AHIAJOKU: Wise Men From East Brainstorm On Igbo Culture, Development

Imo State Governor Emeka Ihedioha welcoming guests to the Ahiajoku Lecture. Image: PM Express

BY HENRY AKUBUIRO

OWERRI (SUN NEWS)--The enthusiasm that permeated New Concorde Hotel, Owerri, last Friday, was apparent: truncated dream suddenly rose from the depth of abeyance to embrace a new vista. Amid an art exhibition, the 2018 Ahiajoku Festival, the Igbo cultural and intellectual harvest, made a comeback since 2010. Love and respect for the Igbo man were rekindled.

The roadmap for the colloquium on Day 1 was given by Dr. Amanze Obi, the Director, Ahiajoku Institute, who informed the three presenters that their presentations would focus on the overall theme of the festival – “The Challenge of Leadership in Contemporary Igbo Society”.

Senator Ben Obi, who introduced the Chairman of the day, Professor ABC Nwosu, former Nigeria’s Minister of Health, thanked the Imo State Governor, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. for drawing a rich audience from the Igbo speaking states of Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Ebonyi, Rivers and Delta, and beyond, to partake in the festival. “That’s a sign of many things to come,” he declared.

Nwosu was humbled to chair the colloquium, for he never lobbied for it. “But I would have lobbied for this one, because Igbo land has lost direction,” he said. He was satisfied, however, with the mantra the state governor had chosen for himself, praying God to guide him.

He added, “You have begun from the right place. You can only rebuild humans that will build society from the mind.” Ahiajoku, he echoed, “represents the potentials of the Igbo man. I salute you for what you have done by resuscitating Ahiajoku.”

He celebrated the ingenuity and industry of the Igbo in surviving against all odds, including pogrom, genocide and unfriendly, post-civil war economic policy by the Federal Government of seizing their money in the bank and handing each depositor a paltry 20 pounds, no matter the savings.

Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa was the first of the three presenters to speak. He spoke on “Aku ruo Ulo: Inventing Political and Communal Leadership in Alaigbo”. For long, he said, Igbo people had bemoaned the rising spate of foreign adventures, developing areas outside Igbo land, yet earning undeserved threats to their lives, and, in many cases, deaths and loss of properties.

He lamented that the entire Southeast, at the moment, had the lowest GDP growth of all the regions in Nigeria due to low investment in the region, submitting that the threat by the Oba of Lagos in 2015 to throw Igbo indigenes into the Atlantic Ocean during the 2015 elections and subsequent and subsisting notices by the Arewa Youths for Igbo settlers to leave the region had been major wakeup calls for Ndigbo to look homewards.

Furthermore, he said the obvious discrimination by this present Federal Government “has added impetus for the need for us to think home and invest home.” Even beyond the borders of Nigeria, “the same message,” he said, “is being sent”, for recent xenophobia attacks in South Africa seem to have affected Ndigbo more than any other Nigerian group.”

The Igbo economy before the civil war, he informed, was the fastest growing, built on agriculture and manufacturing. “We built an industry around coal in Enugu and developed big commercial centres in Aba and Onitsha that distributed the agricultural and manufactured goods from our industries,” he said.

Mazi Ohuabanwa’s speech wasn’t all about painting sad pictures and creating a hangdog air. The pharmacist also proffered solutions. He advised every Igbo businessman outside Igboland, to, within one year, set up an office, a branch, a shop or depot in Igboland to increase employment possibilities in the region.

He, besides, urged Igbo businessmen to give priority to investing in Igboland before putting any investment elsewhere in Nigeria. Over the next three years, he advised Igbo businessmen to transfer the headquarters of their businesses to Igboland while maintaining braches outside Igboland, as ABC Transport, Innoson, Chikason, Ibeto had done.

Responding to the issues raised by the first speaker, Rev. Fr. Chris Ogbonna, said Mazi Ohuabunwa had given all food for thought. For him, the theme of “Aku ruo Ulo” was thought-provoking, nay, “the greatest Aku (wealth) we have in us is human capital.” He moved for leaders who could harness the abundant human capital.

