Nd’Igbo 
ndewonu O, ndu mmiri,
ndu azụ, mmiri atala ma azụ anwụkwala!
It is great to be here, in the midst of ụmụ Igbo from all walks of
life. Igbo kwezuo nu!
I believe it is only right to start by saying that congratulations are in order
for the effort of His Lordship Arch Bishop A.J.V. Obinna and his team for
conceptualising and giving birth to the Odenigbo vision. In marketing parlance,
your bold step in actualising the lecture series would be described as the all
important demand creation process, which in simple terms means: a product can
be marketed more readily when the sense of a perceived need has been created on
the part of the recipient. This is true in commerce as in social structure
re-engineering, a fact highlighted by the Diaspora Jews with whom Nd’Igbo claim
to share a lot of similarities with.
In a treatise on promoting the usage of Hebrew Language, a Jewish scholar, Dr.
Jonathan Paradise of Minnesota University, identifies what he
called “The necessity of creating a "need" for Hebrew” as the most
important element in the advancement of Hebrew Education. He develops the idea
further:
We must do things in public settings
that stimulate, motivate, and enhance Hebrew study, Our goal must be to
demonstrate that knowledge of Hebrew is useful, psychically rewarding,
desirable, and socially acceptable. Above all, we must create conditions, which
make some knowledge of Hebrew necessary for full participation in certain
areas/aspects of Jewish communal life. If we can manage to introduce the need
for Hebrew in enough areas, we will have done the trick.
Today, you have created a very
public “need” for the Igbo Lanuage by packaging such an intellectually
stimulating and very relevant lecture series in Igbo. You have sent out the
clear message to Nd’Igbo at home and abroad: “Understanding the Igbo Language
is a prerequisite to enjoying the Odenigbo Lecture.
Aluta continua!
Your achievement is even more remarkable when situated in the context of the
climate of escapism and blame-them-ism now pervading the Igbo landscape. I bet
today’s newspapers will be awash with stories of one self appointed Igbo leader
or the other blaming the Awusa and Yoroba for all the Igbo woes. And yet some
others will blame the white man and Igbo unity or the lack of it. Sadly, useful
energy is wasted on navel gazing, unprofitable retrospection and self-pity. The
hard working people of China have a saying that “it
is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” We of the Igbo Heritage
believe that it is not the fault of the white man or indeed Awusa and Yoroba
that the Igbo Language is not among the more than sixty translations of our
brother Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart.” Even though the same book is now
available in Yoroba having been translated by a Yoroba scholar.
Only recently, in fact in late July, we all witnessed the launching of Nigeria’s former president
Shehu Shagari’s Biography during which he stated as follows:
I wish to reiterate that the launching
of a book in Hausa language or in any other Nigerian language at this time is a
significant landmark to remind us all of our responsibility to preserve our
heritage and to respect our history. Let us resolve to henceforth encourage our
people, especially the intelligentsia, to vigorously promote writing and
reading in vernacular rather than in English, which with all its positive
commendable qualities is unfortunately eating deep into our culture and indeed
our own civilisation.
Chei!, ọkwa ndi anyị bu uzo malite ije
nasịzị anyị jesie ike (the people that joined the race after
us are now asking us to hurry and catch up).
It is well within the capability of the Igbo to fashion the peaceful and
progressive Igbo society that most Igbo desire. The Odenigbo Lecture Series has
blazed the trail and ụmụIgbo are enjoined to rally to this path.
Both Okonkwo and Mgbeke are needed in the Igbo rescue package, the governors
and the governed alike. As the Ngwa adage says: “Ọkpụrụka
gbata, ọsụkwụ gbata, ebele ehi la’nmanụ.” Let our
legislatures enact laws that make the Igbo Language mandatory along side the English
Language to senior secondary level. We need to start using Igbo Language
alongside English for such things as road signs, street maps and important
buildings. For example Ụlọ mpkochi for toilet and nwoke/ nwanyịfor
male/female, ọba akwụkwọ for library, uzọ Owere for “Owerri Road” etc., etc. If it has worked for the Welsh, I see no
point in reinventing the wheel. And just
as the English conveniently anglicised some Latin and French words, Nd’Igbo
should not be shy to “Igbonize” other languages. Thus, rather than substitute simple English
words with long Igbo sentences, we should simply slot in the Igonized version
of the same word.
