s lives. This is why journalists and
novelists often offer a good lens through which to learn history. The lives of
prominent Igbo diasporans are good binoculars to perceive the truths about how
Igbos have impacted their diaspora societies.
It should be pointed out that Igbos are a people who seem to be made for
Diaspora. Igbos are at home wherever they live. Such adaptability has become a
problem for the homeland’s economic and social development. The most
popular catchphrase today in Igbo land is ‘Aku ruo ulo,’ which translates to a plea
to bring some of the wealth home. Aku ruo ulo amara onye kpara ya. Only when
your wealth is established at home can we give you credence as a wealthy man.
Under this economic thought, we are witnessing many Igbo businessmen and
women changing their focus and establishing important commercial and
industrial projects in Ala Igbo. The currency and persuasion of this new economic
think derive from the recent events that suggest that Nigeria outside Ala Igbo is
becoming hostile to Igbo enterprise.
But Igbos continue to invest outside Igbo land, notwithstanding growing negative
narratives about them. Why is the average Igbo so adaptive to foreign lands that
sometimes they do not sense the danger signal? Why are Igbos so unrelenting in
their investment of finance, time, and emotion outside their homeland, even in
places that have proved in the past inhospitable to them? The answer is in the
Igbo worldview. Igbos are universalists. Note that I did not say that Igbos are
globalists. Igbos do not disregard cultural differences. They do not scheme to take
over the leadership of other places. They recognize the diversity of political
organizations and cultures. They are often inattentive to politics and unconcerned
about how and how power is exercised to an extent that is not good for trading
people. Igbos are not globalists who want to unify all human societies under their
leadership. However, they are universalists who acknowledge universal principles
of morality and rights. Igbos have faith in human reason and the common good.
They can afford to live in any part of the world because they believe the principles
of hard work, the application of common sense, and the morality of self-respect
and freedom for all will apply. Even when this idealism fails, they hope that the
moral and social order founded on the concept of the common good will be reestablished.
Equipped with the fundamental ideas of human dignity, freedom, and reason,
Igbos make their home everywhere and do their best to improve themselves and
their immediate society. Someone once said that the Igbo would decorate a
rented apartment with flowers and ornate it as if it belonged to him. Well, the Igbo
believes it also belongs to him because, ‘e be onye be ka o na awachi,’ wherever
a man lives, he protects. Maybe it has something to do with the biblical injunction
that counsels the people of God to pray for the good of their Diaspora community
because it is in the good of the community that their good will come forth.
Diaspora Igbos are faithful to this text. They can balance the pursuit of selfinterest and the common good. Interestingly, they understand that unless we aim
big, we will neither serve our interests nor those of our communities. If we
improve ourselves, we can improve our community. When we improve our
community, we improve ourselves more. We will encounter this pragmatic
reasoning in the actions of one of the most famous Igbo Diasporans who
campaigned to abolish slavery in Great Britain.
The most prominent and important of these Diasporans is a man officially known
as Gustavus Vasal, whose real name is Olaudah Equiano. This man was sold to
slavery at the young age of 11 or 12. He rose to prominence and became the
earliest black writer of note. His autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the
Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vasal, The African was one of the most
informative and respected chronicle of slavery in English language literature. One
of the most interesting facts about the book is that Equiano notes in the book that
it was written by himself, not ghost-written. Olaudah Equiano’s story is romantic
and part of the heritage of English literature. Many read it and marvel at the
resilience and courage of the human spirit. Equiano wrote the book to support
the crusade to abolish the slave trade.
I do not intend to rehash the interesting narrative of Olaudah Equiano. I want to
use the life of this remarkable Igbo man to illustrate the truth about Igbos in
Diaspora. Part of the allegation in Professor Bako’s jaundiced inaugural is that
Igbo are domineering, and their quest for self-improvement is a quest for
dominance. This is patently false. It was not true in the 16th Century when
Olaudah Equiano lived. This is not true in the 21st century. The truth is that the
success of Igbos at home and in the Diaspora reflects the cultural values and
social capital of Igbo society. There is nothing significantly different in how Igbos
conduct their affairs at home and in the Diaspora. You see the same dynamism
and commitment to personal excellence and individual and group success.
There is so much documentary evidence of Igbo success in business, technology,
art, and culture that we can take it for granted that the Igbos are one the most
successful ethnic groups in Africa. It is already noted that the Igbos are one of the
most educated ethnic groups in the US and European countries. Igbo parents
made investments to afford their children the best possible education. This quest
for education as a bridge to a good life has nothing to do with the domination of
other people. It is about an overwhelming sense of self-actualization. It is part of
a scheme of values and beliefs that define the Igbo worldview.