The second speaker, Professor Christian Onyeji, spoke on “Humanity, Sensed Leadership in Contemporary Igbo Politics: Tackling the Challenges.” On one hand, the theme, he said, raised a critical issue of relevance questioning the outcomes, hegemony and direction of existing Igbo leadership methods and their outcomes.” He, therefore, lent support to having Igbo leaders who have the people in mind.

Dr. John Otu, who responded to Professor Onyeji’s presentation as one of the four discussants, said “a time would come in Nigeria when they invite you to be a governor, you will say, ‘No, I am don’t want to be; I am not qualified for that office’; and the time is now.” His position was premised on the fact that oil earnings would soon dwindle and looters would found government positions unattractive, thereby paving way for those with ideas to take the challenge of leadership.”

The third speaker, Chief Osita Chidoka, former Minister of Aviation, focused on “Leadership in Igboland”. He noted that “Igbo people are successful in today’s Nigeria but Igboland is not successful.” He lamented that “our dreams and aspirations have gone low,” compared to the achievements of the Okparas and Azikiwes in the First Republic.

He lampooned Igbo traditional rulers for endorsing bad political leadership for lucre. “I want to assure you that the Igbo man is the future of Nigeria,” he said, nevertheless. Among others, “we are the most socially inclusive in Nigeria.”

The first day ended with a cultural night at Mbari Cultural Centre, Owerri, attended with traditional Igbo performances led by Omenimo and the Saro Wiwa band. But the glow of Ahiajoku thrills wasn’t about to fade yet. Dr. Amanze Obi set the ball rolling the second day at the Ahiajoku Convention, New Owerri, as the Ahiajoku Lecture itself took centre stage, chaired by the Obi of Onitsha, Agbogidi Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe.

“I have a passion for what we are doing today,” said Amanze Obi, former Imo State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, who lamented that the Ahiajoku Lecture series was abandoned by the immediate past administration of Rochas Okorocha for selfish reasons. “Our job is not just the Ahiajoku series; we have a lot of programmes we will run,” he hinted on the enlarged scope of the institute he heads.

Chief Ikedi Ohakim, who chaired the LOC, called on Igbo nation, whether in southeast or in Rivers or Benue to unite. Unlike the former Imo State Governor, Okorocha, who was described by Femi Fani Kayode as an “intellectual barbarian”, the incumbent Imo State Governor, Ihedioha, was lionised for his intellectual bent and visionary leadership by the Obi of Onitsha, in his remarks.

Governor Ihedioha lamented, in his adress, that the last eight years were the beginning of dismantling efforts by the Okorocha administration, and it was incumbent on him to begin a rebuilding process in Imo. He welcomed all to the festival, describing Ahiajoku as “the most cherished Igbo cultural and intellectual summit”, returning “after nearly a decade of abeyance”.

He added, “The 2019 Ahiajoku Lecture certainly marks another milestone in the rebuilding agenda in the present Imo State Government.” He also noted that, “Ahiajoku has remained a unifying essence among Igbo”, with its cultural and intellectual potpourri.

Emeritus Professor Michael Echeruo, who was the inaugural Ahiajoku lecturer in 1979, make history, once again, as he presented the 2019 Ahiajoku Lecture entitled “Ogu Eri Mba: We Shall Survive”, which unearthed, among others, pre-colonial Igbo practices and politics, dispelling spurious Igbo-Jewish connection and x-raying the historical and Achebean explanations of contemporary socio-political convulsions vis-à-vis Ndigbo.

Aside Governor Ihedioha, the 2019 Ahiajoku Lecture was attended by the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu; Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom; plus representatives of governors of Enugu, Anambra, Enugu, Rivers and Cross River states.

Others were Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Achike Udenwa, Prof I.D. Nwoga. Chief Nnia Nwodo (President, Ohaneze Ndigbo) and Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (former Chief of General Staff under IBB). Also present were royal fathers, including but not limited to the Amanyanabo of Opobo and Eze Samuel Ohiri, Chairman, Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers.

