Indigenous Capital Formation Institutions among the Igbo: Factors for Change, 1914 2014. (Published)
For some time now, there has been a growing concern on how the ordinary man and woman in the town and rural communities of Africa can raise capital to start some micro-business and, thus, reduce poverty, and improve his or her standard of living. Within the period covered by this paper, successive governments and financial institutions have tried to address this challenge with little or no success. However, specifically for capital formation among the Igbo of southeast Nigeria, there exist traditional institutions through which the people raised resources to attend to their community and individual needs. These include, among others, Contribution Clubs, Family and Extended Family Pools, Age Grade Associations, Title Taking/Societies, Pawning, Inheritance, Land/Economic Trees Pledging, Imachi Nkwu and other Fruit Trees, Ilu – Elulu (Keeping Custody of Domestic Animal) and Ili – Ichi (Burial of Umbilical Cord). Consequently, this paper surveys those aspects of the traditional economic institutions that have become changed, transformed, or modified. Both internal and external forces have affected the traditional institutions for capital formation among the Igbo of southeast Nigeria, mostly by the later. This has caused the indigenous finance institutions to become altered from their original states. The paper concludes that in spite of the changes and modifications that had occurred overtime, the indigenous finance institutions have continued to exist. The descriptive and analytical methods were adopted in writing this paper. The period covered is 1914 to 2014.
Keywords: Capital Formation, Change, Igbo, Indigenous, Institutions
Igbo Ancestor-Ship and Christian Sainthood: The Bigotry (Published)
Ancestor-ship (Igbo forebears) charged with intercessory of the living are once humans before admittance after death into the comity of ancestors. It is one of Igbo expositors that life is not terminated after death and that their dead exist in another spiritual realm mirroring the activities of the living and determining their fate. The Igbo ancestors are always remembered in every Igbo religious rituals and worships while they are also presumed to be present in meals with the living. The admittance into the ancestral cult is not automatic as several criterions are first put in place and considered: living a good life and dying at a ripe old age. For the Christians, sainthood is conceived and used as a title of apostles of Jesus Christ having acknowledged as holy and virtuous during their lifetime. Today, churches still practice the canonization (official declaration) of their dead clergies as saints. The Christian saints believed to be in heaven after death having lived a pious life also serve as an object of veneration and worship. This paper Igbo Ancestor-ship and Christian Sainthood: The Bigotry brings to bear the attributes/making of Igbo ancestor, their roles and place in the Igbo cosmology. It further looks into the Christian saints, what informs ones canonization, their roles and place in Christian worship. This work at the end establishes paradoxical of the Igbo ancestors denigration by Christians despite sharing the same attribute. It further notes that the condemnation and Christians denotation of Igbo Ancestor-ship to paganism amounts to religious bigotry. It suggests for neopaganism approach to some Igbo beliefs and practices that share the same values and attributes to that of the Christians as in the case of Igbo Ancestor-ship and the Christian Sainthood.