The Tragedy of the Igbo Intellectual

Wake up everybody
No more sleeping in bed
No more backward thinking
Time for thinking ahead
The world’s change so very much
For what it use to be
There is so much hatred
War and poverty

----Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes

If you fast-forward the Kenneth Gamble-Leon Huff production on The Sound of Philadelphia Records label released by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes with that powerful voice of Theodore Pendergrass way back in 1973 now, there will be a whole lot to tell the world has not gotten any better based on if one should ask me coming that afar thirty-something years ago when technology had just begun in making life better from every aspect of society.

We haven’t seen much change over the years because the entire world is still compounded by the same old problems; problems now worse than ever seen before. Thirty-something years ago when the Blue Notes envisioned a fragile world if I still remember, was after the pogrom in a fast pace took place in Nigeria when pregnant women were eviscerated and disemboweled and the world looking the other way as if nothing happened which is reason enough the Igbo intellectual is seen as lacking a sense of belonging in taking the lead putting into perspective all that happened during the pogrom and the ominous consequences that followed. On the other hand, it had been presumed what happened over forty years ago should be forgotten by moving on and I will be coming to that in a minute.

Perhaps I may not have a problem with such gruesome acts of unnatural taste committed against humankind for the fact Igbo people as one observer noted are just “stupid” because if you walk into any bookstore today some Armenian who wasn’t born during the Armenian genocide of 1915 has written a book provoking greater popular outrage around the globe; one Jew born about twenty-seven years ago and has learned from the Synagogue that to forget is to proclaim Hitler innocent has compiled a book on a witness to the truth – the Holocaust; a South African who found his way escaping Apartheid to the woods around Mississippi has jotted down his experience of injustice; a teenager somewhere in the Lebanese community in Michigan is writing about the Beirut massacre of 1982; a Brit having no clue of 17th Century England has written a detailed account on the Gunpowder Plot orchestrated to bring the British empire to its knees during the Elizabethan era; a Chinese immigrant whose forebears were demolished and plundered writes about the Naijing massacre; a Cambodian puts into perspective the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s; a Balkan writes about the Bosnian massacres of the 1990s; a then seven-year-old is reflecting and piecing together the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and a curious minded being documents on the death of Anne Frank and the Concentrations Camps, and construction of the Holocaust museums as the list goes on and on.

But nowadays, encounter an Igbo anywhere especially at a beer parlor, isi-ewu joints and places like that, the theme of such forums would sound much normal as in any regular bar – hanging out in those Armani suits and spewing out nonsense on the grounds of alcohol and loose women being involved. The irony though is that none comes out with something of substance, some kind of brilliant and meaningful stuff even though altered minds in an environment alcohol and women are involved can still have decent debates and argue intellectually.

My point here is precisely about we who have embedded ourselves into the American social system which is unlike any other in the world, a nation that has emerged from nations all over the world, and a nation pragmatically created, never seen before to have not taken advantage like other immigrants in building community and being concretely part of a system where collectivity ultimately leads to utopia.

My attempt here is a studied survey based on different accounts regarding the Igbo guardian, the so-called “intellectual” and how it is today a tragedy.

Is there an instance where some thought has been put in place how we explored the shores of America over forty years ago like our other immigrant counterparts and yet have nothing, absolutely nothing to show for it? Has anyone thought about what would be the position of our children fifteen years from now in a faster changing environment resourced through community, put it this way, a historic problem that absorbed so much effort to resolve and finally brought about change by electing a second generation immigrant Barack Obama president of the United States? And did anyone think about how we could have established ourselves here in Diaspora as a powerhouse in every aspect, in such a way we could influence the “power brokers” in our native land permanently putting to a stop riff raffs running the show? Has anyone reflected, studied and investigated the most blood soaked event in its era where our women were raped by Islamic hoodlums who were also nihilists, killed en-masse infants and children; and then murdered our men in the most brutal of circumstances in an attempt to wipe out a specific ethnic group which amounts to genocide by any accepted definition?

