Interview with Okwui Enwezor, Director of the 56th Venice Biennale

 By Chika Okeke-Agulu, Huffington Post

On Wednesday, December 4, the Press Office of the Venice Biennale announced the appointment of the Nigerian-born curator and scholar Okwui Enwezor as the director of the 56th Venice Biennale scheduled for 2015. In this interview, Enwezor discusses his career and the significance of his latest curatorial project.

Chika Okeke-Agulu: At the opening of Documenta11 in 2002, I remember saying to you that the next big challenge would be Venice. I said it as a kind of joke, but not because I did not think you could do it. Rather I was aware that only one other person--the legendary Harald Szeeman--had curated both Documenta and Venice. In any case, since Documenta you have organized Gwangju and Seville Biennales, as well as La Triennale, Paris, and now, Venice. I cannot imagine what it feels to join Szeeman in this curatorial pantheon?

Okwui Enwezor: Thanks Chika. That's extremely kind of you to make a comparison with me and Szeeman. I know this question will inevitably come up, and I want to be as clear as possible, I belong to no pantheon. There really isn't a comparison; Szeeman is entirely in a league by himself. In the abundance of his ideas, the almost carnal fervor for artists, artworks, and objects of all kinds, along with his bold, original curatorial experiments, he paved the path to the thinking that curatorial practice need not be too studied, formalist or dogmatic.

The fact that we are the only two curators to have helmed both Documenta and Venice Biennale is a historical happenstance; but one who's significance is still settling in. It is of course, a great honor to be entrusted with the task of organizing an exhibition of this magnitude and international acclaim. Nevertheless, it is not lost on me that there is some kind of meaning in the symbolism to which you drew attention. Exactly 15 years ago, I got handed the reins of organizing Documenta. I was 35 at the time, I had limited track record, no major institution, patron, mentor, behind me, yet somehow that amazing jury that selected me saw beyond those deficits and focused, I hope, on the force of my ideas, and perhaps even a little wager on the symbolism of my being the first non-European, etc. My sense of it was that the jury wanted a choice that could be disruptive of the old paradigm but still not abandon the almost mythic ideal of this Mount Olympus of exhibitions.

I came to Documenta as I said with little track record, but with an abundance of confidence. Now at fifty, I come to Venice with a different set of lenses and experience. As you mentioned I have now organized quite a number of biennials. It's time to get to work.

C. O.: Documenta11 was one of the few exhibitions that have been called game changers in the history of curating. And this, I believe had to do with your introduction of the multiple platforms scattered across the globe, as the constitutive sites of an event that until then only took place in Kassel. What are your preliminary thoughts about how you might approach Venice, given its history and structure?

O. E.: It's too early to say what shape the 56th Venice Biennale will take. Of course, I have some preliminary ideas, but those will be worked out in due course. The one virtue of Documenta is the time allowed to organize it, which made possible the platforms. But you must remember that the platform idea, which was fundamentally about the deterritorialization of Documenta, was not initially endorsed by certain landlocked critics, but once it took off its implications about going beyond business as usual became abundantly clear. I drew enormously from the Igbo saying: "Ada akwu ofuebe ekili nmanwu." The mobility of the platforms across major cities and some not so major ones was premised on this principle. To see the artworld properly as it should be, to engage in meaningful debate the curator must risk the sense of inquisitive wanderlust. However, Venice is an Island, but also a legendary maritime trading city that historically looked out to the rest of the world. The limited time permitted to organize the biennale produces a certain sense of temporal density. I am certainly thinking about how to surmount this conundrum.

C. O.: Looking at the trajectory of your career, from the early 1990s when, with a few friends and colleagues working in the margins of the contemporary art world, you founded Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, to becoming a leading academic, administrator and curator in the field of contemporary art, does it sometimes feel like an improbable story?

O. E.: All stories are improbable. Nothing is preordained. No one is born with a straight arrow in his quiver. It's a combination of relentless work and good fortune. Without this improbability there is no risk, no adventure, no discovery. I am an autodidact which was the basis of my ceaseless and restless appetite for ideas. I learned enormously about art, not in an art history seminar (I don't even recall actually taking one) but by seeing enormous number of exhibitions, being in the presence of art and artists every week, everywhere. I still do, and I maintain the exercise of seeing, reading, thinking, and writing.

I arrived in New York in late summer of 1982, at a pivotal point in the development of contemporary art, fashion, performance, music, etc. in the city. I was a beneficiary of the perfect storm of creative upheaval: art, postmodern and postcolonial theory, identity politics: race, sexuality, gender, queer and feminist activism, and the AIDS pandemic further refreshed my perspective on difference and politicized my response to injustice. This was the context that opened me up to complexity and to thought me to be courageous and fearless.

Also, Coming from Nigeria I felt I owed no one an explanation for my existence, nor did I harbor any sign of paralyzing inferiority complex. What was apparent was that most Americans I knew and met were actually not worldly at all, but utter provincials in a very affluent but unjust society. And when this became clear I saw no reason why I could not have an opinion or a point of view. I was not about to be respectful of ignorance of Africa or prejudice against African culture. This gave me some chutzpah.

I started learning about what was going on in downtown New York across every cultural and literary sphere through publications like Village Voice, Detail, Seven Days. I attended openings, went to readings, saw an enormous number of exhibitions, in every imaginable context, from apartments to Soho galleries, to alternative spaces to museums, nightclubs such as Danceteria, Area, Pyramid Club, Peppermint Lounge, Palladium, Save the Robots, The World, Roxy, Madam Rosa's, and later Nell's, Mars, you just name it. I was educated as it were in situ. I can actually say that I was there.

At some point this intense experience as a young Nigerian who was deeply interested in art and all types of the creative process ceases to be a fluke. I don't believe in standing on the margins. You should also know that what partly made Nka viable was that I did actually have a deep knowledge of international contemporary art. I was not pretending. When I started thinking of setting up Nka in 1991 when I was in my twenties, I was intellectually ready and had a certain theoretical grounding and immersion in art, visual culture, etc. I was already collecting a bit of photography and some art. My first major acquisition was the portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat by James Van der Zee from Howard Greenberg Gallery on Wooster Street. I would go to the Comme des Garçon boutique downstairs to shop and up to the Greenberg Gallery to browse vintage prints by Cartier Bresson, Kertescz, Weston, Moholy Nagy, Baron de Meyer. So with Nka It wasn't as if I did not know what I was talking about. The only reason it also worked was because I had the language and it was fresh and people were open to giving it audience. That it led to where I am standing today is both surprising and thrilling. But we are nearly thirty years into this story. The novelty of endless looking back is wearing off. Obama's campaign slogan in the last election against the hapless Mitt Romney had it exactly right: Forward.

C. O.: Are you going to retire from curating biennales after Venice?
O. E.: I am not the retiring type.

Anaocha Community launches free Igbo lesson for schools

In its quest to revive Igbo language in non-Igbo speaking states of the federation, Indigenes of Anaocha Town Union in Lagos State have unveiled plans to organise free Igbo Language lessons for children in various schools.

The President, Association of Indigenes of Anaocha Town Union (AIALG), Mr Martins Ileme, stated that a survey conducted by the union revealed a large number of children living in non-Igbo speaking states, born by Igbo parents, who hardly speak their native language.

He expressed shock that some of these children end up registering Yoruba and Hausa languages in their Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) at the expense of their local language.

Ileme described as worrisome the loss of interest in Igbo Language in most schools attributing the situation to incompetent teachers and the policy of some private schools that restrict students to only one local language.

He said the union would continue to promote programmes that will encourage the younger ones to appreciate the richness of Igbo language and culture.

He said new yam festival would also be introduced in Lagos by the town unions to celebrate the cultural heritage of Anambra people and educate their children further on the historical values of their home state.

Towards this end,  Ileme said an education trust fund would soon be instituted by the union to encourage positive interventions in needy schools. According to him, part of the fund would cover scholarships for students at various stages of learning.

------Vanguard

Nigeria: Akwete Cloth -- An Igbo Textile Art

BY MCPHILIPS NWACHUKWU AND APPOLOS OZIOGU IBEBABUCHI/VANGUARD

WEAVING is an ancient craft of man dating to the early new stone age when he learnt to make a rough kind of clothing from the fibers of flax plants. Weaving is described as the orderly interlacing of fibres and pressing them together to make the cloth.

In Nigeria, cloth weaving is universally practised in most urban areas and cities like Abeokuta, Ilorin, Iseyin, Akwete, Okene, Benin, Sokoto, Borno, Kano, Bida and Iseyin area among others. Raffia and cotton are most-widely used in cloth-weaving in Nigeria.

Cloth is material of great economic, cultural, political and social importance. Before the introduction of coinage currency in Nigeria, cloth was used as trade good and currency item. It is worn for body beautification and decoration, and for ceremonies. There are different types of cloth-making among various ethnic groups of Nigeria. The Yoruba are famous for Aso-Oke traditional fabric weaving.

Aso-oke is just a local homespun cotton cloth woven by men as narrow-strip cloth, usually woven with vertical stripes in different colours on background colour. The Hausa are known for Kura cloth-making which is deep blue black and shining design.

The Igbo also are known widely for Akwete-cloth weaving which is basically done by women. Akwete cloth is a special woven fabric by Igbo women in Akwete area near Aba in Abia State. It is originally referred to as "Akwa Miri" (Cloth of the water) meaning towel. Akwete cloth weaving is said to be as old as the Igbo nation.

Socio-cultural importance: Because of the dexterity of the weavers who demonstrated evincingly great mastery of technique and beauty of design, the art of Akwete-cloth weaving was erroneously believed to have been introduced from Okene in Kwara state where a similar but highly developed style earlier existed.
Patterns of red and black designs:

However, Akwete cloth comes in different colours and designs. Some are in the patterns of red and black designs, interwoven in geometric patterns on the white ground which is favoured by Igbo men. It is mainly used as a towel for bathing. The Akwete cloths, woven from sisal-hemp fibres are of coarse type, used by masqueraders, and by warriors as headgears, while those made from raffia fibres are used on religious occasions like the Ozo titleship, and for mourning by women.

