Many attempts have been made to characterize the Igbo society of Nigeria. A recent rendition titled “Ndiigbo: A sneak peek” did a laudable job in illuminating sociocultural aspects of one of the major ethnocultural groups of Nigeria, at least, enough to whet the curiosity of whoever desires to inquire more about what makes the average Igbo what he is. Another fascinating way to get a deeper perspective on Ndiigbo is to take a close look at how they organize their society and articulate the Igbo worldview. This exercise could help one to better comprehend why their outlook on Nigeria may be worthy of emulation by fellow compatriots, particularly in some key aspects of nation building. The Nigerian nation is an inheritance from British colonial conquest and it worked quite well for as long as the imperial administration was at the helm of affairs. Since Independence, Nigeria began to encounter one crisis after the other as its citizens grappled with the challenge of building a modern nation state out of an artificial creation of British imperialism. The lack of a universally acceptable model to follow encouraged the pursuit of diverse parochial agenda by ethnically based political groups that dominated the political dynamics of the First Republic.

In early 1966, the military violently intervened in national governance by sacking the Balewa administration, which was then accused of gross incompetence, corruption and squandering of the nation’s wealth. The same virus that it had come to rid the nation of soon infected the Nigerian military establishment. Series of political and administrative bungling of the emergent army regime led to a successful counter coup d’etat led by Northern elements who sought to avenge the loss of their key political leaders killed six months earlier. The resultant breakdown of law and order, mostly in the North, led to systematic killings of Eastern Nigerians in the region thus triggering an exodus that quickly polarized the country. Lack of political skills, deep distrust amongst the top echelon of the armed forces and rising pitch of ethnic fervor set the stage for the cascade of crises that culminated in a murderous 30-month Civil War. With the leadership of Ndiigbo, the Biafran secessionist state resisted the might of the Federal army, total economic blockage and mass starvation with a sense of determination that astounded the world. Since the conclusion of the Civil War, Ndiigbo have re-dispersed through the length and breath of Nigeria where they resumed their habitual roles in all aspects of national life.

Ndiigbo, for a variety of reasons, are the most widely dispersed ethnocultural group in Nigeria. The majority of Igbo population is engaged in mercantile business at all levels. It can also be said that other ethnic nationalities of Nigeria are equally successful in the business arena. What distinguishes Ndiigbo from the rest is their willingness to range far and wide in pursuit of their livelihood. It is amazing that, after the pogroms and the bitterly fought Civil War that followed, Ndiigbo quickly dispersed throughout the country again, even in the potentially hostile parts of the North. One could say that the conducive policies of the Federal Government played a major role in guaranteeing the physical safety of Ndiigbo in the immediate post-war period. But the domiciliary pattern of Ndiigbo has not been without its costs. Periodic breakdown of public order, particularly in the Northern states, often resulted in rampage by local populations who readily saw Ndiigbo as juicy targets. Being mostly Christians and proprietors of most retail outfits in the impoverished parts of the crisis-prone cities of the North, Igbo indigenes, businesses and residential properties have been targets of attack by hoodlums who are motivated by the lure of easy plunder and religious fervor. The last major upheaval, which was triggered by Sharia-instigated riots in Kaduna state, drew spontaneous retaliatory attacks from the South and elsewhere. Northern indigenes were ferreted out mostly in the former Eastern region and brutally attacked in obvious attempt to repay violence with equal measure.

Despite the perceived threat of Sharia to Christians resident in Northern muslin states and the emergence of parochially inspired militant groups in many parts of Nigeria, the domiciliary pattern of Ndiigbo have not altered significantly from what it used to be in the past few decades. Since the Civil War, there have been episodes when Ndiigbo partially fled parts of the country where violent attacks occurred or were threatened. On all those occasions, they returned to their former locations of residence and resumed their normal activities as soon as the situation was calm enough to do so. This pattern of conduct suggests that Ndiigbo may have decided that retreating back permanently into the Igbo heartland is longer an acceptable modality for dealing with the recurrent crises that have bedeviled contemporary Nigeria. The successful implementation of the so-called “Enyimba Doctrine”, which includes a swift and matching retaliatory response whenever Ndiigbo are ever attacked again, may have shored up Igbo sense of security wherever they reside in Nigeria. The likelihood of fierce reprisals elsewhere inside the country may also have convinced instigators of selective violence against Ndiigbo to rein in their local hordes promptly before situations got out of hand.