Olaudah Equiano moved from being a slave to becoming a foremost abolitionist
who wrote his famous book to support the cause of the abolition of slavery, not
because of the quest to dominate other enslaved people or to dominate the
former enslavers. In his own words, he wrote the book as an appeal to members
of the parliament of Great Britain to “excite in your august assemblies a sense of
compassion for the miseries which the Slave-Trade has entailed on my
unfortunate countrymen.” This noble Igbo man had won his own freedom from
slavery. He could walk away and enjoy his good fortune. By dint of hard work,
good character, and intelligence, he had secured a path to a gentleman’s life. But
he took up the challenge to free other enslaved people. Equiano has every reason
to mind his business. In his letter to the Lords temporal and spiritual of the House
of Common, he noted that “ By the horrors of that trade was I first torn away
from all the tender connexions that were naturally dear to my heart; but these,
through the mysterious ways of Providence, I ought to regard as infinitely more
than compensated by the introduction I have thence obtained to the knowledge
of the Christian religion, and of a nation which, by its liberal sentiments, its
humanity, the glorious freedom of its government, and its proficiency in arts and
sciences, has exalted the dignity of human nature.” Why was he embarking on the
arduous task of chronicling the evils of the slave trade in the story of his life? He
provides the answer: “ I am sensible I ought to entreat your pardon for addressing
to you a work so wholly devoid of literary merit; but, as the production of an
unlettered African, who is actuated by the hope of becoming an instrument
towards the relief of his suffering countrymen, I trust that such a man, pleading
in such a cause, will be acquitted of boldness and presumption.”
I have dwelt on the motivation of Olaudah Equiano’s action in devoting himself
to writing a book that was instrumental to ending slavery in Great Britain to
underline the fact that this illustrious Igbo who won his freedom through one of
the most persistent displays of character and capability cared so much for
freedom that he was prepared to pay additional costs to procure it for others. If
you read the book, you will be amazed at how many times Olaudah tried to secure
his freedom and how many times he failed. He never relented. He wanted
freedom by all means and was ready to endure anything that would ensure his
freedom.
On a BBC channel, there is an interesting analysis of Olaudah Equiano’s narrative
by a British scholar, Professor P Edward of the University of Edinburg. Professor
Edward argues that Olaudah’s beliefs that made him endure the indignity and
torture of slavery and rise to greatness in life derive from his Igbo society, where
he was uprooted from early childhood. Olaudah himself wrote that he believed in
providence. His tireless efforts to secure his freedom were based on two notions.
The first notion is the fundamentality of freedom. The second is the belief that
providence will aid his quest for freedom. Professor Matthew notes that the Igbos
have seemingly contradictory notions of providence. In one breath, the Igbos
believe everyone has his personal ‘chi,’ the god essence or the inner force, that
determines their life. Your personal chi guides your life. In this sense, you cannot
wrestle with your personal ‘chi.’ You can only wish your chi has willed great things
for you. Chinua Achebe captured the essence of the overriding role of providence
when the elder in the village meeting had to rebuke Okonkwo for neglecting to
show respect to other less illustrious members of the community by noting that
“Those whose palm kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should
not forget to be humble.” The critical point is that a benevolent spirit cracked the
nut. At the same time, the Igbos argue that when a man says yes, his personal chi
says yes. Yes, our fate may be determined by our personal chi. But with wisdom
and the right actions, we can sway our personal chi to endorse our actions. Our
faith can change our fate.
This delicately balanced contradiction defines Igbo life. The Igbos believe in
dualism. Where something stands, something else stands beside it. Where
providence stands, enterprise stands beside it. Olaudah conveys this much in his
narrative. He shows his faith in providence as he prays and wishes that God will
endorse his dream of freedom. There is no way to know how providence will play
out. But one thing is clear. He has to continue to make the best efforts to see if he
can turn his fortunes around.
In his commentary, Professor Edward points out that Olaudah Equiano believed
that what he learned in his childhood as an Igbo was fundamental to his success.
What are those things he learned that made the difference? They are his religious
beliefs that emphasize providence and faith in the possibility of changing one’s
station in life through intelligent work. Fatalism is different from providentialism.