Besides a very notable few like scholar Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe whose extensive and exhaustive writings on the pogrom and Biafra is out there; Oguchi Nkwocha as a vivid witness who consistently maintained his ground on the status quo in evaluating and studying the ominous consequences of the pogrom; Emeka Amanze whose movement is quite revealing on a sorry state of the Igbo nation and lessons learned during the pogrom; M. O. Ene’s unrelenting effort and the book Jaundiced Justice, and most recently an inspiring novel Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who wasn’t yet born during the said conflict, no Diaspora Igbo has emerged to author an analysis regarding the atrocious nature of what the Islamic Jihadists deliberately did to the Igbo people in a “premeditated and diabolical act” programmed to wipe out the Igbo nation from the face of this planet.

The Diaspora Igbo intellectual’s inability to deal solidly with home-abroad realities is characteristic of the peculiar failure of the Igbo intellectual and so also is a failed leadership back home resulting to being compelled to give up and quieted in exchange for cash and other treasures by gangsters who overnight hijacked and destroyed every aspect of Igbo ideals. Since the Igbo intellectual has been flattened and cannot deal adequately with a hijack of Igbo ideals on moral grounds by a group of imbeciles and thuggish elements who are now thriving on a confused and chaotic Igbo nation, the option left for the Igbo intellectual becomes obvious which is ultimately succumbing on the basis of being vulnerable and gullible.

A situation like that is a dangerous one especially in a society that is still on its path for a structure required to make the availability of social programs a basic as in all civil and organized societies. It is only in banana republics checks and balances are negated to track the records of public office holders; and the trouble of the Igbo intellectual, in this case, is abandonment of responsibilities because the Igbo intellectual is no longer interested on the welfare of the people supposedly to be guided, thus relying heavily on individualism and bent on a selfish gain based on what his surroundings are feeding him.

The following statements are typical confessions one hears constantly from supposedly Diaspora Igbo intellectual: “Look, our mates are now running the show in Igbo land and they are chopping. I have no choice than to join the bandwagon.” “Did you hear he has been appointed as assistant to the local government chairman? I just spoke to him on the phone not too long ago and he was full of life because he is now chopping, talking big and things like that.” Or “I have been dreading in this country for too long with nothing to show for it but bills and all kinds of troubles including my marriage which seemingly is heading to Splitville. This country has been a nightmare. I have to go so I can join the chopping class… Naija money still dey nyafunyafu… make I go join them before the scramble and grab is over. Make you dey there now.” Even, “In Nigeria you are served like a king with the women kowtowing and you can have as many women as you wish, and as long as your pocket is loaded you’ve got it all, and that’s the way it goes.” And listen to this, “I am building a castle.”

Yes, of course, the castles on dusty alleys with no street numberings, serfdom, servitude, coercion and prostitution and all that amoral in this modernity for a people who once were top notch in utopia and republican ideals in an about face paved way for ndi gburu ozu, the money bags who destroyed every aspect of Igbo values and cultural relativism. It is hard to believe running into an Igbo intellectual is like meeting a generation of airheads who have no clue the importance of determining their contribution to creation and why they are in this universe, in the first place. It is also disturbing that the Igbo intellectual from every scope rejected Igbo values for materials not necessary in establishing a profound leadership based on the concept of how it all began when our forebears had the vision of what the Igbo should be in today’s society.

The pragmatic and egalitarian Igbo envisioned by Michael I. Opara, Mazi Mbonu Ojike, Francis Akanu Ibiam and other great Igbo visionaries of the time which was drawn from the Igbo guardian and the days of the Igbo Union, and its principles of making the Igbo nation the best it could be to parallel the Western Hemisphere in all standards of social programs and infrastructures distressingly vanished overnight because the Igbo intellectual succumbed to the ways and means of Omemgbeoji 1 of Igbo land, the societal nouveau riche whose elevation to prominence is questionable and whose socio-economic status shouldn’t have arrived had the Igbo intellectual been firm keeping his composure and principles been respected for the fact the social programs are all out there for all and sundry to see as evidence of good leadership; and as beneficiaries of a sound socio-cultural and political order, no question, the sudden eruption of empire and an ensuing anarchy wouldn’t have also arrived.

