EPA Kano - Engineering Paper Delivered by Dr. Aaze Tom Adaba

Posted by: Dr. Joseph Ozigis Akomodi

Written by: Dr. Aaze Tom Adaba

“BACK TO BASICS” A PAPER DELIVERED ON ENGINEERING THE REBIRTH OF EBIRA NATION TOWARDS THE 21ST CENTURY AT THE 10TH CORONATION ANNIVERSARY OF THE OHINOYI OF EBIRA COMMUNITY IN KANO AND JIGAWA, ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER, 3RD 2005, IN KANO BY OHI DR AAZE TOM ADABA – OHI ETOHUEYI OF EBIRALAND

PROTOCOLS

BACK TO BASICS
Introduction

In addressing the issue of engineering the rebirth of Ebira nation towards moving on to any heights in the 21st century, perhaps it may be necessary to X-ray ourselves, diagnose our problems, accept the diagnosis and be willing and prepared for treatment. The Socratic philosophical dictum, “Man Know Thyself” is our starting point.

I will not bore you with our glorious past which was an embodiment of our culture – our enviable culture which was the toast of anyone who ever came in contact with it. But a diagnosis will be impossible without a call at a few of such glorious and proud moments of our life as Ebira people.

Culture
I have heard from uniformed sources many times, an advocacy for the removal of many aspects of our culture. I, without any equivocation or apology, say that such advocates are either unwilling to know or are simply unaccommodating of other viewpoints.

To buttress my assertion, permit me to clearly define what Websters New Collegiate Dictionary says culture is:

•“The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief and behaviour that depends upon man’s capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.

The customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious or social groups”

In other words, culture is the sum total of the person – his miens, language, religion, educational level, relationship, self carriage, arts, crafts, even science etc.

Names
Let us first of all take language. The greatest index to the determination or extermination of a culture is in the language. Language is used for names, communication, education, religious and social practices etc.

As we enter the 21st century, I regret to report that our Ebira names which attached such nobility to them are about extinct. A look at lists of Nigerians published in the newspapers for scholarship, admission, appointment etc attests to my assertion. It is ever so difficult for an Ebira person reading this list to know who is Ebira in the list because the names are alien to Ebira language even though they belong to one of our resident foreign religions or the other. The combination of John Samuel or James Sumonu, or Elizabeth Stephen, or Abdullahi Yesuf or Sefiya Mohammed is a very clear distance from Eneji Anataku or Asuku Eneyamire, or John Itopa, or Peter Ozovehe, or Mary Adinoyi or Aisha Onimisi, or Onyinoyi Mohammed. In the latter, there is a very clear identity of an Ebira name each of which has a very rich historical, philosophical, sociological, literary or even religious meaning that we should proudly display. This important element is dying either in the name of religion or so called civilization. I respectfully posit that as far as I know, no religion except Hare Krishna, forbids one from bearing an indigenous name.

We can take a cue from some of the major ethnic groups in the country especially the Yoruba and the Igbo. There is today a renaissance in their resolve to return to base. Irrespective of their religious inclination, their names are original and traditional. At the worst, their names could be mixed. But one can appreciate the pride they take in identifying with their local names. In spite of their population, they value their indigenous names as an integral part of their culture. They are also aware that a neglect of this is a neglect of their identity culturally, socially and otherwise. They realize that ignoring their local names is one of the fastest ways of losing their identity and ultimately, their culture. We may have to take a cue from them if we are to revive the Ebira identity and survive as a people called Ebira.

Language

I appreciate the fact that the more exposed we are to other cultures, the more the tendency to lose our own. Realizing that Ebira people are a minority within a minority, it is therefore imperative that we, at all costs, work relentlessly to retain our language. This is what we bequeath to our children if the transmission must be passed on to succeeding generations.

At this point, permit me to ask, what is our language of communication at home? In other words, what is the official language in our homes? Situations are where you go to a home where the husband and wife are Ebira, yet they speak English, Hausa, Yoruba etc. to each other. My question is, what then do the children speak? If the children do not learn from the parents, their own mother tongue, who else will teach them and where else will they learn it – in School, in the church or mosque, or from peer groups who speak different languages? Educationists and Psychologists tell us that children have an immense capacity for assimilating and understanding languages. Therefore, we need not be afraid to speak Ebira language at home to our wives, husbands and children. If we speak to them, we develop in them the pride in identifying with this special gift Ebira that God has given them. After all, how many major ethnic groups can or care to speak Ebira language.

From my personal experience, I dare proudly claim that all my children including those who are outside this country today speak Ebira language fluently. The family developed the philosophy of “Ebira at home, other languages outside”. This has paid off tremendously. I again state here that by the grace of God, not one of the children is lacking in the effective control of English, and Hausa languages for academic or communication purposes today. I have cited this personal example not for any self aggrandizement but to prove that we can teach our children our language and at the end of the day, they will still turn out to be very fluent in other languages. I challenge us to try it and we will be surprised at the result.

