AN EXAMINATION OF THE IMPACT OF THE TRADITIONAL AFRICAN

KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS AND CULTURE ON CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL

ACHIEVEMENT IN AFRICA

Joseph C. A. Agbakoba
Department of Philosophy
University of Nigeria

1. Introduction
The persistent under performance of African states and societies in terms of the generally
accepted indices of societal development is a well-known fact that we need not demonstrate
here. Our concern rather is to examine and evaluate the impact of the traditional African
educational philosophy and practice on the achievement or rather underdevelopment of the
modern educational enterprise and on society, particularly political behaviour, and institutions.
Let us first of all note that traditional African societies were mostly oral cultures that
hardly relied on writing for the communication and preservation of ideas. The absence of written
documents and a system of education that centres around such documents, is probably the
principal factor in the neglect of traditional educational philosophy and practices whereas, there
are some documentation and studies of the traditional educational practices, there is virtually
none on traditional educational philosophy. One then has to sift and reconstruct traditional
educational philosophy and practices from anthropological materials. The necessity of this
exercise lies in the need to know how philosophical and practical orientation have evolved and
impacted on the modern educational ideas and practices and on society generally.
The reason why the traditional views, orientation and practices are not usually factored
into the making, evaluation and expectations of the modern system seems be a part of the deeper
problem of an inadequate understanding of development and the process of development. Extant
development theories are mostly either externalist theories, such as the dependency theories, that
see the changes in society, as the effect of external factors such as international capitalism and
globalisation; or internalist theories that concentrate on internal factors and dynamics, such as
the psychological theories that concentrate on the need for achievement within societies. It,
however, appears that the perspective we need to adopt is an internalist-externalist one, based on
what I may call impact/oppositional-tenacity effect.
Every society that is not totally isolated impacts on another society constituting some
level of threat or challenge to the nodal organizing principles, beliefs, institutions and practices
of the receiving society. And every society that is not totally isolated is similarly impacted upon.
Societies need to absorb and adjust to these external impacts; a society’s specific evolution
depends on the strength of the impact it receives and the nature of its oppositional-tenancy
regarding such an impact. The oppositional-tenacity of a society refers to the relative degree of
plausibility or believability, utility, and functionality of an ideology, in relation to contending
belief/value systems; and the resulting capacity of an ideology to retain the commitment of its
adherents and its overall direction and purpose.
Our purpose in this paper is to see what African societies have evolved, concentrating
particularly on Nigeria, given the impact of modern forces and the oppositional-tenacity of the
traditional. To accomplish this task, we shall first look at the aims, objectives (philosophy) of
the traditional educational system and the procedures and methods that were adopted to actualise
them, then we shall look at the modern educational philosophy and practice; and we shall then
evaluate the oppositional-tenacity of the traditional system, the distortion and transformations of
the modern system engendered by this oppositional-tenacity and the impact of these distortions
and transformations on the political system.

2.1 Traditional African Educational Philosophy and Practice

As mentioned earlier, we have to sift the traditional educational philosophy and practice
from anthropological materials. I shall begin with the relativity simpler task of establishing the
procedures, methods and practices used in the traditional societies.
The principal teacher-learner settings were apprenticeship and socialization. These
relationship are usually underscored by blood ties or kinship ties such as father-son, uncle-
nephew relations, as might be expected in a communal setting based largely on kinship ties.
However, there are cases of non-kinship settings, where, for instance, one is apprenticed to a
man from another village or town in order to learn a trade that is not readily practised in ones
own village or town or for other reasons. Usually in non-kinship settings, ties of friendship
and/or covenants are relied on to ensure that either parties fulfil their own part of the contract
without deliberately seeking to harm or ruin the other – this is usually a necessary step because
the master might adopt measures that will prevent the apprentice from learning as rapidly as he
could, or learning some trade secrets, or in extreme cases the apprentice could be sold into salary
or sacrificed ritually to some deity.1 Young people went to the various profession to which they
are apprenticed based on family tradition, choice, apparent talent, oracular selection and
revelation.
2.1 Teaching Procedures and Methods
The procedures and methods by which knowledge was imparted and retained include:
- Memorization. This is committing to memory the various ideas, notions and practices
that one should learn. To make this readily achievable Africans extensively used
recitations and repetitions. In addition, Africans favour poetic forms, aphorisms,
proverbs, folktales (usually short tales), lyrics in encapsulated, preserving and
transferring their knowledge and wisdom. Memorization is used eminently by the native
doctors who have to memorize the figures, symbols, poems, stories, etc that are used in
the process of divination, magical and therapeutic practices, which could run into
thousands.2
- Conditioning. This is broadly speaking learning by practice or practical involvement.
This goes on until a skill that is being imparted approaches the level of a conditioned
reflex or high dexterity. The skills of the black smith, basket maker, farmer, etc are
mostly learnt in this way.
- Ritual/ceremonial enactment and reinforcement: Africans employ ritual and
ceremonial enactments to preserve and teach their accumulated knowledge and wisdom.
For instance in Onitsha a town in the Igbo speaking part of Nigeria, a new born baby is
brought into the residential building for the first time after the ceremony of “ma-a-ma.
S.I. Bosah describe the ceremony thus:

Women and grown up children sing the ma-a-ma”

lyric whilst beating and clanging utensils and
farming implement, telling the child to be
industrious, willing to learn, honest in his dealings
and respectful to its parents and elders. Thus a
foundation is laid for the ethical norm of the new
babe.
The lyric song is rendered in the following manner:
Nnei gwai okwu rubisi
Obey your mother when she talks to you
MA-A-MA
Nnai gwai okwu rubisi
Obey your father when he talks to you
MA-A-MA
Welu ogu jebe ugbo
Carry your hoe to the farm
MA-A-MA
Welu ite sibe nni
 Pick up a pot and cook
MA-A-MA
Welu nkata jebe afia
Pick up your basket and go to the market
MA-A-MA
Ijide ife inye madu
Be kind to others
MA-A-MA3

The most important of these ritual/ceremonial enactments and reinforcement were

initiation ceremonies and rituals used in the formal entry into various types of associations, both
open and secrets.
- Positive and negative sanctions. Societies usually by their system of positive reward
and negative sanction socialize (educate) their citizens especially in terms of personality
formation and development. Traditional African societies deployed this method most
efficiently as could be seen in the array of titles available in the traditional societies most
of which were achievement based and non transferable. In Awka the Capital City of
Anambra State of Nigeria, there are some 7 titles available to its indigenous population.
One of such titles is the ozo title, the most widespread and most prestigious title in the
Igbo speaking area of Nigeria. It confers the highest priestly, political, administrative
powers to its holders as well as social status and prestige. It is generally based on the
material achievement and character of the holders.
Negative sanctions include public ridicule, ostracism, banishment (including sale into
slavery as was the case in Adazi-Nnukwu, an Igbo town with one Obedum who revealed the
secrets of the masquerade society to a woman named Nwamgbeke in return for amorous
favours) corporeal punishment and death.4 It should be noted that the threat of negative
sanctions hung low and heavily on members of the society. The fear of negative sanctions was a
major way of inducing moral rectitude, forming character and pursuing associational and
societal goals for reasons we shall see later.
All these procedures and methods were applied in informal, semi-formal and formal settings;
for, although education in traditional Africa was mostly informal, there were semi-formal and
formal settings such as ebe sessions for girls among the Igbo towns of Anaocha local
government in Anambra State and the Iwa Ogogo activities of the Odo masquerade institution,
for young men between the ages of 17 – 18, among northern Igbo towns, such as Ebe.5