Under normal circumstances, such titles as Eze Igbo Gburugburu should be done by merit based on community service – building of schools, offering free education, equipping the libraries, providing basic amenities (water and light), providing healthcare by way of dispensary facilities, abundant food by helping farmers through some kind of subsidies and creating many other provisional social programs including parks and recreation. And as a result of failed leadership, the young intellectuals have been asked to take over the mantle of Igbo leadership. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu at the 2000 World Igbo Congress Convention held in Dallas, Texas, speaks:

I am now an old man. I have done mine. I have not seen who will take that baton from me. I was 33 years when I did it. That the old did not agree to hand over power is not true. Come and take the baton. If we refuse to give it to you, grab it by force. You Igbos abroad are the window of the world to us. Don't turn your back on anything Igbo. Come and join. Our time is gone... My people, I will not lie to you. We came from home, we laugh and embrace, but I can tell you that big rain is falling. Our land is not good. Our condition is like a war. Nobody loves Igbos. The person who is scared of you will not love you. But we are not loved is Nigeria's problem not ours. If they love you, it is good. But the greatest is to be feared. We want to be feared.

But what can be expected of the young intellectuals when the old intellectuals such as Okenwa Nwosu who runs the Physician Omni Health Group in Maryland write articles that do not reveal the issues of their own political and cultural history? What can be expected of the young intellectuals when Kevin Osondu, the first black man, I repeat, first black man to earn a PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo way back and nobody knows much about him? What can be expected of the young intellectuals when the old ones have lost every sense of purpose in keeping the Igbo ideal intact for generations to come? What really can be expected of the young intellectuals when a confused bunch of old intellectuals parleys with demonic gangsters in the likes of Orji Uzor Kalu who in broad day light took Igbo assets hostage and courageously on the humbleness of a paralyzed Igbo intellectual, got away with it? And what can be expected of the young Igbo intellectual when the old Igbo intellectual has shown nothing other than have outsiders in the likes of Nowamgbe Omoigui write its history while Appalachian State University political science professor Emmanuel Ike Udogu is writing on Nigeria fiscal economy and political compromise in Nigeria in the Twenty-First Century: Strategies for Political Stability and Peaceful Coexistence and photo journalist Ike Ude writes on Style File: The World’s Most Elegantly Dressed?

For some reason, while combing through Ude’s new book, I decided to give him a call to find out what drove him into writing a book on style and furthermore to find out a little bit about him. Ude was born in Okigwe and grew up in several Northern cities before the Civil War. After the war his parents relocated to Enugu where his father worked for the Nigeria Railway Corporation. He sojourned to the shores of America in the 70s and began what would be a long journey. In Style File: The World’s Most Elegantly Dressed, Ude, without a doubt, displayed a symbol of excellence on style of which he eloquently illustrated the fifty-five people in this world he mostly admired and considers to be stylists in their respective rights. Ude’s work, an impressive list which includes a handful of designers like Oscar de la Renta, Christian Louboulin, Carolina Herrera, John Galliano, Barnaba Fornasetti; journalists in the likes of Vogue editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley and Hamish Bowles; and photographers such as Coreen Simpson, Francesco Scavullo and a touch to the Motown look. Ude’s work also includes celebrities and the creative types ranging from perfumer Frederic Malle and actress Isabella Ferrari to burtesque dancer Dita von Teese. Malian-born photographer during the colonial era, Seydou Keita, made the list, too. Sculptor Andrea Logan, vintage couture dealer Didier Lindot, and London-based fashion designer Amechi Ihenacho whose 18th Century outfit graced the pages with biographical datas.

