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C.B.N. Ogbogbo

The Man Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe

The heritage of the past is the seed that brings forth harvestof the future.– National Archives Building, Washington, D.C

IntroductionWe begin with this epigram on the conviction that an understanding of

the man Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam- Osigwe will enable usappreciate the heritage that can be derived from his life and ideas and howthis can shape our future as individuals, peoples and a country. Onyechere’slife and spirituality can be understood within the wider structure of Igbocosmology, which played a dominant role in shaping his personality andattributes. To the Igbo, the principal force that shaped Onyechere’s life isthe Agwu, which is a heritage of the early Igbo clans or the first settlers(ndi mdi mbu na ndi egede) of a given locality from Chukwu (God) whocreated the world. The Agwu is the key to the engine room, a repository orlaboratory of patents (oda) and knowledge (uche) about the totality of thehappenings in the phenomenal world (world of flesh and blood; of man, world ofthe animals, vegetables and minerals, etc)1.

The impression that emerges from the available materials is thatOnyechere had a significant impact on his generation and society. Since hisdemise in 1998, his family has continued to strive to keep his memory alivethrough various endeavours aimed at examining his life and ideas. Onyecherewas no doubt a man of ideas and a spiritually engaging person who broughtthese qualities to bear on the way he lived and interacted with his fellowman.Our purpose in this work is to present a biographical sketch of Onyecherein terms of his origin, early life and education, occupational and businessengagements. Attention will also be paid to his spiritual as well asphilanthropic activities.

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OriginE.O., as Chief Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe is fondly

referred to by close associates, was born in 1921 in the historic town ofAzumini in Rivers State. His father, Nze Anyiam Osigwe, is from Ukwuniyivillage in Nkwerre, while his mother, Lolo Nwaorie Anyiam Osigwe hailsfrom Amaroji Ugwu Na Agbo Village also in Nkwerre. Nkwerre is in present-day Imo State of Nigeria.2 His genealogy indicates that the Anyiam Osigwefamily is one of the founding families of Nkwerre. The Osigwes trace theirancestry to Eshi, the eponymous hero and founder of the ancient town ofNkwerre.3 It is therefore not surprising that theirs is the ruling family in thetown.4 So E.O. had a distinguished parentage that qualified him as someoneborn with a silver spoon within the context of his times. Yet subsequentdevelopments show that, it was through a dint of hard work, discipline andcommitment to his beliefs that he pulled himself up to societal reckoning.He achieved greatness instead of resting on the oars of his privilegedbackground. Our story is therefore that of a self-made man.

His pedigree and the time of his birth remain very significant influenceson his life. For instance, by the close of the 19th century, Nkwerre hadbecome prominent as one of the important trade centres in Eastern Nigeria.This was consequent on the abolition of the slave trade and the introductionof the palm oil trade. Nkwerre was not just a major palm oil producingcommunity; its citizens were actively engaged in the trade. Unlike theearlier obnoxious trade in slaves, the trade in palm oil produced newtransportation challenges of moving puncheons of oil from their source ofproduction in the hinterland to the coast where the Europeans were waitingto export this produce. The scenario was therefore one in which communitieslocated close to the rivers in the hinterland took advantage of this geographicalendowment to use canoes in moving puncheons of oil to the coast of theNiger Delta. Azumini was one of such communities.5 Its prominence as atrade centre, particularly with regards to palm oil, continued even during thecolonial period when E.O. was born. A good quantity of the palm oil producedin Nkwerre and its environs was transported to Azumini from where it wastransported to the European traders at the coast. There was thereforesubstantial presence of Nkwerre migrants in Azumini who tried to takeadvantage of the new opportunities offered by the legitimate trade. E.O.’s

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father was one of such Nkwerre merchants who had a presence in Azumini.It is therefore not surprising that E.O. was born outside his ancestral homeat a time when freedom of movement was greatly curtailed. It is importantto note that E.O.’s father belonged to the generation of Jaja of Opobo whowas originally from Amaigbo village in Nkwerre.2 By the beginning of the20th century Nkwerre had become famous for its blacksmiths and traders.While its smiths’ skill in gun manufacture gave the town the name Nkwerreopia egbe (Nkwerre gun makers), they were also reputed long distancetraders.6 It was a common banter that “every Nkwerre man or woman is atrader by birth”.7

E.O’s father, Nze Anyiam Osigwe, was an affluent merchant who was,by the standards of his era, engaged in international trade.8 Apart frompalm produce, he traded in guns and gun powder, gin and alcoholic beverages,fabrics (especially George), potash, elephant tusks, jewelry, etc. In his trading,he traveled to various parts of Eastern Nigeria. The point being made is thatE.O.’s background indicates that his people had reputation as merchantswho engaged in palm oil trade and in long distance trade with their otherIgbo neighbours and the Niger Delta areas4. The business acumen he wasto later display in life and his vast business interests within and outsideNigeria is therefore partly traceable to his pedigree.

E.O. was also a product of other influences that are traceable to hisfather. Nze Anyiam Osigwe was very versatile in his occupationalengagements. As shown above, he traded in a variety of goods in variousplaces. He was also a well known arbitrator within and outside the Nkwerrecommunity.9 His frequent travels brought significant exposures to andconnections with various groups of people. His ability and successes innegotiating truce between warring parties brought him enormous goodwill.This enhanced his trading activities as he could travel unmolested throughsuch territories. Indeed, he had a relatively peaceful atmosphere to carryout his business concerns and with time began to sell safe conduct to othertravellers and traders who required safe passage to conduct their businesses.This was a period when free movement of persons and goods was severelycurtailed by the general insecurity of the perilous time. Nze Anyiam Osigwewas a part of the delicate network of those that organised safe conduct forlong distance traders and travellers.

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In addition to trading, the sale of safe passage and being an arbitrator,Nze Anyiam was a known gifted psychic, diviner and herbalist. His fame inthis respect reverberated beyond Nkwerreland. It was in recognition of thisprominent aspect of his life that he was conferred with the title of OjukwuNaru Ogwu 1 of Nkwerre. As will be demonstrated later, these qualities ofE.O.’s father not only influenced him significantly but left its imprimatur onhim. Thus, years later, in recognition of his contribution to the developmentand propagation of herbal medicine, E.O. was himself conferred with thetitle Ojukwu Naru Ogwu 11 of Nkwerre.10 It remains to add that NzeAnyiam Osigwe was reputed for his remarkable generosity, a trait that hisson E.O. also displayed. Several of his kiths and kins looked forward to hisreturns from his trading trips because on such occasions he showered giftson his people. His generosity and activities earned him significant prestige,power and influence within and beyond his Nkwerre community.

Still on his pedigree, one of the ways his father consolidated hisinternational connections and trading establishment was through marriage.He had twenty five wives from different communities. His wives weremainly from very influential ruling families in some of the places he visitedand had significant business interest. Through marriage, he entered intoalliances with elites from various towns. E.O.’s mother Nwaorie was oneof his wives who was an active trader. Her success as a trader earned herthe appellation Aka Na Kpa Ego (hands that make money). She tradedmainly in tobacco leaves and potash, and with the encouragement of herhusband, settled in Azumini. There, she manned the trading post of herhusband and engaged in her private business interests. Note that E.O. wasto later engage in the cultivation and sale of tobacco during the Nigeriancivil war. Also, she founded and coordinated a formidable thrift and loansscheme called Essuso. Nwaorie was therefore a woman of substance andconsiderable means who made an impact on her society. At her expense,she not only sent her first son Uriah Unaegbu to school, but also bought hima Raleigh bicycle at age 15,11 which was a rear and remarkable fit that onlythe very wealthy could achieve at that time.

We can conclude that the influences on E.O. derived from his pedigreeand the times in which he was born. This era was marked by a number ofchallenges in the face of remarkable changes that were taking place. While

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his parents grappled with the challenges of increased European contact andpenetration of Igboland, he faced the challenges associated with theconsolidation of colonial rule and the attendant nationalist struggles of theperiod. E.O. largely embodied these changes even though family traits andengagements continued to manifest in a more modernised form in hisactivities.

Early LifeE.O. became an orphan very early in life. At age three, he lost his

mother and before he was 10 years of age, he lost his father. His father’strading and traveling activities meant he was not much in touch with thewelfare and upbringing of young E.O. Moreover, he and his brother wereamong the only four sons of a man with such extensive polygamous familyand sizeable estate. There was therefore concern for the safety of Nwaorie’stwo boys. Recognising the peculiar situation of E.O. after the mother’sdeath, Nze Anyiam Osigwe began to take E.O. on his long distance tradingtrips. The loss of his parents necessitated his movement to Ugwu Na AgboVillage, still in Nkwerre, where he was nurtured and brought up by hismaternal Uncle, Uchenna Anyoha. It needs to be noted that at an early age,E.O. had become a companion of his father. He assisted him in his work asa diviner/herbalist. E.O. identified plants with curative properties to his father.Apart from servicing his father’s occupational engagements, E.O. alsocooked for him because he sometimes did not allow any woman to cook forhim. His invaluable services to his father led to the tussle between his fatherand elder brother over who was to take custody of E.O.

When he was of school age his elder brother Unaegbu – who was tolater become a prominent legal practitioner in Aba – took over theresponsibility of educating him. For his elementary education, he schooledat St. Theresa Primary School in Okigwe where his elder brother was atthe time a court clerk. Okigwe was then a provincial headquarters of thecolonial administration and yet did hold forth enough promise for Uriah’sdreams. He later relocated to Port Harcourt where he secured a similar jobof a court clerk. In 1932, E.O. moved with his brother to Port Harcourt wherehe completed his primary education at the African Church School in 1935.