Ahiajoku: When Igbo Leaders, Intellectuals Gathered For Introspection, Culture Feast

Events at the Ahiajoku Lectures. Image via Imo State Blog

BY GEORGE ONYEJIUWA

OWERRI, IMO STATE (SUN NEWS ONLINE)--Owerri, capital of Imo State, was agog recently. Between November 29 and 30, the city played host to the crème de la crème of Ndigbo – politicians, eminent academics, business moguls, professionals of all hues and first class traditional rulers.

Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Emmanuel Udom and a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani- Kayode were also in the city.

The personalities, and many others, were in Owerri for the 40thanniversary of the Ahiajoku Lecture Series. The lecture was delivered by Prof. Michael J.C Echeruo, who is the William Safire Professor of Modern Letters, Department of English, Syracuse University.

This is an eloquent testimony to the fact that the Ahiajoku lecture series, which was initiated by the governor of old Imo state, late Sam Mbakwe in 1979 ostensibly to celebrate the goddess of cultivation, fertility and harvest in Igbo cosmology, has transcended beyond its initial beginnings and become a pan-Igbo intellectual harvest. It not only spotlights contributions the Igbo have made and are still making to culture, civilization and to humanity but also serves as a platform which seeks to encourage Igbo scholars to undertake relevant researches on Igbo culture in relation to the world view and overall human development.

Therefore, the enthusiasm with which the revival of the Ahiajoku lecture series by Governor Emeka Ihedioha was celebrated by the entire Ndigbo after about a decade of hiatus was not surprising, especially as the event marked the 40th anniversary of the lecture series.

To kick-start the event, a colloquium was held. This was followed by a cultural night at the traditional parliament of the Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers where the guests were entertained by the Ome na Imo Cultural troupe.

The Obi of Onitsha and co-chairman of the Ahiajoku Lecture Series, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe praised Governor Ihedioha for bringing back the Ahiajoku Lecture Series, which he noted is a platform for Igbo who he described as a global tribe to further bond together as a people.

“We must thank Governor Ihedioha for reviving this Ahiajoku Lecture Series and going further to make it an institute for research into the culture and tradition of Igbo people. In 1981 when I returned from the Netherlands to work as the regional manager of Shell in Port Harcourt, I had paid Chief Sam Mbakwe a visit in Owerri and he asked me if I established a village in the Netherlands and that every Igbo man must establish a village at his location. What I understood by what he said is that Igbo is a global tribe because you find them everywhere and in every discipline. One thing about a global tribe is focus and cohesion, and the Ahiajoku is a major platform to achieve this cohesion.”

Chief Femi Fani-Kayode commended the Imo State government for organising the event noting that the immediate past administration could not organise the intellectual event primarily because the head of that administration is anti-intellectual. He commended Governor Ihedioha for again providing a cultural platform for Igbo intellectuals to exchange positive ideas for the benefits.

“This is my first time in Owerri and I must say that I was impressed that Governor Emeka Ihedioha has brought back this Ahiajoku which most people have aptly described as an intellectual harvest.

“Right from the colloquium and through the cultural night where the culture and tradition of the Igbo was on display, especially the performance of the culture. I think that the immediate past administration had scrapped this event because the head of that administration does not appreciate scholarship and so nobody should be surprised about that. But I have known Governor Emeka Ihedioha as a man who appreciates intellectualism and also a man who appreciates the culture and tradition of his people and that is why he has made it an institute for research and promotion of the culture and tradition of Igbo people,” he stated.”

The monarch of Umudioka autonomous community in Orlu, Eze Thomas Obiefule who was elated about the return of the lecture Ahiajoku series, said ex-Governor Rochas Okorocha had scrapped the lecture series but commended Governor Emeka Ihedioha for his foresight in bringing it back.

He noted that Prof. Michael Echeruo, the lecturer, had aptly entitled his lecture ‘OGU ERI MBA (WE SHALL SURVIVE)’ and that for the Igbo race to survive, the culture and tradition must be sustained.