But the most popular Akwete cloth is the type of cotton fabric woven from cotton fibres in colourful patterns; the weavers have much preference for bright and strong colour like red and yellow. Traditionally, the raw cotton fibres that surround and protect cotton seeds do undergo some processes before use, namely: First, ginning process, by which the cotton seeds are removed from the fibres by rolling a rod over the cotton ball. Second, bowing process, which involves making cotton fibres fluffy by flicking the string of a small bow against them until they look like cotton wool.

Third, spinning process, which is done by pulling the fibres into threads. Processing of the cotton fibres from the cotton seeds is not the same with that of the raffia fibres. Raffia as we know is the fibre from the fresh leaf of the palm tree. The process of extracting fibre from the thorny raffia palm frond demands a special skill by the woman weaver. She first of all starts from the tip, the distal end by splitting it, and then gently pulls down to the inflorescence.

Weaving as gender defined job: She dries the fibres in the sun or by the fire place to make them dry enough for use in weaving. Generally, it is women who process the raffia fibres or cotton fibres or any other kind of fibres for used in weaving.

Wide vertical loom:

Weaving is done on a loom. There are two types of loom namely: horizontal loom which is used by men weavers; vertical loom, used by women weavers. Both types of loom operate on the same principle.

An Akwete woman weaves on a wide vertical loom which produces cloth about 115cm wide x 1609cm long; the length of the finished product is normally twice the height of the loom. Thus, after processing the cotton to desired thread form, the weaver fixes a set of threads on the loom to form the warp and then the weft thread (net-work of thread) is passed over and under the warped thread.

The weft thread can be passed over more than one warped thread at a time to produce variations of thread colours and patterns in the woven cloth. As the weaving progresses, the finished cloth is slipped down over the lower beam and up and back. Then, the weaver uses a weaving stick to separate the odd and eve warp thread before she winds the weft thread onto a long narrow stick which is passed from side to side.

It is expedient to reiterate that Akwete cloth is usually made of cotton thread, and the decorative motifs are produced with cotton threads of a heavier texture or rayon silk.

Politics of cloth: The decorative motifs appear mostly on one side of the cloth, though they can appear on both sides. The decorative motifs are given names which are suggestive of their appearance. A few among them are animals heart; children's fingers; comb; earring; snake-back; stool and tortoise. However, some weavers can give different names to motifs that are not suggestive of their appearance. In the olden days, the "tortoise" motif (ikaki) is only worn by members of royal families and if anybody from non-royal family dares wear it, he or she could be punished or be sold into slavery.

The "ebe" design is specially reserved for use as a protective talisman for pregnant women or warriors. Most of these designs or motifs are by inspiration because the weavers claim that certain motifs are revealed to them by the gods, and as a result, no weaver is allowed to copy the design and it therefore dies with its owner.

Nigeria: World Igbo Congress Admitted Into UNECOSOC

VANGUARD

United Nations — The World Igbo Congress (WIC), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has been admitted into the United Nations' Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Dr. Acho Orabuchi, Media Director of WIC, announced this in a statement made available in New York on Tuesday.

The statement said WIC's admission took place during a regular session of the world body in Geneva on Tuesday.

"The world body unanimously voted to ratify the admission of WIC into the ECOSOC of the UN on a Special Consultative Status," it said.

Article 71 of the UN Charter opened the door, providing for suitable arrangements for consultation with NGOs.

To be eligible for consultative status, an NGO must have been in existence for at least two years and must have an established headquarters.

Being in existence means being officially registered with the appropriate government authorities as an NGO or non-profit body.

Also, for an NGO to gain this status, it must have, among others, a democratically-adopted constitution and authority to speak for its members.

It must also have a representative structure, appropriate mechanisms of accountability and democratic and transparent decision-making processes.

The basic resources of the organisation must be derived, in the main part, from contributions of the national affiliates or other components or from individual members.

"With the status, the body now has the opportunity to take advantage of the economic development programmes of several UN agencies that partner with NGOs under the ECOSOC arrangement,' WIC said in the statement.

It added that WIC would utilise the resources of the UN organs that deal with social issues, which would help the group deal with Igbo social and economic issues.

The statement said the Committee on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) had in February recommended the admission of WIC.

It stated Dr. Anthony Ejiofor, the Executive Director of WIC, received calls on the admission of WIC from both Geneva and New York.
,br />According to it, leaders of the Committee on NGO indicated in the calls that they had been monitoring WIC activities.

It added that the callers to Ejiofor assured WIC that they would help the organisation make the most use of its new status.

The statement also quoted the Chairman of WIC, Mazi Joe Eto, as describing the admission as "definitely a rare feat".
This report was first published at the Vanguard, July 25, 2012

Film Shows Epic Journey Of Nigeria's Jews

By JOE DOWD/PLAINVIEW PATCH

An epic cinematic journey that reveals a link between ancient Jewish culture and the people of modern Nigeria will have its Long Island premier next month in Plainview.

The Manetto Hill Jewish Center will host the screening of “Re-Emerging: The Jews of Nigeria” on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012 at 7 p.m.

The entire community is invited.
Jeff Lieberman's film, which has showings this weekend in North Carolina and Australia, will be in attendance at the Plainview event to discuss his work.

From a historical perspective, the documentary's revelations are stunning:

The film follows the journey of Shmuel, a young Nigerian Jew, who uncovers his Judaic roots as a member of the Igbo clans in Nigeria. Using the Internet, the young man realizes the similarities between his culture and Jewish traditions. His story reveals an ancient link of Nigeria's Igbo who are now re-connecting with their Jewish roots.

Experts trace the Igbo people from Biblical times through the Biafran War of the 1960s, when more than a million Igbo were killed.

The film's saga transcends geographic boundaries: Countless African-Americans of Nigerian descent may be connected to the Igbo people and share their Jewish heritage, the film asserts. Igbo people were enslaved by the thousands by Western traders and transplanted in the New World.

"The film is a riveting documentary film which has received international acclaim," said Marilyn Morris, a member of the MHJC's membership committee. "The filmmaker has expertly captured the stories, history and real life pictures of the lives and culture of the Igbo people."


A short film trailer can be seen on the film's website: http://re-emergingfilm.com/Video.html

The entire community, regardless of religious affiliation, is invited to attend the Sept. 9 screening, synagogue leaders said.

NIGERIA: 2015 Presidency: 'I Weep For The Southeast People'

GUARDIAN NIGERIA INTERVIEW BY SAMSON EZEA & NKECHI ONYEDI

PROF. A.B.C Nwosu, former Minister of Health and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), speaks on the state of insecurity in the country, Igbo Presidency in 2015, corruption and other issues.

The Igbo are clamouring for the Presidency in 2015, do you think it would be possible?

People get the leadership that they deserve, but the Bible also says that where there is no vision, the people perish, I weep for the Southeast and beyond, I won’t say more. There are people who promised the Ohanaeze leadership that power will go to Southeast in unbroken succession in 2015 from the Southsouth, that was their solemn word and that was what the Ohanaeze leadership told Ndigbo last year. So, we must hold them to their words if not, and the people should disgrace them thoroughly, because if we don’t disgrace them, another set will come up again. When a leadership says this is what they will deliver and they don’t deliver it, the followership should sanction them.

What were the factors that hindered previous moves by the Southeast to clinch power in the country?

The Igbo got the first Presidency of Nigeria, but it was a ceremonial president during the time of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. It has not always been like this with the Igbo. After independence, it was Azikiwe until 1966. The situation changed when we had the executive president in 1979, after the civil war had intervened. There is a school of thought that believes that the Igbo, having fought the civil war, should never be allowed to be President again until centuries have passed. There is also another school of thought that says ‘no, the Igbo have paid their dues and are entitled to the exercise of their full citizenship rights, including the Presidency’. The Igbo believed they must produce the President and in 1979, they came near it with Chief Alex Ekwueme as Vice President. Perhaps, if the military hadn’t intervened in 1983, Ekwueme might have become the President at the end of Shagari’s second term, but the military intervened and later there was June 12 presidential election, which was won by the late Chief MKO Abiola. Because of that, in 1999, it had to be exclusively Southwest issue.

Now, the Igbo are saying that they also need to become part of the equation and they reached an agreement with the Southwest, South-south in 2007 that the we didn’t mind if a Southsouth was, that was why some of us gave Dr. Peter Odili our best support in his presidential quest in 2007. Now that the Southsouth has produced the President, the only people who have not produced president is Southeast and we are saying we should produce. We are not anti-anybody, we are just pro-Igbo.

I respect the Yoruba the way they canvassed, pushed and held on to June 12. They are a people, they didn’t have to agree, but they made June 12 an issue and Nigeria recognised that June 12 was an issue. They presented a credible threat and were recognized.

I salute people like Chief Edwin Clark, though I will not go with him, but I salute him for his spirited defence of his people. He is a soldier of his people and a defender of Ijaw rights and I respect his tenacity. Because of that and the resource control issue, they also presented a credible threat and have become a force in Nigeria and Nigeria has recognised them.

But my heart bleeds when it comes to the Igbo, and then I weep again for the late Ikemba Odimegwu Ojukwu. And I ask, when will some leaders emerge from Igbo and say, ‘this is us, we mean no harm, but we are citizens of Nigeria and are entitled to full citizenship as a right’.

Not for people to be looking for where they are sharing porridge and running into the place, collect plates of porridge and vanish. It has always been an issue and each Igbo man must choose what he wants.

What is your view on the proposals submitted by Ohanaeze leadership on the amendment of the country’s constitution?

I needed a tranquilizer when I saw the president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo presenting a proposal to the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

I have four issues with that; if you are presenting a proposal on my behalf, at least, I ought to know what it is, it was in the pages of the newspapers that I heard that it was a six-year single term and I know it flies in the face of what Ndigbo has been asking for. My first quarrel was: why don’t they let our people see what they are submitting their behalf? How did they arrive at the decision? They can’t just wake up and begin to act as if nothing else occurred before now? I saw the one submitted by Delta State which was published in the newspaper. It was specific that Federal powers must be devolved to the states and it quoted specific sections of the constitution that they want to be amended.

I am not saying that they shouldn’t do it, but it will be easier if they carry everybody along and publish the proposal on the pages of the newspaper. Nothing will be lost because this thing is not a secret document. The Igbo people are not seeking something that is anti-Nigeria.

