Ideally, culture is the paramount identity of a typical Igboman, but unfortunately, for quite sometimes now we have been experiencing the falling standard of optimum application of Igbo culture in our institutions of higher learning and among our youths, especially in the urban areas. Students have blamed this on a lot of factors for defense. But, no matter what the cause might be, it is evident that our cultural standard has depreciated within the academic community.
I have once told the story of how I was forced to pay a fine for daring to speak Igbo language in the school premises. This, though, was a way of encouraging students to learn and master the English language faster, yet it helped in killing the Igbo language and helping to wipe it completely out of our school curriculum. It should be noted that unless effective effort is made to revamp this dire situation, the entire Igbo Community will suffer its menace. Analysts have pinned the cardinal cause of this to parents in the urban areas who in an attempt to inculcate sophistication into their children, rub them of their inalienable rights to belong and be integrated fully to the traditional Igbo community. This negative attitude of parents, who instead of teaching their children their mother tongue when they are small, but go ahead in teaching them a borrowed language (English or any other international language) which is not the primary language and which could be obtained in the school, is actually a major contributor to the problem facing the Igbo language and culture.
However, the adverse effect of this is that these children end up not knowing how to speak Igbo language which they know could be obtained in the school. As result, children end up not knowing how to speak Igbo language which is their heritage. When parents refuse to take up their responsibilities in the home, the children will completely tend to follow them through to error. Infant, quite a number of Igbo children do not know the names of their home towns. This is because they are kept away from home for a long time.
It is very clear that such children can ever find it impossible in embracing the Igbo culture. In the higher institutions, such children separate themselves from Igbo associations because, they do not find their activities interesting, hence they are not culturally oriented. Children of Igbo extraction, who are born and brought up in other areas outside Igboland, are quite different from the Igbo people themselves because they have integrated themselves with the cultures and traditions of the areas of their residence. The worst thing is that so many of them can deny being Igbo when confronted openly. The problem here is the result of the rejection which the Igbo man is facing as a result of the civil war. To prove themselves worthy of acceptance by other ethnic groups, and to avoid being labeled tribalistic, the Igbo man now moves in fear. He finds it difficult to relate with his Igbo people so as to avoid being accused of planning secession again. How long will the Igbo people continue to live in prison? They can not make headway in promoting their cultural heritage, if this attitude continues. Igbo parents should learn to impart culture to their children in order to appropriate and re-orient them as proper Igbo people.
More so, foreign culture and unrestricted entry of foreign films, videos, advertisement, technological gadgets, pornographic publications, etc., account a lot for the distortion on our valued culture. As a result of these, sophisticated methods of crime have been learned at a supersonic speed from these foreign elements. Extreme violence is portrayed daily. Consequently, deviant behaviours abound everywhere. These materials increase the awareness of western culture in our youths at the detriment of indigenous culture. The incessant quest for the acquisition of this western culture by our youths has resulted to a high level of immorality among the Igbo youths. The Federal Ministry of Art and Culture should intervene with positive policies to curb this problem, if not the Igbo culture and the entire Nigerian culture will be westernized.
I have once told the story of how I was forced to pay a fine for daring to speak Igbo language in the school premises. This, though, was a way of encouraging students to learn and master the English language faster, yet it helped in killing the Igbo language and helping to wipe it completely out of our school curriculum. It should be noted that unless effective effort is made to revamp this dire situation, the entire Igbo Community will suffer its menace. Analysts have pinned the cardinal cause of this to parents in the urban areas who in an attempt to inculcate sophistication into their children, rub them of their inalienable rights to belong and be integrated fully to the traditional Igbo community. This negative attitude of parents, who instead of teaching their children their mother tongue when they are small, but go ahead in teaching them a borrowed language (English or any other international language) which is not the primary language and which could be obtained in the school, is actually a major contributor to the problem facing the Igbo language and culture.
However, the adverse effect of this is that these children end up not knowing how to speak Igbo language which they know could be obtained in the school. As result, children end up not knowing how to speak Igbo language which is their heritage. When parents refuse to take up their responsibilities in the home, the children will completely tend to follow them through to error. Infant, quite a number of Igbo children do not know the names of their home towns. This is because they are kept away from home for a long time.
It is very clear that such children can ever find it impossible in embracing the Igbo culture. In the higher institutions, such children separate themselves from Igbo associations because, they do not find their activities interesting, hence they are not culturally oriented. Children of Igbo extraction, who are born and brought up in other areas outside Igboland, are quite different from the Igbo people themselves because they have integrated themselves with the cultures and traditions of the areas of their residence. The worst thing is that so many of them can deny being Igbo when confronted openly. The problem here is the result of the rejection which the Igbo man is facing as a result of the civil war. To prove themselves worthy of acceptance by other ethnic groups, and to avoid being labeled tribalistic, the Igbo man now moves in fear. He finds it difficult to relate with his Igbo people so as to avoid being accused of planning secession again. How long will the Igbo people continue to live in prison? They can not make headway in promoting their cultural heritage, if this attitude continues. Igbo parents should learn to impart culture to their children in order to appropriate and re-orient them as proper Igbo people.
More so, foreign culture and unrestricted entry of foreign films, videos, advertisement, technological gadgets, pornographic publications, etc., account a lot for the distortion on our valued culture. As a result of these, sophisticated methods of crime have been learned at a supersonic speed from these foreign elements. Extreme violence is portrayed daily. Consequently, deviant behaviours abound everywhere. These materials increase the awareness of western culture in our youths at the detriment of indigenous culture. The incessant quest for the acquisition of this western culture by our youths has resulted to a high level of immorality among the Igbo youths. The Federal Ministry of Art and Culture should intervene with positive policies to curb this problem, if not the Igbo culture and the entire Nigerian culture will be westernized.
| Vitus Ejiogu is a writer and publisher with the Fire-Brand Int"l Ministries, a media ministry that is based in Nigeria. He is the editor of FOUNDATION SATELLITE magazine also published by the ministry. He pastors a Church in Bauchi and is married with two children. You can reach him at: firebrandhq@yahoo.com or, 234 802 8181 829. Website: http://istandwithigbo.blogspot.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vitus_Ejiogu |  |
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