Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
Vice Chancellor Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Prof Charles Esimone, has revealed that many Nigerians living outside the shores of the country have no knowledge and trace of their ancestral links.
The VC made the disclosure recently while speaking at the Maiden viva symposium of the Society For The Development Of Igbo Philosophy, Science and Technology (SODIPSAT) in Awka, Anambra State capital.
He said most overseas-based Nigerians who have tried to trace their ancestral link to the Igbo race and other races in Nigeria are disappointed due to their failure to find any substantial fact in existence that would link them to their places of origin.
He said: “I have met Nigerians born and bred outside the shores, people trying to trace their ancestral link to Igbo race and other races who love and are interested in Igbo and are disappointed to find that there are no facts in existence.”
Prof Esimone attributed this problem to the poor documentation of the culture and traditions of the people. “The missing link is accurate documentation, what you don’t document is not there and you don’t have it. There are no antecedents on the activities of Igbo Culture.”
He noted that the Igbo tribe in Nigeria is the worst victim due to its reliance on oral transmission of culture and tradition to their younger generations.
He urged the tribes in the country to borrow leaves from the Israeli who are passionate about the history, tradition, and culture that their forebears laid down documented in history, tradition, and culture by scribes from generation to generation.
He charged the Igbo race to migrate from oral tradition to proper documentation of her culture and traditions as a formidable hand-down to the unborn generation.
He also called for tenacious documentation of every tradition and culture of the Igbos towards achieving accessibility and reference for all the lovers of the Igbo race in the country and diaspora, research, and for the unborn generations.
