The Igala word “Ufedo” which means love can have a variety of related but distinct meanings in different contexts. Often, other languages use multiple words to express some of the different concepts that English relies mainly on “love” to encapsulate; one example is the plurality of Greek words for love.
Cultural differences in conceptualizing love thus make it doubly difficult to establish any universal definition. Although the nature or essence of love is a subject of frequent debate, different aspects of the word can be clarified by determining what isn’t love. As a general expression of positive sentiment (a stronger form of like), love is commonly contrasted with hate (or neutral apathy); as a less sexual and more emotionally intimate form of romantic attachment, love is commonly contrasted with lust; and as an interpersonal relationship with romantic overtones, love is sometimes contrasted with friendship, although the word love is often applied to close friendships.
In psychology, love is depicted as a cognitive and social phenomenon. Psychologist Robert Sternberg formulated a triangular theory of love and argued that love has three different components: intimacy, commitment, and passion. Intimacy is a form in which two people share confidences and various details of their personal lives, and is usually shown in friendships and romantic love affairs. Commitment, on the other hand, is the expectation that the relationship is permanent.When discussed in the abstract, love usually refers to interpersonal love, an experience felt by a person for another person. Love often involves caring for or identifying with a person or thing, including oneself.
In addition to cross-cultural differences in understanding love, ideas about love have also changed greatly over time. According to “Otakada English-Igala Ola Icham Meji”, published by CMML at Aj’Okodu in 1938, the word love translates to the Igala noun “Ufedo” with verbal variants like “fedo” and “tene ef’edo.” Generally, the Igala concept of love is largely rooted in strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties as well as unselfish, loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another. The Igala view correlates with the global understanding of Love as the “international language”, overriding cultural and linguistic divisions.A peep into what constitutes love in the two dominant religions in Igala land unearths a near total resonance between the Christian/Islamic concepts of love and that of the Igalas. This seeming marriage of convenience perhaps accounts for the penetrative influence of these religions in Igala land.
The Christian understanding is that love comes from God. The love of man and woman—eros in Greek—and the unselfish love of others (agape), are often contrasted as “ascending” and “descending” love, respectively, but are ultimately the same thing. Apostle Paul glorified love as the most important virtue of all. Describing love in his now famous epistle to the Corinthians, he stated “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.”In Christianity, the practical definition of love is best summarised by St Thomas Aquinas, who defined love as “to will the good of another,” or to desire for another to succeed. This is the explanation of the Christian need to love others, including their enemies.
As Thomas Aquinas explains, Christian love is motivated by the need to see others succeed in life, to be good people. In a sense, love does encompass the Islamic view of life as universal brotherhood that applies to all who hold the faith. There are no direct references stating that God is love, but amongst the 99 names of God (Allah), there is the name Al-Wadud, or “the Loving One,” which is found in Qu’ran]. It refers to God as being “full of loving kindness.” All who hold the faith have God’s love, but to what degree or effort he has pleased God depends on the individual itself. Similarly, the Igalas see Ojo Chamacha’ala as the source and the veritable essence of love. That explains the import of words such as Ufed’enyo Ojo, Ojima Ojo, etc in the Igala lexicon.Love and Transformational Development Development, on the other hand, describes the growth of humans throughout the lifespan, from conception to death. The scientific study of human development seeks to understand and explain how and why people change throughout life. This includes all aspects of human growth, including physical, economic, intellectual, social, perceptual, and personality development.
Development does not just involve the biological and physical aspects of growth, but also the cognitive and social aspects associated with development throughout life. Recent United Nations documents emphasize “human development,” measured by life expectancy, adult literacy, access to all three levels of education, as well as people’s average income, which is a necessary condition of their freedom of choice. In a broader sense the notion of human development incorporates all aspects of individuals’ well-being, from their health status to their economic and political freedom. According to the Human Development Report 1996, published by the United Nations Development Program, “human development is the end—economic growth a means.”From the foregoing, it is safely deductible that the concept of love cannot be safely divorced from the commanding principles of development, which lay emphasis on the growth, and development society. Hence societal transformation and development largely runs on the wheels of strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties as well as unselfish, loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another. It is in the firm and passionate pursuit of the good of another that societies become transformed as the notion of transformational development encompasses all aspects of individual and societal wellbeing.
Transformational development then becomes a holistic integration of affection, commitment and development of human existence to enjoy fullness of life. Transformational development also reflects affectionate concern for seeking positive change in the whole of human life materially, socially and spiritually as changed people, just and peaceful relationships are the twin goals of Transformation.A deeply rooted change in people’s economic, social, political, spiritual and behavioral conditions resulting in their enjoyment of wholeness of life cannot be achieved without the concurrent interplay of love for oneself, for others and the society.Transformational Developmental and Igala Land.
