By Emeka Alex Duru
Two social media video clips on South East youths during the week, attracted deserving attention. In the first was a young man who had been on apprenticeship for seven years and was being rewarded (settled) by his master (Oga) for his dedication and faithfulness. The location was in Enugu.
In the second clip were youths in chains and manacles at a rehabilitation home somewhere in Anambra state. They were at various stages of mental derangement, resulting from indulgence in hard drugs and other illicit substances. Both videos speak volumes on the future of Igbo nation.
The first clip is in line with the famed Igbo apprentice system, popularly referred to as ′Igba-Odibo/Igba-Boi/Igba-Boyi/Imu-Ahia/Imu-Oru′. It is a framework of formal and informal indentured agreements between parties that ultimately facilitate burgeoning entrepreneurial communities within the Igbo society. The aim is to spur economic growth and stability, and sustainable livelihood by financing and investing in human resources through vocational training.
The Igbo apprentice system is an extension of the people’s entrepreneurial spirit in which young lads are inducted into business ventures by established entrepreneurs (Oga) in trade, enterprise or a vocation, in some cases serving as domestic helps. The Ogas had previously served under mentors and were handed resources to begin their own enterprises.
Underlining the relationship is faithfulness; faithfulness in the mentee rendering service in his period of apprenticeship; faithfulness in the mentor settling the boy at the end of his training. That is the hallmark of Igbo human resource development and wealth distribution. It is the defining feature of Igbo fellow-feeling; “Onye aghala nwanne ya” (be your brother’s keeper).
Late journalist and accomplished statesman, Melie Kafundu Chukelu (MCK) Ajuluchukwu, in one of my encounters with him on the accomplishments of South Easterners before the civil war and their near supersonic recovery rate after their displacement at the end of field hostilities, attributed the feats to the apprentice system.
It is one in which literally, a son of nobody, by dint of hard work and loyalty to his master, is equipped to face life and ends up captain of industries and trading concerns. The basic criteria for success are hard work, obedience and dedication to service which usually come with enduring reward system. That is the character of the Igbo cosmogony that does not have room for sudden and rootless wealth (ego mbute).
That was the story in the first video but unfortunately not in the second clip, where the youths were almost on the fringes. They were living with the tales of engaging in methamphetamine commonly known as Mkpuru Mmiri (Ice cube), a powerful, highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. Experts say that the crystal form of the drug looks like glass fragments and is chemically similar to amphetamine, a drug used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy, a sleep disorder.
Methamphetamine affects the brain adversely and increases the amount of a natural chemical called dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is involved in body movement, motivation, and reinforcement of rewarding behaviors. The drug’s ability to rapidly release high levels of dopamine in reward areas of the brain strongly reinforces drug-taking behaviour, making the user want to repeat the experience. The result is the victim becoming addicted, behaving in awkward manner and often gravitating to insanity.
Some other youths take to rituals in the illusion of hitting it big and becoming rich overnight. Often, their inability to meet up with the prescriptions from the so-called native doctors (Dibias) and their female counterparts (Eze nwanyis), sees them end up in ruins and become walking corpses of sorts. They constitute present danger to the South East and by extension the future of Igbo nation. There is no how this menace can be discussed without taking the blame to all the segments of the society.
All the various organs of the leadership structure in the zone are culpable, if not complicit, commencing from the family, the community, the religious centres and the state. The entire value system in the land has crumbled. Growing up in the villages, we saw and adopted role models in men and women who made name in academic, civil service, trading and vocational engagements. Those that were conferred with chieftaincy titles in the communities or knighted in the church, were deserving of such honours. Rudimentary as the society appeared then, it had mechanisms to distinguish wealth with putrid sources from the one with fragrance.
But in this era of ego-mbute, and yahoo-yahoo, basic questions are no longer being asked by even the parents, let alone the community and the church. It is therefore, not enough to blame the youths for departing from the path of substance and tilting to the absurd. All hands must be on deck in redeeming them and redefining their future. Getting the youths right is a strategic step in reclaiming the South East and Igbo nation. Doing so will require revisiting the life style and entire set-up in the zone, beginning with the political leadership.
The present leadership recruitment processes in the region are faulty and should be tinkered with. Except in few instances, many of those on appointments or elective positions in the zone, are people, who in normal village square setting, cannot rise up to greet the people, “Ibe anyi mma mma nu” (my people, I salute you), and commandeer attention, without furtive glances from the audience sniggering, “who is he” (O bu onye)? This is not a question taken lightly in Igbo society. It is one that compels one to behave in line with prescribed norms and ethos of the society.
The ethical re-orientation should equally be extended to the communities. There must be a halt in enthroning people of questionable backgrounds as traditional rulers. The monarchs are supposed to be the custodians of the tradition and culture of the people. Fleeting characters do not fit in such role. Closely related to this is the nauseating trend of conferring chieftaincy titles to men and women of dubious tendencies. Same goes to the church in churning out frivolous awards in the name of fund raising. When these abnormalities are taken care of and the parents begin to assert themselves in the families, the youths will begin to sit up and toe the path of reason.
* DURU is the Editor, TheNiche Online Newspapers, Lagos. 08054103327, nwaukpala@yahoo.com)