Ndiigbo are easily the most exposed and vulnerable ethnocultural group in the country. This sense of insecurity has made them to devise practical ways to minimize their losses without retreating from the way of life that has become their identity, as far as the perception of the rest of their compatriots are concerned. For real, Ndiigbo are the epitome of a united Nigeria. What use is national unity if residents cannot feel free and at ease to reside and prosper in any part of the country that they call their own? They obviously consider the inherent risks to their lives and properties outside the Igbo heartland as a worthy tradeoff for the maintenance of their worldview and the actualization of a Nigerian nation that should belong to all of its citizens, irrespective of one’s ethnocultural background. For Nigeria to reach its potentials as a nation, citizens must be free to move and reside wherever they choose within its territorial boundaries. To be competitive in this modern era, Nigerians must be encouraged to move goods and services in such ways as to optimize profitable economic returns for majority of the citizenry. Ndiigbo have practically demonstrated that this can be done. It will be up to the rest of fellow citizens to take a cue from them in this regard.

But implementation of the Igbo worldview, even within the Igbo society itself, has not been perfect in all spheres. Bitter experiences of the Civil War, coupled with deliberate attempts to deprive Ndiigbo of what is due them by the powers that be, have generated some sense of exasperation within the Igbo society for the past 3 decades. Igbo resourcefulness and ingenuity, which were brought to the fore during the tough struggle of the Biafran era, became relegated to the backburner as priority attention was given to immediate survival needs for Ndiigbo in post-war Nigeria. If Ndiigbo had, in the past 3 decades, maintained half of the intensity with which they grappled with the challenges of the Civil War, the former East would have been ahead of other parts of Nigeria in many aspects of societal development and human accomplishments. Ndiigbo owe it to themselves and other Nigerians to restore and redeploy the can-do mentality that enabled them to overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacle of surviving under siege and military pressure for 30 months. The maintenance culture that evolved then, for example, made it possible for used and discarded dry-cell batteries to be salvaged and recycled to power appliances like radios and small lamps.

Perhaps, the most distressing feature of the present depressed state of the Igbo mindset reflects in the general attitude that citizens should fold their arms and wait for government to come and make our lives to work and make sense to us, individually and collectively. Contrary to the Igbo norm, post-war political leadership tended to hang most of its expectations for provision of public welfare and societal development on the government of the day. The well-known outcry of Igbo marginalization, though factual, has recently assumed an undue preeminent position in the lexicon of present-day Igbo politicians. The authentic Igbo worldview expects individuals and groups to lead the way in attaining the goals that they set for themselves. The person who is pressed to answer nature’s urgent call, an Igbo proverb says, usually leads the way to the bush latrine, not the escort. In the authentic Igbo worldview, the government is usually seen as the escort. The abandonment of the maintenance culture, which had enabled Ndiigbo to assure their survival through hard times, is a bad omen and a strong inhibitory force against everything that makes the average Igbo what he is. Reviving our maintenance culture, in the manner that will be depicted later in this article, shall not only provide a new awakening for Ndiigbo, but it shall also pave the way for a new approach to manage our national resources more efficiently.