There is no doubt that in recent times, Igala land has experienced several years of political experimentation, economic docility, cultural dislocation, social inertia, absolute impotence and irrelevance in the scheme of things nationally. All these have contributed, in no small measure, to the present socio-economic and political realities of widespread poverty, unemployment, violence, disease and colossal illiteracy garnished with rusticated educational ideals. That the Government alone cannot effectively tackle these developmental challenges that are currently rampaging Igala land is to state the obvious. A key step to achieving that objective is the active involvement of civil society in engagements that must encompass a web of strategies and steps aimed at addressing the decades of neglect, underdevelopment and deterioration experienced by Igala people and at the same time restore hope and impart a sense of collective fulfilment.
Unemployment: One major challenge that both government and civil society in Igala land must unite to overcome is unemployment. Unemployment is, admittedly, a worldwide problem. A few months ago, thousands of young Spanish people marched through the streets of Madrid protesting the lack of jobs. The spectre of youth unemployment continues to haunt Europe, North America and the OECD countries. Indeed, youth unemployment in the Middle East and North African countries was a major factor in the recent upheavals in Tunisia and Egypt that saw the overthrow of corrupt tyrants. The root of the problem lies in the global financial meltdown, dwindling growth, changing technologies and competitive pressures from China and India.
There is also the inescapable fact of governmental incompetence.The current level of unemployment confronting Igala land should worry Igala patriots the world over and jolt them to action. It is unacceptable; it is truly a time bomb waiting to explode. The calamitous circumstance befalling us could be well appreciated when one considers the fact that thousands of our able-bodied men and women with nothing to do when they wake up in the morning are available as aspirants for the ever-waiting army of armed robbers, murderers, thugs, rapists, assassins and thieves of every stripe. Thus, more than a simple waste of human resources or a blight on the economic state of our land, this alarming unemployment scenario threatens the overall development, health and safety of the land.
“With growing unemployment and underemployment of the youth, the nation, and for that matter Igala land, has incurred enormous loss in terms of growth and development opportunities which would have engaged their human capital.To address this problem over the last two decades, different governments; often in collaboration with the private sector, have embarked on self-employment generation programmes leading to the establishment of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), the Small and Medium Enterprises schemes, the poverty alleviation programme, amongst others. However, these have been largely tokenistic because they were little more than campaign slogans aimed at winning votes.
But it is not too late to begin a retreat from the brink and focus on a committed and result-oriented approach to addressing unemployment across the country and Igala land. We need to start from the premise that access to decent and productive employment is a fundamental human right.The duty of government is to create a sound macroeconomic and institutional environment that ensures rapid job-creation for the teeming millions of youths. Working with the private sector and civil society organizations, the state government should embark on an employment-creating approach to its economic policy. For instance, the construction industry and large-scale farm projects are areas where mass employment can be created. Beyond this, there is need for manpower planning to assess the labour needs of the state, and deploy resources to areas of the economy that would meet these needs at a given time. Igala land needs a comprehensive employment policy with a clear roadmap and a rigorous implementation strategy. The welfare of societies does not occur by accident. It is the outcome of leadership and public policy.
Education and TrainingThere is also need to overhaul our vocational training system by empowering vocational qualification, and thereby creating the training opportunities for the variety of skills needed in building the industrial and manufacturing sector essential to the development of a modern functioning society. The misleading impression that acquisition of tertiary education is the only way to be respectably employed is not only false but also backward. Ultimately, we have to reform the education sector based on the principle of literacy and education as a fundamental human right. Cuba was able to achieve 99% literacy within the space of a decade.
This is achievable here. We have to reform the school system while ensuring that our young people have respect for the dignity of labour and the use of their own hands.Science, technology and engineering must be given pride of place in our curriculum. The on-going dredging of the River Niger and the proposed Greenfield Refinery at Itobe and the possible completion of the Ajaokuta Steel project necessitate a shift in our educational emphasis if we are to maximally benefit from these investments. We must begin to finance and encourage technical colleges across the land. We must encourage our wards back home to embrace science and technology-based courses as a way of strategically positioning them to benefit from the Nigeria of tomorrow. We can also borrow a leaf from the German apprentice system that requires all technical students to spend time in industry as part of the learning process. Igala land needs at least 10 technical and vocational training schools (one in each LGA and 2 for Dekina, which has acquired the notorious tag of being the largest Local Government Council in Nigeria) that will train builders, electricians and plumbers who can become productively self-employed.
