Term Paper On: Federal University of Technology
Term Paper On: Federal University of Technology
TERM PAPER ON
WRITTEN BY
20071559573
SUBMITTED TO
APRIL, 2010.
[
DEDICATION
With heartfelt and gratitude ii dedicate this work to our Almighty God
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Research work of this nature could not have not completed without the
FOUNDATION, The typist and the members of Futo Librarians for their
varying contribution.
ABSTRACT
The Ibos are people located in the some part of Nigeria; they formed
seven states in Nigeria (completely Ibos and those that have big Igbo
constraints, and thus it has been concluded that they are no early
They played a very important role in the founding of Nigeria and its
for their liberation in the year 1967. After the war ended in 1970,
existence. The future of the Igbo people in Nigerian political and social
INTRODUCTION
The Igbo people are those who have as their natural home, The Igbo
Basden (1966:110) describes that: “the Igbo land lies astride the
The Igbo’s are those who have been grouped into the Kwa stock
whole area stretching from the coastlines of the Bright of Benin, and
continue to thee outskirts of Ibibio and Efik territories in the east, with
Nigeria where the Akpoto and Muslins are the nearest neighbors.
Today the Ibos are found in seven states in Nigeria comprising five
completely Ibos (Enugu, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Anambra) and the other
two (Rivers and Delta states) which have a big Igbo area and
population
The history of Igbo people has not been fully ascertained over the
Not only are we still to worse on the main stages in the evolution of
Igbo culture and society, but what is more the raw materials
To this effect I will limit my research to the fact that the Igbo people
1300Ad
(v) Purpose of the study
(1) Establishing the fact that the Igbo people were at the
(2) Address the condition of Ibos in Nigeria and what will become
This term paper will help more researchers to inquire more into the
(iv). Limitation and scope of the study. The study of Igbo people in
development.
CHAPTER TWO
father, but the available evidence suggest that the Igbo and their forbears
have lived in much their present homes from the dawn of human history.
The fact that they and their neighbors speak very different but related
language points to this conclusion. Any attempt to derive absolute time set
continuous settlement.
1. That Igbo people came from the east (either Egypt or Israel).when
Europeans, the same scholars see it as part of the age old Europeans
influence).
2. That they were created where they are now found. This
autochthony is found among Igbo’s tribe and suggest that they have
settle in what is now known as Nigeria for a very long time indeed.
Supports the claim of Igbo’s not being a recent intrusion into Nigeria.
and foreign missionaries who have also recognized their great human
the country called Nigeria (i.e. its foundation) and have contributed a
... Apart from the fact that unlike the Hausa/Fulani, and the Yoruba of
the west, The Igbo never established any contagious natural kingdom
or empire in the whole of their history a fact, which limit elite capacity
for mobilization and sustainable follower ship and major index of group
survival . The Igbo were among the last batch of people to be touched
The above mentioned handicap of the Igbo were cancelled out between
was the only person that advocated for unitarism. Azikiwe guest for
one Nigeria has been thee cherished dream and effort the Igbo’s.
saying that late chief Obafemi Awlowo fought for the interest of the
Yoruba and late Ahmadu Bello did the same for the northerners, Zik
devoted all his time and energy preaching and serving the interest of
the entire country. In fact the Igbo were consumed by the idea of one
Nigerian paying great price for the unity and independence of Nigeria.
concludes:
…….of course the Igbo man will pay a great price for his zealousness for
Nigeria……. to love Nigeria more than his Igboness. He came to be much that
it swallowed him. The Igbo man’s benevolence and handwork soon became
his undoing, his achievement bred for him jealousies, his hard work soon
Igbo political personality and survival has been shaped by the series of
events, actions and omission that could have transpired at this time. A
an ideal polity is the extent to which the conflicting interests and made
problem solving.
The reserve has been the case in Nigeria as early as 1960 after her
series of events and thus the civil war. The Biafra war started after the
……….worst of all came the genocide in which over 30,000 of our kith
and kin were slaughtered in cold blood all over Nigeria and nobody
Nigeria has become a jungle with no safety, no justice and no hope for
open war against Biafra a terrible fratricidal war which lasted for 30
solid months, claiming millions of lives. After three years the federal
of their own. Accepting that the key players in the 1966 coups in
Nigeria were Igbo, yet they were soldiers. Accepting that the coup did
not materialized in the east as it did elsewhere, which the key coup
plotters regretted. The coup was done on behalf of the Igbo people
who knew nothing of it. Six other military coups in Nigeria whose
leaders were mainly from the northern and western part of Nigeria,
involving casualties since the first coup, have never been visited with
the action of the plotters on their ethnic group. Thus the question is
why did the Igbo’s have to suffer such brutality because of the action
of few military men who happens to be Igbo’s not minding that first
easterner Nigeria, for everyone knew that Igbo’s and their easterners
(1985:261-262) thus:
The same people who had been the most active advocate of Nigeria
north, the inability of the federal government to protect them and their
of fear and insecurity in which he had to live, the possibility that the
from rest of Nigeria the safety of their homes In eastern Nigeria, the
in federation
Further research into this issue made it evident that Igbo people were
simple the ultimate victims of other people quarrels and political feuds.