2.2 The Aims and Objectives of Traditional Education

 The aims and objectives of traditional education may be categorized broadly into two:
development of cognitive capacities and practical skills; and the development of character and
personality. It is however fruitless to discuss the aims and objectives of the traditional system
without the core philosophical values that underpin them; this is particularly necessary because
we have to go back and forth from aims and objectives to core philosophical values in order to
reconstruct them given the oral and unsystematic nature of the subject. Among the Igbo of
Nigeria, the above distinction between cognitive capacities/skills and character/personality
approximates the sort of abilities and capacities they will classify as Amamife – knowledge and
skills; and Ako na Uche – Ako (tack, diplomacy) and Uche (wisdom).
The first step in understanding the philosophical values aims and objectives of the traditional
system lies in appreciating the historical context in which the societies thrived. Africa isolated
by the Sahara desert and the oceans existed in the stage of low technology, which was
characterized by a very slow pace in invention and innovation – perhaps, 1 revolutionary
innovation in 5,000 to 10,000 years. Consequently, the key problem was survival in a difficult
physical environment – producing and storing enough food, overcoming deadly diseases, etc.
These were enormous physical challenges given the low level of technology and knowledge of
the way nature truly works. In addition, given the extremely slow rate of scientific and
technological progress one could expect that the future will be like the present. Under these
circumstances physical (material) survival became the supreme value (African traditional
philosophy and religion, as any serious examination will show, were built around the
maintenance and promotion of material survival/preservation; indeed the European traditional
religion and those of most other parts of the world also show this quality – but it does not
necessarily have to be so, because the ancient Hebrew religion and culture show a remarkable
under determination by material circumstances and material survival.6
Under the above circumstances amamife was valued for its utility in the survival process;
it thus necessarily had to issue in some type of skill that enhanced survival. Knowledge was
hardly desired or pursued for its own sake and so was not for most of the time a theoretical
pursuit. Question(s) about why things were the way they were mostly got spiritist answers. The
people developed and subscribed to a vitalist, panpsychist and pantheist world view in which the
fundamental, and a good deal of the secondary, level of causation was spiritual – with the gods
and spirits as causal agents. It was, following from this, the gods that possessed the knowledge
of cause and effect and all true knowledge. Human beings could truly know only those things
given to them by the gods. It was the gods/spirits, then, that gave human beings inventions and
innovative ideas – creativity of all types (artist and technical), was divinely assisted.7 Given that
the deities possessed true knowledge and creativity, human beings were required to do two
things: supplicate the deities for knowledge and creativity (which they then obtained through
divination and intuitive sources); master completely and utilize maximally what the deities
provide. It appears that there was a certain aversion to asking the deities for technical inventions
and innovations and indeed sublime artistic ones as well, because they usually, in the minds of
people, went with a high price: death or some other great misfortune to those who obtain them
(for instance in the Nri myth, Nri had to sacrifice his first son and first daughter in order to learn
how to cultivate yams and coco-yams, i.e. agriculture.)8 Given the cost of sharing in the divine
knowledge of the why and how of things, the widely accepted objective of education was to gain
dexterity; and proficiency in the available skills and the maximum exploitation of such skills.
The pursuit of creativity, especially technical ones, was not popular, virtually unknown and
dangerous to many.
Let us now turn to character/personality formation and interactive skills (interactive
skills are the sum total of the way an individual regulates – or does not regulate – with the aid of
internal control mechanisms his/her relations with other human beings in the various contexts
and roles in which they are encountered; setting out the concrete expression of attitudes,
motivations, desires of individuals in relation to one another, including one another’s property,
opportunities, welfare, etc.) We see here that the goal of education was gaining and exhibiting
ako na uche (tact/diplomacy and wisdom). But what tactfulness, diplomacy and wisdom does
amount to traditionally? In order to properly understand these notions and the way the
functioned in the traditional society, we have to go beyond the concept of survival and
panpsychism and vitality (vital force) that under pinned the traditional ontology to the principles
that underpin traditional ethics; namely the twin principles of izońkwù and agwo kalia ibe ye o
noo nya (respectively and literally, fighting or struggling for ones standing or position; and, the
more powerful snake swallows the weaker one). (We shall hence refer to these as the nkwu and