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The Port Harcourt of this era was one which had significant Igbo migrantpopulation. For most Igbos, P.H. as the city was affectionately called, wasa land of promise and so held a lot of attraction for Nkwerre indigenes.Thus a good number of them flocked to P.H. Igbos who dominated thebusiness circles of the city soon made significant forays into the politics ofthe city. Given their preponderant population, they soon became the majorpolitical actors. They produced virtually all the mayors of the city. Prominentamong these mayors of Igbo extraction were Francis Ihekwuba fromNkwerre, Jas Emenike from Okwelle and Nzimiro from Oguta. These wereall men of calibre, significant wealth and political clout. The astuteentrepreneurial skill displayed by his kinsmen left a lasting impression onthe mind of young E.O. Again, he moved to Enugu with Uriah who hadrelocated to the coal city in search of a greener pasture.

Given the economic challenges he and his brother faced and thesubstantial number of dependants in Uriah’s household, young E.O. embarkedon his first business of petty trading in garri to augment the family income.Although quite relieving, Uriah began to feel that the progress of E.O. in hisbusiness venture was antithetical to his studies. He therefore began todiscourage his brother from being too involved in business. Indeed theirswas a case of coming from an affluent background and yet having to worktheir way up the ladder by self effort.

E.O. later proceeded to the prestigious Government College Umuahiafor his secondary education. He was, however, to finish his secondary schooleducation at Dennis Memorial Grammar School in Onitsha due to thedisruptions that attended the Second World War. Records available indicatethat he was a high-flier while in school. This won him the admiration of histeachers and peers. It was therefore not surprising that he finished withdistinction in the Senior Cambridge Examination.

It is important to note that while at Dennis Memorial Grammar school,it was not only E.O.’s brilliance that won him the attention and admirationof his fellow students and teachers. (His spectacular academic performanceoften earned him double promotion.) His manifestation of rare spiritual gifts–such as that of prophecy–also captivated those he interacted with. At thistime he began to display manifest interest in metaphysics. His curiosity ledhim to seek for knowledge on issues pertaining to mysticism, astrology,

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parapsychology, etc. He became a voracious reader and excelled in class.His in-depth of knowledge on wide-ranging issues coupled with his eloquencemade him a leading member of the debating society. With time he acquiredthe nick name “Britannica” because of his exceptional retentive ability whilesome others called him “Prof.” His school mates and contemporariesremember him for his extreme cleanliness and his measured elegant styleof walking on the balls of his feet. More importantly, he had his wake up todirect the teachings and revelations from the cosmic realm. According to him,

I came into contact with very high minds, Masters andAngelic forces who taught me directly about various aspectsand secrets of the universe….12

This process of direct teachings and learning from cosmic intelligencescontinued even after E.O. left secondary school. For

Over the years I have continued to receive teachings,revelations and instructions from these masters. At an earlystage of my encounter with these teachers I receivedphysical objects from them, some of them as I learnt laterwere very valuable gifts such as raw gold.13

Although young and not able to fully appreciate the metamorphosis hewas going through, he knew he had to preserve the knowledge and giftsthat he received from these sources. Apart from gold, other gifts includedleaves and roots from herbs. His major focus in his interaction with thesecosmic minds was centered on teachings pertaining

to sacred symbols, seals and signals; their meanings andtheir uses, secret holy names of God and their applicationand how to attain consciousness with divine absoluteintelligence…special prayer patterns, chants and modes ofmediation for spiritual fortification and growth, good health,rejuvenation of the physical body and such things.14

In this search for knowledge, E.O. asserts that his “main objective is toenable man to overcome economic social and political problems and improveupon human condition in general”.15 This is anchored on his belief that “the

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key to subduing the challenges we face in the physical world reside withinthe metaphysical dimension”.16 It is therefore the case that very early in hislife, E.O. had clear spiritual focus and insight concerning what he wantedand how to go about it. He strove to access knowledge from the cosmicintelligence, the mind of God.

Another aspect of E.O. that became prominent during this formativeperiod was his good dress sense and his extreme neatness. Even as asecondary school student he had acquired a reputation among relatives,such that when he went on holidays to their places, they made special effortto keep their houses clean. Apart from the testimonies of those who knewhim then, there were tales of his visits to his Uncle De Ohiri’s household atMgbirichi. The household’s preparatory activities for E.O.’s visits alwaysincluded cleaning sanitation of the surroundings. Often, new sets of beddingswere procured for their August visitor and there was a general state ofneatness and orderliness in De Ohiri’s household throughout the period ofhis visit.

E.O. sought and secured admission to study medicine in U.S.A. Thiswas at a time when it was not popular in Nigeria to school in America. MostNigerian students who sought for the Golden Fleece abroad went to Britain.However, E.O. did not take up the offer to study medicine at the KansasState University (U.S.A). By the time all arrangements had been made forhis departure to the U.S.A., his mind was made up that it was not the bestcourse of action to take, given the circumstances he and his brother Uriahfaced. He therefore opted to hold forth while his brother proceeded to theU.K. for his law studies.

At the age of 25 years, after he finished his secondary education, E.O.got his first job as a postal clerk and telegraph operator in Kaduna in 1946.Uriah was at this time in Kaduna and was engaged in private business.Early in Kaduna he maintained a nationalistic disposition and this led to hisclash with a number of Europeans. While in the service of the colonialadministration, the way Africans were treated convinced him that his dayswere numbered. He therefore spent quality time, especially weekends,researching in herbal curative medicine. It was the outcome of this researchthat led to the formulation of his Obeteau Specific medicine which becamea huge success. Shortly after, the mercantilist spirit associated with his

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people soon manifested. In 1948, he resigned his job to go into full timeprivate business where he believed he would be better accomplished.

One of the products, which he marketed all over the country in the1950’s and 1960’s, was Obeteau specific. This health formula with diversecurative properties was discovered by him in 1946. Prepared from tropicalplants, it was used in the treatment of acute constipation, STD’s and urinaryproblems, bleeding after child birth, kidney infection, coughing, stomachulcer, etc. The Obeteau Specific was produced after intense experimentationand consultation with Mallam Sulaiman a renowned Fulani Islamic scholarand expert in Fulani herbal medicine. During the period of experimentation,E.O. visited in Zaria, Mallam Sulaiman and his daughter Shittu almost on aweekly basis. The visits afforded him the opportunity to consult with Sulaimanin his bid to perfect his experimentation on the Obeteau Specific. On whyhe was interested in learning the herbal practices of the Fulani, E.O. hadexplained to his friend Sulaiman that

For quite some time I have been contemplating on the ideaof developing special botanical gardens as a means to preservepotent medical herbs in use by various tribes and to propagatethe efficacy of these herbs in healing. I have always had avery strong attraction for nature. I also believe that medicalpractitioners must be adept at physical and metaphysical arts.17

His altruistic motive impressed Sulaiman who became disposed towardssharing his knowledge of Fulani herbal medicine with him. E.O. became soengrossed in his experimentation that he resigned his job in the P&T. It alsobecame somewhat obvious to him that he was no longer interested in thepursuit of a University education in America. He therefore invested histime and money on the production of Obeteau. He purchased a piece ofland in Kaduna for gardening of herbal plants.

It is ironic to note that a man who only a few years earlier had jettisonedhis offer of studying medicine in a formal university setting, turned aroundto discover and market a curative medicine which was very popular. Itwould appear that E.O. was endowed with a Midas touch. Within 3-4 yearsof finishing secondary school, he had worked as a civil servant for twoyears and had become a private businessman with a patent that was

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immensely successful. By 1948, he had become very popular among hisNkwerre kindred in Kaduna. His house became the habitation of many ofthem and others in Kaduna. Yet, he was only just 27 years old.

In a display of business acumen for which his people were generallyreputed, he ventured into several commercial endeavours. From his localsale of Obeatu, he derived and invested over four hundred pounds in thecollection of cow bones from abattoirs around Kaduna. The bones wereconveyed to Lagos for eventual export. He made substantial profit from thecow bone business. The potency of Obeteau in the treatment of STD’sbrought him in close contact with a number of young military officers whodepended on his medicine. Through this connection, he and his brother becamecontractors to the military establishment. By 1947, he and Uriah hadregistered a business outfit called “Anyiam Brothers”. It was under thisbanner that they conducted all their business activities. Furthermore, hewas engaged in the purchase and export of palm oil, hides and skins. After1949, when Uriah left for the U.K., E.O relocated to Jos and added the saleof second hand lorries, which he imported into the country to the list of hisbusinesses. To some business associates, he was an auto-dealer who soldtrucks to those in the haulage business. Yet for another category he was atransporter.

The Anyiam Brothers also ventured into the importation of stockfishfrom Norway and the Netherlands. Meanwhile Obeteau was becoming ahousehold name and a big success in Northern Nigeria. One area, wherehe stood out tall was in the crude oil business. He is reputed to be one of thefirst Nigerians who obtained licenses for oil marketing. His business outfitNUEL Enterprises was licensed to lift and market Nigerian oil abroad by1972. He was thus a pioneer indigenous independent oil marketer. He builta name as an outstanding business mogul within and outside the country.His entrepreneurial skills propelled him to the international scene. Havingbeen engaged from 1988 in the mining of solid mineral in Abakaliki, Ishiaguand Ibadan, his experience provided the launching pad for his mining activitiesin the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Overtime, he successfullydeveloped his multifarious business interests into a conglomerate over whichhe presided.

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It was not just a tale of merry business successes. Nuel Enterprises,the flagship of his business organisation, suffered a lot of injustices in the oilindustry due to the rigid and uncompromising business ethics of E.O. Hewas not one to participate in shady deals or take business decisions that willbe detrimental to the interest of his country. In a corrupt businessenvironment, it was indeed an uphill task to remain positively principled.

During the dark days of the Nigerian Civil War, E.O. was one of thefew Igbos that left Lagos after the outbreak of the war. Although he did notsupport the fighting, he felt compelled to identify with his people. Althoughhe had sent his children back to Eastern Nigeria, he returned from the West17 days after fighting began. He was known to have engaged in extensivetobacco production during the civil war. He rendered help to so many of hispeople as his contribution to the war effort.

