Okija: Not A Show Of Shame
By Osita Chidoka
The okija saga lost an opportunity for further unraveling when my good friend, Olusegun Adeniyi, faintheartedly backed out from the trip to Okija under the innocent prompting of Governor Chimaroke Nnamani as he narrated in his VERDICT of 19 August. The prayers of Segun's wife, which I guess contributed in the backsliding, may have denied us the opportunity for a more nuanced view of Okija and its implications for a modern State from the erudite columnist. Segun's piece on the Okija episode titled Igbo Dilemma detracted from his usual insightful and analytical rigor and smacks of intellectual fatigue.
I was on an exchange program at Oxford University when the story of Okija broke. A classmate who wanted to know more about Okija and the carnivores first drew my attention to it after he read it on BBC online. Before I restate my answer to him I will give the background to his and my other classmates interest on this matter. At Oxford we were studying Global Business Environment and one of our text was, The Myth of Development, by Oswaldo De Rivero, a former Peruvian Diplomat. The main thrust of the book is that the developing Countries have no possibility of Development in the current global market. He argued that with World Bank, IMF and WTO as the new Supranational Clergy championing the opening of markets, deregulation, liberalization and privatization, development would only remain a myth for the third world Countries.
De Rivero showed with clarity that development occurred in the First world through a State led National Capitalism that protected the local market. Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong are the only Countries to join the league of industrialized nations since the 1960s and they achieved it through State led, protectionist strategy, he argued. The insistence on deregulation, privatization and liberalization as development strategy for African nations by the World Bank and IMF, he said, will lead to further poverty and exclusion. African Countries are not developing nations but should better be described as "non-viable national economies", says De Rivero.
Two of our lecturers, Drs Vivek Suneja, an Indian and Maxi Schoeman, a South African further developed this theme over many days with disturbing statistics of the current global environment that will make development difficult, almost impossible for African nations. Dr Schoeman gave interesting examples with Africa and dwelt extensively on South Africa and Nigeria. She dealt with compelling evidence the reasons why Foreign Direct investment will not come to Africa and why we cannot industrialize; I will deal with this in details in another essay. Being a true Nigerian and the only African in the class I ventured to dispel Dr Schoeman's pessimism with facts about the economic team in Nigeria and the NEEDS document they have prepared, as the road map to our redemption.
I made effort to convince the class that all hopes are not lost in Nigeria nay Africa, as the current reform strategy will usher in a new era of prosperity. Dr Schoeman's response to me was simply that the problem was not about reform packages but some part of African culture that seems to tolerate failure and refuse to socially deal with agents of that failure. In other words Africa is a long way from development if the ethos of a rural agrarian society is the substructure for constructing a modern society, with all its complexities.
Here lies the significance of Okija. The okija saga is not about the decomposing corpses. It is not about deception and fraud as many commentators have opined. Its true significance lies in the fact of its existence and patronage by a largely self-confessed Christian society with a high level of western education. Its import lies in the understanding of our loyalties, first, to the State, as the modern inheritor of ancient mores and tradition and to our culture as a negation of the concept of Statehood. Okija is a forceful reminder of the crisis of Statehood in Africa and as such requires maximum examination and analysis.
Trying to explain Okija to my classmate in Oxford, I told him a story my Grandmother told me. Just before her father, Ezeonufo of Amakwa, Ozubulu a neighboring town to Okija, died he called some of his children and told them of a Land he used as collateral for a loan from another Local Chief (property rights as a source of economic empowerment was well known to Igbo Society long before De Soto's seminal work-Mystery of Capital and should be revisited in Nigeria). However he warned them that should there be any dispute on the Land they should swear by Ogwugwu that the Land belongs to him. That was the highest form of respect for contract in Igbo culture, when a Man tells his children to swear on the pain of death. There are other issues, he warned them not to swear because he was not sure about the facts.
The truth is that Igbo mercantilism; trade and industry developed on the strong ethic of the numerous Ogwugwu shrines. The advent of Euro Christian ethos forcefully imposed on the Igbo society by civilizing missionaries only changed the form of worship without a corresponding transformation of the content. Here Igbo can read African or any society in transition. The absence of change in the content of religion, created the lacuna where religion and ethics were separated. This separation created the dual allegiance situation in the sub conscious of African people, one to the modern state and the other to the traditional society.