In all the occasions I spoke with Ude and in my attempt to pick up some understanding regarding his awareness toward a failed Igbo leadership, his interest in anything Igbo seemed to have waned and for the record he never talked back to me in Igbo despite my approach in many instances where I spoke Igbo fluently. As the case has been, Ude’s taste for style and perhaps neglect of his cultural heritage may be two different things and as a matter of choice, but a society whose cultural background is lost definitely has no place in history.

In any society and as in the case of Diaspora, it is the intellectuals who come to the fore as the molders and shapers of what is now vital and relevant in terms of social, cultural and political opinion. It is the intellectuals who give form and content to mass liberation movements that change society. It is the intellectuals who, because of their déclassé position, can see objectivity and clearly which way class forces are actually moving or aspiring to move, and which classes are advancing or retarding that advance. It is the intellectuals who detect and resolve conflicts in its community by recommending patterns from around which such problems would not be repeated again.

To be Continued.

A Random Thought

I’m not sure what to call myself anymore with the way society dramatically changed which did make hardliners look like punks with liberals sinking deeper and deeper and scary, while libertarians are evading both sides of the political spectrum as it has evidently turned the status quo into something else beyond ones imagination. I have quite often asked myself why the whole world seems to be losing its sense of purpose, going toward a different direction from around which nothing apparently would be the same again. And I am still wondering while penning this piece, why is it that peace shouldn’t be given a chance. Perhaps it has been beyond my reasoning which probably amounts to Bob Dylan’s perception that "it’s not dark yet but we are getting there." I have been bent worrying about the whole concept on why murder is a commonplace thing in the society that we live in today; why incest is no longer a taboo in this our beloved place called Earth; why brothers are killing brothers over greed and material rivalry; why politicking has become the most dangerous game in the universe with premeditated acts of Genocide—the Pogrom in my native land nobody wants to talk about, the Rwandan Genocide shown on live TV while the leaders of the world watched and did nothing about it when it unfolded, the murderous conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Chad, Ivory Coast and the list goes on and on—and those that runs the affairs of state uttering no word but strong of the opinion that a stable world is being kept in place through diplomacy and dialogue meaning there must be wars to stop the rogue states from harming the rest of us.

I find that very disturbing on many grounds. Now from the scheme of things many are wallowing in sorrow caused by human nature. The ongoing war in Iraq, and how national security is tied to oil. The Genocide in Sudan, the restlessness and Al Qaeda in Pakistan, the troubled Gulf States, and the Niger-Delta militants in a troubled and confused Nigeria are among a whole lot of mess that keeps one wondering if the world leaders are for real.

Take for instance, the entrapment called Nigeria. Nothing will be the same again ever since the beginning of its geography. The fabricated nation is not getting any better rather it’s getting worse by the day and the riff raffs are applauding because the leftovers are good enough to make them not worry in a nation corruption is baked in every gene. Most "Nigerians" who don’t seem to realize the dangers of an emerging, call it fledgling democracy with a gullible and vulnerable citizenry which empowers the ruling elite to take advantage of their weakness, makes a nonsense of that very experiment on the basis there is no resistance demanding equity, freedom and justice for all. We have been experiencing kangaroo courts and money bags exchanging a pleasantry which has let inept and corrupt politicians off the hook. The now shackled Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is not expected to be doing much with Nuhu Ribadu’s exit which gives every criminal minded and crooked politician the impetus to embezzle money without questions asked whatsoever.

As one dabbles into Nigeria related news stories and freeze journalists who are now writing as if all is well with a state that is bent on destroying what is good for the people, I have been reading a whole lot from our flamboyant newsmen, but with a very few who are focused to keep up with the unique tradition of journalism, the rest seems to be driving aimlessly in pursuit of what has to do with credible and investigative newsreporting. The sensational tabloid Daily Sun is good at doing that. To be precise, not even a Nigerian newspaper is worth reading these days. I had given the Guardian and Vanguard the props but they disappointed me when little office management issues came its way and shut a major newspaper down for weeks, especially the Guardian. What would amount to Guardian’s closure sending its online and on the street readers elsewhere beats me when one considers the magnitude of the nation’s leading newspaper I thought had been independent and free of sponsored and "carry go bring come" journalism. Any Guardian reader who was shut out for weeks would agree with me that the Guardian staff and management team did not care about the street vendors and news-thirsty populace who pay to read its daily; and of course, the advertisers whose source is what keeps the premium paper afloat.