Family LifeHaving established a virile business, he, in 1952, married Dorothy

Chinyere Dozie, then a teacher at the Convent school, in Jos. Her familywas a prominent land owning family in Owerri in the Igbo heartland.Indications are that E. O. lived in Jos for a while when he met Dorothy. Byhis account, his choice of his wife was by divine instruction.18 They weddedin Port-Harcourt. The couple eventually had nine children, eight of whomsurvived (seven boys and a girl). As is apparent, even years after his demise,E.O.’s extraordinary strong sense of family has persisted. In his family, hecultivated the virtues of a common interest, hope and aspiration. The mannerwith which he welded the family together has remained a subject of curiosity.Contrary to feminist doctrines bandied about in contemporary times, Dorothybelieves that her duty was to help E.O. achieve his full potentials by providinga comfortable domestic environment.19 She was ever available, served andcared for him. Her intense love for E.O. was extended to the children. Inseveral ways, E.O.’s successes in various areas of endeavour were due tothe fact that he had the determined and unshaken encouragement of Dorothy.Indeed, as her name implies, she was God’s gift to E.O.

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Spiritual InterestsThere are opinions that E.O.’s deep spiritual insights and practices are

traceable to the circumstances of his birth. At a time when every rationalbeing would have closed the child birth chapter, E.O. was born sixteenyears after his elder brother. For those grounded in Igbo cosmology, thisexplains why he bears Onyechere, which rendered in English, means whowould have thought this was possible.

A child of destiny, E.O. began to manifest his spiritual gifts early in life.By the time he was in secondary school he had become a gold fish withouta hiding place. For some he displayed the characteristics of a mystic, whilefor others he had the gift of prophecy. Although a Catholic Christian he wasdeeply involved in the mystical aspect of life. He understood and appliedthe laws governing the cosmos in his relationship with man and God. Hehad vigorous interaction with and understanding of other religions thatsubscribe to the supremacy of the Almighty God. The available materialsportray him as a man with a deep knowledge of metaphysics.20 In actualisinghis spiritual interests, he was a foundation initiator of the West AfricanAcademy of sciences. This academy’s raison d’etre was the study of manas a manifestation of divine intelligence. In his 77 years of action packedlife, he devoted a good chunk to interrogating the spiritual underpinnings ofevents around him. Before his transition, it was clear to his associates thathe had a masterly grasp of the transcendental.

Other EngagementsIn spite of E.O.’s string of successes in the arena of business, his unique

multifaceted qualities and ability to blend his spiritual gift and developmentwith enormous material acquisition, he had problems in the political arena.He ventured into partisan politics and contested as a governorship candidatein Imo State in 1992. Although he did not succeed in his bid to becomegovernor, it was not surprising that he ventured into the political terrain. Aclose reading of his writings reflects his passion for his country and continent.His limited success in the political terrain was because, as Sir Egu puts it,“he was a brutally honest” man. Such a virtue in a morally decadent societybecame a liability in business and politics, particularly in the latter.

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He tried to confront the underdevelopment problems of Nigeria andAfrica by enquiring into the metaphysical realm. He displayed the qualitiesof a nationalist with deep feelings for his country and a passion to seeNigeria emerge as a leader in the comity of nations. It is such a feeling thatgoaded him into partisan politics; he was convinced that from such a pedestalhe would be able to serve his people more. He established the NkwerreChamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture. He also foundedthe Home Trust Community Bank at Nkwerre. Through this medium, heassisted a lot of traders and artisans with loans and grants for investment intheir businesses.

A uniqueness that distinguishes E.O. from other great men like him ishis ability to blend his enormous economic success and material acquisitionwith a disciplined and dedicated spiritual life. This is a combination that israre to come by. It is this quality that further reinforces the conviction thatin our search for a holistic approach to human existence and developmentthe Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe example should be closely studied andunderstood.

It remains to add to our picture of E.O. his widely acclaimed philanthropicgestures. His guiding principle in the aspect of giving is that it is not theprerogative of the rich and comfortable. Philanthropy for him is a way oflife. He was to later establish a charity foundation for the full expression,and management of his philanthropic activities called the Rural EnterprisePromotion Scheme (REPS).

ConclusionIn this piece, which is to be regarded as a foundation for the main study,

we have attempted to, within the limited sources available, give a biographicalsketch that cut across the various aspects of Onyechere’s life. It is a truismthat E.O. had a significant impact on his time and generation. The manEmmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam–Osigwe was the scion of the Osigwefamily, Nze Ojukwu na- alu ogwu II, Nwa Okala Ome I of Nkwerre,international business mogul, philanthropist per excellence, spiritual colossus,formulator of Obeteau specific, philosopher of distinction, father of eightchildren and husband of Dorothy Chinyere Anyiam-Osigwe. It is for thisman that the bells toll.

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Notes and References1 The section on Igbo ontology relies on discussions held with Mr. Olisa

Muojama of the Department of History, University of Ibadan and Dr. SylvesterOgbogu of Department of Zoology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife inJune and July 2008 respectively.

2 For the genealogy of Emmannuel Anyiam-Osigwe, I have relied on informationcontained in the unpublished manuscripts of Mr. Mike Osigwe on OnyechereVotary of Truth, Victor of Life and interview conducted with Mrs. DorothyChinyere Osigwe (wife of E.O.) in Ikeja Lagos in July 2008.

3 See A profile: Short Biography of Chief Emmannuel Onyechere OsigweAnyiam-Osigwe – Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and Philosopher manuscriptmade available to the author by Mr. Mike Osigwe.

4 Till date, all title holders in Nkwerre are required to submit themselves to theOsigwe family by paying a token and they in return give such conferees asymbol of their authority from the stomp a tree in their obi.

5 See P.A. Oguagha, Nigeria Since 1800 External Studies Programme, Universityof Ibadan, Ibadan, 1992, pp. 26-27

6 See E. Isiche A History of Igbo People p. 98.7 Ibid.8 Interview with Charles Osigwe at the Osigwe’s country home in Nkwerre in

September 2008.9 See Onyechere Votary of Truth, Victor of Life. Op. cit. pp. 2-310 See A Profile: Short Biography of Chief Emmannuel Onyechere Osigwe

Anyiam-Osigwe - Entrepreneur11 This information was provided by Chukwukw Osigwe in an interview

conducted in Ikeja Lagos in July.12 See unpublished documents culled from Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s diaries as

released by his family.13 Ibid.14 Ibid.15 Ibid.16 Ibid.17 See Onyechere Votary of Truth, Victor of Life Op. cit. p. 3918 Ibid. p. 77.19 Interview with Dorothy Osigwe at the Ikeja home of the Osigwe’s in July 2008.20 It is worthy of note that E.O. as a prolific writer who put down most of his

thoughts in several diaries numbering over a hundred. Some of these havebeen extracted and made available to scholars studying him.

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2

C. O. Agulanna

An Exposition of Anyiam-Osigwe’s Metaphysics

IntroductionThe history of philosophy is the history of ideas. It is ideas that change

the world, alter reality and give direction to our living and existence. In ourworld of today, for example, countries or nation-states are ranked orcategorised as developed, developing or under-developed. Without doubt,one major factor that determines the classificatory scheme into which agiven nation falls is with regard to how that nation responds to those ideasthat have a transformative intent and aid the development of the humanmind and social life. To repeat the point again, it is ideas that make andremake the world—in this instance, the ideas of great individuals or historicalpersonalities that have traversed this earthly plain of existence. A short listof the thinkers whose ideas have helped change the history of our worldinclude Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Baruch de Spinoza, tomention but these. Creative ideas come from the human capacity toratiocinate and reflect. This capacity is neither the forte of any particularrace or culture. Rather, it is Nature’s gift to the whole of humanity.

The Man, Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-OsigweThe thoughts expressed above shall form the basis of the present paper,

which I examines the philosophical thoughts of Emmanuel OnyechereOsigwe Anyiam-Osigwe with particular reference to his metaphysics. Iargue that Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe falls in the mouldof the great thinkers in the history of thought. In particular, I show thatEmmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe, like Socrates of old, sawphilosophy as a practical and down-to-earth activity that should help inaddressing human problems. Both thinkers reject the tendency to keepphilosophy in the realm of abstraction or abstruseness. But unlike Socrates,

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Anyiam-Osigwe had the unusual privilege of not only speaking or teachinghis ideas to others but of personally documenting them in written words.What we know of Socrates’ ideas today came from the writings of hispupils, Plato and Xenophon. It follows as a matter of logic and reasontherefore that since Socrates occupies a very important place in the annalsof philosophical discourse, it becomes somewhat of a moral imperative toproperly locate Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe.as one ofthose intellectual greats that have walked this side of the cosmos. All thatneeds to be done is for academic philosophers to subject his ideas to thetype of rigorous and intellectual scrutiny to which Plato and subsequentthinkers subjected the ideas of Socrates.

In this regard, the present paper undertakes a dispassionate scrutiny ofEmmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s philosophical enunciationswith a view to underscoring their rich intellectual content and also to properlylocate the man where he properly belongs intellectually. However, the paperhas a limited scope. Rather than go into the whole gamut of Anyiam Osigwe’sphilosophical ideas, it will be concerned with highlighting those of his ideasthat fall within the rubric of the branch of philosophy.

For the purpose of clarity, and to give the paper a proper perspective, Idivide the discussion into four brief sections. In the first section, I discussthe question, what is Metaphysics? In the second section, I give a briefoutline of the major themes in metaphysics. The final section will be anexamination of Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’smetaphysical ideas or constructs, the basic themes he grappled with in hismetaphysics as well as how his thoughts relate to those of other thinkers inother philosophical traditions.

What is metaphysics?Metaphysics is one of the major branches of philosophy. Etymologically,

the word “metaphysics” derives from two Greek words (meta) (meaning“beyond” or “after”) and (physiká) (meaning “physical”), referring to thoseworks on matter that were done by Aristotle in classical antiquity. Theprefix meta- (“beyond”) was used to describe those aspects of Aristotle’swork that fell outside the scope of what today is called Aristotle’s Physics.1

As an intellectual activity, metaphysics is concerned with determining the

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real nature of reality or things, that is, the meaning, structure, and principlesthat underlie reality or whatever exists insofar as it exists. Aristotle himselfreferred to metaphysics as “first philosophy,” “first science,” “theology,” orsimply “wisdom.” Usually, metaphysicians refer to their enterprise as “themost fundamental and most comprehensive of inquiries,” in as much as it isconcerned with the totality of reality.

