Ikenga Merit Awards: Awards for Fortune or for Failure?
Written by Odimegwu Onwumere
The word Ikenga in the Igbo mythology, according to reports, (Igbo for man's life force) is a horned god found among the Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria. He is the god of fortune and industry. It is believed by his followers that he encompasses the power to bring wealth and fortune and that he possesses a protective spirit. Ikenga is grounded in the belief that the power for a man to accomplish things is in his right hand.
In the same facade, the Holy Bible in its statement said that, the destiny of a man is in his own hand. While according to the Igbo mythology and the Holy Bible detailed that the destiny of a man is in his own hand, the destiny of Ndiigbo in Nigeria is in no doubt in the hand of other ethnic groups, as Ndiigbo had always been seen playing the second contrivance in the politics of Nigeria. Many Ndiigbo sons and daughters have been used in the Nigerian sphere to fight against the interest of Ndiigbo whenever the need aroused, because of their egocentrism.
Perhaps, the organizers of the first ever Ikenga Merit Awards scheduled to take place at the All Seasons Hotel, Owerri, in April this year, didn’t take into cognizance that what Ndiigbo need at this point in time is not the ostrich-kind of awards but on the plan to enhance the unity and wellbeing of ala-Igbo which has been in no doubt brought to near ridicule by the different authorities in the Nigeria’s state.
Ndiigbo have been made to have immoderate desire for wealth, by the different authorities of Nigeria’s state. But between 1940 and 1960, Ndiigbo closed the breach the Yoruba gave them in education. It is on record that the first secondary school in Igbo land, DMGS, Onitsha, was built in 1925, while the first secondary school in Yoruba land was established in about 1863. But today, that gap Ndiigbo had breached in education with the Yoruba have slide beyond appraisal. Ndiigbo were expected to balance a healthy pace in education and commerce but the reverse is the case, today. There is immeasurable corruption in Nigeria but the mentality of 419 among an average Igbo youth and their “political” eldres is rife.
Igbo direction is not addressing the multifaceted problems facing Ndiigbo in Nigeria, of which education is the most. Ala-Igbo , in the minds of many, is elected as educationally underprivileged. Not even the political influence Ndiigbo do not have has been addressed. How many Ndiigbo are building schools to promote education in ala-Igbo as many people from other ethnic regions are doing?
The Ohanaeze which owes a great deal of duty to Igbo has gone political. Ohanaeze is today interested in the shamefaced politics in Nigeria, than redressing the politics of backbiting and mudslinging which have characterized the Igbo nation. Why does the Igbo of Ikwerre, do not want to have anything to do with the Igbo of southeast? Likewise so many other sub Igbo regions in Nigeria.
The option which Ndiigbo need as a matter of “do-or-die” is to negotiate for harmony coexistence. There is great lack of unity in ala-Igbo. And other ethnicities have used this frailty as added advantage against Ndiigbo. Many Igbo sons and daughters have made the entire Igbo nation become slaves in Nigeria, a land nature endowed Ndiigbo with mammoth natural wealth? While many Igbo people reposed on Ohanaeze for direction since it is the foremost pan-Igbo association in Nigeria, a committed Igbo leadership is farfetched in Ohanaeze, which can call a spade by its original name.
The weight of moneyclothes among the Ohanaeze direction is draconic. And this act is causing unwanted delay to Igbo united progress. Confrontations of authority are rife in ala-Igbo. Intolerance of brother’s acts is another problem. Opposition is used to stem Igbo politics. Are Ndiigbo suffering from inferiority fever in Nigeria?
Ndiigbo are here today giving unmerited awards to their “outstanding” sons and daughters, whereas they forgot that since the war ended in the bushes of ala-Igbo between Nigeria and Biafra, Ndiigbo have relegated to the background the use of protest to get anything they wanted from the Nigerian state. Did the Yoruba not fought for power from the North by employing mass action? Was this not done to protest the annulment of Abiola’s election?
Ndiigbo are eating poisoned kola in Nigeria and keep quiet while the state of Nigeria claps for them. The now much-touted awards organized by Ikenga Entertainment and Awards Inc should be reconsidered. If it was conceived to identify and recognize sons and daughters of Igbo land who have distinguished themselves in their various fields of human endeavour, what about those Igbo sons and daughters whom the Nigeria’s epileptic governance has not given the room to uproot their talents due to the wherewithal for such?
If the nominees for the awards are the CEO, Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Jim Ovia, and the MD of UBA, Mr. Tony Elumelu in the Ikenga Banker of the Year category; the National Communications Commission’s Vice Chairman, Mr. Ernest Ndukwe and Central Bank Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo in the Ikenga Regulator of the year category; the Ikenga Journalist of the year category are Mr. Paul Ibe of Thisday, who was nominated alongside other distinguished Journalists like Mr. Steve Nwosu of The Sun, Mrs. Augusta Maduegbuna of NTA and Ms Rose Moses of Champion Newspapers, what about the awards for the Igbo sons and daughters who have paid with their lives to see that Ndiigbo got this far in the Nigeria’s state? Whatever name it is called, these awards cannot take Ndiigbo to the Promised Land. What will take Ndiigbo to the Land is truth and sincerity among themselves.
Odimegwu Onwumere is the Founder of Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA), Oyigbo, Rivers State. 08032552855. apoet_25@yahoo.com