Food SecurityFood security is the condition in which everyone has secure access to sufficient and reliable food sources. Food insecurity exists when people do not have adequate physical, social or economic access to food. Long- term sustainable development cannot be achieved where people do not have food security. Thousands of our people do not have access to enough nutritious food to live healthy, productive lives. Most of their livelihood strategies, (the ways in which they make their living) are geared toward satisfying their family’s need for food before they can focus on anything else, like school fees, medicine or increasing their income. The transformational development approach places emphasis on community-led processes that empower and provide an opportunity for the communities to attain a positive and sustainable change in their social and physical conditions. In addition, Government and civil society must help communities work to achieve positive change in the systems and structures that impede the poor from achieving food security.
A viable key to transforming the land and ensuring jobs is a development strategy based on agriculture-led industrialisation. From Post-war Japan to South Korea, Thailand and India, it is clear that an agrarian transformation is the sine qua non for long-term transformational development. Some 70% of Igalas are engaged in rural agriculture, much of it of the smallholder variety. The Green Revolution in Asia was anchored on boosting productivity of the small farmer as the key to agrarian transformation. Over the coming years, the global demand for food will rise astronomically. Igala land still has abundant farmlands. There is need to develop the farm sector through deployment of appropriate technologies. Linked to this is the creation of agro-allied industries that would enhance the value chain of our products for domestic and foreign markets. Closely related to this is the need to focus on SMEs and integration of the informal sector into the mainstream of the modern economy.
Empowerment through Micro-financeNearly half the population of our people live in extreme poverty, struggling to feed, educate and provide health care for their children. Working parents provide for their children with dignity, but in order to break out of poverty the enterprising poor require the same resources as any entrepreneur—access to capital. Microfinance is a unique and highly successful tool that is being used cross the globe to alleviate poverty. Poverty is a reinforcing cycle. Limited access to financial services is one of the main factors keeping people trapped in the cycle since the poor have limited economic opportunities.
The term “microfinance” refers to the provision of financial services to people who would not normally have access to those services, which include micro-loans, micro-savings and micro-insurance. Microfinance is a proven method of breaking the cycle of poverty as it serves the poor despite a lack of collateral and credit history. Through microfinance the entrepreneurial poor have an opportunity to move from dependence on handouts to sustainability. They are empowered to change their own lives and the lives of their children. Microfinance fosters small-scale entrepreneurs and acts as a hand-up in situations where a handout is not necessary or helpful. Microfinance is an investment in a community, and ultimately a country’s future.As businesses generate profits, one of the first things poor families typically do with new income is invest in their children’s education.
Most loans are between N20, 000 and N100, 000 and the majority go to women as research shows that they are more likely to spend the profits accruable from such loans on their families. It has been shown that children of microfinance clients are more likely to go to school and stay in school longer. Contributions to microfinance increase exponentially, as the small loans that are provided are recycled to impact family after family as each borrower repays his or her loan. Microfinance incentives are beginning to spring up in Igala land with Unyogba, Idah and Ejule Microfinance banks leading the pack but liquidity challenges abound. Civil society organisations in Igala land can help in filling this gap through workable coalitions and collaborations that will pull together, resources and competencies that will strengthen existing empowerment mechanisms as well as encourage the proliferation of similar schemes across the land within the framework of due diligence and strict corporate governance.Igala land needs a set of incentives that encourage entrepreneurship as an option to our youths. Critical support by government will be needed in terms of access to credit, markets, training and skills development.
Health: Just like in similar climes in Nigeria, the state of health care delivery system in Igala land remains appalling and embarrassingly deficient in spite of recent advancements and breakthroughs recorded in modern medicine across the world and even in some cases, by Igala people! There is a pervasive decay at all levels of health care delivery in our land and the situation is worsened by the absence of a tertiary or referral health institution in Igala land. Strong, healthy communities raise healthy children. The transformational development of the land cannot be achieved without the conceptualisation and implementation of programmes aimed at helping local Igala communities to overcome common childhood disease and adult ailments such as malaria, pneumonia, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, measles and diarrhea.