Themes in metaphysicsSome of the major themes in metaphysics are: appearance and reality,

change and process, time and space, things and attributes, universal andparticular, freedom and determinism, matter and spirit, one and many, beingand non-being, to mention but these. For example, Leibniz, the Germanrationalist philosopher and mathematician, depicted ultimate reality as monads,that is, elementary, unextended, indivisible, spiritual substances that underliethe whole of reality. The monads, according to Leibniz, also give anexplanation of “the origin, the basic ‘construction material’ and thefundamental structures of our physical world.”2 Like Leibniz, EmmanuelOnyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe talks of the “appropriate moral andspiritual integrals,” of a “spiritual essence,” that underline the whole ofreality; of humans attuning their subconscious mind “to the grid of theuniverse…that under-gird our conduct and terrestrial beings.”3 Like Plato,Anyiam-Osigwe speaks of reality as not merely illusory or simply the fleetingideas given in mere sense datum. On the contrary, he implores us to fix ourgaze on those spiritual realities that fully capture the true essence of ourbeings in the physical universe–what Plato called Forms or Ideas, or whatAnyiam-Osigwe refers to as the mindset factor. The mindset, that supra-determinant that integrates us to the Universal Grid is a fundamentalmetaphysical notion that undergirds Anyiam-Osigwe’s metaphysics, definesour being and frees us from the bondage of low thinking, empowers ourdivine essence and “determines the basis on which man nurtures andadvances his ideas and inventions.”4

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Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s MetaphysicalThought

Philosophy, for Anyiam-Osigwe is not to be seen as an abstruse formof knowledge–a speculative or recondite body of knowledge that bears norelevance to practical human living or our day-to-day experiences in theworld. For if, as he would say, “mathematically speaking, man is an integralfunction of the spiritual, the economic and the socio-political,” it follows thatthe only philosophy that is meaningful is the one that gives a compositepicture of the whole essence of the human person – the material, the spiritual,the emotional as well as the socio-economic.5 It is this composite picturethat enables the human person to maintain an appropriate balance, and atthe same time ensures that the individual “is not utterly deficient in any of[life’s] aspects.”6

What are the specific themes found in Anyiam-Osigwe’s metaphysicsthat rank him side-by-side the great minds that line the philosophical Hall ofFame? I consider a few below.

Anyiam Osigwe’s Theory of InnatismAnyiam-Osigwe avers that humans possess “innate abilities” or

“potentials,” which enables them to accomplish great developments in society,achieve set goals and live a full-orbed life.77

The concept of innate ideas (or simply the theory of innatism) is bothan epistemological and a metaphysical notion. It is a theory well-developedin Plato’s philosophy. For Plato, knowledge is simply reminiscing. When aperson claims to “know,” what happens is that the soul merely rememberswhat it used to know in its previous existence in the transcendental world.

Similarly, when Aristotle sought to inquire into the most real of all things,or when the medieval thinkers tried to establish the characteristics of whatthey referred to as ens realissimum (“the most real being”), or the originalor perfect being, they in actual fact were looking for something that, incontrast to everyday things or phenomena of this world, was truly self-contained or self-caused.8 For Anyiam-Osigwe, the ens realissimum, is thedivine essence in man that links him up the Grid of the Universe. This divineessence is undoubtedly what theists refer to as “soul” or “spirit”–what inIgbo cosmology is referred to as “Chi”; or “emi” in Yoruba metaphysics.

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Spirit or soul, without doubt, is that “personality,” which for Anyiam-Osigwesurvives bodily death. It is “the fundamental identity, or the consciousness,or the essence which the physical body served as a vehicle” in the terrestrialmode of being or existence.

PantheismAnyiam-Osigwe’s metaphysics is pantheistic in nature. Man, he says,

is not simply materiality, as the philosophers of positivism would insist.Rather, he possesses a divine essence that links him up with the Being ofbeings, Chi-Ukwu, Olodumare, Spirit, or simply what Baruch de Spinozacalls Natura Naturans (the High God). The Universal Mind or God is aneternal, infinite and indivisible reality. Anyiam-Osigwe sees the Infinite orUniversal Spirit as the “bedrock of Truth and ultimate reality.” But otherbeings or creatures exist in the hierarchy of divine transcendence. To borrowanother concept from Spinoza, these beings are the Natura Naturata (ornatured nature). For Anyiam-Osigwe, the human essence is simply amanifestation of the Divine Essence. Man, he says, is the highest visiblemanifestation of an intelligent being on the earth. But man, as NaturaNaturata (natured nature) is simply a manifestation of Divine Essence(God). In metaphysics, the theory that the lower beings are a manifestationof God or the Infinite Spirit is a pantheistic theory. Pantheism differs frompanentheism, the doctrine that the lower creatures exist in the inside of theInfinite Spirit. However, further research needs to be carried out to find outif Anyiam-Osigwe also enunciated a panentheistic viewpoint regarding reality.

The mindset factorOne of the key ideas found in Anyiam-Osigwe’s metaphysical thought

is what he calls the mindset factor. The mindset, he defines as “aConditioned Thought Form of the Phenomena Mind on which man’s realitiesare largely premised.”9 Mindset is akin to the concept of soul or mind ascaptured in the various religions of the world. It is mindset that engendersthoughts, creates and determines initiatives. The mindset is a crucial elementin mankind’s quest for development. Without it, development will be lopsidedand askew. However, the mindset can be corrupted, impaired, tarnished,reformed, and be reinvigorated with the power for creative achievement.

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Mind-body RelationshipAnyiam-Osigwe conceives of man as a composite of mind and body, or

spirit and matter. Like Rene Descartes, he sees man as being composed ofspiritual and corporeal substances. The mind, according to Descartes, is aspiritual substance, which has thinking as its essence while the body is amaterial substance the essence of which is essentially extension.10 Descartesalso held that the mind and body interact to achieve harmony and peace inthe human person. Anyiam-Osigwe is emphatic on the fact that man is acomposite of mind and body, a congeries of the physical and spiritualessences. The spiritual actuates the physical and leads it in its trajectory ofcreative achievement. This is done through the proper attuning or cultivationof the mindset. The re-awakening of the mindset aligns the individual to theGrid of the Universe, the Divine Intelligence, and enables him or her toachieve worthy goals in life.

There is a certain idea espoused by Anyiam-Osigwe in his philosophywhich is worthy of mention because of its relevance to the present discussion.The idea is the important role which he accords thought or the mind in thescheme of things. Anyiam-Osigwe subscribes to the dictum found in theHoly Writ to the effect that “as a man thinketh, so is he;”11 for him, “thoughtis creation and creation is thought.” This idea is a neglected philosophicalidea of inestimable value. In the genre of philosophy known asPhenomenology, this idea is fully captured and explained. Inphenomenological thinking, we are reminded that we live in a world of barefacts. Unlike the sceptics of old, phenomenologists do not doubt the fact ofthe existence of the material world, of objects or things in the world; nor dothey subscribe to the viewpoint expressed in some schools of philosophyabout the impossibility of arriving at acceptable knowledge about things.Rather, phenomenologists assert the existence of an objective world outthere—a world that is discernible, palpable and real. It is a world of objectivereality—full of things, inhabited by living and non-living beings, etc. For thephenomenologists, however, objects and things do not have any inherentmeaning of their own apart from the meaning that human beings assign tothem. For Immanuel Kant, it is the mind that structures objects, interpretsthe world and makes them appear the way they are to us. In other words,objects and things will remain opaque and grotesque without the mind’s

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power to give them meaning. Similarly, the world would remain gratuitousand opaque without a mind to give it meaning. Anyiam-Osigwe’s recognitionof the role or importance of thought [mind] as “a key factor in the dynamicsof human existence is expressed in his espousal on the mindset factor increative transformation.”12 For him, mindset is the supra-determinant notonly of socio-economic development at the local or global level, but also inthe personal life of the individual. It is mindset that separates achieversfrom under-achievers.

Man and the WorldAnyiam-Osigwe was also realistic and down-to-earth in his reflections.

Unlike the Cynics of classical antiquity who showed utter contempt formaterial wealth, arts and sciences, and who denied the importance of humansociety and communal comradeship, Anyiam-Osigwe held that man is abeing-in- the-world. And unlike the Sceptics of old who held that no factscan certainly be known, Anyiam-Osigwe asserted, positively, the possibilityof indubitable knowledge and the certainty of the existence of things. Thenotion of man as a being-in-the-world is a core theme in existentialistphilosophy. However, existential thought recognises that the individual personis not simply a solitary or isolated being who grapples alone with the problemsof life. On the contrary, he is a being-with-others who finds security in thecommunity of other wayfarers in this terrestrial mode of being. Accordingto Anyiam-Osigwe, it is in being integrated in the community (with others),and in working together for the commonweal that the individual is able toachieve set goals and work for the well being of the “common pool.”13

PostscriptThere are other equally important ideas captured in Anyiam-Osigwe’s

philosophy which I cannot discuss here due to the constraint of space.Some of these ideas include the distinctions he makes between individualand collective mindset, his thought on gender equality, the concept of balancededucation for national development, respect for the physically challenged,etc. These are ideas that require further study and intellectual discussionsby scholars in order to determine whether they are philosophically significantor not. In the main, I see in Anyiam-Osigwe’s philosophy a gold mine of

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unexplored intellectual riches that needs to be explored and cultivated forthe benefit of humanity. Anyiam-Osigwe is original in his thinking. In mythinking, he possesses great intellectual depth and ranks among the importantthinkers in the unfolding history of thought. Great thinkers do not die. Rather,through the ideas they expounded, they live on in the minds of other humans.This form of immortality is somewhat different from the religious sort–but itis immortality nonetheless. My prognosis about the man EmmanuelOnyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe is that he will, like the other greatthinkers, live on immortally through the ideas he espoused.