The Igbo religious worldview is akin to Calvinism, to which Olaudah converted
from Anglicanism. Like Igbos, Calvinists believe in providence. But they believe
we can reshape our destiny through piety and positive actions. Another character
who helped Olaudah secure his freedom from slavery is his masters, who were
pleased with him. Professor Edward notes that amongst Igbos, the word ‘master’
does not always convey a bad meaning. A master could be considered a father.
One does not need to see his master as a wicked enemy. You could see him as a
father, a guide. This paternalism helped Olaudah to serve his masters well and
earn the right to be allowed to go to school, which was his overriding desire.
This positive spirit makes the difference between one who will succeed or fail. It
is part of what Edmund Phelp, a Nobel-Prize winner in economics in 2006, called
‘dynamism.’ A positive attitude enables us to look at the opportunities open to us
instead of being trapped in seeming helplessness. The truth is that a belief that
one can always move providence to one’s side through intelligent actions will
always open opportunities to reverse one’s fortune. In Olaudah’s case, he saw the
opportunity to improve himself through petty trading.
Igbos have been falsely and widely accused of so-called love of money. This is a
mischaracterization. Igbos do not love money excessively or negatively. They are
entrepreneurial and, therefore, engaged in wealth creation. The spirit of
commerce is not mammon. The real meaning of enterprise is a determination to
find opportunities for value addition. The spirit of providing value to others is the
source of enterprise. We owe it to Adams Smith, the father of modern economics,
for this insight. In his classic, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth
of Nations, Smith argues that the real source of wealth is nurturing the commerce
involved in providing what others need. He argues that commerce is not only a
product of altruism. It is also the product of selfishness; we can call it ‘bounded
selfishness,’ the desire to improve our lives by improving that of another person.
In Smith’s memorable statement, the man who provides our bread every day does
not do so because he loves us. He does so because he is seeking for his daily
bread. But by so doing, he also caters to our needs. In his much-quoted words,
Smith argues, ‘ It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the
baker that we expect our dinner but from their regard for their self-interest. We
address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self love, and never talk to
them of our own necessities, but of their advantages”.
Enterprising people try to serve their legitimate interests. In so doing, they
improve the lives of others. Unenterprising people do not work to improve their
lives. By so doing, they impoverish the lives of others. Olaudah wanted to be a
free man, a gentleman whose life would count for some dignity. He does not need
to become angry and violent. He looked around at what he could do to change
his condition. Professor Edwards reports that Gustavus saw the opportunity in
petty trading. He was a pragmatic and practical man. He was not illusory and
grandiose. He knew he was a slave and did not have much to trade. He started
by selling empty tumblers. He added some gin to these tumblers and started
selling gin in tumblers. His Quaker owner found him enterprising and afforded
him the desire of his heart to go to school.
Professor Bako could see an ancient example of a young Igbo slave doing
everything, including unusual enterprises, to gain an education. Olaudah did not
think out of the box and took all the pains and sacrifices for a good education
because he desired to dominate fellow enslaved people or his enslavers. That is
preposterous. This enterprise is the result of a culture of dynamism characterized
by what the economist Edmund Phelp listed as ‘individualism, vitalism, and selfexpression.’ An Igbo slave began petty trading to earn some money to go to
school so he would become a free man. This could be the story of any illustrious
Igbo Diasporan today.
Undoubtedly, the spirit of enterprise cannot abide in a culture that does not value
freedom, not the freedom of a community, but the freedom of individuals in a
community. As an Igbo, Olaudah desired freedom badly. He had to purchase his
freedom through his enterprise and entreaties to providence through good
character. That is the Igbo religious and cultural worldview. This sounds similar
to King Jaja of Opobo, who rose from being a slave to becoming a King and a
founder of an empire. Notably, King Jaja of Opobo was a diasporan Igbo. His
quest for freedom saw him build tremendous wealth and become a King. It was
the same quest for freedom and the spirit of vitalism that made him refuse to
accept an undignified oppression by the British colonists that resulted in his trials,
persecution, imprisonment, and death in exile. Jaja refused to accept the indignity
of fate. He died defying his fate. That could also be the story of countless Igbos
in ancient and modern times who have purchased their freedom through diverse
forms of enterprise and have flourished and excelled.
