Cajetan Eze, author of The History of Igbo Communities, is thinking of establishing Igbo archives, where every community in Igboland will keep their records. He intends to achieve this with the money realised from the sale of his book, which was launched on Thursday, July 12 in Lagos.
Eze stated this in his speech while presenting the book to the public, adding that the voluminous book was conceived 10 years ago. He said that the archives will have the information on the population of Igbo people both home and abroad.
“We are going to have some personal archive inside the main archives, which will range from those relating to well known public figures such as Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and some of you here. The archive will also store community letters, photographs and memorabilia, ” Eze said.
The author said that it will cost N200 million to establish the archives and promised to write volumes on the history of communities in Igboland while soliciting for supports to make it realizable.
Chigozie Bright Nnabuihe, book reviewer and a lecturer of Igbo Studies at University of Lagos, described the work as a rich book with 1,700 pages and 16 chapters. He said that the book dealt on the origins and culture of the Igbos as supported by the common belief that they have Hebrew blood.
Nnabuihe also said that the book captured the life of Igbos before the advent of colonialists and the way forward. He described the author as an energetic researcher considering the rich Igbo history he dealt on. Stating that the book contains 400 pictures of proud Igbo sons and daughters, he added that it will inspire, enrich the knowledge of the youths and motivate them to succeed.
However, he said that the author did not capture some itemised themes of the work and advised that he should be gender sensitive as he only published 18 pictures for women while the rest were men.
The book reviewer recommended the book to historians, students, research institutions, diplomats and the general public among others.
Earlier, Charles Ifeanyi, chairman of the occasion, eulogised the author for the book and urged that more books be written on Igbo. He said that the book is also for non-Igbo’s as they would love to know the history of Igbos whom he described as itinerant. He urged parents and families of Igbo origin to teach the Igbo culture and language to their children.
Also, Everest Ozoweke, secretary of Ohanaeze Nd’Igbo, Lagos chapter, said that the book is good and recommended it to all to read. He expressed regret about the poor turnout but assured that Ohanaeze will be part of the project and would support it. He said that Solomon Ogbonna, chairman of the chapter of Ohaneze Lagos, was unavoidable absent but assured the people that they will promote the values of Nd’Igbo living in the city.
The peak of the event was the unveiling of the book. Ifeanyi Odii, chief launcher, described Igbo as a progressive and lovely people but expressed fear that the younger generation don’t want to identify with the culture and language. He appealed to parents to imbibe the culture in them so as to defeat the threat and claim that the language may go in to extinct in few years to come.
Some dignitaries present include Bishop Mark Okonkwo represented by Reverend Mark Anthony, Abdulazeez Ude and Thompson Ohio among others.
*Realnews magazine