References1 van Inwagen, Peter, “Metaphysics”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

(Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), forthcoming URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/metaphysics/>.Retrieved onSeptember 10, 2008

2 Walsh, J. W. (1985), A History of Philosophy, London: Geoffrey Chapman, p. 1.

3 Anyiam-Osigwe, Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe (2005), The Mindset Factorin Creative Transformation, Lagos: An Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe FoundationPublication, p. 5.

4 Ibid., p. 3.

5 Anyiam-Osigwe, M. C. (1999), “Welcome Address,” The Search for a HolisticApproach to Human Existence and Development, Proceeding of the InauguralSession of the Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Memorial LectureSeries, Lagos: A Publication of Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, p. 18.

6 Ibid.

7 Anyiam-Osigwe, Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe (2005), The Mindset Factorin Creative Transformation, pp. 21-25.

8 “Metaphysics,” in The New Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 24, p. 2.

9 Ibid., p. 3.

10 Omoregbe, J. I. (1991), A Simplified History of Western Philosophy, Lagos:Joja Educational Researchers and Publishers Ltd., p. 15.

11 This thought is found in the Book of Proverbs 23: 7. What it simply explains isthe power of thought or the mind to transform not only the person but also theworld of things.

12 Mindset Factor in Creative Transformation, p. 1.

13 Ibid., p. 9.

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3

Olusegun Oladipo

Holistic Approach to Existence and Development

IntroductionWhat is life? How best can it be lived?It could be thought these two questions are metaphysical questions

about the meaning of life which have no direct relevance to the issue ofhow to guarantee the material well-being of the individual and promoteharmonious human relationships – the core elements of development, whichaccording to the predominant view, requires the deployment of the forcesof science and technology and the promotion of democracy for theirrealisation. However, it does not require any special philosophical acumento recognise the inadequacy of this response. For if development involvesthe enhancement of the human capacity for self-realisation and socialharmony, then it can neither be properly conceived nor realised in a sustainablemanner outside the framework of an understanding of the nature and reasonof things and the scale of values that is derivable from such understanding.Indeed, underlining every idea or scheme of development is a certainmetaphysics that is either implicitly held or explicitly expressed.

Consequently, in discussing a holistic approach to human development,particularly in relation to the ideas of late Chief Emmanuel OnyechereOsigwe Anyiam-Osigwe, the proper place to begin is from his views on thenature of human life and how best it can be lived. This is the primary concernof the first section of this paper. The second section will be devoted to theimplications of this view of life for the task of formulating an appropriatedevelopment model for Africa.

An Idea of Human LifeFor Anyiam-Osigwe, human life is not an isolated reality, but a component

of a cosmic order, which has God as the conscious, creative intelligence

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behind it. To understand human life, therefore, the first place to begin isfrom the realisation that human beings shares an affinity with divinity in thesense that they have a spiritual component, which enables them not only toappreciate and serve God, but also to develop “a certain nobility of characterin imitation of Divinity”1. Thus, for Anyiam-Osigwe, each individual is acomponent of God, and his/her self-mastery requires a conscious andconsistent attempt to seek “re-union with the most high.”2

This view of life is vividly expressed in Anyiam-Osigwe’s statement ofhis philosophy of life when he affirms thus:

In serving God, as an instrument of His Divine Will, mypurpose is to set forth for those who wish to follow in thefootsteps of the great Masters the wisdom of God whichdoes not mock man’s effort to emulate his creator. I seek toconvey the sense of unity in the teachings of the great Masterswho have walked the earth showing mankind how to live bydispensing both practical and spiritual wisdom; to hold outhope of inherent treasures in these teachings. But moreimportantly, I wish to re-awaken mankind to the imperativeneed for each of us to construct nobility of character inimitation of Divinity; to re-state the boundaries of the templeof God in Man, and enable each individual to begin tounderstand himself as a component of God. I wish to charta path to self-mastery which will lead Man to his re-unionwith the Most High. In this service I cast away all esteem ofmyself and with unfeigned humility account myself to be nomore than a grateful servant of God and student of Truth”3

In trying to understand the import of this statement, we should payclose attention to the following ideas:

! The human person is an instrument of the will of God.! The unity of the teachings of the Great Masters and the significance

of these teachings for human existence.! The Need for the cultivation of mobility of character by human

beings in imitation of Divinity.! The importance of self-mastery as a means of uniting with the most

high.

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If we examined these four ideas of Anyiam-Osigwe’s philosophy of lifecarefully, it would not be difficult to recognise them as the basic elements ofwhat the Indian philosopher, Radhakrishman, called, perhaps notunambiguously, the “idealist view of life”4 The basic claims of this view oflife, as Radhakrishman expresses it, is that “the universe has meaning, hasvalue”5 and that “Ideal values are the dynamic forces, the driving power ofthe universe”6 In this view, the world “is intelligible only as a system ofends.”7 Generally, in the idealist outlook on life, “the highest value” isinseparable “from the truly real.”8 In short, in this outlook, “an ultimateconnection of value and reality is maintained.”

I have quoted Radhakrishman so profusely not only to show thatAnyiam-Osigwe’s philosophy of life has a respectable pedigree in the historyof thought,10 but more importantly, to make explicit the philosophical foundationof his holistic approach to human existence and development. In this approach,we are urged to understand life by considering the following questions:

1) Who am I?2) From whence came I?3) What am I here for?4) Whither goal from?5) What is my place in the cosmic eternal scheme of things?6) What is life?7) What is death?11

In asking these questions, which does not elicit a systematic philosophicaltreatise from Anyiam-Osigwe, but a series of thoughts recorded in hisnotebooks (from which some excerpts have been made by the OsigweAnyiam-Osigwe Foundation) he can be seen as urging human beings, in themanner of Socrates, to live an examined life by seeking to understand theuniverse through contemplation, and in the process, gaining a vision of theworld of things and persons, which should enable them to interpret theirmanifold experiences as expressive of a purpose.

Given the foregoing, what can we regard as the basic elements ofChief Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s holistic approach to human existence anddevelopment? In answering this question, we need to revisit his philosophyof life quoted above and add to it these other extracts from his thoughts.

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By intuition we know that the physical world is only thethreshold of a much more larger experience. In this regard,it is more important to merge with the spirit of things than tounderstand their forms. The acquisition of knowledge isachieved through a variety of avenues. However, wisdomconsists of understanding the cause and source of things.Wisdom is attained by elevating the intellect to the point ofintuitive awareness of the invisible. Speech for instance,exemplifies the tangibility of the invisible.

Beyond mystical feelings, piety and devotion, religion isindeed a higher cosmic mission that is purposed to transformman from a creature dominated by basic instincts to anincarnate personality worthy of description as a manifestationof Divine Intelligence. In this regard, religion is a psychicprocess intended for the enhancement of man’s evolution,ascending from matter to spirit. For this objective. Mastersand Sages are so instructed by religion in order that theymight guide the adherent on the path of evolutionary securitytowards the attainment of conscious unity with Divinity.

The quest to attain self-mastery must not rely essentially onhistorical events at a particular period or the past as a whole.Rather, the quest should challenge us to earnestly seekuniversal truths whose timelessness and permanence areintegral to the ever unfolding transformation that comes withthe inevitability of time.12

From the above extracts, we can reconstruct the essential claims ofAnyiam Osigwe’s holistic conception of human existence and developmentthus. Human beings are essentially spiritual beings whose self-masterydepends on the extent to which they are able to approximate the divine, intheir thoughts, dispositions and deeds. To do this effectively, they have tocultivate mind-sets or mental dispositions that will enable them to transcendraw human instincts – of selfishness, greed and lust, for example – whichare products of human attachment, through the body, to the physical world,to develop that nobility of character, which will enable them to achieve

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what the narrator in Ben Okri’s novel, Astonishing the Gods13, has called“the perfection of the spirit and the mastery of life”.14 In other words, theyhave to begin to see human life in a new way in which there will be lessemphasis on material and visible things, but more attention to those valuesthat can guarantee, again using Ben Okri’s words, “a sublime future”15 forthe human race.

Before we discuss the values that Anyiam-Osigwe considers central tothe realisation of the new way of life he advocates, it is important to put ina proper perspective the socio-holistical context within which he makes hisrecommendation. At the global level, human life is characterised by a certainkind of asymmetrical relationship between the level of control human beingshave achieved over the physical world and the mastery of the human world– that is, the world of politics, religion, culture and interpersonal relationship.John Wilson’s observation about this asymmetrical relationship, made aboutthirty-six years ago, is still very apposite. According to him: Whereas in thecase of the physical world, we have achieved greater flexibility and greaterfreedom, we are still slaves as far as the human world is concerned –slaves to our instincts, personal desires, emotions, prejudices and so on.16

Thus, in spite of the significant achievements in the domains of science andtechnology, human existence has not been as worthwhile, as integrated andas happy as it could be. There is still widespread poverty across the world.17

What is worse is the fact of an enduring lack of a common understandingconcerning what is required to promote our common humanity. Consequently,the global social consciousness is still largely divided and disoriented – asituation worsened by the willful abuse of power by that nation (the UnitesState of America to be precise) which, on account of its enormous powershould provide the moral leadership for the reorientation of consciousnessthat is required for the achievement of a better future for humanity. In thecase of Nigeria, we are confronted not only with a situation of cripplinginability to develop institutions that can foster cooperative living among ourdiverse peoples but also with a crisis of values, whose negative indicesinclude wanton abuse of power, crass materialism, greed, corruption andother social indecencies that have warped the group mind and made apotentially great country the open sore of a troubled continent.

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It is within this context that Anyiam-Osigwe advocates a view of lifewhich emphasises the role of the mind in promoting and sustaining a betterand viable society. The mind, in this regard, is seen not only as a means ofapprehending man’s spiritual essence, but also the instrument of developingthose habits of thought and behavioural dispositions that can promote thebest in human instincts and nurture better social relationships at all levels ofhuman interaction. Here, we begin to recognise the role of what has beencalled “the mindset factor”18 in the process of development. For if the mindis the spring from which thoughts and dispositions derive, then the way it isnurtured and the contents or products of its workings cannot but play asignificant role in what an individual is or becomes. And if society is anaggregation of the individuals within it and the set of institutions that regulatetheir activities, then the health or state of a society cannot be divorced fromthe configuration of thoughts and behavioural dispositions that shape thelives of the people. Thus social transformation requires an appropriate mentaland moral framework in addition to institutions that can help people in asociety to achieve their goals.