Self-improvement is the credo of the typical Igbo. Onye kwe Chi ya kwe (when a
man says yes, his God says yes) can lead to nothing other than a certain form of
continuous self-improvement. This unrelenting self-improvement is the reason
Igbos generally have a higher per capita income than their contemporaries,
whether at home or in the Diaspora. A people who want to improve their lives
through enterprise will always have some who will stray into immoral actions,
especially in a morally bankrupt society. The urge to make it and the social
prestige of economic success can generate perverse incentives towards crimes
and immoralities. This is how to understand some Igbos whose negative
enterprise has driven them to illicit drug peddling and other criminal or immoral
actions. There will always be unintended but predictable consequences of the
breakdown of social order and the veneration of wealth without enterprise that
characterize contemporary Nigerian society. Indeed, this is not an Igbo problem.
It is a Nigerian problem. Even if it is now an ‘Igbo’ problem, it has nothing to do
with Igbo culture and the way of life that sustained Olaudah on the path of
excellence of heart and mind.
Olaudah’s life is typical of that of Igbos in the Diaspora. There is a strong quest
for self-improvement. At the heart of this quest is the desire for freedom. The Igbo
are individualists in that they do not disregard their essence. The Igbo are
communitarian in that they emphasize ‘Igwe bu ike,’ ‘Onye aghala nwa nne ya.’
However, Igbos are individualists to the extent that they recognize the equality of
all lives. All lives matter equally. Therefore, everyone has a right and a duty to
preserve their life. Because the Igbos do not believe that a life without dignity and
freedom is worth living, everyone must make their life worthwhile. ‘onye kwe chi
ya ekwe’ is a summon to individual actions to better one’s life. The Igbos are also
materialists or pragmatists. They are religious in their belief in a benevolent and
just God. But they are materialists to the extent that they see their salvation as
earthly. It is how we live our life on earth that determines our salvation. Igbo
religious sense is less mystical and more philosophical. People who feel a duty to
improve their lives through social and material improvement would love
schooling and ultimately be more successful in creating wealth.
Everyone knows Igbo like to travel. They are primarily diasporan because of this
endless hunger for success. Many Igbos travel far and wide mainly to see if they
can find better opportunities to improve their lives. It is not to dominate others.
In the early days of the founding of the United States, the expression was ‘Go
west.’ The Igbos are always going west. The primary impulse behind these
migrations is the idea of trying something new, of seeking out other unknown
places where we may be luckier than we are now. Economists argue that one
indicator of economic growth is mobility, as well as social, economic, and
occupational. Where people are willing to move, they are more likely to be more
prosperous. The impulse for mobility is related to the impulse for exchange and
trading. It is about looking for value and creating value. It is about selfimprovement. It is a sign of vitalism, which Phelp considers one of the
determinants of sustained economic growth.
Professor Edmund Phelps of Columbia has studied why and how some countries
become wealthy and others do not. In his two books, Mass Flourishing: How
Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenges and Change (2013) and
Dynamics: The Values that Drive Innovation, Job Satisfaction and Economic
Growth (2020), he argues that economic growth results from something he calls
‘high level of dynamism.’ In the September 2024 edition of the IMF’s Finance and
Development magazine, he describes this as ‘the desires and capabilities of the
nation’s people to innovate”. What then accounts for this ‘high level of dynamism’?
He ascribes a high level of dynamism to three modern values: individualism,
vitalism, and the desire for self-expression. For him, individualism is not
selfishness. It is “ the desire to have independence and make one’s way. It can be
traced back to the Renaissance. In the 15th century, the Italian philosopher
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola argued that if God created human beings in his
image, then they must share, to some degree, God’s capacity for creativity. In
other words, Pico foresaw a sense of individualism in which people carved out
their development. Martin Luther spread the spirit of individualism during the
Reformation by demanding that people read and interpret the Bible for
themselves. Other thinkers champing individualism were Ralph Waldo Emerson,
with his concept of self-reliance, and George Eliot, who embodied the spirit of
breaking with convention.” Unfortunately, Phelps does not realize ancient Igbos
had the same ideas and values.
The other modern value that ‘drives the desire and capability of the nation’s
people to innovate’ is vitalism. What is vitalism? Phelps defined vitalism as “the
notion that we feel alive when we are taking the initiative to “act on the world,”
to use the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s terminology,
relishing discovery and ventures into the unknown.” He notes that such spirit
swept through Europe during the age of discovery, from the 12th to the 17th
century. Such spirit sweeps through Igbo land and amongst Igbos in the Diaspora.
The last modern value that Phelps valorizes as the secret of successful economies
is the desire for self-expression. According to him, “self-expression is the
gratification that comes from using our imagination and creativity—voicing our
thoughts or showing our talents. In being inspired to imagine and create a new
way or new thing, people may reveal a part of who they are”.