The Biafra war which ended in Jan 1970 left Igbo’s and the
easterners within the Biafra enclave, poor and dejected, A people who
despite the fact that the goal of the war which was survival could be
said to have been achieved. Both Nigeria and Igbo’s felt the impact of
the war and were happy it ended, that Gowon declared “no victor no
vanquished” and went further to promise the triple “Rs” for eastern
After 40 years now since the civil war ended, none of the promises
Igbo people in particular have been made to feel vanquished all these
while
Although formal war did ended, yet there appears to have been
Nigeria. This incident and destructive war (past civil war) has been
against the Igbo men psyche, self identity and ,self worth, self
official and calculated attempt to keep the Ibos poor and deprived, to
to manipulate them.
The war against the Igbo people which is going on today is total
the Igbo has been well documented and well known as the cause of
Igbo predicament in the Nigeria of today, and also disclose the inability
or failure of Nigeria to heal the wounds of the civil war (giving the
called for when serious decisions of natural interest are being taking.
some prominent and well –informed Ibos. Former senate President and
a running mate in ANPP at the 2003 election declares that the current
over 3oyrs ago and that this war has taking many forms including
restricting promotion of Igbo people for jobs which they are qualified
for, even withdrawal of this people from their jobs. Just because they
are Igbo’s and failure to give Ibos a place In Nigeria military (daily
saying that marginalization has become Igbo men bedmate and this
of their natural life. to sum this up life let’s consider the articulation
stating that the Ibos are not seen as a people but are seen as a target
street of Idumota and Balogun, Ibos are killed and their shops burnt.
When Hausa’s have problems In Kano Ibos are killed. Worst of all the
Nigeria into 12 state to break the back bone of resistance in the east.
governments, today the main land Igbo are chiseled into five states,
while their Yoruba and Fulani/ Hausa counterparts have seven and 19
the point that it has become not only ecological waste land but also
economic waste land from which refuges stream out to the viable
resentment that dragged us down the road of physical war are rousing
It is an irony that those who the Igbo people taught how to read
and write, those they taught the basic rudiments of civilized living,
b. PROCESS OF DE IGBONIZATION
The greatest political danger facing the Igbo as people in the future is
stigmatization which the Igbo people have gone through in contemporary Nigeria
have become an unbearable burden, and have crushed the spirit of many that they
are seeking refuge in self escape and fight for self ………..the unfortunate decision
live in being un Igbo , anti Igbo or non Igbo’s to dress in borrowed ropes which is
disown their Igboness and correct their Igbo tongues. Even some
areas of Igbo land have never regarded themselves as real Ibos. The
On the eve of the Biafra adventure the Igbo’s have a high profile in Nigeria and so it
was fashionable to be Igbo……with the fallen house of Biafra, many Igbo speaking
peoples and groups started to say that they are no longer Igbo’s. This has resulted
in new myths of origin in certain communities.
If it is not Benin, or some other empire, it must be oriental clearly all these people
have got their anthropology, history and hectographs all wrong. Igbo names did not
sound well and so Ngozi had to change to Blessing, Ihuoma to fine face and Anuri
to Happiness, to sound better their Igbo place names did not look or sit well in their
new states and environment. And so some effusive had to be enervated from the
wearing out they identity (by any artificial contrivance and external
says ‘when the die is cast and the tongue has betrayed you, then one
should have realized that freedom or liberation cannot come from self
The fundamental and radical fact of our individual and social existence
For everything that has a past has a story which influence the
choices, projection, and that this history play a vital role and salutary
role in the life of people and the nations. There is a saying that goes
“one who does not learn from the history repeats his mistakes”.
the Ibos have not shown very strong sense of historical consciousness,
which is today and future Igbo generations. Many Igbo live as if there
and modern mentality and has benefited the Ibos by helping them to
After the civil war ended, the past history of Igbo people has
when the citizens are under bondage of poverty and ignorance. Politics
political process.
the move of achieving both individual societal goals in Igbo land and
them when and as the like. For as Benjamin Franklin said “poverty
often deprive a man of all spirit and virtue. It is hard for an empty bag
to stand upright”.
large extent for the sorrowful plight of people, it has made them
kept them where they are, and ignorant of their power as the real king
disastrous to Igbo people and the masses since they are not properly
Nigeria does not necessarily mean low literacy rate but the
possess, our leader must realize that their effort in making peaceful
really turn around this horrible fate for Nigeria and their people if the
The Igbo may feel betrayed and sacrificed by their fellow Nigeria but, must not
allow their faith in Nigeria to die, a faith which has been a strong force all along for
the creation of a strong federation…………… there is a prime need for real and
positive nation building in Nigeria as a foundation for political stability and social
economic development”.
Finally it is evident that since 1970 Nigeria has never seen the total
The bubbling and almost inexhaustible energy of the Ibos and his
environment, his fertile creativity and vitality are too strong, and too
robust to be enclose or confined in little space like Igbo land alone, but
always restless and seeking outlet into bigger spaces and pushing
frontiers for containment, thus they have natural geographical
principles from Igbo political history that should stand Nigeria in good
Further more for actualization of this future the Igbo should never
CHAPTER FIVE
Conclusion
Igbo people has after the civil war which ended in the year 1970, seen
tribes, which is feared could led to their extinction in the near future.
Nigeria of tomorrow.
I hope this work will be accepted with an open mind and thus stir
the reader to research more into this topic in other to bring more fact
Anya, A.O. (1982). The Ecology and Sociology of Igbo Culture, and
Political Development.
NP.
Nigeria.
NP.
Ukaegbu, B.N. (1965). A Call for Resolutions.