For sure, the Guardian was not shut down as in a case of one operating under a tyranny where press freedom has its limits, or a case of a bully who runs his own paper his own way negating the tradition of quality journalism. Considering the fact that during the era of military juntas newspaper business was a gamble and an act of power play which sent shocking waves to entrepreneurs who eyed the press, for the press, the unofficial fourth organ of government has been the mouthpiece of the people even though it had been done under series of threats by dictators who are allergic to press freedom.

If a newspaper survived the days of Olusegun Obasanjo’s brutality of the press when the nation’s authentic newsmagazine, Newbreed run by the late Chris Okolie was permanently shut down and going through critically dangerous regimes of Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha, why would a token be reason for Guardian to close its doors for weeks to a point of dissolution? In many discussions I had engaged with my colleagues about the workers’ strike at the Guardian, I spoke with near certainty that the giant newspaper will not be making it back to the news stands, talk less of the web, knowing what that country stands for and how it goes about its business. I was wrong, the paper made it back but I’m sure it lost many of its online surfers. Frankly, I have not been checking it out much, lately. The reason is for weeks I couldn’t read from a daily whose quality work was desired and going elsewhere to pick up junks that may not be reliable I switched to getting my news wired directly into my mail box.

Virtually the Guardian workers’ strike boiled down to one thing: Money, money, money! "Show me the money." "Who has it?" "Who is getting paid, and who is not getting paid?" "Show me the money." "I want more money and I want it right now." "What are you going to do about it?" "Show me the Money." "I ain’t got it, what are you going to do. Shut this place down?" "What you are demanding is too high a stake for our management. I can’t afford it, and now what?" "Show me the money." The square off dragged on for weeks until somehow, who knows, the Guardian management team buckled up coming to terms with reality its paying a terrible cost which did increase defections of its readers to elsewhere.

My problem of early morning news read had just begun. I barely check my mails at this particular mail box I had used as conduit to read African-related dailies, but ever since that move in applying for direct mail box news related articles and journals, my appetite for news read died instantly. I mean, where do I start? It’s hundreds of mails one can’t even figure out which is junk and which is spam, the kind of stuff that could destroy your computer because hackers or the so-called black hats are out there looking for ways and means to level whatever one has built. I may be giving my readers a clue that is if they don’t already know about an unfiltered substance that runs through ones mail box. Meanwhile, I’m looking for another strategy. Maybe I should go back to my old ways, getting my news directly from the source on the spot.

I fancy journalism, but I hate the guts of those who think money buys everything on Mother Earth, the vulnerable ones whose concepts are "you give me money, I write good about you" even when it’s obvious the subject in question has been nailed in the court of public opinion. Nevertheless, the love of money has its own fair share, too. For those that think capitalism should be blamed by money being the root of all evils, equally money is the root of solving all problems in a society enslaved by bills of all kinds, from the gas company to the water and power company. There are no ways to go about it except if you live in the jungle where there are no rules and regulations and where only the fittest survives. But in our own very society of Homo Sapiens, the modern humans, life is supposed to be easier, meaningful and much, much better. The good things of life may have eluded us with what is going on right now and money shouldn’t have been the object. Just take a look around you and see how the world is drowning according to the Biblical revelations. It’s war all over which continues to amaze me.