Two crucial areas, erosion control and road network maintenance, will benefit greatly from the restitution of a grassroots driven maintenance culture in our society. Unchecked land erosion and markedly deteriorated road system are the greatest afflictions that face Igbo heartland today. Politicians are apt to emphasize award of contracts for new construction projects for obvious reasons. The reality, however, is that even newly executed projects like erosion control systems and road network tend to deteriorate so rapidly without a structured maintenance plan to keep them functioning properly. Here are few illustrations. The Shagari administration awarded contracts to a French engineering consortium, Figeurolle, to construct Nnewi-Ekwulobia-Ibinta and Oba-Akokwa-Okigwe federal highways. About the same period, an indigenous company, Ronasco, was awarded the contract to build erosion control systems for the Oko-Agulu-Alor-Nnobi erosion sites in Anambra state. These federally funded projects were almost fully executed before the army sacked the Second Republic civilian administration. Within five years of completion of the two federal roads, large segments of these crucial communication links for parts of the Southeast were left to deteriorate to the level of becoming impassable. The fate of erosion control projects was no different.

A graphic depiction of total lack of maintenance culture was played out in the 1990s at a spot in Nnewi town along the Oba-Akokwa-Okigwe federal highway. This drama started with the failure of the culvert that handles a major floodwater channel that crossed this highway in Otolo-Nnewi. Initially, one of the concrete rings that made up the big culvert was dislodged after a major downpour. Floodwater from subsequent rainfalls began to widen the exit end of the culvert until a sizeable gully began to develop next to the highway. Road users were still able to negotiate around the affected areas as the gully began to cut across the highway a foot at a time. Within 4 weeks of commencement of this drama, the highway was completely severed. The traffic that utilized this key link between the commercial center of Onitsha and northern parts of Imo and Abia states had to be diverted through unpaved village roads that were barely capable of taking one small car at a time. I was personally caught up in this horrific drama because I used that road daily to visit my clinics at Amichi and Nnewi. On occasions, I had to detour my route from Amichi through Utuh and Ukpor towns before entering Nnewi from the rear. Once damaged, the culvert was not successfully repaired for the next 6 years, after which traffic flow resumed.

Failure to complete and maintain the erosion control project in Oko gully site is presenting its own disastrous consequences as we speak. The gully system that was initially arrested at Oko has since extended into the neighboring villages in Ekwulobia town. Farmlands and homesteads are carried away routinely in Umuchiana village of Ekwulobia after episodes of major downpours as the gully creeps up the escarpment on which the town center is situated. The Nnewi-Ekwulobia-Ibinta federal highway is only a few residential compounds away from being cut by this ravenous erosion gully that is currently advancing in leaps and bounds. To add fuel to fire, upland residents of communities where floodwater that feeds the gully originates are literally doing nothing to control runoff, which quickly adds up to become torrents that wreak havoc to roads on their way to nearby gully sites. The bizarre drama in the Oko-Ekwulobia corridor is repeated elsewhere along the erosion complex that extends downstream through Agulu, Alor and Nnobi towns. Valuable farmlands, homesteads and roadways are devastated along this corridor in an ongoing basis. This type of major environmental disaster cannot be effectively addressed through the award of federal contracts only. The local population must be mobilized to get involved through the inculcation of a maintenance culture that corrects problems on regular basis before monstrous catastrophes occur.

The Igbo heartland is mainly made up of equatorial rain forest and the land is mostly the loose laterite type, which is highly vulnerable to flood erosion. Our unique circumstances demand that we should pay, at least, as much attention to the development of a maintenance culture as we do for initiating the award of contracts for new projects. Ndiigbo cannot afford to allow neglect to devastate the scanty infrastructure that the Igbo heartland has at present. The vital first step in crafting a new developmental strategy for this zone must include a strong grassroots effort to inculcate an effective maintenance culture. Ndiigbo should regard it as their primary responsibility to ensure that all roads in the Southeast are maintained regularly, irrespective of which level of government has funded their initial construction. Experience has shown that, with proper vigilance by the local population, roads can be easily and cheaply maintained if appropriate interventions are made at the earliest sign of damage. It is much cheaper to patch up a palm-size pothole in a paved roadway than to rebuild it when it is allowed to deteriorate to the state of absolute ruination. By the same token, erosion gullies can be prevented or effectively checked by meticulous application of a zero-runoff policy from homesteads and farmlands in the affected watersheds.

