Moral Integrity & Igbo Cultural Value

Book excerpt: Most people of Igbo extraction are worried at the alarming rate of social ills bedevilling the Igbo nation. These social evils which debauch authentic Igbo socio-cultural communal ethos include violent crimes like kidnapping of fellow Igbo brothers and sisters for ransom, hired assassinations, armed robbery, political thuggery, etc. These socio-cultural eddies not only pose security risks to people but also paralyse socio-political, religious and economic activities in Igbo land. These crimes are dialectically opposed to the authentic cultural values of Ndigbo who traditionally are known for their rich cultural values and high morality with regard to the sanctity of life and the primacy of the common good arising from Igbo republican spirit. One is left wondering why and what has changed to bring about these various cycles of moral decay which have battered our social system and our noble cultural values. This book written from the backdrop of the increasing crime rate in Igboland examines the agents of social transformation that has impacted Ndigbo beginning from inter-tribal trading, colonialism, including the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War up to the forces of globalization. It argues that the agents of social changes has not destroyed Ndigbo’s cultural values but has affected Ndigbo’s attitude toward life. It proposes Ndigbo’s moral integrity based on the conept of ezindu (good life) as the foundation of Ndigbo’s common meaning or cultural value. This book therefore, creates an awareness of the impact of modernity on Igboland and proposes a response based on Ndigbo’s cultural value, one that promotes moral integrity as a panacea to forces of secularization. It identifies the social evils which afflict Igboland and traces the problem to the breakdown of authentic cultural values of the people. It will establish a theoretical framework for analysis by locating the causes of this breakdown with a cultural dis-valuation arising from distortion in the dialectic of Igbo communities as a result of lack of integration with the forces of secularization. These unleashed greed and various forms of self-interest to the detriment of the common good. The way forward, I will argue, lies in attending to the integrity of cultural values that inform the everyday life of the people. This will be the task of those creative minority who by paying attention to the superstructural cultural values responsible for arts, science, philosophy and the human sciences will re-create cultural values responsive to the malaise of modernity in the various forms it is influencing the Igbo nation. This, in itself, will demand moral integrity rooted in authentic cultural value and greater responsibility on the part of the superstructure of culture. Christianity as the dominant religion in Igboland must be prepared to impact the life and value of Ndigbo positively and integrate Ndigbo’s cultural values in her ministry of evangelization.