Values and DevelopmentAs we have observed earlier, the appropriate mental framework which

Anyiam-Osigwe recommends is one in which human beings recognise theiraffinity with God and they consciously seek to approximate the divine intheir thoughts and deeds. Enough, I think, has been said in the explanationof the central ideas of Anyiam-Osigwe’s philosophy of life. What remainsis to examine those values which Anyiam-Osigwe considers central to thedevelopment process or social transformation.

Two of these values come out clearly from the extracts from thereflections of Anyiam-Osigwe and commentaries on them available for thepreparation of this essay, namely, the values or ideals of truth and justice.They are made clear in this quotation, for instance,

Nigerians, to survive, must ensure that they make truth andjustice the cardinal principles of this nation. To see light andcall it darkness and comfort ourselves by saying it is a politicaldecision is nothing but worshipping the devil.19

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The devil, let us recall, represents all forces of retrogression in a society,including greed and ignorance. Now, how do we negate these forces ofdarkness, thereby making development a reality in our society?

Anyiam-Osigwe, as an answer to this question, embraces the values oftruth and justice. But how does he construe these values and what are theramifications of his understanding for his idea of development? It is importantto note in this regard that Anyiam-Osigwe does not provide a systematicanalysis of the meaning of these concepts. Nonetheless a sense of whatthey mean can be gleaned from his thoughts on the Nigerian condition.From these materials, it is obvious that he is concerned with truth not in themanner in which theorists of knowledge (epistemologists) have beenconcerned with it in Western philosophy since Plato. Rather, he is concernedwith truth as concept that is central to our apprehension of the cosmos andour place within it. Truth, in this sense, is a metaphysico-epistemologicalcategory dealing with the kind of enlightenment that derives from anunderstanding of the nature of divinity and the laws and principles guidingthe cosmos. With this enlightenment, human beings come to realise thatthey are because God is and that we are all the same as creatures of God.This notion of truth has two consequences for the pursuit of developmentas a human goal that should be stressed. The first one has to do with thefact that – regardless of the obvious socio-cultural differences that suggestthat each society is unique and, therefore, should be assessed or treateddifferently – human beings are the same all over the world. Given this fact,it follows that no process of development can achieve its best unless it isbased on the recognition of our common humanity or, to use Anyiam-Osigwe’s expression, “the brotherhood of man.”20 Recognising thebrotherhood of man would mean creating a social environment in which it ispossible for all minds to be at work and all hands on deck to make developmenta reality. This is the first social pillar of Anyiam-Osigwe’s holistic conceptionof development.

The second pillar, also deriving from the realisation that we all share acommon humanity, has do with the need to use power with humility. This isone way of avoiding the tendency to use power simply as a means of theoppression of others or an instrument of self-aggrandisement. It is a way ofensuring that wielders of power are not “deformed”, as Wole Soyinka puts

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it, “to such a degree but they exude no more individuality, are palpablyhollowed out so that they become mere shells of the human identity …”21

The point here is that power corrupts and only those who can use it withhumility and the fear of God can use it “gently and for the good of others”.22

Needless to say that the paucity of leaders with this kind of consciousnessand virtue is a major aspect of the bane of governance in Nigeria. It is thesource of the transformation of Nigeria from a land blessed with abundantnatural and human resources to a famished, self-accursed society in whichdispossession and alienation have become a permanent condition of beingfor the majority.

This brings us to the third pillar of social restoration emphasised byAnyiam-Osigwe, which has to do with the importance of justice in themaintenance of social order. At issue is not simply “the idea of ‘due process’”as a means of, in the words of A.C. Graying, interposing “an impartial,considered process between citizens and the sources of power in society”23

or, to put the matter in another way, checking the arbitrary use of power,which leads to tyranny, even though this is a crucial condition of social well-being. But also quite significant in this regard is the issue of equity in “thedistribution of wealth, power and privilege in the society,”24 which has beena major factor in the retrogression of Nigeria, as the lingering social instabilityin the Niger-Delta region and the palpable feeling of discontent across thecountry clearly show.

For Anyiam-Osigwe, the best way to tackle this problem, which hassubstantially reduced the legitimacy quotient of governments and has beena source of conflicts in the society, is to moderate the quest for personalpower as a means of oppressing others, or as an instrument for theglorification of our ethnic groups and, as a corollary, promote a social systemin which power is used, to glorify God and for the good of us all. To achievethis goal, Nigeria, in the opinion of Anyiam-Osigwe, requires a crop of leaderswho live more by reason and spirit, and less by instinct and “blinding emotions,as it is now predominantly the case. Also, in order to promote a sense ofbelonging among Nigerians, every Nigerian, to be precise and to use theexact words of Anyiam-Osigwe, “every clever, intelligent, creative, dynamicNigerian – be he from a minority or majority tribe, has a right to lead thecountry if he or she has the merit.”25 There is a hint of Plato’s philosopher-

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king here, a discussion of which is outside the scope of this essay.Nonetheless, it should be obvious from the foregoing that Anyiam-Osigwe’spreference for political leadership who are enlightened minds, who are notonly able to appreciate the deeper dimensions of the problems of the country,but also possess the capacity to use power to promote the common good.

Generally, Anyiam-Osigwe is of the conviction that power should not beheld for the sheer love of power, but for the greater good of humanity and onlythose who have developed the humility derived from spiritual enlightenment intothe nature of the cosmos can fulfill this condition. Here, we are back to wherewe started: the idea that human life is not an isolated reality, but a component ofa cosmic order, which has God as the conscious creative intelligence behind it.This seems, then to be the point at which we could summarise the basic elementsof Anyiam-Osigwe’s holistic approach to development.

In this approach, development is not simply about material progress, butmore importantly, about human relationships, which are reflections of theextent of self-mastery individuals in a society are able to achieve throughan apprehension of the true meaning and significance of the cosmic order.It is therefore more about values or ideas than things. It follows from thisthat the path to progress in Nigeria, indeed Africa, lies in the cultivation ofthe human mind, in a manner that promotes “the perfection of spirit” andthe nobility of character that can aid the realisation of the values of truth,justice and love as core human ideals, that can facilitate human progress.

Criticism and ResponseTo some, this idea of development might seem out of the world and,

therefore, impracticable, for two main reasons. First it provides atranscendental foundation for a process, which essentially is a product ofthe pressures the environment – natural and social – put on human beings,their reactions to it, and the feedback they get from this over time. Second,it gives the impression that there is one overriding determinant of developmentwhen, in fact, several factors play a crucial role in its determination. Insummary, this approach to development fails to appreciate the fact of thelimitations in the human capacity to attain the level of religious consciousnessthat can promote an appreciation of the core values – truth and justice, forexample – that it considers prominent in the process of development.

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Let us examine these criticisms, with a view to determining the extentto which they weaken the strength of the development philosophy of Anyiam-Osigwe. The first thing to note, in this regard, is that Anyiam-Osigwe clearlyrecognises that the human person is the goal of development – his/herspiritual, moral and material well-being – and, consequently, that theachievement of this goal requires the harnessing of the resources of a societyto promote the common good through political institutions that operate onthe basis of truth and justice. These, no doubt, are propositions which arefar from being contentious. What may be problematic is the belief thatplacing human beings at the centre of development requires that we seethem as a component of God with whom they should seek re-union. Buteven here a careful analysis of Anyiam-Osigwe’s holistic approach to humanexistence and development is likely to show that the religious element in itcan easily be exaggerated, particularly because of the prominence of thereligious register in it. Clearly, the primary emphasis in this approach toexistence and development is the connection between values anddevelopment, particularly the importance of enduring socio-moral values inthe process of development. Indeed, the central question for Anyiam-Osigweis that of how we, as Nigerians, can develop the capacity to appreciatethose values – truth, justice, humility and love – without which no developmentprocess can be human-centred and sustainable.

Now, it is easy to dismiss the role of sectarian religions in the inculcationof these values, particularly in the contemporary socio-cultural context, inwhich these religions have become sources of exploitation, oppression,conflicts and even terror. What will not be easy is to deny the role of “bothpractical and spiritual wisdom”, to use Anyiam-Osigwe’s words, in theprocess of reconstructing human consciousness as a means of making humanlife more worthwhile and more fulfilling than it is at the moment. The point,then, is that the role of religion in the development process can easily bemisconstrued, but that is if we limit our understanding of religion to itsmanifestations in those religions that dominate the human landscape todayand their multi-various sects. If, however, we recognise that religion goesbeyond these, that it is essentially about the appreciation of the sublime andthe noble in human nature, the point of seeking “to convey the sense ofunity in the teachings of the great masters who have walked the earth

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showing mankind how to live by dispensing both practical and spiritualwisdom”; to hold out inherent treasures in these teachings”26 would not bedifficult to appreciate. Indeed, if we see that most religious teachings areessentially about enduring human values, it would not be difficult to realisethat the role of religious consciousness in the development process cannotbe overemphasised.

The point, then, is that Anyiam-Osigwe’s holistic approach to humanexistence and development, when carefully analysed, is not an attempt toseek a transcendental foundation for development, but a bold effort topromote the realisation that no development process is sustainable that isnot anchored in certain core human values. To say this is not to suggest thatthere is one overriding factor in the development process, after all Anyiam-Osigwe recognises the role of leadership in development and the importanceof fairness in the distribution of resources to the maintenance of socialstability. Rather, in focus is an attempt to ensure that human beings are notoverwhelmed by their unceasing material cravings and selfish desires to theextent that they are unable to conceive and work towards the achievementof a better future for themselves. This, in Anyiam-Osigwe’s view, is a futurein which human material cravings would be moderate; one in which loveand justice would prevail. This is the promise of Anyiam-Osigwe’s holisticapproach to human existence and development. It is a promise we woulddo well to consider and embrace.