“As a traditional ruler, I am very happy that the Ahiajoku lecture series is back which in the last 40 years has continued to provide Ndigbo with a platform to discuss and proffer solutions to the issues militating against our people. And if you look back you will see that illustrious Igbo intellectual giants, including the iconic Professor Chinua Achebe had in the past delivered lectures. But unfortunately, in the last eight years, the former governor, Rochas Okorocha, for reasons better known to him, scrapped the Ahiajoku Lecture Series and even renamed the Ahiajoku Convention Centre built by his predecessor, Dr Ikedi Ohakim to Imo Trade and Investment Centre. It was the same governor who destroyed all the artefacts at Mbari Centre. So, I am happy that Governor Ihedioha has not only revived the Ahiajoku Lectures but has made it an institute. Above all, he has made Igbo language a compulsory subject in the state because it is the language with which to identify our people.”

Director General of the newly established Ahiajoku Institute, Dr Amanze Obi said it was gratifying that after nine years, the event was back and better. He said the event would henceforth remain as a think tank for the way forward for the Igbo race.

“From now on, we are not just going to organise the lectures, but it will become a forum that will evolve into researching into and promoting the culture of Ndigbo,” he said.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS

Ahiajoku Lecture: Echeruo Faults Igbo Jewish Link

Prof. Michael Echeruo. Image via Rethinking Africa

BY CHRIS NJOKU

OWERRI (THE NATION)--The debate over Igbo’s Jewish origins and connections is undermining the sense of Igbo identity.

Delivering a lecture titled “Ogueri Mba: We shall survive” at the Ahiajoku Lecture 2019 and 40th anniversary held on Saturday at the Ahiajoku Institute, Owerri, Imo State, Prof. Michael Echeruo said the debate is fast undermining the sense of Igbo identity, attaching Ndigbo to a legacy in which they have absolutely no hope of acceptance.

“This feature of our public discourse does not have a single or simple motivation. Some believe that because we have been unjustly persecuted and misunderstood as a people, we must be Jews.

“Some others, standing anti-Senitism on its head, regard themselves as Jews by a fabled Igbo love for money, our new god.”

He described all these supposed links as a matter of folklore that could be easily ignored.

“We stand to gain nothing by claiming a Jewish identity parallel to that which we already have as Ndigbo.

“Even the Yoruba claim a Jewish origin at the time as they hold on to the mystical emergence of their ancestor. And they have, most of them, got over it, except the Igbo.”

He added further “the pattern of Igbo civil discourse, the quality of Igbo leadership at state and national levels even our quality of our pride in ourselves and our inheritance as Igbo people left to be desired.

“Our capacity for serious introspection has apparently diminished under the pressure of our needing to just survive and the anguish of having to put a stop to our dreaming of the might have been.”

2019 Ahiajoku Lecture: Covering The Lost Grounds

Governor Emeka Ihedioha inaugurates the Ahiajoku Lecture Committee with former Governor Ikedi Ohakim as Chairman of the Planning Committee at the Sam Mbakwe Executive Chambers, Government House, Owerri, Wednesday, October 16, 2019.

BY ETHELBERT OKERE

Fourty years ago, 1979 to be precise, the government of Imo state, then presided over by the late Sam Mbakwe, came up with the idea of an annual Ahiajoku lecture. Underlying that idea was the need to make deliberate efforts to articulate and project Igbo culture. Specifically the government outlined the objectives of the lecture series thus: To define aspects of Igbo culture and relate them to the main corpus of Nigerian culture as well as to African and world civilization; to create a challenging situation for scholars to undertake relevant research on Igbo culture, especially the more basic and fundamental ones; to relate the research to Igbo world view and total human development and, fourthly, to establish a diachronic relationship in each discipline as regard Igbo human development.

And why the title, Ahiajoku Lecture? According to a citation on the lecture series by the then ministry of information, youths and sports, “this title is an Igbo conceptual reference to cultivation, fertility and harvest. Yam being the prestige and culturally important crop of the Igbo people that it is, its cultivation and harvesting are traditionally linked with Ahiajoku which is also variously called in Igbo land, Ufiejoku, Ifejioku, Njokuji, Ihinjoku, Ahiajoku, Ahajoku, Fijiku, Ajoku, Aja Njoku Or Ajaamajia”.