Many believe that corruption has worsened in the country since 1999 and the government is not doing enough to curb, do you agree?

I was shocked on May 29, 1999 when President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed me as Political Adviser and brought me into his government without knowing me.

We had never met as at that time, he had never seen me and I remembered that we went into the small room in the Villa after we congratulated him. I told him that I am Prof A.B.C Nwosu, he held me and took me into the small room and said, he wanted me to work with him and he had two bills with him that day he was sworn in. The Bill on Niger Delta Development (NDDC Bill). I will always say the truth, if anybody says it is an afterthought from Obasanjo, it is not true. He came to the Presidency determined to set up the NDDC to redress the injustice meted to the Niger Delta. How he ended up, he will be in the best position to tell us, but I know he showed me the Bill.

The second bill he showed me was the Anti-Corruption Bill, and he wanted me to do a research on how countries of the world had dealt with corruption and set up their anti-corruption agencies and the kind of powers they have.

The most charitable thing I can say is that corruption is still with us, and it illustrated what the Igbo man wrote on his motor that ‘to be a man is not a day’s job’. To fight corruption in Nigeria is not a day job, because corruption will fight back. So we have to fight it, if we don’t fight it, it will undo us as a nation. It diminishes our sovereignty and ability to fulfill our destiny in the world, so we must fight it.

Let’s forget yesterday, let’s start from today. This current Senate has identified wrongdoings in the privatization; we can fight it by doing something about that. We can look at the report, it is a report from our Senate, we can deal with it, we can deal with the corruption witnessed in the pension probe, it is mind-boggling. That brings us to the subsidy scam. What can stop corruption is that anybody who is caught in corruption is arraigned and jailed in accordance with the law. That is why you see people looking for General Muhammed Buhari; he sentenced people to unbelievable jail terms which they served some. If you catch a person, you send him to jail and make him forfeit some of those property and people see it.

What is your reaction to the state of insecurity across the country today with the killings in Jos and Boko Haram?

Everybody is worried, including the security agencies. My problem is that worrying about this cannot give us security. It is doing something about it that will give us security and I want to suggest that we can do something about it by engaging traditional rulers. Not just in places where we have security problems, but also all over the country.

I am convinced that we all have a firm resolve that the security problem cannot go on anymore, because I don’t think there is anybody who is benefitting from it. The problem is diminishing Nigeria’s sovereignty.

For somebody who witnessed the civil war, it is frightening. The thing has gotten out of hand and out of control and the only way to control it is to engage the traditional rulers and the various stakeholders. It is not of religion, and it is a matter of sovereignty, nationhood and citizenship.

We need to be firm about how the coercive agencies of the state are handling this matter. Murder and arson are criminal offences of the worst order. We have a proverb that says, “ If a small child craws and bites an old man without respecting the grey hair, the old man should craw back and bite the child on the buttock without respecting whatever he sees there.”

So if these people kill and maim people, the coercive agencies should use maximum force to establish the sovereignty of Nigeria. This insecurity issue has gone so far that it has to be dealt with decisively now.

Is the high rate of unemployment in the country a contributory factor to the problem?

Unemployment is a major factor because an idle mind is the devils workshop. The level of unemployment is intolerable and nobody is happy with it, but there are people who are paid by government to think out programmes that will keep people employed in a sustainable manner.

We cannot import tricycles popularly Keke NAPEP from India and tell a graduate of Chemistry to be driving and say it’s employment. What we are facing in the world is not new, America and Britain have gone through depression and a major way of creating employment in a sustainable manner is through massive investment in public works.

If government decides now to build one million housing units in Nigeria today, do you know the number of people who will be employed? Not Keke NAPEP for God’s sake. Or this thing they are doing, call young boys and give them lectures, after the lectures, they give them N5 million and ask them to go and be entrepreneurs and employers of labour. That again to me is again laughable. We should have a way of encouraging small and medium scale industries in a measurable way.

The Nigerian market is huge, we don’t have to export, we have over 160 million people. If we make enough quality goods and people buy into it, it is enough to create employment. The one that my heart bleeds as I drive to Enugu is the Ajaokuta steel. There are so many buildings that have passed lintel level, they have been wasting away for over 20 years. Ajaokuta is not only a steel factory, it is steel city. That is why you have hospitals, residential quarters and others there.

Ajaokuta Steel can conveniently absorb thousands of unemployed youths. Why should we leave the fate of people like that to some nonsensical privatization which every probe has found wanting.

I was one of the authors of the PDP manifesto, we believed in private sector-led economy, but we did not say that we would auction off the entire economy to whatever private sector. We have no national carrier, how many countries do you know that don’t have national carriers? Because of private sector, they go and bring 30-year-old aircrafts into Nigeria airspace. That is a shame.
This is 13 years of Democracy in Nigeria, do you think we have done well?
I laugh whenever I hear that US spent 200 years before they got to where they are today. The issue is that people learn from people’s experiences, so that you don’t have to go through the same thing. We have more than enough time. What are we learning that nobody should rule another person without the persons’ consent? When you rig the election, you are ruling without the consent of the people, is that what you need 500 years to learn? Do we need 500 years to draw up people’s constitution?

Ndigbo and the promise of 2015

By Chuks Ilogbunam, The Nation.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo did not support Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential bid in order that the Igbo would be rewarded with the position of Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives. All those commentators claiming that both Ohanaeze and President Jonathan have betrayed Ndigbo will do well to get their bearing right. It is often said that those who miss a burial will start exhuming the corpse foot first, which is abominable in the Igbo worldview. Unfortunately, the Igbo jeremiad on the “missed” position of Speakership hasn’t come from those unaware of what went on; it is simply the noisy dissembling of the tiny fringe that got told, in effect, to shut up in the matter of which candidate Ndigbo must support for the presidency. We cannot allow this unpatriotic fringe to continue playing spoiler.

Witness: In arguing for Ndigbo to support Jonathan’s presidential bid, Ohanaeze Ndigbo articulated its position in the clearest of terms. The umbrella body of the Igbo in Nigeria and in the Diaspora took out copious adverts in the media to make its point. To cite two instances, page 21 of Saturday Champion of October 23, 2010, and page 23 of the Daily Sun of Monday October 25, 2010, carried the Ohanaeze Ndigbo advert entitled Presidential Election And zoning: The Position Of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. Signed by the organization’s President-General, Ambassador Raph Uwechue, the 4th and last paragraph of the advert stated as follows: “Ohanaeze Ndigbo firmly believes in the reality and absolute equality of the six zones and holds the view that the topmost executive office in the land – Prime Minister or President – which has eluded the two geopolitical zones of the South-South and South-East since the birth of our nation half a century ago, should now go to them in turn in unbroken succession as a matter of national priority, before any other zone can justly claim the right to a second or third turn. In line with this position, taken after wide consultation over several months, among Igbo people at home and abroad, Ohanaeze Ndigbo confidently urges the Igbo Nation to support en masse a credible, new-generation Presidential candidate that has emerged from the South-South geo-political zone, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan.”

Thus, when an Igbo journalist or an Igbo political leader discounts the above and goes singing the jaded song of “betrayal”, it is obvious that insincerity is writ large. Ohanaeze Ndigbo did not tell the Igbo to support President Jonathan so as to get one of their own put up as House Speaker. What Ohanaeze Ndigbo said was and is this clear: Ndigbo will support the South-South in the “credible, new-generation Presidential candidate that has emerged from the geo-political zone, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan”, so that the presidency will thereafter go to the South-East “in unbroken succession as a matter of national priority, before any other zone can justly claim the right to a second or third turn.”

When Ohanaeze Ndigbo articulated this position, it drew the ire of an amorphous society dubbed the Igbo Political forum (IPF) which plastered the media with negative, but ultimately, ineffective propaganda against the umbrella body of the Igbo ethnic group. The IPF was non-existent until the run-up to the presidential election. As a body, the IPF is not known to have held another meeting or taken any position on anything since the landmark ballot. But elements of the body are clearly behind the current campaign to tar Ohanaeze Ndigbo with the brush of betrayal on account of a mere legislative office. When looked at critically, the IPF covets the same goal as the Ohanaeze Ndigbo to wit: the emergence of a President of Nigeria from the South-East geopolitical zone in 2015. The IPF is peopled by politicians who claimed that Atiku or Babangida or Buhari or Ribadu will serve a single presidential term and hand over power to an Igbo successor in 2015. On the contrary, Ohanaeze Ndigbo convinced the Igbo to take the Jonathan route to 2015. With Jonathan’s electoral victory, he is the only route to the Igbo dream of 2015. When people who should pursue this dream choose, instead, to lament a phantom betrayal, it amounts to chasing rats when the homestead is on fire. Therefore, a stop should be put to the ongoing media diatribe against the Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

Key point: Igbo unity is preferable than their being fractious but producing Nigeria’s President. Yet, Ndigbo disunited can never make the presidency. As I said in a previous article, “All the wailing and lamentation regarding a ‘missed’ position of House Speaker should cease. The cynosure of all eyes should not dab their face in charcoal. Ndigbo should rather concentrate on those issues that belong to their eventual escape from the status of second class citizenship. This habit of appropriating the media to hector and holler at the drop of every hat, this shouting from the rooftops every twinkle of an eye cannot solve a thing.” The promise of 2015 will succeed only if Ndigbo present a united front. The time is ripe to solidify the previously shattered but now reengineered and rejuvenated esprit de corps between the South-East and the South-East. The time is ripe for the buried bones of the handshake across the Niger to rise again and shine. The time is ripe to look northwards, to explain that what Ndigbo seek can be wrapped up in three ideals: justice, equity and fair play.

The Nigeria of today should have no problems with the theme of justice. If Barrack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, can become the President of the United States of America, only bigots can still insist that the idea of an Igbo president of Nigeria in 2015 is insufferable. Ndigbo fought for this country’s independence. Ndigbo fought to build up this country. They have always been active participants in all positive aspects of Nigeria’s development, except at the apex of its leadership, where they have deliberately been kept out by prejudicial considerations. Therefore, Ndigbo have got to enjoy all the rights and privileges attendant to Nigerian citizenship. But Ndigbo must be united. Once all concerned appreciate and respect this imperative, the groundswell for justice in the matter of an Igbo president of Nigeria will gain ascendancy.