agwo principles (or nkwu n’ agwo principles).
These two principles present the notions of internal solidarity and co-operation and
external aggression or aggressive competitiveness respectively. This is because ones nkwu
covers in decreasing degree of intensity ones family, extended family, clan, and maximal
political-social group (such as town, tribe, kingdom etc) thus we have expressions as Izukananne
(cooperation and trust is best amongst uterine siblings); Izonkwu nwanne (fighting for the
standing of ones brother or sister, loosely ones cousins, uncles, aunts etc). izonkwu umunna
(fighting for the standing of ones maximal extended family or kindred group; izonkwu ogbe (
fighting for standing of ones village or clan) izonkwu obodo (fighting for the standing of ones
country). The nkwu is usually based on kinship or blood ties, either real or contrived ones and it
marks the maximum limit of the application and enforcement of ethical as well as legal rules and
codes hence the fundamental particularism and voluntarism of traditional ethics).9 Members of
the nkwu are usually referred to in terms that express shared identity, such as onye nke mu (one
of my own), nwanna mu (son of my father).
Outside ones nkwu is the mba (literally, foreign land) Here the accepted standard of
morality and law do not apply; here the law of the survival of the fittest applies; Okwechime
writes correctly in this regard that:
Other than the established taboos and laws. The rule of the game
of existence was the survival of the fittest. For instance, if a man
was stronger than another man who was known to be courting a
girl who may even have been betrothed to the suitor, the
stronger man could beat him up and disgrace him publicly by
defeating him in a wrestling contest to ward him off the girl. He
then took over the girl. There was nothing wrong in seducing
another man’s wife and taking her over if a man was stronger
than the husband but adultery was forbidden particularly for
women and incest was considered an abomination.
Stronger men went to other towns to rob them of their
cows, sheep and other property. This was considered an act of
bravery. It was a mark of cowardice however, to do such things
within one’s own town. One was compelled to make restitution
if known to have stolen from within the town in addition to
paying stipulated fines. If one stole from his relation, it was
considered an abomination and the relevant sanctions would
apply in addition to ritual propitiation. In particular, there were
laws and taboos in inheritance, murder, stealing and adultery
among others. 10
People belonging to mba are usually referred to in derogating terms and frequently as game to be
hunted (among the Aro of Igbo land a person belonging to the mba category is referred to in
words like onye uzo-ohia – literally one from the bush path or more appropriately one from the
bush, with all the allusion to hunting).
Diplomacy/tact and wisdom (ako n’ uche) lies in knowing when to correctly apply the
principles of nkwu and those of agwo. On the whole, however, given the blood bond basis of
this ethical outlook, the principles of nkwu hardly ever goes or is not meant to go beyond natural
blood bond relations – kinship ties or contrived blood bond relations which are usually based on
covenants sealed with oaths made to and/or guaranteed by deities; and/or the swallowing of a bit
the blood of one another – which may be mixed with wine to render more palatable.
Understanding the application of these two principle is the key to understanding the apparent
contradiction in the ethical teachings and character formation of traditional Africa: the
contradiction in the folk tales between extolling the ruthlessness, cunning of the amoral tortoise
and the condemnation of the jealousy and malice of step mothers and their children; the
extolling of charity and hospitality in some proverbs and sayings and their condemnation in
some others.11 The moral of these folktales, proverbs, and sayings do not apply in the same
context - the ones that underscore solidarity and co-operation are for the nkwu and those that
extol aggressive competitiveness are for the mba. The African is, thus taught to be
deceptive/dissimulating, cunning, ruthless, exploitative in dealing with an ‘mba; and faithful,
loyal, charitable, truthful, etc while dealing with an nkwu. It should be noted here that within
what ordinarily should be an Nkwu divide frequently emerge that create out-groups that are
treated with some or all of the agwo principles that apply to the mba; notable among such
divisions are the master-slave division, those of gender (male-female) and the initiate/non-
initiate that mark the membership and non-membership of secret societies. Further, it should
also be noted that these ethical principles and outlook are applied and pursued in the context of
ontology of spiritualised material self-preservation that is non-ascetic (even anti-ascetic), and
averse to technical creativity and innovation.
Given the above, in terms of character, personality formation and interactive skills, the
major objective is to train people for the rule of personality over and above the rule of law (the
rule of personality it seems is the best phrase to depict the opposite of the rule of law; for it
describes a system that defers to personalities, or in which personalities are projected over the