The citation further stated that “the Ahiajoku lecture series is essentially an annual harvest of thought. All Igbo people and indeed all Nigerians and the world at large are invited to join the civilization, harvest and feast….Scholars, men and women of all fields of endeavour should come forth and show Igbo contribution to the Nigerian, nay, world civilization”.

To kick start the search for the actualization of these broad objectives, the state government invited erudite scholars and professor of English Language, Michael Joseph Chukwudalu Echeruo, to deliver the very first lecture in the series on Friday, November 30, 1979 at the multipurpose hall, government house, Owerri.

A citation of Professor Echeruo read at the occasion by another scholar and historian, Professor Adiele Afigbo, now of the blessed memory, said of Echeruo, among other things, thus: “Michael Echeruo’s national and international standing as a scholar is indeed a source of pride and inspiration to his friends.

And the important point is that this international standing derives not just from his ability as a teacher or just from his achievement as an academic … It derives, first and foremost, from his productivity as a scholar. And this productivity has been marked by happy versatility, rich variety, unfailing originality and incisiveness, as by limpidity of style and cold, unwavering logic. Michael Echeruo is one practitioner of his craft on the African continent that I know of today who is at home in creative writing and literary criticism, in African literature, American literature and English literature. He is the only one on the continent I know of who has made significant contributions to the study of some of the seminal minds in English and African literature”.

In attendance at the lecture were numerous Igbo sons and daughters, especially scholars who came from various parts of the country. Of course, Professor Echeruo, who was at that time professor of English language at Nigerian premier university, the University of Ibadan, lived up to expectations. He delivered a lecture that has remained a reference point forty years after. His lecture was entitled, “A Matter Of Identity” which he chose himself because the organizers of the lecture series made it clear from the beginning that each lecturer is free to choose his or her own topic and language of delivery.

Exactly forty years after, Professor MJC Echeruo, now emeritus professor of Syracuse University, an Ivy League institution in the United States of America and also Williams Safire professor of Modern Letters emeritus, is billed to deliver the 2019 lecture on November 30, at the Ahiajoku center, Owerri.

In the period between the first lecture in 1979 and now, the Ahiajoku lecture series have featured other renowned scholars as lecturers. They include the late eminent economist, Dr. Pius Okigbo, Professors Ben Nwabueze, Adiele Afigbo, Anya O. Anya, Donatus Nwoga, Emenanjo, Cyril Onwumechili, Ogbonnaya Uche etc.

Perhaps the very climax of the lecture series was the 2009 lecture which was delivered by the late literary icon, Professor Chinua Achebe. The 2009 lecture, however, turned out to be the last since that date as the administration that took over in 2011 could not organize the lecture for the eight-year period it was in charge. It is how to regalvanze the interest of Ndigbo and Nigerians generally following this eight-year long lacuna that poses the major challenge to the current administration in the state which has vowed to revive the lecture series and reposition it for achieving the goals which its founding fathers had in mind.

Incidentally, two key personalities who are currently involved in this task were also the very brains behind the 2009 lecture delivered by Achebe and which, perhaps next only to the inaugural of 1979, is considered the most memorable so far. The two fellows are former governor of the state, His Excellency, Chief Ikedi Ohakim and his then commissioner for information and culture, Dr. Amanze Obi. For the 2019 lecture, Dr. Ohakim is the chairman of the planning committee set up by the incumbent governor, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, while Obi is the Director-General of the Ahijoku Institute which he supervised as commissioner eight years ago.

As the DG of the Ahiajoku Institute, the day-to-day task of ensuring a successful outing this year falls on Dr. Obi. In a recent newspaper interview, Dr. Ohakim noted that his committee is looking beyond the eight-year set back and working to recover every lost ground that arose therefrom. In this bid, the lecture series, according to the former governor, now transcends the Igbo nation; and has now been “elevated to a pan Eastern Nigeria event”. He explains further: “The 2019 lecture is bringing together the people in the former Eastern region who though may be speaking different tongues, have a common historical experience”. Ohakim further hinted that the governors of Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states have indicated interest to attend the November 30, 2019 event in Owerri.