The late nationalist, Chief Anthony Enahoro, supported the idea of an Igbo President of Nigeria. (See the New Age newspaper of November 2, 2004.) The late Alhaji Wada Nas, a former Federal Minister from the north, supported the idea of an Igbo President of Nigeria. (See the Vanguard newspaper of Monday July 12, 2004.) General Yakubu Gowon, a former Nigerian Head of State, supports the idea of an Igbo President of Nigeria. (See the Daily Champion newspaper of November 3, 2004.) Dr. Frederick Fasehun, the leader of the Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC), supports the idea of an Igbo President of Nigeria. (See the Daily Champion of Monday July 26, 2004.) Most importantly, the new generation of Nigerians, those who trooped out in the millions to elect Goodluck Jonathan Nigeria’s President, are irreversibly free from the shackles of prejudice and political bigotry. All this means one thing: If Ndigbo gets their act together, the promise of 2015 will be redeemed.

• Iloegbunam is author of The Case for an Igbo President of Nigeria.

Book Review: The Igbo and Her World…. A Review

Abdulo O. Saba/Vanguard

IGBO PHILOSOPHY BY PROFESSOR T. UZODINMA NWALA

A specter is haunting Africa-the specter of identity-crisis. The sons and daughters of the Mother Continent have over the centuries been brutally severed from their roots through a series of Western-oriented programmes and a history of a systematic agenda of cultural genocide that has plunged the mass of African humanity into a current state of inauthentic existence and the corresponding episode of soul-searching in the hope to once again come to grips with the African self and reality.

This is the spirit behind the on-going vortex for the revitalization of African civilization as demonstrated in the harvest of literature on African humanity and philosophy, and as another acorn to this emergent African cultural oak come the book IGBO PHILOSOPHY: The Philosophy of the Igbo Speaking Peoples of Nigeria, by Professor T. Uzodinma Nwala.

Described by Chinua Achebe as a path-breaking volume in Igbo intellectual history, the work avails as a product of research spanning over 45 years starting from Nwala’s undergraduate research project in 1966-67 academic year at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Taken from a biographical perspective, Igbo Philosophy can be appreciated as the passionate life-work that over the decades flowed from the pen of one of Africa’s most creative and outstanding philosophers who, as a factor of history; also happens to be the man who initiated the teaching of African Philosophy in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1972, from where it spread globally.

The book first appeared to the academic world in manuscript form in 1973.Its influence can be traced to Rev. Edeh’s work on Igbo Metaphysics and other works. The circulation of the book over the last decade has been mainly in photocopies, and whereas the first edition which has so far been in circulation was just about 280 pages, this present edition appears as a book of over 400 pages in volume following a production process that has been on for the last five years.

approach, Igbo Philosophy demonstrates a movement away from works that tend to explain traditional worldview in terms of religious categories and a people’s worldview as if it descended from heaven above. Rather, the exposition builds upon the actual, realistic, and humanistic elements of the Igbo culture in the portrayal of several sociological, phenomenological, and even in certain respects, scientific and technological patterns along which the spirit of that which could be referred to as Igbo Philosophy found its expression. As for the composition of the book itself, a set of preliminary pages opens the work, and following this the reader is ushered into a cultural, historical, and epistemological treasure trove comprising of three sections and fifteen chapters.

Part A contains the introduction and another chapter dealing with the vexatious issue of the origins of the Igbos. Part B, on the other hand, deals with the Igbo traditional philosophy, with extensively deep treatment of Igbo traditional worldview, cosmological order and social control, thought and language in Igbo traditional society, Igbo traditional religious philosophy, Moral philosophy, Political philosophy, Economic philosophy and traditional philosophy of Art (aesthetics). Part C deals with Igbo contemporary thought patterns, examining such questions as the relation between traditional thought and contemporary thought, Christian thought and Igbo philosophy, Western education/ Science and Igbo philosophy. The conclusion comes after these

Moreover, and aside the author’s intellectual authority that is established upon decades of dedicated research in the area, Nwala’s personal affinity with the terrain of Igbo and African philosophy situates the book in a proper historical context, for it is now over 38 years since Uzodinma Nwala embarked on his intellectual odyssey as a pioneer scholar in the study of African philosophy, an adventure recounted by the author in the preface to the second edition, and an experience which beat through the labyrinths of Igbo philosophy into becoming a paradigm for the enterprise of African philosophy.

Having been provided with initial insight through the preface into the mind of the author and his connections to what became known as The Great Debate on African Philosophy, the introduction beckons, and invites the reader down a path that is replete with history, myths, legends, rituals, folklore, proverbs, idioms, skills, crafts, etc, all steeped in the rich world of the Igbos. In the Introductory chapter, Nwala states that he was writing for both the academic world and the world of the general public. He therefore treats such basic questions as the meaning of philosophy, the Egyptian origins of what is today academic philosophy, but insists that every organized human society possesses fundamental philosophical ideas and principles inherent in their culture.

He also goes on to show the differences between traditional philosophy and what is called critical philosophy, while arguing that traditional philosophy was not totally devoid of critical content. Finally, in this introductory chapter, he addresses the nature of Igbo traditional philosophy, summarizing it in the concept of Omenala Ndigbo (or Ako Ndigbo), what Mazi Mbonu Ojike calls Omenalism.

Chapter two deals with the question of who the Igbos are and on Igbo origins. Theories of Igbo origins as well as theories of Igbo connections to the Jews, Yoruba, Igala, etc, as well as the meaning of the word “Igbo”, ideological identity, and common historical experiences come under adequate analysis within this chapter.

From cover to cover, the book is sure to sound a death knell signaling the final laying to rest of the specter of identity-crisis for any haunted Igbo individual and community across the globe, replacing this with a congenial mood of affirmation and identity. Again, the experience that the book promises to every other reader, especially of African origin, is culturally refreshing, familiar and fluid, for as the ideas segue and the pages flow one into another, the reader feels the ghost of alienation being exorcised, to be possessed instead, by the re-assuring embrace of home-coming. Despite its intimidating size, IGBO PHILOSOPHY: The Philosophy of the Igbo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria is certainly a must for every bookshelf, public or private: that is to be identified with the African Renaissance movement.

My intention is to contribute to the writing of the romance genre in Nigeria – Myne Whitman

A VANGUARD GROUP OF NEWSPAPERS INTERVIEW


By McPhillips Nwachukwu, Vanguard

Myne Whitman is a Nigerian born and United States based writer, poet and blogger. Recently, she came out with her first novel, A Heart To Mend, a fictional narrative, which seeks to revive the fading romance form in nation’s narrative oeuvre. In this e-mail interview, the novelist, Nkem Okotcha, who prefers to write with the Pen name, Myne Whitman, a transliteration of her real names, brilliantly and critically responds to some engaging issues raised from the deep journey around her narrative universe. She spoke to McPhilips Nwachukwu.

Nkem, tell me about yourself, about your world of childhood and growing up and how the experiences helped to shape your adult visions?

I am a Nigerian blogger, writer and poet. I am also the author of A Heart to Mend, my first novel. I live in Seattle with my husband and write full time. I write mostly romance and love poems though recently I have been trying my pen at literary short stories. I am currently working on my next novel, also a romance. ..

I was born at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu, Nigeria and I grew up in that city till my middle secondary school. I attended Ekulu Primary School, Queens School Enugu, Special Science School Agulu and Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka.

I remember as a child studying a lot, reading everything I could lay my hands on, and then trying to play the rest of the time. My mother was a school teacher and my father worked for the electoral commission, so the love of reading and education came from them and from the environment of Enugu, which is a part an academic and civil service city.

This early background made me very cosmopolitan because I went to school with people from all across the country and outside. Reading a lot makes me sometimes come across as quiet but I do like a good loud debate too, having watched my father and his friends talk politics and football. In three words, I will describe myself as friendly, caring and fun-loving. I realized early on through books that it was possible to be whoever and do whatever you wanted to do. I learnt to stretch my wings even further when I first left the country. I have been a teacher, NGO consultant, banker, skate-hire attendant, and researcher and have worked for the government both in Nigeria and Scotland.

Your real name is Nkem, which in Igbo means Mine. Etymologically , nkem in Igbo pre-supposes both affection, if you like, deep love and possession. And also the title of your work is A Heart to Mend. What have names got to do with your story and whose heart is being mended?

LOL…let me say here that none of my characters is based on me or anyone I know in particular but on a cumulative of my experience. My name has nothing to do with the story, and as you can see I did not even publish under my real name. That said, I love my name and what it means. There is a longer form of course, but I have been called the short form for as long as I can remember by everyone around me including my parents. It was funny when, as I grew older, I realized that it was also a term of romantic endearment between couples.

In A Heart to Mend, the hearts being mended are those of my characters, Edward and Gladys. They’re just people of my imaginings, though since I try to make my stories as real as possible, they also share our fears and hopes, our victories and our pain. Some people say they seem free from some of the usual constraints we real persons face, but if you look closely, you may even recognize one or more of them. For these readers who also identify with the book and the themes/characters in it, I hope their hearts will be mended too.

At another level, locations have a way of affecting one’s state of mind and heart. How has both your home and diaspora experiences helped in shaping the tenor of this narrative?

The narrative of A Heart to mend is very instinctive, you know, from my heart and from my head too. I believe my writing has been shaped more from growing up in Nigeria than the few years I have lived outside the country. You should bear in mind that I am practically a novice at writing. I entered this writing business, really, from outside. My entire background has been in sciences; I studied biological science for my first degree, then public health research for my masters. I’ve never had any formal training in writing. So what I write is from my own personal makeup, and less from what I have picked up in writing books and online courses, which go more toward the craft.

Who I am, my identity, has been more influenced by my Nigerian experience. There was so much to draw from especially in terms of storytelling. There were so many books around me, from the children’s stories in Sugar Girl, Eze goes to school, born with a Silver Spoon, etc to Pacesetters and through to the African Writers Series.