This can be achieved through a special focus on young children during their most vulnerable years and helping Igala families, community health volunteers/civil society organisations and government health staff to work together to improve access to essential health services through full and timely immunization programmes, distribution of insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria, Vitamin A supplements to support children’s immune function, and promotion of sound hygiene practices to prevent cholera and diarrhoea.The abundance of fake drugs in Igala land today has assumed dangerous proportions. Our proximity to a particular part of the country which is regarded as the home of fake drugs has turned our land into profitable dumping ground for these drugs. In addition, unqualified personnel impersonating as Medical Doctors and Pharmacists freely roam the land, performing duties of qualified medical personnel thereby killing our people in the process.
There is an urgent need for Igala civil society organisations (CSOs) to partner with the state health ministry with a view to ensuring that more health centres are built, equipped and manned by qualified personnel, and that full-scale investigations be conducted on the activities of Government and privately owned hospitals and clinics/dispensaries to authenticate the qualification of their personnel and compliance levels with medical standards,.The conditions of our general hospitals must be improved upon immediately in terms of equipment, bedding, drugs and qualified personnel. As much as the proliferation of private clinics is complimentary to Government’s efforts in health care delivery, their activities should be regulated by the State Ministry of Health and Local Government Health Units just as Igala CSOs assist the Local Governments in strengthening the capacity of various health centres in their LGAs, to act as focal points in primary health care. Enlightenment campaigns aimed at encouraging our people to patronise health care centres instead of buying drugs across the counter as most retail drug shops are filed with fake drugs. The impact of sponsored radio jingles using Peter Ebiloma (and his likes) of Radio Kogi Ochaja fame as a vehicle of delivery can never be overstated as our kith and kin will be constantly warned on the dangers of procuring abortion, patronising private clinic owners who carry out surgical operations that are beyond their scope, as well as buying drugs from unlicensed medicine stores. The establishment of NAFDAC unit in Igala land will also go a long way in curbing the sale and consumption of fake drugs.
Disaster Management and Response: When disaster strikes, whether it is a rainstorm, a pollution, violence flooding, etc, the people most severely affected are the poor. The poor are most vulnerable and usually have the least resources to cope and recover without help. Children are at the centre of these disasters and are the most vulnerable in any community. Sustainable efforts and energies should be committed to strengthening Igala communities’ ability to prepare for, lessen the effects of, respond to and recover from disasters. The recent Ofante disaster and the response of Project IGALA, African Health Project and other CSOs is a pointer to what can be achieved when like minds come together in love for development of their society. The public and government must be sensitised on disaster-related issues.
This includes raising awareness about neglected disasters, advocacy to government to change policies that will improve our response to disasters, and encouraging the public and CSOs to provide additional resources where needed to support disaster management work.Time and space will not permit me to go further into infrastructure, Sports and tourism developmental needs in Igala land but suffice it to mention that all these areas require attention.Imperatives of Active Civil Society Engagement in Igala Land. According to Prof Sam Egwu, “It is fruitless to make a distinction between associational life and civil society; for civil society is the most organized expression of associational life. The domain of civil society and associational life is a very wide and loose arena that can be found between the extreme of the family on the one hand, and the public sphere of the state on the other. It is this sphere of human life that is regarded increasingly as the “third sector” in development discourses.” Associational life brings together on a voluntary basis, those who possess a vision of a common good or the public interests, which they pursue, not through the instrumentality of state power, but through voluntary contributions in a more or less organized fashion.
The non-state actors that exist in the form of Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) engaging issues such as HIV/AIDS, mobilization of credit for rural women and farmers, and seeking to cushion the deleterious effect of economic crisis and economic reform policies constitute the heart of civil society and associational life in Nigeria today.Going further, Prof Egwu posited that the recognition accorded non-state actors like the NGOs and social groupings like Ufedo Foundation, in the process of development need to be contextualized within the emergent crisis of governance and development from the early 1980s. First, was the protracted economic crisis, which started in the early 1980s in many African countries, including Nigeria. The crisis itself was the cumulative effect of state-led process of capitalist modernization and the distortions it built into African economies and the collapse of the prices of primary commodities in the world market. The manifestation of the crisis especially in the fiscal crisis of the state led to untold hardship for the urban poor and rural dwellers. The imposition of IMF and World Bank – led orthodox adjustment programme worsened the situation.
The response of the ordinary people, in addition to massive withdrawal into ethnic and religious solidarities, was to form voluntary associations for the purpose of providing coping strategies.The other important context was the related crisis of governance at the centre of which was the post-colonial state and the various forms of authoritarian rule. In the specific Nigerian context, successive military dictatorships suffocated the democratic energies of the society, abused the fundamental rights of the people, imposed a culture of impunity and established and encouraged patrimonial rule, which ensured that corruption thrived at the expense of development and the collective welfare of the people. Again, in response to authoritarian rule, and in keeping with the democratic heritage of the Nigerian people, all forms of associational life emerged in order to combat those in authorities. Indeed, the recent history of a vibrant and robust associational life can be attributed to this. NGOs proliferated as a part of the resurgence of civil society.
