 |
| Archbishop AJV Obinna |
We haven’t quite fully recovered from the old indoctrination that
everything from Europe or America is the best. Nigerians would have done
better, but for the fact that we had people who were not properly educated
leading us, and putting undue emphasis on everything Western.
But when you
study the Western culture as a real scholar, like some of us have done, you
would discover that there is really nothing to get excited about. I have seen
Europe and America, seen the white man, black man, yellow man, and all that. I
have rediscovered myself.
Indeed, when you have not rediscovered yourself, you
will continue to look up to the Western world to define yourself. That’s why I
define myself much more locally. I’ve found joy, learning and speaking the Igbo
language. And that is why, in part, I started the Odenigbo Lecture Series.
The lecture series are conducted in my Igbo language; that every one
in the village can understand. And I have discovered that it gives my people a
great sense of joy, because I am helping them rediscover their identity, and to
know that Igbo language is as good as English, French or any other, and never a
mark of stupidity if you speak only Igbo.
That there are very brilliant people
who speak only Igbo because, after all, it was through the natural talents of
farmers, fishermen and traders who never went to school, and what they
cultivated, that their children were able to become trained as engineers and
scientists. Indeed, many children of farmers, wine-tappers and wrestlers, have
turned out to be excellent role models, because it is the practical knowledge
of our people that laid the foundation for further intellectual or mental
development of the later generation.