There were also the soaps we watched like Checkmate and ripples and of course Nollywood. The western worldview crept in not through my time outside Nigeria but via the works of Enid Blyton, the Lady Bird fairytales, Mills & Boon, James Hadley Chase and the movies I saw, from both Hollywood and Bollywood. I always had that storytelling instinct, and through all these channels, I always looked for the story. So now, when I write, what I do is to find the kernel of a story and then tell it.

Why did you write A Heart To Mend ?

First and foremost I wanted to write a story of love and finding oneself. I also felt that there were not enough romance novels set in contemporary Nigeria, and that I could do something to change that. Therefore, a lot of these themes in A Heart to Mend are motivated by events or stories I’ve heard or read about in real life Nigeria of the last few years. The characters and issues dealt with in the book are therefore meant to be relevant for contemporary life and relationships.

Again, I have always been intrigued by the principle of unconditional love. When I started reading the Mills and Boon Romance novels as a young adult, their stories had a big influence on me and my writing. My imagined and written stories changed from adventures to romance. So now that I decided on full time writing, I was moved to go back to that genre.

In a world that is plagued by unquantified hate tendencies, with wars and rumours of war becoming familiar ring tones. Tell me, from where does one begin to mend afflicted hearts?

I agree with you about the sort of world we live in nowadays. This stress of this tumultuous life has indeed led to many people experiencing heartbreak in one form or the other. In my opinion, one can begin to mend these broken hearts through talking or writing about love.

Romance novels are all about love, in its various manifestations: between parents and their children, between siblings and most importantly, between a man and a woman. As so many songs say, love is truly beautiful and it does make the world go around. When one strips basic human behavior to its barest form, you find that we’re all looking for love in one way or another.

You might be surprised that what you wrote as a simple romantic form is giving rise to some socio political reading. But seriously, can there be a real love story in what seems to be a hopeless and hate inhabited world?

Yes there can. In a romance novel, the two major characters cannot develop satisfying, romantic relationships between each other unless they have some understanding of love. The love story starts from when they lack love but desire it for themselves to when they have full knowledge of it and their lives have been changed. It is the same in real life.

Also, if we say there can be no love stories, do we mean that all the people that get married everyday do not love each other? I don’t think this is so. Therefore, love and romance give hope and makes life worth living. Love is the only way to overcome hate and hopelessness.

By the way, I understood that your story is set in Nigeria. And from the reviews I have read about the novel, it does appear that the entire tapestry and universe of the story is Nigeria and about Nigerians. What are your intentions in doing this?

The primary intention was to contribute to the writing of the romance genre in Nigerian literature. I grew up reading books like Evbu, My Love of the Pacesetters fame, written by Helen Ovbiagele but they disappeared along the line. There has been a sort of renaissance in the writing and book publishing industry in Nigeria and I wanted to add my voice in a unique way.

May be home sickness? you want to use the narrative thread to heal home nostalgia?

Well, I won’t deny that I get homesick for Nigeria and my family and friends back here but my writing is not about that. I have been writing long before I relocated which was just a few years ago and I know that I can always visit when I want. The nostalgia that has a hand in my writing has to be that of reading books set in Nigeria and written by Nigerians. I read a lot of those and I want the younger generation to have that experience too which I believe is a good one, even as we talk about rebranding Nigeria and recreating a positive national identity.

One would have really expected to read your Diaspora experience about love. Don’t you think it is high time African writers began to write trans Atlantic narratives?

Of course there are African writers who write about their diaspora narrative. For example, a lot of the short stories in Chimamanda Adichie’s collection, This thing Around Your Neck, are from her immigrant experience in America or a fictionalized version of it. Several other writers, including Seffi Atta, Teju Cole and Jude Dibia have also explored the theme in their novels.

The truth is that each writer has to seek for a voice that matches their world view and mine, as I have come to see, comes out best writing about Nigeria and Nigerians. That said however, the narrative in A Heart to Mend, has the major characters travelling between Nigeria, London and New York.

That was exactly what classic hate writers of Europe like Joseph Conrad, Joyce Cary, Ridder Haggard and their brothers did in such novels like Heart of Darkness, Mister Johnson, King Solomon’s Mine, She among others. Is there anything wrong about writing back to them, through such experiences as yours?

Such Experiences as mine? LOL…I don’t understand what you mean by that o. My experiences in the United Kingdom and the States have been quite good. Apart from that, my novels are not autobiographies, so it’s not about me. Also, I do not write to add to the hate and discrimination in the world but to add love and romance. For now, I will leave political writing and rebuttals of racism to others who choose to do so.

Also I choose to go forward instead of backwards. You see, those writers you mentioned wrote for the days they lived in and I believe the world as a whole has moved on from those days. I read Rider Haggard’s king Solomon’s Mines and She as a teenager and they were basically adventure stories. Of course the rise of the civil rights movement in America in the sixties and seventies meant that those writers received a lot of flak for their portrayal of Africans in their books. Chinua Achebe wrote “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” in 1975 as a response to Joseph Conrad. All this was before I was born.

How’s the novel doing in terms of reception?

A Heart to Mend has been very well received indeed as the mails continue to pour in from different parts of the world. One of the advantages of Authorhouse as a self-publishing company is that they have a very wide reach. So A Heart to mend is available from Canada, to the United States, England, India, and from South Africa and Indonesia to Australia. The publishers called me recently to encourage me to hurry up with my second book because they want us to ride the wave this one is creating. I told them that this is just the beginning, lol…

To what extent has the new communication media of facebook, twitter and blogging helped in promoting the novel?

Having a blog, (which recently won several awards including Blog of the Year at the Nigerian Blog Awards) really helped me in my writing especially with the feedback and critique I got from my readers. The fact is that the world has come to terms with the internet age and other less conventional means of getting a book to an audience are beginning to take root. Talk about eBooks, kindles and Nooks and other such technology.

Also my blog was part of the reason I decided to publish. I had such a loyal following that I wanted to give them a chance to read the complete story. Most of them had been following it on my blog and were very supportive. It was through the support of fellow bloggers that I did my first blog tour and all the publicity that came with that. After that I joined Facebook and Twitter and the following has been growing since.

What is your program for the novel for the home market?

A Heart to Mend had a public presentation in Lagos in April and was very well received. There has been several articles and features in the daily Newspapers in the country since then and the Nigerian Publishers are doing their best with the distribution. So far they are very happy with the reception the book has been getting. They have fans calling them up or metting them half way in order to get the book. A lot of them had found out about the book online from my blog, Youtube, Facebook or Twitter.

The book is currently available in several cities including Lagos, Ibadan, Ife, Abuja, Maiduguri, Onitsha, Port Harcourt and some Nigerian online resellers like Walahi.com, Kalahari.com.ng, Naijareads.com, among others. I get emails from some people who have read it praising it and asking for more.

Slow Road To Heaven

Uchenna delivers Springs' first Ethiopian eatery and divine flavors, at its own pace

By Mathew Scniper, Colorado Springs Independent

No more Denver drives, or, for the uninitiated, no more wondering about those meals minus utensils. Uchenna has arrived in Old Colorado City, and the Nigerian Igbo translation, "God's will," speaks to more than just owner Maya Hetman's answered prayer for a place to establish her own restaurant.

After one bite of her doro wat — small chicken legs smothered in a heavy, mole-like butter and red wine sauce spiked with a berbere spice mix, more undisclosed spices, ginger, garlic and onions — you sense that only a higher power could be responsible for such a soul-warming, brilliant combination of flavors that so gorgeously capture heat, earthiness, richness and, well, love.

"I cook with my heart," says Maya, who insists on going by her first name as she visits with us near the end of her usual double shift. "I don't do this for money, but because I love cooking and feeding people and having my family around me."

Coming from anyone else, this statement might sound like empty PR or cliché. To understand the difference when she says it, you have to come in from Colorado Avenue, walking between bookcases lined with decorative tiles (sold to raise money for fistula sufferers in her home country), to have a seat at one of Uchenna's simple, bare tables.

Scratch and sniff

Native to Ethiopia's Eastern Harer region, one of eight children and a speaker of nine languages, Maya is unlike anyone else you'll ever meet. She radiates a disarming and endearing sweetness, even hugging you upon departure. Eating at Uchenna offers a unique restaurant experience in part because of her charm and sincerity.

But it's unique also in flavor, even if you're familiar with other Ethiopian spots. Here's why, and something you need to understand before enduring the industry-defying, potentially infuriating and lengthy wait times inherent to the outfit: This is slow food, and the most tangible definition of the gastronomic movement's core principles I've seen locally, to date.

"You're literally walking into my home when you walk in that door," says Maya, who doesn't actually live in the building, but does take all the time she needs to produce and serve her mostly organic, from-scratch and gluten-free food. We waited more than an hour for anything besides orange water iced tea and rosewater lemonade samples to hit the table one night. (Both, by the way, are floral and delicious and well worth the $1.50 for a full size.) She and her daughter, a high school senior, do all of the cooking, pastry baking and serving of eight tables, with a little side-work help from her husband and college-aged son.

She says that by tradition in her province, women are taught how to cook and execute all of the family recipes. Those recipes stay guarded, meaning I can't tell you much more than the menu does; Maya politely deflects ingredient queries. She does, however, share a story about a local Ethiopian man who recently dined at Uchenna and said her doro wat is the best he's ever had.

Start to finish

Looking past the chicken, Uchenna offers beef, lamb and seafood Ethiopian plates as well as an equally long vegetarian list. There's also a Mediterranean menu of soups, salads, sandwiches and pasta and pizza (a few in each category), from which we only sampled an excellent bowl of French onion soup and a unique gyro (each $7) that sports delicious, thin-sliced beef strips in a fluffy pita with pickled vegetables.

The best way to sample the Ethiopian fare widely is to add a meat dish ($8.25 to $12.50) to a vegetarian combo ($12.75); all orders are served family-style on a large metal platter lined with injera, a spongy, pancake-like, fermented teff-flour bread that's also served on the side for pinching and scooping food.

The combo features variously spiced and sauced and uniformly interesting miser alecha and miser wat (both lentil dishes), shro wat (ground chickpeas) and atakilt 1 (string beans) and 2 (cabbage and potatoes). The yebeg alecha (lamb) and shrimp/scallop plates should be tried after the doro wat, the latter featuring a dark, lovely awaze paste made with berbere and other spices.

