•Guest lecturer makes case for Igbo awareness, true federalism
By Daily Sun
For Ndigbo, this is a season of celebration. So when the Igbo Students Association of the Distant Learning Institute (DLI), University of Lagos (UNILAG) gathered to mark the 2012 edition of Igbo Cultural Day, no one was surprised. The gathering truly lived up to its billing as a celebration of tradition and culture. The actors, many of whom were mature students, also used the occasion to raise money to help their less privileged colleagues pay their school fees.
And while it lasted, guests at the occasion witnessed the unveiling of the students’ mascot – a ceremony that attracted generous donations from the guests who came to wine and dine with the hosts. But that was not all. There was an illuminating lecture on the night delivered by an erudite scholarm Dr Godwin Nkem Onyekpe, of the Department of History and Strategic Studies of the university. It dwelt on “Igbo Question and the National Question.”
The venue was the expansive Multipurpose Hall C of UNILAG. The actors were students undertaking the DLI programme. Many of them were successful businessmen and women, workers, small-scale industrialists and entrepreneurs. They were united by their quest to drink from the intellectual spring. But they also have this rich water of cultural values welling up in them. And they showed that they were willing to showcase it all at every turn.
They decided to put the event together as their own contribution to Igbo cultural revival coming against the backdrop of the much trumpeted declining interest in Igbo language and culture. Many of the students brought their friends from other ethnic groups to have a taste of the cultural values of their people. Present at the event which was chaired by Professor Friday Ndubuisi, Head of Department of Philosophy, UNILAG, was the President of Igbo Speaking Communities in Lagos, Chief Ebere Ubani.
Also present on the night was Chief Chris Igwilo, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Igbo Coalition Chairman in the Lagos State government. There were also Mr. Emmanuel Opara, Deputy Registrar UNILAG, Dr CJ Ekenalo; senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy as we’ll as Dr Chigozie Nnabuihe of the Department of Linguistics, African and Asian Studies among others. To entertain the guests, there were various traditional dance groups.
They sustained the tempo of the celebration, dancing with some jauntily engaging energy. Every group ensured there was no dull moment, sending the arena into raptures on every occasion. Chairman of the occasion Professor Ndubuisi commended the organisers for putting together the programme. He said: “It is interesting that Igbo students in the DLI programme have put together this annual event to celebrate their culture even when they are faced with the challenges of acquiring knowledge. This is not easy considering that so many of you are successful businessmen and women. It entails a lot of sacrifice.
Knowledge makes the difference between men. Education is for you to develop yourselves as individuals, so I congratulate you for taking this part and for having this forum to come together.” Shortly after the presentation of kola nut by Chief Ubani, the president of Igbo Students Association of DLI Amaechi Obuka aka Senator, in his address said it became necessary for Igbo students on the programme to come together to mark the occasion so as to ignite a revival of Igbo Language which is believed to be on the decline. He said with such awareness at the back of their minds, it became imperative that they came together.
“We are often alarmed each time it is said that interest in Igbo Language is dying. That is why we students of Igbo nationality have come together to do our level best to revive our language and culture in our own little way. We are striving to support effort to raise awareness of our tradition and culture among ourselves. He hinted that the money that would be realised “would be used to help some of us who are in need so that they can pay their schools fees.” Speaking to Daily Sun, a member of the Organising Committee of the event Jude Onuorah expressed happiness that “the student body was able to come together to bring greater awareness of Igbo Language and culture to our members and friends from other ethnic groups.”
In his comments, Chief Igwilo expressed happiness with the zeal displayed by the mature students in coming together to spread awareness of Igbo Language and culture even in the university. He then advised them to remain steadfast in their resolve. In his thought-provoking lecture of the night, Dr Onyeke noted that “Igbo nation faces serious crisis and contradictions. And for us to grapple with this in the course of our development, we have to get to the roots.” He too challenged the DLI students not to rest on their oars because “knowledge is not just the ability to say two times two is four, but to understand the reality of your environment.”
He noted that knowledge is very important because “where as a king is respected in his palace alone, a knowledgeable man is respected every where.” Going down the memory lane, he traced the history of pre independence Nigeria while trying to position Ndigbo in the scheme of things. He asserted that shortly after independence, the future was promising because of the calibre of people that managed the country more so because the regions were developing rapidly since each one kept 50 percent of the revenue accruing to them. But soon things went awry when the civil war set in following what he described as “Igbo phobia.”
As a result of that, he said the Igbo nation had been reduced to a minority status. He said for Nigeria to return to the path of greatness, a new constitution was imperative. This would engender a new power structure that would see true federalism in practice. And by so doing, it would reduce the enormous power now concentrated at the centre.
Such powers he said needed to be concentrated at the regions so that they can develop more easily and discourage corruption at the centre. He insisted that it was only through that, that Nigeria could rediscover herself.
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