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Igbo to recapture lost culture with Things Fall Apart
From Lawrence Njoku, Enugu
ANOTHER step to recapture the rich historical and cultural values of Ndigbo will be taken on Friday in Enugu with the first festival of Igbo Culture and Civilisation in commemoration of the golden jubilee of Professor Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
The move, The Guardian learnt, was in realisation of the fact that although Ndigbo have imbibed Western culture as a way of life, its continued existence as an ethnic nationality without its fundamentals, which portray the group as a distinctive people, would mean an end to its civilisation.
Leading other Igbo organisations to the three-day event is the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo. Others are the Catholic Institute for Development Justice and Peace (CIDJAP), Conference of Democratic Scholars (CODES), Izu Umunne in Jos, Plateau State, Ndigbo, Lagos, Aka- Ikenga, Igbo Studies Association in America and Whelan Research Academy, Owerri.
Former Vicar General of the Catholic Diocese, Enugu and Director of CIDJAP, Prof Obiora Ike, told reporters yesterday that Ndigbo would use the 50th anniversary of Things Fall Apart to showcase her rich cultural heritage as a way of rediscovering her lost identity.
He said: "Colonisation, invasion and imposition of leadership from outside have impacted seriously on our culture. It has impacted on our dress code, language, behaviour, arts and tradition. It is bad, especially when our youth follow Western culture sheepishly, paying little or no attention to who they are and what they represent".
According to him, Ndigbo believes that any development is the progression of culture, stressing, however, that the people lost their identity when they started accepting anything that comes their way as a way of life.
He went on: "That is why everybody will claim that there is beauty in Western culture. That it has several advantages and is superior to other cultures of the world. But we want to use our congress to say no to the fact that a people without culture are a finished people. We want to call our minds back that our people have a way of doing things, a way of living together, irrespective of how the Western religion and practices have dominated our landscape."
He said that Things Fall Apart captured, in clear terms, Igbo culture and traditions, expressed in music and dances.
Ike stated that with the inability of Igbo protagonists to document what could be likened to "conventions and practices of their people, "Things Fall Apart, therefore, has become a veritable tool that has existed for a time having promoted the culture and tradition".
He stated that the beauty in Achebe's work was that it has been acknowledged worldwide as a literary piece with great exception, that the culture and tradition of the Igbo nay Africa remains superior.
He disclosed that all the practices, conventions, norms, culture, traditions of the Igbo people were contained in the book which he said comes in "context of modernity and antiquity".
The three-day event will feature presentation, drama, traditional music and dances, folklore and film presentation among others, which were captured in Things Fall Apart.
The President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador Ralph Uwaechue, Prof. Laz Ekwueme, Prof. Richard Okafor; Director-General, National Film Video Censor Board, Emeka Mba and Prof. Osita Eze, among others, will speak on various issues during the festival.
Source: The Guardian, 11th February 2009.
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Since God has abandoned Nigerians to sort themselves out
How do we start on this tall order of a Project? Any suggestions and or Ideas from anybody?
TONY EGBE
Mazi Tony,
God has neither abandoned Nigeria nor Nigerians instead, it is Nigerians that have abandoned God and each has gone h/her way like sheep without shepherd. God has generously provided Nigeria with enormous Natural resources even more than many other nations of the world, yet a Nigerian makes bold to state that the same generous God has abandoned his nation, unbelievable. Our impartial father (God) has given Nigeria her own share of his resources and even more abundantly too. He provided us with senses to know good and bad including sense of judgment, therefore what we do with his provisions for us should be our responsibility and not his to make them boom or doom for us. However, methink that to sort things out (since you asked) Nigerians must return to the basic as follows:
(a) Keep close eyes on the ten life-saving instructions of God, aka the ten commandments.
(b) Recognize always that a cool kobo is better than a hot million naira.
(c) That to be a good leader you should be a good follower.