law, or in which personalities are the law). The rule of personality is the rule of the ego at the
bottom; either ones ego or that of another person. The fact that African communities made a
distinction between the nkwu and the mba - to which the agwo principles apply -does not alter
this result in the socialization process of traditional Africans. This is because the rule of
personality is not abrogated but hedged in by the rule of the nkwu in order to create and
maintain group solidarity and cohesion for the purpose of applying victoriously the agwo
principles to the out-group, the mba; in the other words it’s a sublimation of the rule of
personality at the individual level in order for it to be applied more effectively at the collective
and higher level.
Before we go on to look at the evolution of the traditional ideas and practices, let us look
at the traditional conception of the subject-learner. The traditional African did not see the
subject-learner as a tabula-rasa in the Lockean sense, nor did they subscribe to innatism (in the
sense of the possession of innate ideas that should be brought to the level of consciousness for
knowledge to exist). The traditional African approach was based largely on the intuitionist
approach to knowledge and it was some kind of cross between the above two ideas. The
individual had a personal guiding spirit (Chi among the Igbo; Ori among the Yoruba); this was
responsible for the destiny, mental capacities, etc and the actual content and extent of ones
knowledge and wisdom. In addition, the spirits or gods could arrange for the individual to know
things and gain skills, via intuitive sources such as dreams, insight, revelation from deities, etc.
Ones chi thus determines and regulates the cognitive, attitudinal and conative capacities and
skills. For the traditional African, the individual should make all effort possible to acquire and
exercise knowledge and wisdom, but in the end ones Chi determines how much knowledge and
wisdom are gained and exercised and for these reasons, among others, ones Chi should be
propitiated.
3. The Impact of the Traditional Education Philosophy and Practice on Africa’s
Development
The impact of the traditional educational philosophy and practice on contemporary
Africa is best traced by understanding the way(s) by which the traditional philosophy and
practice have mutated, but yet remained active and potent. When the colonialists and
missionaries came to Africa, they brought an educational philosophy and system of education
that was fundamentally different in many ways (if not totally) particularly in terms of the
purpose(s) and objectives of education and method(s) – which was characterized by the hitherto
unknown emphasis on literacy, formal education and its settings, procedures and methods. In
terms of the new educational philosophy there was a paradigm or conceptual shift in the purpose
that underpinned the educational effort from accomplishments in the spiritist and intuitive
framework of the old (the traditional system) to accomplishments in the mechanistic and
rationalistic framework of the new (the modern system).
The agents of modernity – the colonialists and missionaries – relied greatly on the formal
system of education in the schools they built. These schools were run largely on European
models with emphasis on cognitive development. Africans who hitherto were more or less a
tabula-rasa in respect of reading, writing, arithmetic and the empirical sciences picked these
things up rapidly, with many excelling and going on to become lawyers, doctors scientists, etc.
However, this modern system did not address the aversion to creativity/innovation and the
interactive skills of the African adequately.
The former was not generally seen as a problem to be addressed by the educational
system (this was largely the same in the home countries of the modernizers, which gave rise to a
reform movement in Britian in1960’s aimed at making creativity a centerpiece of education).12
The latter (character/personality formation and interactive skills) was supposed to be taken care
of by religious and catechetical lessons in conjunction with the discipline in schools. However, it
appears that in both cases conscious and adequate effort to counteract the strongly negating
influence of the traditional system of education (which led in the opposite direction) were not
made. And, it appears that this is because the existence of a traditional system with a philosophy
of education was not recognized. Consequently Africans developed rapidly cognitively in the
Western modern way; but in creativity/innovation and interactive skills Africans remained not
just the same but more negatively so, because the nkwu principles which centered aground the
traditional polity have largely been eroded by the imposition of alien and artificial States and
State structures as we shall see below).
There are for instance no “creativity hours” or its proper equivalent in the curriculum of
schools, let alone the proper implementation of such programmes; and the national policy on
education in Nigeria does not mention the development of creativity/innovation especially
technical creativity and innovation as one of its major objectives13. This defect shows clearly in
the abysmally low figures of local patents registered in Nigeria, a country with an estimated
population of 120million: 14