Pay attention to three core modern values at the heart of economic growth:
individualism, vitality, and desire for self-expression. Aren’t these values what
have defined any successful Igbo you see? Aren’t they the same values that some
Nigerians find problematic with Igbo? Often, we hear our neighbours deplore our
excessive individualism. They will tell you that Igbos have not made much
progress in the struggle for political power in Nigeria because of this trait of
individualism. However, the same individualism is why a young Igbo travels to
Kano with a backpack, opens a shop, and becomes successful. The same
individualism is why many Igbo parents are working hard to ensure their children
attend the best schools in Europe and America. It is the same reason that, in the
past, communities pulled resources together to send their brightest son overseas
to acquire a good education. They did not do so to dominate people in Kano and
Lagos. They did so because they wanted to survive in a changing world. They
want to be like the other communities that have sent their children overseas to
learn the ways of the white man.
Interesting stories in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God and No Longer at Ease cast
significant light on the quest for education amongst Igbos. Professor Bako
wrongly and mischievously attributes the quest of Igbos to send their children to
school as a quest for domination of their neighbours. If he had read these two
books, he would have better understood Igbo love and the pursuit of education.
The Igbos are a pragmatic people. They are also a philosophical people. As
pragmatists, they know that ‘Anaghi ano ofu ebe ekili nmanwu’. You need to move
around to see a masquerade well. Things change. Reality changes. When things
change, we change with them. You cannot master a thing until you learn it. In
Arrow of God, the wise one reasoned that since the white man’s religion was
growing in strength, it would be wise to send one of his children to learn the new
ways. It is adaptation. We need to keep moving to get a better view of the
masquerade. He sent his son to join the white man to learn the secret of the new
religion so that if the white man’s worldview prevails, he and his household will
not lose out. That is the philosophic and the pragmatic mind at work.
In No Longer at Ease, Umuofia had to sacrifice to send its bright son, Obi
Okonkwo, overseas to study so that they could be dignified in the comity of
communities. If other communities have their children overseas to study the white
man’s mystery, Umuofia must also have its son there. It is a competition for
dignity. This is one reason the Igbo State Union encouraged and sponsored many
Igbos to attend school. It is the quest for human capital. The world is changing.
No one, individual or community, wants to be left behind. It is about the
improvement of self and community. Listen to the lamentation of the elders of
Umuofia on the day Obi Okonkwo, the son they sacrificed to send overseas for
university education, was imprisoned for bribery. The people lamented that what
other communities got their own had spoilt. They felt bad because the community
had lost its investment, an investment that made them feel dignified in the comity
of communities. It is about competition. It is about self-improvement. It is never
about dominating others. It is about individualism and vitality. It is about striving
for dignity, freedom, and prosperity.
We can return to Olaudah. He got his freedom. But he committed to helping end
slavery. It is noteworthy that it was Olaudah who reported the terrible loss of life
in the slave ships as part of his efforts to rouse the Christian conscience of Britain
to abolish slavery. He employed his wisdom to make an argument that improving
the lives of enslaved people instead of treating them with brutality would improve
the economic value of slaves. Gustavus looked for a win-win. Enslavers would
gain a lot if they treated their slaves humanely and allowed them education and
proper care. For Olaudah, his self-improvement and freedom helped him to
improve others. The same can be said of King Jaja Opobo. He was strong,
ambitious, courageous, and enterprising. His entrepreneurial exploits enhanced
the lives of his community. It was not just for his good when he resisted the British
monopoly. It was also for the good of other African merchants who British
colonial traders shortchanged.
Those Igbos managing spare parts stores in Kano, those Igbos establishing
entertainment centres in Lagos—they are individualists pushed by the spirit of
vitalism to improve their lives. They can innovate and create values because they
possess modern values of individualism, vitality, and the desire for selfexpression. By so doing, they improve their lives and the community.
Those entrepreneurs are not driven by animus to dominate. They will focus more
on politics than commerce if their motivation is dominance. Notably, despite their
enormous wealth and economic networks, Igbos in the Nigerian Diaspora have
not made any serious and concerted effort to control political power anywhere
outside Igbo land. As Shakespeare said, ambition should be made of sterner stuff.
These Igbos have been instead focused on self-improvement. Their selfimprovement has always been a blessing to their communities. Only a very dumb
professor will overlook this obvious fact.