Samboussas (a generous four for $3) make a nice starter, with chopped cheese, veggie, beef or chicken inside pastry triangles. Save room for one of the best baklavas around, as well as delicate and delicious sargili (rolled baklava) and katayef (almond, pistachio and honey in a shredded wheat wrap) for dessert (each $1.99).

I could have written paragraphs trying to describe each flavor and the intricacies of these colorful dishes, but I'd rather you discover them on your own, now that you know a little about Maya. I will say that Uchenna's opening is the most exciting and vitalizing for our food scene since the Curry Leaf brought us a taste of Sri Lanka. Be patient, and a spectacular woman and cuisine will open like flowers before you.

LOCATION:

Uchenna
Old Colorado City 2501 W. Colorado Ave., #108
634-5070
uchennalive.com

Emphasis On First Son: Still Worth It?

By Dr. Chuks Osuji, Daily Independent

In February 13, 1976, in Dallas Texas, a group of Igbo ethnic stock gathered in my room for a kind of get-together when a telephone call came from Nigeria. It was indeed a bad call, as the caller told me that our Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed, had been assassinated. What was more intriguing was the other aspect of the message; that he had already been buried in Kano. When I broke the news to my fellow Igbo, they were equally shocked. But they could not agree on one thing: whether it was proper to have buried such a Head of State so fast without giving other leaders from other African countries and beyond opportunity to attend his burial. The same thing happened in 1998 when Sani Abacha died and recently when Umaru Yar’Adua died.

In fact, from the first incident, the death and prompt burial of Mohammed, I have been saddled with the rationale of that Islamic injunction of burying every Muslim without any funfair. For quite sometime now, I have come irrevocably to the conclusion that, it is the best way to bid farewell to the departed and not by subjecting the living to untold hardship of getting ourselves involved in “brass-banding” and other orchestrated and unrealistic considerations.

Then I asked myself, what of my culture which puts a lot of burden on the living? This has further led me to begin to reflect on so many aspects of my people’s culture, which places a lot of emphasis on the cultural and traditional roles on the concept of first son as very inevitable in the maintenance of the family lineage.

Although as a solid Christian, I believe in the supremacy of the Almighty God, and Christ as the head of faith, I have undiluted belief in my people’s culture, which does not infringe on my Christian beliefs. Yet, within this general belief, I abhor some of the imported behaviours, particularly those that have come to downgrade our cultures and tend to regard them as idolatry and primitive. However, if in any given issue, there is a conflict between my religious obligation and my culture, I will rather defend my culture because my culture is under constant threat, but Christianity is ever gaining ground and is not under threat, except by the wave and influx of so-called “new generation prosperity evangelical pulpit magicians”.

There is one aspect of my culture which has constantly agitated my mind for which we, the entire Igbo ethnic nationality and others, such as non-Christian Yoruba, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhbo, Efik, Ibibio in Nigeria, can go to any length in search of a son among their children for one principal reason: to ensure the existence of the family lineage.

Today, having travelled far and wide and with experiences gathered so far, I realised that this issue of the concept of first son headache is more acute and entrenched among Nigerians than other cultures particularly outside Africa.

Added to this is the pivotal role ascribed to the first son in every family matter. Every father places very high premium on his first son. Even his wife too, although she may sometimes behave as if she has her choice heavily weighed towards her first daughter, once the issue of lineage and inheritance comes in focus, she will instantly recoil.

Today, in Igbo ethnic nationality, any man without a son is not a happy man at all. Even if you ask him the commonest greetings among our people “how are you?” although he is likely to reply “it is all well”, it will be preceded with an inaudible sigh. Why must it be so? On the other hand, if we see a man with several male children without a female child, he would in all probability be boasting that “I have special favour from my maker”. His wife may, inside her, be worried somehow, perhaps for social and economic reasons, such a situation may not cause her loss of sleep. But a man without a male child can do anything under the planet to get one. He may marry another wife. To do this, he may tactically chase out the first ‘helpless’ wife or reduce her to the status of senior housemaid.

Unfortunately, as it often happens, once the new wife comes in, the first may deliver a male child if she is still enjoying the favour of her husband. Otherwise she has done what she has not been able to do in the past for keeping faith in her marriage. And the husband will have neither the conscience nor the strength to ask her “what happened?” If she is chased out of the marriage and has only female children, in future, she may be brought back by her daughters, particularly when they begin to have financial influence in the family. And their father and his new wife become dependent on his daughters, who can now be deciding vital issues in the family? What is more unfortunate is that if the woman chased away is still within marriageable and productive age, if she remarries, she is likely to become a quasi-industry of procreation of children, males and females. Because she has been liberated from an ignorant and culturally imprisoned man, ignorant husband who does not know that sex selection depends more on the man than the woman, in Biology.

Fortunately, daughters in many families in Igbo ethnic nationality have become not only breadwinners for their families, but lifelines also.

Today, due to opportunities of migration, particularly to America, Europe and Asia, many daughters have either travelled out with their husbands or made fortunes under their husbands, or independently. With such opportunities today, many Igbo families have seen success through the efforts of their first daughters.

While they are in far away countries with their husbands, or on their own, and while desirous to build their nuclear family in their husbands’ homes, they could not forget their roots.

In fact, while many of today’s first sons have gone with the wind and virtually become a lost generation, first daughters in the Diaspora and at their biological environment, have not forgotten to take care of their ageing parents. In fact, it is an incontestable fact, within Igbo ethnic nationality, that many parents, ageing ones, would not attain mature age without the support of their first daughters, wherever they may be. First sons care less and think not of home, even when they are around. They rarely visit their parents let alone take care of them. Even if either of them dies, they are likely to depend on their sisters to bring money for the burial, and sometimes make fortunes out of the burial of their parents from their brothers-in-law. Sad again. These are some of the reasons that have persuaded me to have a rethink about some of our cultural emphasis on the concept and roles of first sons. No doubt, many will disagree with me. Fine, but I am sure that a few will stop for a moment to think about this. That is the essence of education and enlightenment.

In conclusion, I want to make it absolutely clear that I am not against our cultural and traditional patterns and settings. What I am advocating here is for us to begin to appreciate the fact that in many nuclear families in those nationalities in the southern part of Nigeria, evidence abounds of the impact of daughters on their biological homes; and correspondingly, the lack of impact by some sons, particularly first sons. Quite a number of them in the Diaspora, particularly those in the U.S. and in Europe, have been deceived by western cultures in several behaviours. Marriage, which is the crux of our family growth and the growth of a nation, has been reduced to a casual matter. Training of kids and bringing them in the way of perceived cultural norms and traditional practices have been neglected.

In other aspects of our cultural set-up, as already alluded, the issue of maintaining an unbroken chain of linkage with our ageing parents has been eroded by the influence of other cultures. Although we may assert economic pressures and other mundane reasons, the well-known tradition of extended family system has virtually evaporated. It is a matter of fact that more of us with good qualifications, higher education and top level employments and appointments were beneficiaries of extended family system within Igbo ethnic nationality. These days, instead of practising extended family system, we are practising disintegrated family system. It is a matter of, “to your tents Oh Israel.” This is not the way it should be.

I strongly posit that our marriage must be strengthened. The roles of first sons must be de-emphasised and equal weight be given to our first daughters because modern civilisation has given them equal opportunity to contribute to the success of their biological families. Parents, wherever they may be found, must ensure that they do not forget their roots. And once they do this, their children will not forget such roots and the rising wave of lost generation could be reversed and reversed for the better.

Igboland: When Did Things Really Begin To Fall Apart?

By Jideofor Adibe, Daily Independent

That the level of insecurity in Igboland has reached unacceptable level is no longer news. In virtually all parts of South East, daily reports of kidnapping, armed robberies and ritual murders have morphed from the gory to the macabre. The Daily Independent (online) of July 1, 2010 reported that commercial and industrial activities in the entire South East zone risk unravelling if the situation is not halted soon. The paper for instance reported that in Anambra state, a “total of 62 wealthy businessmen have fled Nnewi industrial town, while half of the businessmen in Igbo land have relocated to other parts of the country for fear of falling victim to kidnappers and armed robbers.”

True, Igboland is not the only area of the country with security problems. The distinguishing feature is its absurd level, which recently prompted President Jonathan to order joint military operations to flush out the hoodlums in the area. Okey Ndibe, an activist columnist and novelist, who himself is an Igbo, used the metaphor of war to describe the near state of nature that the area is fast degenerating into. In a brilliantly written piece, “War in Igboland”, (Daily Sun online, June 22, 2010), Ndibe locates the cause of the ‘war’ in what he calls the “crisis of values”, typified in people’s apparent deification of wealth. He blames the ‘oti nkpu’ (praise singer) musicians like the late Oliver De Coque and Osita Osadbe for contributing to this ‘crisis of values’ with their songs that seemingly glorified charlatans who came into wealth by questionable means as ‘owners of their community’.

While I agree with many aspects of Okey’s arguments, I am however not too sure that ‘oti nkpu’ musicians should be blamed for the alleged crisis because praise singing is often an important leitmotif of the folk music genre in many parts of Nigeria. Every type of music – just like in literature or any work of art – tends to have a defining characteristic: racial soldering in reggae, social rebellion in rap, love in blues, spiritual awakening in gospel and political rascality in Fela’s afrobeat. Most people enjoy music for what it invokes in them, not necessarily because of its message: the rhythm, the voice and the creative mix of voice and sound. Similarly many people read a novel more because of an author’s narrative skills than for his/her message. I feel blaming ‘oti nkpu’ musicians for the assumed ‘crisis of values’ in Igboland will be akin to blaming Western thriller novels, war films, wrestling and boxing for violence and crimes in these societies.