Year Number of Patents

2000 16
2001 35
2002 40
2003 30
2004 70
2005 55

In respect of character/personality formation and interactive skills we see a mutation of

the traditional objectives, institutions and practices with dare consequences for society. We have
already seen that the ultimate basis of the educational objective and processes in respect of
character and interactive skills in the traditional system is the rule of personality. However, the
suppression of truth and objectivity, deceptiveness, duplicity, dissimulation, exploitation,
expropriation, violence, destruction, etc that went with the rule of personality was mitigated by
the nkwu principles, which was enforced by the traditional polities and the deities they were
collectively (and individually) committed to. The modern situation destroyed the traditional
policy and its effectiveness in enforcing the nkwu principles; and also destroyed (as it appears
superficially) many of the traditional gods and severely eroded the rest, making them ineffective
in enforcing the nkwu principles as well. Under these circumstances the agwo principles and an
unmitigated form of the rule of personality come to the fore. The African was then left
unfettered in the pursuit of the agwo principles; fettered neither by the eroded traditional system
nor the alien more or less rootless modern system. Thus, the application of the agwo principle
has increased in intensity and “extensivity”. “In Nigeria, for instance using the traditional ways
of contriving blood relationships (creating an artificial nkwu based on covenants many of which
involve rituals that are blood based) to create a collective or group ego in order to exploit the
social environment more effectively, secret societies have increased tremendously. This
accounts for the rapid expansion of secret societies in tertiary institutions (universities and
polytechnics) and to some extent secondary schools, from the creation of the first modern secret
society in the Nigerian university system at the University of Ibadan about 1955 to the present
time when over 100 have been identified.15 These secret societies engage in all manner of social
evils and criminal activities from cronyism, abortion legal/administrative justice and merit,
cover-ups to drug abuse, arson, murder and armed robbery16 These secret societies through
initiation ceremonies and programmes of socialization imbue their members with values,
attitudes and interactive skills that are completely at variance with the objectives of
university/tertiary education and the needs of the state. This is a typically case of parallel and
contradictory pursuits in the society; with the old morphing into something that totally frustrates
the objectives of the modern system.
The impact of the traditional system on the modern system of education and society
generally is tremendous. Because of the lacunae in character formation, interactive skills and
creativity, cognitive development which had earlier profited from the modern system is in great
decline particularly in Nigeria, hacked by exam malpractice, corruption, secret societies and
other forms of irresponsibilities.17 The wide spread nature of exam malpractice can be seen by
the results of the tests conducted by some Nigerian universities in 2005 for their prospective
students who had ostensibly passed the entrance exams conducted by the Joint Admissions and
Matriculations Board (JAMB). On the whole only some 20-25% of candidates who scored 200
and above on the maximum scale of 400 in the JAMB exam scored 200 and above in the
university tests, confirming the widely held opinion that the JAMB exams were totally
comprised.
Corruption in the educational system and public life has denied schools at all levels of
equipment, up to date libraries and laboratories, instructional materials, proper teacher – student
ratio, etc., bringing about the low levels in analytical, verbal and writing skills mentioned in the
UNDP Human Development Report. In addition, apart from the problems mentioned above in
relation to secret societies, these organizations also prevent normal learning activities by
attacking fellow students and staff in study rooms, libraries, laboratories, theatres and other
public places. Consequently, staff and students cannot readily make use of such places beyond
6-7pm, drastically reducing the period available for lecture and private study in a atmosphere
that is conducive to learning, since the hostels are largely overcrowded.
The production of persons steeped in the rule of personality by the parallel process of the
traditional education and ineffectiveness of the modern one described above, has grave
implications for contemporary political behaviour and the development of Africa. In the first
place the vast majority of the population (young and old) do not have the disposition for truth,
justice and merit that is necessary to hold their leaders responsible-leaders are simply those who
pursue the rule of personality in the most brutal and ruthless manner, for only the language of
force can sway a people given to the notion of the rule of personality. This is a major factor in
explaining the wide spread resort to dictatorship, government by “strong men” and wars.
Further, it explains the problem with democracy in many African states. Democracy demands
checks on the potential to abuse power by leaders through the exercise of moral coercive power
on the part of the followers – that is the use of such actions as demonstrations, strikes, rallies,
collection of signatures, voting candidates out of office, hunger strikes, etc to express moral
outrage at the abuse of power, lapses in leadership and the replacement of such leadership. But
due to the force of the rule of personality, we do not see people coming out to take such actions
in many African countries. In Nigeria for instance, corrupt, undemocratic and unjust rulers are
accepted because they exhibit the properties that the majority will exhibit if they find themselves
in power, in fact many console themselves with exploiting and expropriating those within their
power while awaiting higher opportunities to do the same; consequently, democracy, so far, is
virtually a sham.
4. Concluding Remarks
From our examination of the educational system in Africa, particularly Nigeria, it should
be obvious that the underperformance of the educational sector in terms of meeting the needs of
African societies in the contemporary era with its currents of globalization, information
technology, environmental sustainability, democracy, human rights and good governance – is
rooted in the traditional ideologies, institutions and practices; and that the educational sector is
not alone in experiencing the adverse effects of the inadequacies and shortcomings of the
traditional ideologies institutions and practices. The problems of development in Africa
including those of the educational sector must be addressed holistically and solutions must
accepted and project a universalistic and rationalistic ideology; and one of the major steps in this
direction is begin from the roots. One major step in this regard is that Africans must taking
responsibility for the state of affairs in the continent recognizing that the inherited ideology and
institutions have been made it difficult for Africans to compete effectively on the world stage,
indeed have made Africans to under develop Africa beginning with the slave trade. (Africans
must take responsibility for their part -the part of their ancestors in this obnoxious trade and so
rather than ask for reparation which seems to be like the case of a seller who finds out after
sometime that he/she sold his/her ware too cheaply, goes after the buyer requesting for more
money- Africans rather must engage in purgation: a collective act of purging the continent of the
ghost of slavery by accepting responsibility for it and opening up the citizenship of African
countries to all those of African descent in Diaspora). Taking responsibility for the past is an
important step in accepting and working with a universalistic and rationalistic ideology.
Another major step is that Africans must begin to develop the auto correction
mechanisms of her modern institutions based on not only the inherited vertical cross-check
mechanisms applied in the West (that is the reliance on those occupying a higher notch in a
vertically aligned hierarchy for supervision, enforcement of rule and maintenance of standards)
but also on horizontal cross-check mechanisms (that is the deployment of allied organizations
and formations in an auditing, cross-examining and countervailing manner). It was, for instance,
is sort of deployment of the Nigerian universities that showed the extent of the compromise of
the JAMB examinations and sifted the candidates far more effectively (it should be noted that
JAMB exams came into existence in 1978 because it was believed, among other things, that the
universities were corrupts in their conduct of entrance examination so neither JAMB alone nor
the universities can conduct examinations and the admission process fairly; a system involving
the two in which the universities cross-check JAMB result appears most effective). It appears
then that innovative way of developing horizontal cross-cheek mechanisms on a wider scale for
the various institutions of the country is very appropriate.
Finally, let me point out that the task of making Africa work properly in the
contemporary world, though a primary affair of Africans should attract the attention of the
wealthy West primarily on grounds of enlightened self-interest; not simply on grounds of
charity. This is because unless Africa works properly (that is have functional and stable states
that deliver economic progress and social welfare) the wave of migration from her shores to the
West and the consequent strain on Western welfare services cannot be easily stopped. In
addition, a good deal of the resources of international organizations which could be deployed for
better purposes will continue to be spent on peace keeping, relief and medication. And, an Africa
that works is an economic opportunity for the West and the rest of the world in terms of
investment/returns, markets, tourism and environmental sustainability.