Notes and References1. Extract from Anyiam-Osigwe’s notebooks quoted in The Search for a Holistic

Approach to Human Existence and Development, proceedings of theInaugural Session, Emmanuel Onyuechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe memorialLecture Series, 1999 (Lagos: Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, 1999), p.5

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Radhakrishman, An Idealist view of Life (London: Unwin Paperbaks, 1980)

5. Ibid., p.10

6. Ibid

7. Ibid

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8. Ibid., p.11

9. Ibid.

10. Radhakrishman (Ibid.) sees this tradition in West as ranging “from Socratesand Plato to Bradley and Alexander.”

11. Extract from Anyiam-Osigwe’s Notebooks.

12. Extracts from Anyiam-Osigwe’s Notebooks.

13. Ben Okri, Astonishing the Gods (Great Britain; Phoenix 1996).

14. Ibid., p. 67

15. Ibid., p.71

16. John Wilson, “Language and Society” in A. Cashdown et al (eds), Languageand Education: A Source Book (London, Boston and Hanley: London,Boston and Henley: Routledge and Kegan Paul,1972) p.2

17. Here is the testimony of Bill Gates on this:

One billion people live on less than a dollar a day. They don’thave enough nutritious food, clean water or electricity. Theamazing innovations that have made many lives so much better– like vaccines and micro-chips – have largely passed them by.”Bill Gates, “How to Fix Capitalism”, Time, Vol. 172, No.6 (2008),p.26.

18. See The Mindset Factor in Creative Transformation: All Minds at Work, AllHands on Deck, An Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation Publication.

19. Extract from Anyiam-Osigwe Notebooks

20. Ibid.

21. Wole Soyinka, Of Power, Interventions Vol.5 (Ibadan: Bookcraft, 2007), p.22

22. A.C. Grayling, The Reason of Things (Great Britain, Phoenix, 2003), p.105

23. Ibid., p.110

24. Ibid., p.111

25. Extract from Anyiam-Osigwe Notebooks.

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4

O.B. Lawuyi

“Thoughts are things … But this is a dream”:Exploring the Link between Religion and Self-Realization

in E.O.O. Anyiam-Osigwe’s Reflections

IntroductionThe two phrases in the main title are drawn form the reflections of

Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwwe Anyiam-Osigwe, the philanthropist, andastute businessman, who was also a philosopher. They are phrases culledfrom two different reflections, and are not within a sequence of thought ina sentence or a paragraph. The phrases are joined together in this essaybecause they have come to inspire a different reflection on the man’s ideasand philosophy, in that they allude in different ways to a materialist conceptionof history and culture which, however generates a tension that sees the twomanifesting as not one and necessarily the same thing. This inspires adifference, in the ways we account for the existence of things as well asthe ways we produce them.

There are three important concepts for consideration, namely, “thought”,“thing” and “dream”. Thoughts, according to the phrase, are things. Thewriter has not said they are dreams. He has not equally said that things aredreams or that dreams are things. There may be things in a dream andthought may follow a dream. But it is hardly the case that there is thinkingwhile there is a dream. The dream may, however, give birth to a thing,because of the thinking that followed. A dream is merely instrumental as anobject in a causal-functional relationship, consisting merely of the capacityto act rationally upon the world of experience. A dream which cannotstimulate thought cannot, therefore, produce a thing. That is, the dreammay not crystallise as a thing, in the materialists’ sense, but be a symbol, likethe power of words, which acts merely in a set of related signs. The dreammay simply place a thing, as a sign, within history in which the thing becomes

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a content of a sequence of events. Understandably, the dream is still a basisof (and for) reflection and conceptualisation, of understanding andappreciation, but it is not a thing conveyed by the senses to act on experiencein a rational way. It could enter though into an organisation of wants/experiences as codification, and the organisational structure as a whole canbe referred to practice, to process, and to experience in the world, such thatthe total sequence now represents the sedimentation within culture of thelogic of experience.

In the reflections from which one of the phrases was drawn, we findthat:

Thoughts are things. Yes, good thoughts are things. Badthoughts … positive thoughts, negative thoughts, thoughtsof life and thoughts of deaths, thoughts of peace and thoughtsof war … all … are things. – Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe, 1921-1998.

Thoughts are here related to experience, events and moral epithets, tosubjective and objective conditions of existence, so that the general line offorce in the reflection, the orientation of logical effect, is from thought toexperience and values and, in the reverse from these to thought in a cyclicalmanner which eventually culminates in cultural development.

There is a transitory phase implied in the cyclical thought, which is atthe point at which experience moves back into thought. In that phase,Anyiam-Osigwe hints at the need to “control and direct thoughts towardspositive, progressive, harmonious idea”. If the transition is not properlymanaged, it is most likely that a disharmonious situation may arise, whichcan be characterised as negative, conservative, or unprogressive. In anycase, the harmonious idea is itself a thing (if thought are things), that is herea symbol of completeness. The thing is instrumental to all senses ofcompleteness, including self-fulfillment or realisation, and a social orderthat could serve as the foundation on which relevant and important economicand political superstructures to which correspond definite forms of socialconsciousness could rise.

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Anyiam-Osigwe does not intend that dream should be the opposite of,or be equal to, thought; rather, he seeks to transpose the symbolic coordinatesof dream into the consequence of the being, the human being:

This is a dream in the imagination of the dreamerWeapons do not win warsIt is God that gives the victory andGod is the God of truth – Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyuiam-Osigwe, 1921-1998

The human dreamer can imagine things – wars, victory, weapon, etc –as the symbolic coordinates of his/her dream. We are constrained, however,by the absence of anything contrary, to think that the use of the wordimagination serves the same value as that of intuition, which the writer usesin other contexts as a liberating force to lift a person from the constraints ofthought or situation. So, as in the matters of intuition, imagination is a tripbeyond experience.

By intuition we know that the physical world is only thethreshold of a much more larger experience. In this regard,it is more important to merge with the spirit of things than tounderstand their forms. The acquisition of knowledge isachieved through a variety of avenues. However, wisdomconsists of understanding the cause and source of things.Wisdom is attained elevating the intellect to the point ofintuitive awareness of the invisible. Speech, for instance,exemplifies the tangibility of the invisible. – Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyuiam-Osigwe, 1921-1998

If we were to substitute the word imagination for intuition, nothing ofsubstance in meaning would have been discounted. Anyiam-Osigwe’sphilosophy posits a difference between cause and form, truth and thing.Although form can exist as a thing, the knowledge of the cause is the trueknowledge of the thing. Intuition and imagination are steps to connect withcause in order to reach the truth.

Dream, of course, is a play field of the invisible. Most religions wouldassert that it is one way of connecting with “cause”, and thus establishing

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the truth. They also will acknowledge that it is a context where forcesinterlink in an exchange that promises to fund the understanding andconsciousness of things not always as they are (the forms) but as theyought or should be. That is why Anyiam-Osigwe would take dream bothseriously and unserious. He is serious about it because it could be a linkwith cause, and yet not serious about it because it may not connect withsource. In this regard, particularly in terms of the former, Anyiam-Osigwe’sthought on dream reaches deep into the history of ideas, into ideology. But,in both cases, he is at home both in the objective and subjective consciousness,and he would be quick also to say that with the subjective, irrational orsubconscious factors, individuals can construct their own personal history.However, God’s history, the history which is true may be different. In otherwords, the laws of nature and society are discovered not only in the musingsof philosophers but equally in the recesses of the soul. It is within this frameof mind that we appreciate the next quote, which is that:

Beyond mystical feelings, piety and devotion, religion is indeeda higher cosmic mission that is purposed to transform man froma creature dominated by basic instincts to an incarnatepersonality worthy of description as a manifestation of Divineintelligence. In this regard, religion is a psychic process intendedfor the enhancement of man’s evolution, ascending from matterto spirit.

To this objective, Masters and Sages are so instructed by religionin order that they might guide the adherent on the path ofevolutionary security, towards the attainment of conscious unitywith Divinity.

– Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyuiam-Osigwe, 1921-1998

The basic concern here is still the connection with the “cause” of things,which religion actively promotes, and Masters and Sages seriously advocatefor a proper understanding of history.Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe obviously seeks for a transformation of manfrom a creature dominated by basic instincts to an incarnate personalityworthy of description as a manifestation of divine intelligence. This may

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be a tall dream, but then this is in the realm of thought. It should be notedthat Anyiam-Osigwe had earlier hinted that “speech, for instance,exemplifies the tangibility of the invisible”, by which he meant that a thingis referable not simply to the external world but first of all to its place inlanguage as the source; that is, to other related things, symbols or words.He would simply not conceive of a thing that is existentially possiblewithout a relation to its spirit, to its metaphysics. Self mastery as, indeed,self realisation, are impossible without “ascending from matter to spirit;”moving from conscious to unconscious and symbolism to history. Ratherthan follow a strictly empiricist argument, Anyiam-Osigwe combinesempiricist arguments that some of our ideas originate from the materialvisible world with a modest metaphysics – knowledge is ultimatelygrounded in the divine.

On ThoughtsFor Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe thoughts make all things possible; such

as deaths, peace, accidents, promotions, retrenchments, etc. These arepossibilities that thoughts can deliver, not just because they exist withinculture, but because they also engineer the direction of cultural developmentas one precipitated from the rational activity of individuals and groupspursuing their own interests. The objective views are naturalistic, since forhim the material wisdom substantiated in cultural form is the existence ofthe human population or the given social order. But the precise logic of hisposition is one of adaptive advantage, which is moral. That is why he wouldregard some things – like wars, deaths, personal and collective crises – asoutcomes of negative thoughts that could threaten a human population or agiven social order. In contrast, he regards the thoughts of life, promotionand peace as positive, because they are distinctive qualities of man thatmust be lived for, achieved, and promoted in a material world seeking amoral leadership.