Instituting proper maintenance culture lies very much within the powers of communities and local government jurisdictions concerned. Effecting this policy does not require the amending of present constitutional provisions or a national conference. Control of one’s environment is so fundamental that residents must step up to this responsibility on their own initiative. Outside assistance could be sought to supplement visible local effort, but it should not be left to outside interests to determine the type of developmental and environmental standards that Ndiigbo have to live with. By maintaining the road network and implementing judicious erosion control measures in Igbo heartland, Ndiigbo can ensure an all-seasons communications system that shall, in turn, enhance economic activities and rapid development of the zone. Outside investors would easily be attracted to invest in a society that gives a high premium to systematic maintenance of its infrastructure. Road maintenance and erosion control activities will surely create gainful employment and new opportunities for residents of all communities that engage in them. But even more significant is the fact that the environment in which a people live speaks volumes on their sense of decency, in particular and overall value system, in general.

Initiating the process for instituting policies for a new maintenance culture is not at all difficult or farfetched. The framework could be started with the passage of appropriate legislations to address this issue at the state and local government levels. The legislation should aim to make it the joint responsibility of communities, local and state governments to ensure that all roadways in their domain are continuously maintained throughout the year. The legislative bill should also require that the drainage part of all new road construction contracts in the states concerned must be undertaken by the same entities that will be responsible for maintaining the road network for the area. Specifically, the bill shall create a Road Maintenance Corps, which shall be raised mostly from local communities and charged with the task of mobilizing necessary resources to guarantee adequate drainage and maintenance of roadways in the jurisdiction. It shall still remain the responsibility of government ministries in the jurisdiction to see to it that the spirit and essential components of the legislation are executed, failing which sanctions shall be meted out to delinquent parties. Communities in Igbo heartland already have efficient structures for carrying out autonomous development projects like building of schools, markets, hospitals, and roads as well as provision of amenities like supply of electricity and potable water. The new maintenance culture legislation shall be crafted to dovetail into the pattern that is already functional at the Igbo grassroots.

Arresting the environmental decay caused by erosion and enhancing the land communication system in Igbo heartland will set the stage for a new impetus for a socioeconomic development that will be exemplary within Nigeria and beyond. Successful execution of this endeavor will prime the area to play a leading role in the proposed opening up of the Nigerian Eastern Economic Corridor. Ndiigbo already have within themselves all that it takes to build a great society. They can best show their true mettle to the rest of Nigeria and the world through practical demonstrations on how they handle the challenge of controlling and transforming their home base. The can-do attitude that prevailed during the survival struggle of the Civil War era should be revived and creatively channeled toward self and national development. Nigeria’s problems cannot be solved through finger pointing and shifting of blames. Finding new ways of solving old problems will help to generate the necessary excitement that will energize citizens to persevere and prevail, even in the presence of daunting odds. It has been demonstrated over and over again worldwide that a people who have earned their self-respect by their own means invariably get respected by others too.

An Igbo indigene has the right and option to aspire to head the national government in Abuja, just like any other citizen. While it is desirable to have an Igbo become the next Nigerian president, it is even more important that Ndiigbo should first invest more energy now to demonstrate that they can help themselves and the nation by accomplishing impressive feats in doing things the Igbo way. Ndiigbo should strive to prove to themselves and the rest of their compatriots that the Igbo worldview could provide functional modalities that will restore hope and energize a new wave of socioeconomic development for all. Modern democratic societies still aspire to actualize the level of republicanism and personal freedoms that are taken for granted in Igbo society. Bastardization of the indigenous African value system by colonization notwithstanding, we still retain our authentic cultural instincts that could guide us along the path of self-rediscovery and self-redemption. The average Igbo could, through doing the best he can while living out the true essence his values, be regarded easily as the quintessential Nigerian and African. Nigeria and indeed Africa can certainly do with a dose of the authentic Igbo worldview at this period of great crisis and need. But Ndiigbo must lead the way by first demonstrating, in tangible ways, that the Igbo worldview can still work for them and by extrapolation, the rest of Nigeria.

OKENWA R. NWOSU, M.D.
Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
U.S.A.