Notes

1. For an account of elements of this relationship see A.A. Dike, The Resilience of Igbo
Culture (Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers, 1985) pp 60 – 64
2. W. Abimbola, Ifa Divination Poetry (New York: Nok Publishers Ltd, 1977) pp 11 -
14
3. S.I. Bosah, Groundwork of the History and Culture of Onitsha (Onitsha: No 1
Bosah Street, Circa 1975) p 119
4. I.N. Ogbukagu, Traditional Igbo Belief and Practices (Owerri, Novelty Industrial
Enterprises, 1997) pp 101 – 102
5. See, Ibid, pp 160 – 191, for a discussion of the Ebe School for girls. I am grateful to
M. Nwabisi for information on the Iwa Ogodo activities in Ebe town. The
Ebe schools should not be confused with Ebe town, a settlement in the
Northern Igbo area.
6. The Mosaic injunctions against various types of divination and other magical
practices, which people followed to enhance their chances of survival, are
an example.
7. The High life star musician Osita Osadebe in one of his songs expresses this, by
claiming that he came by his musical talent and songs via the assistance and
teaching of a water spirit.
8. B. Abanuka, Myth and the African Universe (Onitsha: Spiritan Publications, 1999)
pp 77 – 79
9. I have discussed these notions in details in “The Supreme Being in African
Traditional Thought: A Logico- Ontological Approach” in Annual of
Medieval Studies at Central European University, Budapest, Volume 10,
2004 pp 129 – 144
10. C. Okwechime, Onicha – Ugbo Through the Centuries (Lagos: Max-Henrie and
Associate, Ltd, 1994) p 67
11. For contradictory views on hospitality see I. Idowu, Olodumare (London: Longman
Group Ltd 1963) pp157 – 160. Below are some of the contradictory morals
in the folktales about the tortoise as recorded by G.T. Basden in Among the
Ibos of Nigeria (University Publishing Co, 1982) (First Published 1921) pp
274 – 276; 278 – 280:
One fine afternoon a tortoise met a fowl and inquired of him
whither he was going? The fowl replied that he was on his way to call
upon the tortoise. The tortoise answered, ”I am sorry, but I have
nothing nice in my house wherewith to entertain you this afternoon. If,
however, you will accompany me I will lead you to a beautiful udala
tree laden with ripe juicy fruit.” When they arrived at the spot the
tortoise besought his friend, the udala tree, to give them some fruit,
but the proposal did not commend itself to the tree. Thereupon the
tortoise suggested that the tree should drop one of its fruits on his
back. The tree did so, and the udala split on the shell of the tortoise
and he and the fowl licked up the juice.
 The tortoise said it was now the fowl’s turn to stand so that an
udala might fall upon his head. The idea frightened the fowl. He
declared that if the hard fruit fell upon his head the blow would kill
him. He was willing for it to fall upon his back but not upon his head.
The tortoise was annoyed at this display of caution and taunted the
fowl with it, which led to a sharp quarrel between them. Meantime
neither of them could enjoy the fruit and realizing this, the fowl at
length consented to the proposal. He called upon the tree to drop
another fruit. When it fell on the fowl’s head it killed him. Then the
tortoise, regardless of this friend’s fate, licked up the juice of the
udala and then carried the dead fowl to his home and cooked and ate
him.
From one of the legs of the fowl he manufactured a flute and
he used to sit outside his house and play “tilo ntiloo tiloo, egwu nara
n’obodo anyi,” ie. “music and dancing are taking place (being
played) in our town.” One day a hawk flew down and said, “Oh!
Tortoise, what price did you pay for the flute? Let me examine it; it
appears to be a very nice one, please let me try it” “Oh! no!” replied
the tortoise. “I know your cunning craftiness. Were I to place it in
your hands (claws) you would immediately fly off with it.” The hawk
declared he would not be guilty of such a naughty trick, and that if the
tortoise did not trust him let him cling to his feathers and thus prevent
him from flying off with the flute. The suspicious of the tortoise were
allayed; he caught hold of a feather and allowed the hawk to take the
flute. Suddenly the hawk soared up into the air leaving the tortoise
nothing but the feather. He was extremely vexed with the hawk and at
once began to plan how he might recover his instrument. He kept a
close watch on the movements of the hawk and one day saw him set
forth on an important mission. The tortoise made his way to the
hawk’s nest in the guise of a messenger. He met the hawk’s mother
and informed her that her son had forgotten to take his flute when
starting on his journey, and that he had been commissioned to bring
it. Unsuspectingly the mother handed over the flute to the tortoise,
who quickly made his way again to his own home.
On his return, the hawk heard the sounds of music and
recognized whence they came. At once he inquired of his mother who
 had restored the flute to the tortoise? She replied that she had done so
under the impression that she was fulfilling his command, whereupon
the hawk was so enraged that he seized her and threw her on the fire.
Afterwards he repented of his hasty action and went to try and rescue
his parent, but he was too late.
This is the reason why the hawks hover over bust fires! They
are seeking their old, old grandmother.