This is a grand plan but isn’t the Ahiajoku lecture series just another talking platform which many Nigerians believe are already too many in the country? It may appear so but the organizers of this year’s lecture are quite optimistic that it is capable of rekindling the interest of the Igbo generally to avail themselves opportunities for robust discourse on matters concerning their welfare as a people and their relationship with their follow compatriots across the country.

Feelers have it that the organizers are poised to make the event far more memorable than it had ever been, more so being the 40th anniversary of the series and attracting no less a personality like Professor Echeruo, as lecturer. The event will be co-chaired by two other prominent Igbo personalities: The Obi of Onitsha, Alfred Achebe (Agbogidi) and former number two citizen of the country and former military governor of Lagos state, Ochiagha Ebitu Ukiwe. The state government is said to be leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the event records a new success.

While inaugurating the planning committee, Governor Ihedioha charged its members to see the assignment as an opportunity to help in rewriting some of the not so palatable aspects of Igbo history.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS

Return Of Ahiajoku Lecture 9 Years After

Imo Governor Emeka Ihedioh unveils logo for the 2019 Ahiajoku Lecture' Image via Anaedo

BY HENRY AKUBUIRO

After a nine-year lull for the exciting forum for Igbo intellectual harvest and cultural renaissance founded by the government of Sam Mbakwe in 1979 of Imo State, the Ahiajoku Lecture series is staging a comeback.

The 2019 edition is significant in many ways. For one, it marks the fortieth anniversary of the pan Igbo cultural assembly. Again, forty years after he presented the inaugural lecture, “A Matter of Identity”, the Emeritus Professor of English, M.J.C. Echeruo, will, for the second time, mount the rostrum in the Imo State capital, Owerri, on Saturday, November 30, as he headlines this year’s lecture.

He will be reflecting on the journey so far with an offering “which promises to be a brilliant and unique synthesis of the lecture series in its four decades-long journey,” informed Dr. Amanze Obi, the Director General of the Ahiajoku Institute, Owerri.

While Professor Bede Okigbo presented the 1980 lecture series on “Plants and Food in Igbo Culture”, Adiele Afigbo, in 1981, spoke on “The Age of Innocence: The Igbo and their Neighbours in Pre-colonial times”.

Other eminent Igbo scholar who have presented the lecture series included Prof Donatus Nwoga, Prof Ben Nwabueze, Professor Pius Okigbo, Professor Emmanuel Obiechina, M.A. Onwuejiogu, V.C. Uchendu, Professor Chinua Achebe, Professor Chinedu Nebo, among others.

The Lecture Series, explained Obi, was initiated as an intellectual festival which celebrates Igbo civilisation, culture and worldview in the context of world affairs. The current Imo State Governor, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, has taken it upon himself to revive the almost moribund lecture series as part of his intervention in culture and tourism in the state.

“Significantly, Governor Ihedioha who has undertaken the onerous task of rebuilding Imo after the years of the locust, is also seeing to the rebirth of Ahiajoku after its regrettable abandonment eight years ago. The revival of the festival is in line with the determination of the present administration in Imo state to reposition the state’s cultural and tourism subsector,” said Obi.

This year’s lecture will hold at the Ahiajoku Convention Centre, New Owerri, on Saturday, November 30th. A day before, on Friday, November 29, there will be preliminary activities that make the festival a unique whole, including the Ahiajoku colloquium, where a college of intellectuals and researchers will gather to ex-ray the leadership challenges facing Nigeria with particular reference to the Igbo nation, and a cultural night, where the rich Igbo culture and heritage will be given a fillip.

Explaining the significance of the lecture series, the DG of the Ahiajoku Institute told Daily Sun, “The series takes its roots from the goddess of Ahiajoku which, in Igbo cosmogony, relates to cultivation, fertility and harvesting.

“The Igbo belong to a dietary group normally referred to as the yam culture which extends from Ivory Coast to the eastern boundary of the Cameroon mountains. It is entrenched in the forest areas of the guinea savannah and has defined the political economy of the Igbo ever since.