I share the frustration in Okey’s voice in the aforementioned important article. I am however not sure I agree with his suggestion that the alleged ‘crisis of values’ is a recent phenomenon in Igboland. It could in fact be argued that ‘crisis of values’ was a primary concern of the Igbos at the turn of the century. We can see this in Chinua Achebe’s most famous work, Things Fall Apart, first published in 1958. The novel is not only a great work of fiction but also one of the most important narratives on Igbo sociology. Here Achebe tells us how the introduction of Christianity and subsequently colonialism led to the adoption of new values by the Igbo town (or village) of Umuofia, and how the new values ‘put a knife’ in those things that held the community together. The novel’s main character, Okonkwo, on returning from a seven-year exile, found to his chagrin, that the Umuofia he left behind had fallen apart because of the new values: people no longer acted like one and respected personalities and institutions had lost their prestige and relevance. In what is perhaps an echo of the ‘crisis of values’ identified by Okey, in which wealthy Igbo ruffians are now ‘crowned’ as ‘owners of their community’, Okonkwo returned to find that people previously regarded as social outcasts and scoundrels (who were of course the first to embrace the new ways of the White man and his religion) had become the new elites. Okonkwo did his best to re-awaken the old values in his people but it was a futile and solo effort that was doomed to fail. This could be called the first ‘crisis of values’ in Igboland.

In many ways the first ‘crisis of values’ was successfully resolved by the onset of full colonialism and the creation of the colonial urban centres. Though there was no consciousness of being Igbo before colonialism, and many Igbo villages were in fact oblivious of the existence of one another, in the colonial enclaves the consciousness of being Igbo was developed as they competed with other ethnic groups for scarce values like jobs and scholarships. The first ‘crisis of values’ was therefore successfully resolved through efforts to develop a pan-Igbo identity (buoyed by the prestige of prominent Igbos like Zik, Nwafor Orizu and K.O. Mabdiwe as well as institutions like Igbo State Union) and aggressive encouragement of Igbos to embrace the new values of the White man. The project of pan-Igbo nationalism was given a further fillip during the events that preceded the civil war, which culminated in the proclamation of the Republic of Biafra. It will seem however that since the end of the civil war, the Igbos have been engulfed in an identity crisis that has remained unresolved.

Okey is right that Chinua Achebe is not given the sort of recognition accorded to many moneybags in Igboland. But this has probably nothing to do with ‘crisis of values’ but more because Achebe as a novelist has a specialist skill set, which only people familiar with such skills will appreciate. Among the educated, Achebe remains one of the symbols of Igbo pride. In virtually every society, it is often easier for the masses (especially when most are hungry) to know and lionise men of wealth than it is for them to recognise people who have distinguished themselves in specialist fields like medicine, IT, sports or creative writing.

I agree with Okey that there is less scrutiny these days on how people come about their wealth. But this is not peculiar to Igboland. I will therefore argue that what Okey identified as the ‘crisis of values’ in Igboland is more a crisis of the Nigerian state writ large because as often happens, any practice borrowed by the Igbos – whether home video making, kidnapping or 419 – is guaranteed to be taken to dizzying heights. I do not think the Igbos necessarily love money more than other ethnic groups in the country.

My take is that the fundamental crisis in Igboland today is the crisis of the elites – not that of values. In the ‘Iron Law of Oligarchy’, the German sociologist Robert Mitchels tells us that all forms of organisations or societies are eventually effectively controlled by an oligarchy – a small group of elites distinguished by either royalty, wealth, family ties, military control, or religious hegemony. This oligarchic group - whether called cabals, mafias or kitchen cabinet – are usually Cohesive, Conscious and Conspiratorial. It could be argued that any society without a set of elites with these three important Cs is unlikely to be able to present a common front or effectively defend the group’s interest. I will argue that since the end of the civil war, the crisis in Igboland is the inability to produce enlightened elites with the aforementioned three Cs.

Despite the current challenges, however, there are many grounds for optimism that the Igbos will successfully re-invent themselves as they did after the first ‘crisis of values’ following the Christian and colonial intrusions.

Re: Ndibe's Nigeria's Separate and Unequal

By Goke Alamu, Sahara Reporters

I read, with considerable interest, Okey Ndibe’s discourse on Two Nigeria’s, Separate and Unequal and came to the conclusion that he has truly described Nigeria’s pitiable situation where two different worlds, those of the super-rich and the wretchedly poor really exist. What I intend doing in this piece therefore is to make a humble contribution to this incisive essay. Tracing the evolution of societal conflict, Marxist theorists have argued that class distinction between the bourgeoisie (the upper class) which the super rich in Nigeria, who are the wealthiest minority represents and the lower class (the peasants), who are the poorest majority has ultimately led to conflict between the two classes with the attendant oppressive and confrontational positions respectively adopted by the two classes who are always engaged in protracted social conflict. The wish of the poor to take away or reduce the wealth and privileges of the rich and the interest of the latter in hanging-on to their privileged position is a major contribution to this perpetual conflict. The almost non-existent middle class in Nigeria has also created a chasm between the poor and the rich. A Yoruba proverb: ‘Aja to yo ki i ba aiyo sere’ (A well-fed dog does not relate with a hungry one) is a metaphor that describes the gulf between the rich and the poor and the avoidance of genuine association between the two distinct groups.

Recently, precisely on 28 April, I attended a lecture by Professor Teju Olaniyan of the University of Wisconsin, Madison (with Akin, my cousin, who I had visited in the United States, and who also teaches in the same University). In the seminal discourse entitled African Urban Garrison Architecture: Property, Armed Robbery and Para-Capitalism, Professor Olaniyan critically examine the aesthetics of Nigeria’s so- called mega cities and describes the various imposing buildings of the rich, scattered in Nigerian cities, with their spacious beautiful lawns and environments, high protective walls laced with barbed wires, magnificent gates, protective iron window bars and steel doors as ‘garrison’ structures, unlike what we see in Europe and in the United States. Professsor Olaniyan’s submission is that while trying to create an illusionary world different from the realities of their society, and shield themselves and families from the result of such insincere engagements on the one hand, and hoodlums, who continuously ravage the society as a way of venting their spleen, the rich in Nigeria have developed a ‘garrison’ mentality.

But the pertinent question here is, for how long can the rich protect themselves from these hoodlums and others given the reality of the contemporary Nigerian situation? Recent events have proved that there is no hiding-place for the wealthy in Nigeria, more particularly the political class and their cohorts, who, over the years, have milked the country dry as a result of unparallel corruption which has been their only hallmark. The various dilapidated and collapsed infrastructure such as roads, public water, affordable health and most especially electricity still unattended to and which would have made life more meaningful to the hapless citizenry and helped in facilitating their struggles to earn a living are reflections of the inglorious rule of the political class. The collapse of public education has also reduced the opportunities of the children of the poor in having basic education for a better tomorrow as our compulsive class conscious rulers, feeding fat on our collective wealth, rather than give consideration to how the poor can have basic necessities of life have continued to neglect the masses they claimed to be representing and their general welfare.

But this is at their peril. As in all oppressive cases, the rich in Nigeria, especially the corrupt few, will continue to have no peace. In spite of their highly fenced fortresses or houses, their big noiseless generators, their SUVs and four-wheelers, their treated boreholes which they have acquired to make lives comfortable for themselves at the expense of the poor, the culture of hatred which their opulent living has generated between them and the poor will continue unabated and will continue to engender crime directed at them and their children by the latter. Nobody needs a prophet to prophesy what the unfolding events in later years will be unless the political class are responsive to the yearnings of the oppressed. The children they have refused to cater for today will not allow their own children to have peace tomorrow. The Yoruba proverb: ‘Irorun igi ni irorun eye’. Translated literally- (The peace the tree enjoys gives peace to the bird that perches on it).

Goke Alamu teaches at Osaka University, Japan

Kidnapping As Big Business in South-East

BY IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN, LEADERSHIP NIGERIA/ALL AFRICA

Abuja — Historians and archaeologists have it that the Igbo culture - their way of life was in the beginning a culture of life (ndu bu isi) instead of death. According to them, "Life was celebrated while death was despised and feared. The only death celebrated was someone who lived long (usually above 60 years) and had grown up children."

Today, they say the opposite is the case: "Igbo efulefu"-useless, fools, political/economic criminals, are now making Igbo culture a culture of death, killing and kidnapping. True, in the last few months, kidnapping has become a big business in the region that has produced great people - living and the dead. Our Assistant Managing Editor/Chief-of-Reporters, IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN examines the strange phenomenon.

P resident Goodluck Azikiwe Ebele Jonathan is not a poignant person prone to emotion-laden speeches. The few public speeches he has made since he became president can testify to that. But when asked to comment on the state of security situation in the country -especially the increasing rate of kidnapping in the South-east part of the country recently - he was strangely emotional.

"Any responsible leader should be worried about the state of security in the country, especially in the South-east; it is very embarrassing; it is unacceptable to us and we shall do everything within our means to confront the problems", the president stated emotionally while chatting with some media executives on national television.

The President talked about the socio-economic and political implications of the crime situation saying, it was the only reason the nation lost the hosting right of the ongoing soccer World Cup to South Africa. He said from the security report at his disposal, it was obvious that the crime of kidnapping is an organised one involving many persons or groups - the security agents, the judiciary, the banking sector and some lawyers. He asked: "I hope when we start arresting them, some professional bodies will not complain?"

True, like the information available to Jonathan, kidnapping has become a big business in the South-east. The dreadful hallucination-kidnapping which was first carried out in Port-Harcourt on February 18, 2006 by a group of heavily armed militants to draw the government's attention to their demands has now graduated to a frightening fraction in different parts of the nation. Even the peacefulness, serenity and safety of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja is not out of danger. Kidnapping has now become a veritable, real tool in the hands of intelligent but criminally minded persons for making "cool money."

"It is distressing that kidnapping for ransom has become a burgeoning business in many parts of Igboland. Of recent, Anambra, Enugu, Abia and Imo States have been hotbeds of commercially-motivated kidnapping. In a bid to increase the ransom payable after the kidnap, the kidnappers now specialize in kidnapping monarchs, home video actors and actresses, traditional rulers of big towns, high profile business tycoons, politicians, children and relatives of wealthy politicians", an analyst said.

To be sure, a couple was recently kidnapped immediately after their wedding in Anambra State . His Royal Highness, Igwe Mbamalu Okeke of Abagana, Igwe J.C Nkwocha of Alor, Dr. Anayo Edemobi and sibling of Minister of Information and Communications Dora Akunyili, have all been victims of these dreadful criminals in the state.