In this social re-engineering project Nd’Igbo cannot afford to be stagnant by
adopting the attitude of the 15th century scholars who in their short-sightedness,
rejected not only the printing press but also the commercial printing that it
heralded. Neither let us become like the Luddites of 1811 England who went about
actively destroying machinery because it “prevented” them from doing things the
old way! It is a dynamic world and the advantage of modern technology must be
harnessed. In addition to publishing the Ahiajoku Lecture
Series, Igbo Heritage has committed to publishing all the
Odenigbo Lectures on the Internet at the purpose-built site http://odenigbo.igbonet.com
Igbo Heritage has also led the way by
establishing the first online Igbo Language
Centre, including an Igbo Language only Internet discussion forum, an
interactive Igbo Language laboratory where Igbo Language enthusiasts exchange
ideas under the guidance of a qualified lexicographer.
L-R: Engr. Odo Akaji, Most Rev. A.J.V.
Obinna, and Enugu Deputy Gov. Okechukwu Itanyi
at the 2004 Odenigbo Lecture Ceremony in Owere, Igboland (September 4, 2004)
Igbo kwenu!
Let there be no mistakes, we do not only need to embrace new technology but
also to sustain it. The Igbo owned Minaj was at the forefront of satellite TV
in this part of the world but today, that outfit is no more while the later
arrivals are breaking into new continents. Indeed it grieves our heart when we
note the absence of Post Express Wired on the Internet today. For those who do
not know, Post Express Wired was the very first source of sub Saharan news on
the Internet. As we say in ala-Igbo: “ịlaghachi azụ bụ ọnwụ”,
we want to publicly offer to put every publication from ala Igbo on the
internet so long as the owners of such publications will accept to arrange the
materials as instructed by our technical & Editorial team.
Perhaps, it will be appropriate to paraphrase the former American President,
JFK, and say to Nd’Igbo: “Ask not for what ala Igbo did or will do for you, ask
what you will do for Ala Igbo.” It seems to me, indeed, that God in His
infinite wisdom will use people like you and me who do not parade ourselves as
Igbo leaders to complete the work of restructuring Ala Igbo both culturally and
politically. True, we may feel unworthy faced with the daunting task ahead,
but, forge ahead we must, for like British parliamentarian William Wilberforce
the slave trade abolitionist put it:
When I consider the magnitude of the
subject which I am to bring before the House—a subject, in which the interests,
not of this country, nor of Europe alone, but of the whole world, and of
posterity, are involved: and when I think, at the same time, on the weakness of
the advocate who has undertaken this great cause—when these reflections press
upon my mind, it is impossible for me not to feel both terrified and concerned
at my own inadequacy to such a task. But when I reflect, however, on the
encouragement which I have had, through the whole course of a long and
laborious examination of this question, and how much candour I have
experienced, and how conviction has increased within my own mind, in proportion
as I have advanced in my labours;—when I reflect, especially, that however
averse any gentleman may now be, yet we shall all be of one opinion in the
end;—when I turn myself to these thoughts, I take courage—I determine to forget
all my other fears, and I march forward with a firmer step in the full
assurance that my cause will bear me out, and that I shall be able to justify
upon the clearest principles, every resolution in my hand, the avowed end of
which is, the total abolition of the slave trade.
I am not one to suggest that our
task is simpler than that which confronted the Christian William Wilberforce.
We are due for a cultural overhaul because it is not right that nocturnal
agreements between a handful of men in some fetish shrine should overrule the
will of the Igbo electorate in choosing their governor. We are due for a
cultural overhaul because we cannot be demanding the release of the bodies of
Igbo murdered in ugwu awusa and buried in mass graves while some “elders”
mutilate and throw corpses of fellow Igbo to the birds of the air.
Chukwu gọzie
Ala Igbo!