Marriage

Resulting from the failure to instill in our children a sense of pride in their language, there is the apathy in choosing a life partner from home. Please do not take me for being parochial or un-nationalistic; I only mean that in spite of all the odds at home, we have an array of beautiful and sweet-hearted girls and boys in Ebira land that our youngsters can choose from. In marrying people of other cultures, there is bound to be a compromise. You compromise the language of communication in the home, you compromise values, tradition and sometimes, even religion. For a small ethnic group like ours, it is a costly adventure because through this, our identity is gradually being lost, and I dare say, if we are not careful, Ebira language will be extinct in the next 50-years. There will be generations of our children who will only learn from history that there ever was such a people and a language called Ebira. The immediate reaction to this is “God forbid” but that is not enough. We must do something about it not by way of forced marriages but by early indoctrination and persuasion of our children to appreciate our values, and through frequent exposure to our people and places. I appreciate that there is a limit to which we, as parents, can go in this direction but the first step is to try and let the children know, appreciate and imbibe the value of our values as a people of a very proud heritage. After all, we are told “Love is blind”. Besides, we, as parents are not going to live the lives of our children for them. But we could advise and influence their choice.


A New Dimension

The present situation back home does not help matters in this direction. The upbringing of our home-grown children gives cause for serious concern. A situation where the parents and elders can no longer talk to, or check the excesses of their children, is one of profound sadness and concern.

Due to unemployment and consequent poverty, our young ones have become the ready instruments in the hands of politicians for purposes of thuggery, maiming and killing their own brothers and sisters. We thank God that these monsters that the politicians have created are beginning to swallow them. I hope and pray that they do so to the fullest in order to drive home a lesson for us all to stop exploiting the disadvantaged people in our society for devious purposes from our privileged positions.

Our land and our people have been desecrated. The human blood of our own brothers and sisters spilled by our own people in recent times cries to high heavens for vengeance. We are in absolute disarray politically, socially, religiously and even culturally. We have no control over our situation. We have no respect for elders. We have no accommodation for one another. We resort to violence at the slightest provocation. We refuse to help one another up the ladder; instead, we pull one another down. If we are all down, who will lift the other up? In summary, we are fast self-destructing. We are eating one another up at so fast a rate that the elimination process of Ebira is very imminent.

My questions are: Is this what we inherited from our ancestors? Are we justified to destroy the noble heritage left to us by our ancestors? If not, how can we return to our proud past? The answer is simple: Return to God.

Since 1980’s, we seem to have been placed under a curse. And we are behaving typically so. We fought for the creation of Kogi. Today, we are the whipping boys or the slaves of our effort. When others are enjoying the milk of the State, we are at war with one another. Crisis, gang warfare, killings and maiming have become synonymous with Ebira. Certainly, this development is novel to us especially the older ones who have seen the political development in Ebira land.

Prayers

For all these fratricidal murderous crimes that have made us lose direction and vision, we must turn to God for forgiveness and the removal of whatever curses have been laid on us.

It is my very firm belief and unalloyed conviction that this is a spiritual battle that must be fought spiritually. The Holy Bible tells us in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians

“For we are not fighting against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world and against spiritual wickedness in high place” Ephesians 6:12

We know that God abhors injustice. The killing of a human being made on to God’s image and likeness is a heinous crime against God and against man. We are guilty of this many times over. But we should take consolation in the fact that God has called us to humble ourselves, repent and call on Him for forgiveness and He will listen.



In the Holy Book I know which is the Bible, God tells us in 2 Chronicles Chapter 7 verse 14:

“If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves, pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land”.

In this vein and on behalf of all Ebira people of good conscience, I, without any authorization from anybody but in my personal capacity and as the Ohi Etohueyi or the Beacon of Light of Ebiraland, do publicly apologise to and seek the forgiveness of the good people of Ilorin for our people’s misadventure in Ilorin in 1982.

If this apology is acceptable, then permit me to request that we as a people, and through our leaders, humble ourselves and organize a formal apology to the good people of Ilorin for our mistakes of the past.

Secondly in concert with the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland and with his approval, three days should be set aside for all Ebira people at home and in the diaspora to go into fasting and supplication for God’s forgiveness of our past heinous sins and the removal of any curses laid on us as a people.

On the first day which is Friday, the Muslims take on intense prayers and all religious activities in all mosques that would appease the Almighty Allah. The following day which is Saturday will be taken up by our traditional practitioners in supplication. On Sunday, the Christians present their prayer petition to God in all Churches.

In the evening of that Sunday, all the people converge in a common area for an inter-religious final prayer session, after which the third day’s fast is broken.

With effective publicity and communication of the dates, all Ebira people at home and in the diaspora should be involved. Those who cannot go home should faithfully organize theirs in their local environments for the sake of our land and our people.

I assure you that by the grace of God, this project will usher in a new era in the land and among the people, if faithfully carried out.


CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I wish to draw our attention to the 1991 National Census which gave the population of Ebira-land as 753,000. This figure is less than 1% (precisely 0.8%) of the entire National population. We are a minority within a minority. What we call ourselves is what we shall be known by. We can either salvage our battered image by going back to basics as enumerated above or sit helplessly as we sink into extinction.

I pray we take the former and save ourselves and generations to come.

Avo nini. Ohomorihi an’ Ebira o vayi ve d’ ovayibe. Amin.




Ohi Dr Aaze Tom Adaba
Ohi Etohueyi of Ebiraland &
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer
Trim Communications, Travels & Tours Ltd
Wuse II Abuja