“But the lecture series, strictly speaking, is not about cultivation or fertility. Rather, it is an intellectual harvest of sorts which seeks to underpin the contributions the Igbo have made and are still making to culture, civilisation and humanity.

“To underline the preeminent position of the Igbo in this regard, we must re-establish our identity as a people. This involves a dynamic interaction with our environment and our neighbours. It compels us to understand that we do not live in an isolated world. We live in a human community where our identity must be forged and made to stand shoulder to shoulder with those of other groups and civilisations,” he added.

Speaking on the Ahiajoku Instuute, which he heads, Obi said it was conceived “as an extra-ministerial department established by the Government of Imo State for the purposes of harnessing all the cultural activities of the state,” fashioned like the Goethe Institut –the German cultural association, and Instituto Italiano De Cultura –the Italian cultural institute.

“The institute,” he hinted, “when set up, will be the first of its kind in Nigeria. With it in place, Imo will become a cultural hub. Its activities and programmes will make Imo the cultural epicentre of Nigeria to which Igbos and, indeed, other Nigerians as well, as foreigners will converge periodically for epochal cultural events.”

Besides, it will take Ahiajoku out of mere talk shows and make it more celebratory. “It is envisioned that Ahiajoku will become a cultural carnival with various strands that will make it more engaging,” he echoed.

Among others, the institute will engage in cultural diplomacy by promoting the study of Igbo language and culture abroad, as well as encouraging international cultural exchanges and relations; serve as storehouse for providing information about Igbo civilisation, culture and society and will also function as a centre for the exchange of films, music, theatre and literature, etcetera.

For now, denizens of arts and culture cannot but wait with bated breath for the Ikolo to beat, once again, in the Imo State capital, Owerri, to summon the entire Igboland to the shrine of knowledge and cultural rebirth which the long awaited Ahiajoku Lecture series represents.

SOURCE: SUN NEWS

Ahiajoku: The Symbol Of Igbo Cultural Ideal

Sam Mbakwe Inaugurated the Ahiajoku Lecture Series. Image via Oblong Media

BY ROBERT OBIOHA

It is not in doubt that Governor Emeka Ihedioha is living up to his promise to holistically improve governance culture in Imo State. Besides his initiatives to revive the economy of the state, his resolve to revive the culture of Ndi Imo is gaining traction through the plan to bring back the hitherto abandoned Ahiajoku Lecture Series.

Without much ado, the inauguration of the Ahiajoku Lecture Series in 1979 can be regarded as one of the noblest achievements of the Sam Mbakwe administration, an administration generally adjudged as the best in the annals of the state.

The then governor used the lecture to remind Ndi Imo and indeed Ndi Igbo that they should not forget their culture in their socio-economic development. Mbakwe also used it to let Ndi Imo appreciate their rich cultural heritage. He demonstrated that governance can go side by side with cultural development. Mbakwe’s glorious administration had shown that good governance can only be achieved if based on the cultural imperatives of the people concerned.

The nexus between culture and development is well known and overtly documented. No society can really develop without its material culture. Great civilizations in history such as Western, Asian, Arabic and the Chinese have been modeled after their rich cultural background. Perhaps this was why the Sam Mbakwe administration established the Ahiajoku Lecture to serve as a think tank for the overall development of Imo State and by extension Igbo land.

Although Ahiajoku was formerly a cultural festival in honour of the god of yam and cocoyam, the major staples of Ndi Igbo, which culminated in the annual celebration of New Yam Festival in Igbo land, the Ahiajoku Lecture Series have transcended that ritual to embrace the projection of Igbo worldview through an annual intellectual harvest on some aspects of life in Igbo land including agriculture, economy, philosophy, art, religion and politics.

But whether Ahiajoku is celebrated in honour of the god of yam or as an intellectual harvest, it remains the veritable symbol of Igbo cultural ideal. In fact, it is one annual cultural celebration in which all Igbo are united including the Diaspora Igbo in West Indies and other places. It is one cultural celebration that survived colonialism, western education and religion tailored to denigrate and annihilate indigenous cultures. The mmonwu masquerade is another Igbo cultural icon that survived the colonial misadventure.