From the capital of old Eastern Region-Enugu State , Igwe Uche Nwachime in Nkanu, was abducted and later slaughtered because his relations had refused to pay ransom on time as requested by the kidnappers. Report also had it that the proprietor of Gold Riveri Hotel Enugu was kidnapped and later released upon the payment of a N5 million ransom. In Abia State , which is fast becoming the most notorious state where kidnapping business booms, the chairman of Enyimba Football was kidnapped. Justice Awa U. Kalu was shot in a failed kidnapping bid. Some Imo State indigenes had also been kidnapped recently; they include Mr. Celestine Ngaobiwu, a member of the Imo State House of Assembly and two sons of the Speaker of the Imo House of Assembly.

Three persons were killed earlier in the year when unknown gunmen kidnapped a movie star Peter Edochie in Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of Anambra State . According to reports, the victims were killed to facilitate Edochie's kidnappings. The actor hit the limelight as Okonkwo in the television adaptation of Chinua Achebe's book, "Things fall Apart." He was kidnapped after his bodyguards were overpowered. Few days after the Edochie incident, about six people were killed in Imo State when kidnappers reportedly invaded Orlu and Ikeduru areas of the state. Two kidnapped Indians were reportedly rescued with some of the gang members seriously injured when a team of policemen confronted the gang at Ama Nwozuzu in Ikeduru. The cases are endless.

The wide-ranging state of insecurity in the South east, security experts say, had reached a stage where practically everybody is now worried about the frightening dimension the region is headed. Presently, hardly can people sleep with both eyes closed for fear of being kidnapped. Businessmen, politicians and other wealthy persons have taken voyage as well as with their businesses for fear of being kidnapped. In the last few years, kidnapping and hostage taking have moved from the Niger Delta creeks to Ndi-igboland. The ogre has broadened and taken unfathomable derivation in the land where many able-bodied but unemployed youths proliferate. Within the South-east, Abia State is the epicentre followed by others in the region. Everybody is now concern. It is expected against obtainable verification that the rich government officials, traditional rulers, elected politicians and their immediate families are now the target of the men of evil.

There appears not to be hiding place for the rich, even though some of them have relocated their families outside the South-east geo-political zone or outside the country. Even Lagos that was once regarded as insecure state is now a heaven of choice for many.

Recently, the profit-making activities in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, were crippled as banks were forced to close their doors against demanding customers after frequent violent attacks on banks. At a point, the evil men outsmarted all procedures adopted by the banks to avoid them.

"While insecurity disrupts socio-economic and political activities in the country, it also slows down the pace of economic growth and development. Many investors continue to flee the country", an Aba based bank manager who does not want his name mentioned, told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY.

Sadly, the news the international community has about the South east is that it is most unsafe to live and do business. To be sure, the World Bank recently rated Imo State as one of the worst states in the country to do business. "Before any foreigner contemplates of coming to Nigeria, he or she would not only be calculating the high cost of investing in the country, but also the safety of his or her life", the bank manger said.

The National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) recently expressed regret over the serious security problems in the South east region. It said that "the security challenges had worsened the already bad and unfriendly business environment that is negatively affecting the growth of businesses and socio-economic activities in the area."

"If industries are closing shops and investors are not forthcoming because of insecurity and other attendant problems faced by businesses, then the future, particularly that of the children should agitate the minds of everybody."

Apart from NACCIMA, the police, states in the south east and other segments of the society are worried. Recently peeved by the state of insecurity- kidnapping in Anambra, the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, announced the deployment of 16 units of anti-riot policemen to the area to complement the efforts of policemen attached to the state commands. But in spite of this, security experts and monitors say the level of insecurity in the region had heightened.

The chief police officer had partly blamed the high wave of crime in the country, especially in the South-east on materialism and loss of societal values. He noted that people were ready to do anything to get rich and be celebrated in the society. While also blaming the high rate of kidnapping and armed robbery in these areas on unemployment, he however said that most of the graduates of Nigerian universities are half-baked, but carry about certificates they could not even defend.


Perceptibly troubled by the disturbing state of insecurity in the South east in recent times, President Jonathan recently invited governors in the region to Aso Rock for a meeting. Addressing journalists after the meeting, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State lamented that they were spending huge funds to support the police and other security agencies "but we found out that the hoodlums' firepower is more than the police. The security agencies are trying but they need more support from the Federal Government."

Obi requested for the purchase of two or more helicopters with modern communication equipment and detectors, placed in strategic locations in the south east where it could be called up in a matter of minutes to intervene in any security situation.

According to Obi, "I do not play politics with security. The security situation in the Southeast is pathetic. The militants who were displaced from the core Niger Delta regions have left their creeks, came upland to terrorise us. We must rise to the occasion. And since no state can do it alone, resources must be pooled together to confront this ugly development."

Those who should know said the fear of kidnapping is real in the South east because of lack of effective and reliable security machinery to confront the kidnappers. "Many people in the South east now live in perpetual fear of kidnappers. It has curtailed the freedom of movement of the people. For example, some prominent citizens from the South east now travel to their respective villages with full mobile police escorts. What a miserable life! If living in one's own village can now be classified as dangerous living, then life in itself is not worth living", an Abuja based lawyer, Mr. John kalu said.

The Minister of State for Information and Communication, Mr. Labaran Maku recently said that the Federal Government had taken steps to confront the situation calling on the affected communities to cooperate with security operatives to tackle the problems.

"The Federal Government through Federal Executive Council (FEC) called on all communities in the south-east and in other parts of the country where security has become an issue to cooperate with security agencies that are already undertaking the operation to fish out the criminals wherever they may be hiding and deal with the situation decisively", the minister said

He said kidnapping was disrupting normal life and commercial activities in some states and government could not stay back and watch criminals take over the entire situation.

He added, "So government is undertaking joint security operations to fish out the camps, know where those people are staying and this cannot be done by security agencies alone. The entire communities, especially state government, local government, traditional rulers and community organisations should cooperate."

"The criminals are not ghosts, they come from amongst our communities, they don't come from outside, so if the public can give cooperation and give sensitive information to security agencies, it will help security agencies."

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State was so overwhelmed with the security situation in his state that he recently granted amnesty to kidnappers and armed robbers who made life in the state terrifying and dreadful. He made the announcement when a delegation of the various groups of kidnappers visited him at the Government House, Umuahia. They were led by the Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in the state, Nathaniel Ubong. Mr. Orji told his guests that his government was committed to the success of the programme. The governor said he was surprised that Abia State was not one of the states covered by the presidential amnesty for Niger Delta militants and that he had protested the exclusion to the Minister in charge of the amnesty programme of the Federal Government, who assured him that the programme would be repeated to accommodate Abia State. The governor, who said the Minister's assurance encouraged him to make the offer so that Abia will also benefit, said kidnapping had made Abia State more notorious than the states where it first started. "The disadvantages of kidnapping are massive, because it has driven away contractors and investors from the state and Aba in particular, making development difficult," Mr Orji said. He urged the repentant kidnappers to go and inform others to lay down their arms as the amnesty programme is real.

The governor added, "All the arms you have packed somewhere bring them out for the world to see so that the Federal Government will accept you into the amnesty programme."

"You cannot harbour grievance against your fatherland, it is only in the atmosphere of peace that development can take place."

Mr Ubong, the NSCDC Commandant, was quoted as telling Orji that the kidnappers approached him three times for the peace meeting but he did not think they were serious. "They finally came with a lawyer, who convinced me that they were ready to leave the bush and embrace the offer," he was reported as saying.

Spokesperson of the kidnappers, Stephen John, a native of Ukwa West LGA, said his gang resorted to kidnapping to protest their being excluded from the Federal Government's amnesty offer saying, "As oil producing communities, Owazza and Obokwe in Ukwa West LGA were neglected without hospitals, schools, good roads and other infrastructure."

Chimete Kingsley Onwudara, the groups' lawyer said the delegations were made up of representatives of the kidnappers and the communities who had come to ensure that government was serious with the offer. "In the next week, all the kidnappers will be out with their weapons, making Abia peaceful once again," he said.

Before then, in huge efforts to tackle the situation frontally, some states in the South east have enacted laws with a capital offence punishable by death while two other states: Rivers and Edo imposed life imprisonment on persons convicted for the offence of kidnapping. Other states, apart from Imo that passed into law "Prohibition of Hostage Taking and Related Offences Law" with death penalty as punishment for offenders are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra and Enugu . More states are warming up to join the list.

But can the death penalty stop people from being kidnapped? And how will Nigeria look in the eye of the world legalising what others the world over are proscribing?

Mr. Aster Van Kregfen, Amnesty International's Representative Researcher in Nigeria, said that retention of capital punishment had failed to reduce armed robbery or murder in Nigeria despite the execution of more than 2,600 prisoners since 1970. "Experience has shown that the threat of death penalty is not an effective answer to violent crime. It can actually exacerbate violence in a society", he said.

He said that killing every kidnapper not only flies in the face of global and national trends, but also a violation of Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a United Nations treaty.

Kregfen viewed kidnapping, as "a terrible crime that causes anguish to both the victims and their families".

His solution: "The way to be though on violent crime like kidnapping is to strengthen the police's ability to detect potential crimes before they occur and prevent them. The Federal Government needs to strengthen police training and resources to increase police investigation capacity and effectiveness."

UN views right to life as an inalienable right. This position as adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in1948 sees death penalty as a violation of this essential right. Besides, the world body has always argued that not only did death penalty dehumanise society; it has never been known as an efficient way to stop crime. The worldwide trend is to abolish death penalty for all categories of crime or at least retain it for exceptional crimes committed in exceptional circumstances. African countries such as Algeria , Mozambique , South Africa , Namibia , Tunisia , Angola and Senegal are among over 90 countries in the world that have abolished death penalty for any crime.

Kidnapping is not new in the world. In fact, security experts say Phoenix, Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City with over 370 cases last year alone.

In fact, kidnappings and other crimes connected to the Mexican drug cartels are quickly spreading across the border, from Texas to California. The majority of the victims are either illegal aliens or connected to the drug trade. Recently, an ABC News' investigation uncovered horrific cases of chopped-off hands, legs and heads when a victim's family doesn't pay up fast enough. But can President Jonathan fix the problems in the South-east as he promised. Ndi-Igbo, the peace-loving people of the south east, are eagerly and earnestly waiting for Jonathan.