The elections and uprising in Kenya is one perfect example to start with. Innocent people are dying for a man who stole the people’s mandate and for a man who is saying he’s the rightful winner and power should belong to him. Imagine! Do they really care about these hungry folks whose demand shouldn’t be far-fetched if it was in an organized society where good governance and rule of law is upheld? And why are these folks dying senselessly for political gangsters who are destined to destroy every aspect of civil liberties if nothing is going their way? Does it really matter who won the election when the pathological lying politicians will never live up to what they pledged during the campaigns? We’ve seen this over and over again, particularly in Africa which makes one begin to question what’s wrong with that continent, a continent blessed with every resources including human capital.

Where in Africa would one say a sound democratic fabric is making progress except and I think South Africa? Besides South Africa and perhaps Ghana after going through several reforms, the rest of the countries in that continent are a human tragedy and it is only a radical step like in Ghana that could turn things around. Zimbabwe is a case in point in this aspect. During the struggle for its independence, the founding fathers—Joshua Nkomo, Abel Muzereuwa and Robert Mugabe--had a platform. A platform that would in its totality bring Zimbabwe to an entirely free state which was the basis for the struggle to attain sovereignty. Zimbabwe’s independence was so unique all black nations embraced it which however signaled a trend that would free South Africa from an Apartheid regime. Eventually the walls of Apartheid came tumbling down and blacks in South Africa regained their freedom. But in Zimbabwe today, Robert Mugabe who has been power drunk since the nation’s independence in 1980, a whole lot has changed and putting it concretely Zimbabwe is worse than its colonial era. Mugabe, the dictator that he would be has chased away all his political opponents including protest musicians like Thomas Mapfumo who has been in exile ever since for his protest against misrule through his Chimurenga and the struggle to fight against tyranny.

So too are other nations in the continent. Nigeria for example is not getting any better since its fabrication as a nation state. The schools left by the missionaries long time ago has become an object of caricature. The once existed equipped school labs have all vanished. The playgrounds now have a resemblance of the jungle with thick forests. The youths are no longer interested in academics but the easiest way to make money. The culture-based programs have collapsed. Young girls are now “free” doing whatever that pleases them and parents have nothing to say for time has changed. Whiskey and whores is now a way of life in our institutions of higher learning and no one seems to be paying attention on the basis it is an acceptable behavior, coming with time. Struggling college professors are paid to grade students who ditch classes, in most cases, if not all, girls of easy virtue who are out there on the streets coupled with unbecoming conducts. This is of course widespread in the Igbo-related states which are the easiest explanation to this phenomenon. The case of Nd’Igbo is troubling and the reason for that is lack of profound leadership. A people whose history has been that of political impotence, powerlessness and the inability of its intellectuals and thinkers to put things into perspective considering how a colonial mandate put together a people with different nationalities which has nothing in common, from botany to cultural anthropology.

Given the historic attitude of the Yorubas and Hausa-Fulanis toward Nd’Igbo, it should be natural that Igbos anywhere on the face of this planet incline to ignore whatever that is taking place in that country and begin in earnest to building community. But how could that be achieved when Igbos home and in Diaspora are drenched with one Nigeria attitudes and assumptions? Up until now, there is no single Igbo newspaper out there that could teach generations of Igbo how to wield power and successfully defend Igbo interest. Check all the papers and the ones that just popped up—Guardian, Vanguard, Daily Independent, Daily Champion, This Day, The Nation, Leadership Nigeria, Tribune, Daily Trust, P.M. News, Observer, Independent Online, and the list goes on—none is Igbo owned except the Daily Champion owned by Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, which is national in tone. Obi Nwakanma writes all the time and where else? Vanguard Newspapers. Chuks Iloegbunam wrote extensively before becoming Governor Peter Obi’s special assistant, and where else? Vanguard Newspapers. Veteran Igbo journalist and Maharajah of the press, Okey Ndibe, had his column all over and where else? The Lagos-Ibadan axis press. And the list goes on and on.

For Igbo to pursue a political wisdom compared to her Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani competitors there must be an independent Igbo newspaper that teaches Igbo ideals and cultural relativism. And it means, in pursuing that one needs books to read, essays, stories, folklores, magazines and articles to read—all of Igbo interest.