Unfortunately, the Ahiajoku Lecture Series suffered abject neglect in the hands of some administrations in the state notably the Col. Tanko Zubairu (rtd) and Rochas Okorocha administrations. Why that of Zubairu can be rationalized, nothing can explain why Okorocha, a cultural enthusiast, could abandon such worthy legacy of the Mbakwe administration. While the new bold initiative of the governor to revive the Ahiajoku Lecture Series is apt and commendable, it should go beyond its new mandate to accommodate some of the following suggestions.

Ahiajoku lecture can be used to enthrone a culture of transparency and accountability in governance. It can equally be used to improve the Igbo work ethic, belief system, mores and values, philosophy of live and let live, the extended family system as well as our social relations with other ethnic groups. Ahiajoku lecture can be used to check the pervading culture of crass materialism, greed and avarice in Igbo land as well as the escalating culture of anything goes and curb the current ‘do or die’ approach to politics across the Igbo nation.

The Ahiajoku Institute, which is conceived as an extra-ministerial department of Imo State Government to harness all its cultural activities, is modeled after the Goethe Institute of Germany and the Instituto Italiano De Cultura of Italy. The Ahiajoku Institute will make Imo State a cultural hub where Nigerians and foreigners will meet annually to celebrate Ahiajoku.

Its envisaged functions include to organize the annual Ahiajoku Lecture Series, providing a programme of cultural events for the state and ensure that the state’s cultural potentials are properly harnessed and celebrated, engagement in cultural diplomacy by promoting the study of Igbo language and culture abroad as well as encouraging international cultural exchanges and relations as well as exchange of films, music, theatre and literature etc. I suggest that the Ahiajoku Institute can also incorporate some aspects of the Chinese Confucius Institute now springing up in many Nigerian universities. Apart from whatever the government says the Ahiajoku Institute will do, it should be the purveyor and transmitter of Igbo culture, Igbo dance, films, arts and crafts. It should teach foreigners about Igbo foods, dishes and offer proficiency courses in Igbo language, especially courses tailored to meet the needs of foreign speakers of the language.

Efforts should be put in place to have Ahiajoku Institute in universities in Asia, Europe and America. The government of Imo State should turn into book or books past Ahiajoku lectures. There is indeed market for such publications. The first Ahiajoku Lecture entitled “A Matter of Identity” was delivered by Emeritus Professor of English, MJC Echeruo on November 30, 1979. It is instructive that 40 years later, the same Echeruo will deliver this year’s Ahiajoku Lecture scheduled to hold on November 30.

In the 1979 Ahiajoku lecture, Echeruo said much. The following are worth elaborate quoting: “We celebrate Ahiajoku, not because it would be impossible to acknowledge the new yam without the festival but because we become a little more aware of the larger significance of that event for our lives by celebrating it. Ceremony takes the rough edges out of command iteration, and allows practical minded people such as the Igbo people are, a little respectable frivolity. For many other peoples, ceremony is at the very heart of culture. For them true culture is represented in these details of communal behavior which are added to pure function.”

“The presentation of kola nut is a functional event in our society, but igo oji is a ceremony; and it is not uncommon to find commentators who assume that a people who devote some of their time to ceremony have a more genuine interest in culture than those who do not. There are absurdities in such conclusions, but it is probably true to say that it is to these details of ceremony that we have to go for concrete evidence of the life styles and values of any given society. The Igbo people, because they do not always cultivate ceremony, and are instinctively suspicious of mere decorativeness, are more liable than most other people to the charge of lacking culture and civilization.”

“Today, as we celebrate Ahiajoku, we are doing at least two things; giving formal recognition to a festival which we were almost in danger of losing, and taking the opportunity for serious reflection on ways of understanding the deepest cultural values of the Igbo people.”

Considering the standard Echeruo set in 1979, there is no doubt that the audience will be thrilled again. Past Ahiajoku lecturers include Prof. Bede Okigbo (1980), Prof. Adiele Afigbo (1981), Prof. Donatus Nwoga (1984) and Prof. Chinua Achebe (2008).

SOURCE: SUN NEWS