(d) The so called leaders must recognize that nature does not permit vacuum and that every living organism must find something to fulfill the the three life basic needs food, clothing, and shelter. That deprivation of any or all of the above will drive the organism to find a way to fend for itself (h/herself) either civilly or by force.
(e) Nigerians must return to their senses and pick up the lost knowledge about the law of comparative advantage including the power of division of labor. For example, natural farmers must leave politics and return to their farmlands, born teachers must return to the classrooms, traders must return to their buying and selling, engineers, physicians, students, and etc must return to their God given talents and leave politics to natural politicians. Until then, the nation will continue to be confused and filled with all sorts of unsavory behaviors.
(f) The so called Nigerian leaders must learn at all cost to be honest, have national interest at heart, respect their fellow citizens right to livelihood, learn to practice fair play, justice, and uphold the rule of law.
(g) Nigeria must have a working constitution that will be strong and firmer than cob web. Whatever the nation has presently in the name of constitution is just like a cob web which catches only smaller insects but powerless with the big and bigger ones. Nobody, and I mean no citizen should be above the law of h/her land.
(h) The haves in the nation must equally realize that riches are blessings only to those who make them blessing to others. They must know that their tall razor-made fences around their mansions can only keep them safe within and not without all the time. Their biggest safety will be achieved when they compassionately extend their riches to the less privileged in the society and teach others how to fish too.
Finally, those who feel closer to God by virtue of their knowledge of the bible or Koran (Pastors and Imams) must realize that godly people please God only when their walk measures up to their talk, and not when it measures with their earthly wealths.
It is also my feeling that Nigerians can make good followers if a good leader emerges. I strongly feel as stated above because of my experience about Nigeria and Nigerians during the late Gen. Buhari/Idiagbons short lived regime. During that short period of time, civility, order, and respect for lives and properties were practiced, obeyed, and the positive impact was felt by all. I wish they were allowed to stay and chisel more sense into us , things could have been better and we wouldn't have continued to sort afar things that are at our finger tips. But my fear returns because majority of Nigerians are deaf to the voices of reason.
* Eugene Iwuamanam
22nd June 2010
Moving Forward with Child Rights in Nigeria
The Nigerian Federal Government recently met with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
in Geneva, to discuss Nigeria's 3rd and 4th periodic reports which document their adherence to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In response to this meeting, the CRC has issued a series of Concluding Observations which congratulate the Nigerian Government on the actions it has taken to implement child rights. However, they also outline issues which need further work if the rights of the Nigerian child are to be more fully realised.
Areas of concern which the CRC have identified as needing to be addressed as a matter of urgency include (among others): birth registration, health services for children, adoption, witchcraft accusations and abuse, education, provision for street children and child trafficking.
The CRC also recommends that information about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Child Rights Act 2003 is disseminated throughout Nigeria in order for children, parents and communities to become better educated about children's rights.
Gary Foxcroft, Programme Director of Stepping Stones Nigeria, says: "The Concluding Observations are a fantastic opportunity to focus on the rights of the Nigerian child. We look forward to working with the Nigerian Federal and State Governments as well as with other civil society organisations to make sure that the recommendations of the CRC are fully implemented".
The Federal Government sent a strong and knowledgeable delegation to the meeting with the CRC and will now begin the task of disseminating and addressing the Concluding Observations.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child is a body of independent experts which monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by its State parties. See http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc.index.htm for more information.
The Concluding Observations on Nigeria are available from: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/CRC.C.NGA.CO.3-4.doc
Stepping Stones Nigeria works with partner organisations including the Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) to provide accommodation, education, literacy, food, healthcare and hope for a brighter future to vulnerable children such as the so-called 'witches' and 'wizards' of the Niger Delta. Through advocacy and research they campaign for an end to child witchcraft stigmatisation and work to inspire others working on similar issues to fight for the rights of vulnerable children and adults at risk of abuse. For more information please visit www.steppingstonesnigeria.org or www.makeapact.org
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