As you walk through Onitsha market and see the complex and almost riotous pace of trade and the system where traders enter each other's shop and take goods without an obvious agreement to the onlooker, do you wonder how they reconcile accounts without trouble? The faith in one another is not hinged on a court process or a police investigation, in the event of a breach but on the traditional judicial process represented by Ogwugwu, haba in Agulu and Iyi Oji in odekpe. The other punishment is immediate ostracization of the offender from the Market community until restitution is made, however a serial offender loses the right of readmittance. The psuedo christianisation of our ethics gave rise to the thoughtless breach of agreement that has become the order of the day in Nigeria.
How is it that the Christian ethos has been the driver of major developed nations and sustains their political and judicial system? How can we redirect the loyalty we have for Ogwugwu to our legal and political process? These are questions that should bother Segun and other commentators. This is why Segun should have gone to Okija to "feel" the pulse of what makes a widow send the corpse of his loved Husband to the evil forest, the worst and highest punishment visited on an Igbo Man.
Ike Achebe, the Historian Son of Prof. Chinua Achebe with a doctorate in Igbo history recently in Dr. Arthur Nwankwo's residence in Enugu gave me an instructive insight into Igbo concept of punishment. Ostracization is a major Igbo response to betrayal or resistance to communal decision. The idea of ostracization, he explained, is such a strong social sanction that the quest to avoid it made Igbo society very conservative. However ostracization can be remedied if the ostracized makes amends and returns to the ways of his forebears. The ultimate Igbo punishment that brings shame to the family is the depositing of a corpse at the evil forest (Ajo Ofia). It is the ultimate rejection meted out only to those who desecrate the Land through suicide and false oath taking. It means the person is not worthy of entering the earth (Ala). That is a punishment every traditional Igbo Man strives to avoid. If stealing of public funds will bring this punishment no Igbo Man born of his Father will tamper with it. That is the origin of the corpses at Okija; they are rejects that have desecrated the earth by swearing to false oath and as such must be sent to the evil forest by their families.
On the contrary, any United States Citizen found guilty of lying or even credit card default losses what matters most in an industrialized society, access to Credit and good standing in his community. The Christian ethos in the West is supported by an instant social sanction, strong and efficient legal framework and a climate of public opinion hostile to misdemeanor, to borrow the words of Lee Kuan Yew. The value placed on social esteem and good standing is so high in the West that a legal system was put in place to harness that value. Conversely the transfer of such a legal system that assumes the presence of social esteem, to Africa have failed woefully as attested to by the Ogwugwu Okija saga.
While not seeking a return to our traditional system of justice, which was suited for agrarian societies and represented a vital stage in Man's evolution to perceiving the omnipotence and omniscience of God there are questions crying out for answers here. I do not think that people go to Okija because of the slow process of our Courts (though that needs to be addressed) or the corruption of the Law enforcement agencies, deeper than that is the perception of inadequacy of punishment. Culturally what does a declaration of bankruptcy mean to an average Nigerian? What does oath taking in the Law court mean to an offender? If you perjure in Nigeria what are the Social consequences? If you are a chronic debtor and non-respecter of contractual agreements how does the society punish you other than through the Court process?
In the Western World, bad credit or collection activities against an individual effectively shuts him out of the economy, instantly. Landlords will not rent their house to him if there is a record of bad credit, credit card companies will not issue cards, which is the live wire of modern economies, immediate mortgage foreclosure and of course, denial of access to hold public office. A good credit standing, on the other hand, translates to lower interest rates and enjoyment of all the opportunities the Society can offer. The reward for misdemeanor is as socially repugnant and instant as the punishment of Ogwugwu. Conversely the incentive for good social standing and behavior is enormous and profitable.
To move our society beyond Ogwugwu we must develop those agencies that underpin modern societies. The current crisis of statehood in Nigeria is the product of the attempt to construct a modern economy on the ethos of a largely rural and agrarian society. We must develop institutions like credit agencies, background check databases, and national identity card system, if we want to fundamentally restructure and reform our society. Once people begin to see the kind of instant punishment that modern societies wrought on offenders then Ogwugwu will die a natural death. Like Ulu in Arrow of God, if the high priests persist, the gods will come to ruin. If they are smart they will find new day jobs and turn the shrine to tourist sites, with very good returns. Until then, Segun, it will remain our reality and not a show of shame.
Chidoka wrote from the School of Public Policy George Mason University, Virginia, USA
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