In Africa, ethnic platforms and networks have provided enduring basis for associational life. The explanation is simple. As Nnoli reminds us in his classic, Ethnic Politics in Nigeria, it was ethnicity that provided the rallying point for people in responding to the scarcity and insecurity generated by social pressures in colonial urban centres. Today, the desire to enhance the development of the “ethnic homeland” or the “home town” by the elites in the urban diasporas provides the incentives for the emergence of social groups like Ukomu Igala, Ufedo Foundation, Project IGALA, Igala Associations in US & UK, Ateko Women Association, etc . It is prudent to note here that extensive collaborations and interactions between these patriotic groupings remain the key to unlocking a rewarding future for us all in Igala land.
The Example of Ufedo Foundation: Sometime in 1992, a small group of the emergent Igala elites, largely based in Lagos founded Ufedo Club of Nigeria recognizing “ufedo” as a platform for the overall transformational development of Igala land. As the name implies, the club was founded on the worthy principles of love as a basis for individual and group interactions as well as a template for constructive corporate engagement in the developmental matrix in Igala land. Little did they know that what they conceived fits into the larger picture of how individuals and groups respond to the crisis of everyday survival of people; the real domain of associational life and civil society that is organized on the basis of ethnic identity and identification. Over the years, the club had cause to re-strategise and re-brand its focus and operations and with this came The
Ufedo Foundation which is registered as a non-governmental organisation in Nigeria with a focal commitment to the transformational development of Igala land through the promotion of strong ethical and family values as well as the execution of humanitarian service projects in rural Igala communities using love as a worthy basis. It also aspires to foster love, unity, understanding and cooperation among its members, provide for the welfare of the members through activities, whether social, economic, cultural or otherwise, promote the socio-cultural identity of the members in particular, and the entire IGALA people in general, strive to open up avenues and opportunities to facilitate the self-actualisation of all members through the concerted efforts of both the members and organisations of allied objectives, and to protect and defend the rights and privileges of all the members.In line with this mindset, the Foundation has successfully carried out several selfless service projects ranging from donation of food items, clothing and drugs to rural health facilities across Igala land.
The aforementioned activities have taken the foundation to Ochadamu, Otutulu, Ugbetulu, Ika, Egume, Ankpa, Anyigba, Ugwalawo and Iyale, touching lives positively and transforming the communities. In addition to these, there is the Annual Ufedo Family Get-together, which brings together, friends and families from all walks of life in celebration of love and family values. This year’s edition, with the theme: UFEDO Family Get-Together: Celebrating Friendships, Strengthening Bonds & Uplifting Families will be coming up on the 10th of September 2011 at the expansive lawns of National Stadium, Lagos.Other activities of the foundation since inception such as the building of a community health clinic at Ugbetulu in Idah Local Government Area; the distribution of benches and lockers to selected primary schools within the Anyigba community; the printing and distribution of exercise books to selected schools across local governments in Igala land; the charitable donation of food items to mission hospitals in Ochadamu, Ika and Iyale; the involvement in the awareness and sensitization of Igala people in the countdown to the 2006 population census; massive enlightenment of Igala people for the 2011 Voter registration exercise and dissemination of awareness regarding the potentials of micro-finance in the mass economic empowerment of our people – can all be located within the development discourse in which the civil society has become a key player in the development agenda. This list of course excludes instances of mutual assistance in employment generation, funerals, comprehensive group life assurance packages, naming ceremonies, wedding ceremonies and other domains that may be regarded as mundane for this brief presentation.
Conclusion: In conclusion, it has been the ambition of this paper to saliently draw our attention to the imperatives of transformational development in our land as well as underscore the undeniable influence of love as a key driver in every developmental process. We must as matter of necessity, love ourselves, our gatherings and our heritage before transformational development can take place. When there is a shared understanding of love amongst us, developmental issues in Igala land will not be soaked in ego-tripping, strife, unhealthy rivalry, and self-seeking distractions. The basis of our developmental engagements in Igala land must be rooted in the commanding principles of love, which does not envy, boast, or keep record of wrongs. Our love for Igala land must not delight in evil or enthrone injustice. It must always rejoice with the truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. May Ojochamacha’ala bless us all as we love Igala land!
John Abuh Oyidih,National President, Ufedo FoundationSeptember 2011