I remember reading all the classics while growing up. Igbo folklore and tradition was the key to a successful Igbo upbringing. Today nobody reads Chinua Achebe. When I was growing up everybody read him which paved way for our path to cultural and political wisdom. Achebe, the man with vision no one seemed to recognize—the international community included—wrote "Things Fall Apart" when many of us weren’t born. We discussed Achebe at recess and the long holidays and our social concepts of Karl Marx theory had begun to emerge. What else could be compared to a book that foresaw a failed state fifty years ago? "Things Fall Apart" was a masterpiece. It told us before hand that nothing will ever work in an entrapment and fabricated state.

That reminds me of a kid I encountered sometime while attending a function at a nearby high school in the Los Angeles area. In exploring this kid and many other kids as we know them are likely to be in the know of their cultural heritage and why we should care, I sought out Igbo literature to check out their Igboness and what they have been up to. The Yankees have turned every structure of our second generation upside down; so perhaps not surprisingly, one of my encounters was with this kid, a teen we can call Chukwuma. Meanwhile the vibes of Jay Z, Kanye West, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and the rest Hip-Hoppers is spinning into his head. I begin my conversation by introducing myself. I am Igbo and I speak the language fluently. How about you?

Chukwuma paused. "Nope" he would say. My parents are Igbo but I don’t speak the language. They try to get me to do that, Chukwuma explained. Chukwuma who wants to be a communications major plays football and hopes one day he will join the NFL for the money, not for knowledge-based programs, for instance, embarking on research work to understand the history of his parents who are Igbo. Chukwuma also told me there are many Nigerians in his school and from my understanding none speaks the language of his or her parents, and that they once had a classroom assignment culled from Achebe’s "Things Fall Apart" which is already out from his memory. He doesn’t remember any line or what the subject matter was all about. That’s another Igbo tragedy.

So as our second generation are now embedded into a popular culture that comes with the time, who should be sharing the blame for a lost generation whose parents refused to teach their children about their own cultural heritage? Would it be the 24/7 working parents who have no time to sit down with these kids teaching them the morals of our unique tradition? Would it be the high-pitched age of a nuclear society where kids are sent to day care institutions run by different ethnicity which deprives these kids of who they really are? Would it be Igbo Diaspora laid back and did not build community upon exploring the New World? Or would it be we lacked a sense of purpose and community?

I freely must confess that all the above questions are reasons why we have raised a lost generation. Compared to other communities—Jews, Armenians, Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, you name them—Igbos are the worst bred of second generation immigrants. For years, series of Igbo organizations have been holding conventions of all sorts for projects grand and small. Among the gigantic project is Igbo Cultural Center projected as a structure to research, teach and learn everything related to Igbo culture. The question now is: What happened to all the money that was raised for the projects? Who are the bookkeepers? Why is nobody questioning their conducts when there is nothing to show for the money donated and contributed all these years? Is there any evidence that funds for these projects are available when needed? Where are the records to show there is a valid account on behalf of these organizations? What are the names of the financial institutions holding these accounts?

I am afraid I'm trying to raise another Igbo hackles here when I have been confronted in the past to stop attacking Igbo "elites" for doing nothing to address the plight of Nd'Igbo. I'm not sure if I really meant to attack Nd'Igbo as presumed, based on my writings which suggests the Igbo leadership is taking us to hell, and that it requires a change of the guards. But in an organizations where the bookkeepers and managers maintain funny books, shouldn't it be appropriate for its members to ask what is being done to the funds owned by the entire members of the organization?

For the time being, leaders of these Igbo organizations are getting away with what should have taken them to the courts for embezzlement and misappropriation of community funds. But the irony is that members of these organizations who sit down and watch their hard earned money slip away into the hands of the organizations' funny bookkeepers and managers should have nobody else to blame but themselves for saying nothing. And keeping quiet and not reacting will continue to encourage the funny bookkeepers and managers with the belief that nothing is wrong and everything is in order.

Ekwuchanam!