Okwuosa Lawrence, Nwaoga Chinyere T, Uroko Favour
Department of Religion and Cultural Studies, The University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
Jamba. 2021 Apr 19;13(1):867. doi: 10.4102/jamba.v13i1.867. eCollection 2021.
The Igbo people survived a civil war that raged between 1967 and 1970 and that devastated their land and reduced their population because of more than three million deaths. They were confronted with the challenges of beginning life afresh from scratch with almost nothing. Since then, they have allegedly been marginalised on a continuous basis by the Nigerian government. This notwithstanding the people with their communal spirit, which saw them through the civil war, have continued to cement their survival resolve in the post-war era. The aim of this article was to study the Igbo communal system as the bedrock of Igbo progress, especially in the past 50 years and recommends it as the basic principle of Igbo survival in Nigeria. It considers Igbo communal spirit as a veritable panacea against the recent agitations for secession by the people as that would guarantee Igbo people an ample space to operate in Nigeria. The methodology used in this article is a qualitative phenomenological method. This was carried out by interviewing some members of Igbo society, observing and interpreting events in Igbo society and as documented in literatures. It was found that Igbo people have really done well for themselves despite the seeming marginalisation by sticking to their resilient spirit. This study concluded that instead of seeking for independence from Nigeria, the Igbo people need to be mindful of their resilient communal spirit and reinforce it in all spheres of life. This would make them more relevant in the country's affairs than they are currently.
伊博族经历了一场在1967年至1970年间肆虐的内战，这场战争摧毁了他们的土地，导致三百多万人死亡，人口锐减。他们面临着几乎从零开始重新生活的挑战。自那时起，据称他们一直遭到尼日利亚政府的持续边缘化。尽管如此，凭借在战争中支撑他们的社群精神，伊博族人民在战后时期继续强化他们的生存决心。本文旨在研究作为伊博族进步基石的伊博族社群体系，特别是在过去50年里，并将其推荐为伊博族在尼日利亚生存的基本原则。它将伊博族社群精神视为应对近期民众分裂 agitation 的一种切实有效的万灵药，因为这将确保伊博族人民在尼日利亚有足够的运作空间。本文采用的方法是定性现象学方法。这是通过采访伊博族社会的一些成员、观察和解读伊博族社会中的事件以及文献记载来进行的。研究发现，尽管看似被边缘化，但伊博族人民通过坚守他们坚韧的精神，确实为自己做得很好。本研究得出结论，伊博族人民不应寻求脱离尼日利亚独立，而应铭记他们坚韧的社群精神，并在生活的各个领域强化它。这将使他们在国家事务中比目前更具影响力。