X X X X X X X X X X

One day a tortoise challenged a buffalo to a tug-of-war. The

buffalo poked fun at him and said, “who will give you strength to pull
against me?” the tortoise replied, “never mind, wait and see.” So
they appointed a day and drew up rules for the contest, deciding
particularly upon the signal for starting. The tortoise straightway
went and challenged an elephant, and concluded arrangements for a
contest on the same terms.
When the day arrived the tortoise fastened one end of the rope
round the neck of the buffalo and then acted as if he were proceeding
to take hold of the other end. But the rope was of such a length that,
when stretched, one competitor was out of sight of the other. The
tortoise called the elephant and tied the rope to his neck, and went
through a similar maneuver to that practiced with the buffalo. At the
agreed signal the two began to pull and strain, and the struggle
became so furious that it ended in the death of both.
The tortoise congratulated himself on the strategy whereby he
had obtained so much meat for so little trouble. As he was cutting it
up, he heard the wind singing in the trees, and he thought some
people were approaching who might rob him of the spoil. He become
angry and in his excitement fell upon his knife and killed himself.
Moral: the cunning deceiver is apt to meet with a fate quite as
miserable as that of the deceived.

12. R.G Wood and R. St C Barrow, An Introduction to Philosophy of Education (London:

Methuen and Co Ltd, 1975) p 142
13. Ibid, p. 142. In the National Policy on Education 3rd Edition (1998) There is no mention
of creativity, technical or otherwise in the first section which deals with the
Philosophy and Goals of Education in Nigeria”. It is mentioned nebulously
in the section on the purpose of pre-primary education and the section on
teacher education; but not in the sections on primary, secondary and tertiary
education in Universities, Polytechnics/ Monotechnics.
14. Source: Federal Ministry of Commerce Nigeria
15. “Anchor” a publication for Secret Cult and Drug Abuse Elimination Action Team
(SECDRAT), University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (Nsukka, 1999) p. 4.
16. Ibid, “It is on record that about 70% of armed robberies are committed by
undergraduates and about 95% of this group are secret cult members”. p. 7
17. UNDP, Human Development Report, 2002.