It is thought that can change our world. Without thinking we live withthe same conditions and we might even be inferior to others who think –particularly that change is possible. Anyiam-Osigwe is, of course, awarethat the material world is subject to some constraints but that it does so

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according to a symbolic scheme which is never the only one possible. Hence,it is the material world which constitutes the essence of (our) struggle to be;serving as a context which originates different lines or possibilities of thought.The Americans can, therefore, think differently from the Europeans, andthe Yoruba differently from the Igbo. But this does not preclude their thinkingin the same way if the material context is the same or similar. Individualthoughts are equally expected to be different, or even vary from context tocontext.

The material world enters into dreams, but the dream, in the limitedappearance given to things, places a constraint on what is possible. So, thematerial world has become an essence because there are certain thingsthat we might well imagine but might not be possible until our thoughts givethe clue to how we can overcome the constraints that frustrate theirexpressions. And in so far as it is possible to have many dreams, even aboutthe same thing, there is no definite symbolic scheme (which by reasoninheres within the different dreams) to everything that thought is capable of.

Within the material world itself, the selection of, a symbolic scheme isguided by what seems to best serve chosen purposes. Here, surely, thelimitations and idiosyncrasies of an individual or collective experience musthave their effect. Hence, Anyiam-Osigwe advocates a process of selfdiscovery to bring about a consistent approach:

! Who I am?! From whence came I?! What am I here for?! What is my place in the cosmic scheme?! What is life (to me) and! What is death (to me)

These are questions which are designed for self discovery in any context,the work place, religious centres, or fields of play. They are intended tocreate a meaning and a purpose that must take its ground in the symbolicepistemology of subject/object relations whose transcendence is the historicalcondition of a material world. Emmanuel’s thoughts seem to suggest thatthese are questions that one should ask at any time, but preferably beforeembarking on any action or taking a decision. The answers to these questions

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would, of course, not be the same for individuals and collectives, which thenmeans that they may come to create different symbolic schemes, and henceattain different levels of achievement.

However, Anyiam-Osigwe’s insistence on the meaningful and thepurposeful is a case for idealism, with the tendency to reduce the problemof self-discovery to the terms of the antinomy of a thoughtless subjectconfronting a worthless task. In order words, a thoughtful subject mustengage a worthy cause/task. Hence, the prescriptions that there must be:

! Control and directness of thought! Personal enlightenment! Understanding of the forces around you

Should any or a combination of these prescriptions be ignored there islikely to be a tendency to slip into thoughtlessness. The unfortunate thing isthat Anyiam-Osigwe did not provide the steps to be taken to ensure thatthese prescriptions are achievable. But this does not discount the value of aprocess of self discovery, which is to ensure that there is a focused thought,well grounded in the material world, and capable of lifting the self above theconstraints set by such a world. What is important to realise here is that theprescriptions have undertones of relationships, and seem to be a step abovethe previous questions’ focus on the “1” or self, in that the “1” or self is bylogic subordinated to the social through which the achievement has to begrounded.

The subordination of the individual’s logic of production to theinstrumental logic of the social without transposing the symbolic coordinatesof social being into the quality of that being proceed on three premises:

! Man must first realise himself as nothing! He is because God is! The kind of discipline he has can make a difference in achievement.

The three premises lay out the crucial relationships which can enable aperson to follow the prescriptions outlined above. The first of the premisesis that the self must be de-emphasised in the relationship with the other, atleast if a person would be able to appreciate and understand the forcesaround him/her. The second premise emphasises the relationship to God,

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through whom one can understand the cosmos and be able to relate wellwith it. The third premise insinuates the relationship with the material world,the understanding of which is crucial to making a difference and beingdifferent. For these three premises, Anyiam-Osigwe provides a method ofhandling different relationships, namely:

! Relationship with the other: be humble! Relationship with God: be spiritual (prayerful and meditative)! Relationship with the material: be visionary

All these are “good” in and by themselves because the people perish,says the Holy word, when they have no vision. The humble shall inherit theearth, while without God, there is no power to the discipline required forachievement.

The point is, the relation between productive action in the world (thoughtsare things) and the symbolic organisation of experience (dreams in theimagination) allows for work toward developing the self or the society. It isAnyiam-Osigwe’s great desire that all men and all societies develop, reachtheir ultimate potential ability, and enjoy the sense of fulfillment. Understandingthe form and the process of this idealism comes not from the experience ofthat process as such, which is part of one’s biography, but from the ability toconstrue their modes of expression or symbolic scheme, as he, Anyiam-Osigwe has outlined.

Basically, Emmanuel Anyian-Osigwe seems to say, we are what wethink; we create what we think; we achieve what we think, and ourenvironment cannot be better than how we think. Proper thinking is a sinequa non to achievement and progress and proper thinking is about organisingsymbolic schemes which mediate productive action in the world and thedivine purpose for the world. He prescribes humility, prayer/meditation, andvision as symbolic schemes.

Finally, we think Anyiam-Osigwe would agree with Senator TedKennedy of United States of America that at every situation “the thoughtbegins again, the hope rises anew and the dream marches on” that a newthing would happen. Those who fail, fail to think, to hope, and to dream.

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But Where is the Dream?What we discuss here has a parallel in a poor man who dreamt that he

was riding a brand new, expensive car but woke up to realise that there wasneither a new car nor was his poor economic condition better. The dreamnever delivered a thing. What could have happened? The answer is that thedream is not intended to be read as a thought. It is merely a sign to somethingelse. When Anyiam-Osigwe, for instance, writes in the quote we have earlieralluded to, that “dream is in the imagination of the dreamer and that weaponsdo not win wars”, we have two propositions.

Proposition 1: Weapons, without God, win wars (create victory)Proposition 2: God, with weapons, win wars (create victory)

To him, only one of the propositions is the truth. Anyiam-Osigwe,certainly, does not anticipate a situation where one goes to war (physical)without weapons; but he anticipates a war being fought without God. Thelatter is what he described as “imagination of the dreamer”, which is to saythat it is not true. But if there is God in the equation, then this is no longer animagination. What makes God the truth is a different issue. It is the truth,however, that would place dream at the same level as thought as that whichmake things. This is particularly so because God is the historicising subject.Thought is that which makes things possible. So his thought is that whichmakes things. Since thought belongs to the body rather than the soul, it isthrough the body of man that good and bad thoughts come from. And throughit, good and bad things happen. That is why things of the flesh are never theideal promoted by religion.

However, let us go back to the idea of thought in Anyiam-Osigwe’sreflections. As we have stated before, thought is like a language, characterisedby immanence of contrastiveness, even if there is a harmonious, internalstructure, which allows it a sense of uniformity or unity. But like a spatialuniverse, as Ibitokun (2009) writes, “language unfurls and pins on itself,orchestrates, so to say, its own protean energies through its own diverseverses, tones, tunes and twists within its own systemic topography” (2008:8).Any wonder that Anyiam-Osigwe draws a parallel between God and thoughtif, more so, thought operates like a language. In this view, every being haswithin it a contrastiveness, and it would be wise to say, a capability of

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unfolding in different forms, including the capability for good and bad. Thecontrastiveness gives rise to differences in beings, not only in terms of theirendowments of thought and dream, but also in their approximation to theessence of the ultimate. The essentialist argument at this point is that:

It is my impression that the other meaning of iwa (character,moral behaviour) originates from an idiomatic usage of thisoriginal lexical meaning (i.e. ‘fact of being, living or existing’).If this is the case, iwa (character) is therefore the essenceof being. A man’s iwa is what can be sued to characterisehis life especially in ethical terms.

(Abimbola 1975: 393-4).

The kernel of truth in Abimbola’s impression is that iwa can supply anaxiological standard that links moral epithets to human behaviour. And aswe have noted elsewhere what is absent “is an awareness that we need amiddle term between iwa as an ontological category and iwa as a valueepithet” (Lawuyi and Taiwo 1990: 70). That is, a middle term that linksbeing with value categories such as bad, poor, progressive, etc, and is equallycapable of linking the being with the ultimate in the case of Anyiam-Osigwe’sreflections. This is where intentionality is significant to understanding thesereflections.

Intentions may or may not be in thought. It may be on the mind, but maynot get into thought, if it is not related to it. For instance, one may intendtraveling to Lagos and yet remain in Ibadan writing down his philosophicalthoughts on Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s impressionsof God. It may be argued that the writing exercise fulfils an intention, but itis not definitely that of traveling to Lagos. Intention gives us the justificationfor an action as well as the ethical standard of measuring the action. Consider,for instance;

He wants to please GodSo he stole the money from the thieves

Whether the money was stolen from thieves or not, stealing is not avalue or virtue of God that such action was intended to please and may,therefore, be said to be “bad” or unethical. Thus, Anyiam-Osigwe opines

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that “the day man (or nation) adheres to truth, for the sake of truth, we shallhave a wonderful country”. This is only a statement to the fact that untilman’s intent is to know God, the truth, and do that which is true, what wehave is a dream – structures and people that cannot deliver on their owncognition.

The Divine and KnowledgeWriters on this subject have been pre-occupied with reporting their

own research and experiences than interrogating Anyiam-Osigwe’sreflections. Their contributions, though often of a generalist nature, arenevertheless illuminating on the synthetic as well as the analytic rigour broughtto bear on the subject. Their originality is not, of course, in doubt. And theydo not in fact have to be blamed for their generalist views, as they may nothave had the chance, as we suspect, to read Anyiam-Osigwe’s rawreflections. Or perhaps they do, but have preferred to tackle the subjectfrom a selected conceptual standpoint, using some of the concepts ofAnyiam-Osigwe. Some examples include the concepts of introspection asa passport and the concept of chi as an interrogative, analytical, tool. Neitherthe subject of introspectionism nor of chi is irrelevant to the understandingof Anyiam-Osigwe’s thoughts on reality. Yet, they do not completely resolveAnyiam-Osigwe’s problematisation of the divine and knowledge, which weattempt to address.

At every point in human history, the question of the exact nature of thedivine resonates deep into social order and knowledge construction.Consensus in the scholarship revolves around the idea of the divine being abeing who, as it were, pronounces an existence, and causes things to be, butis above causation. He is not brought into being by any other thing. He isable to cause to be anything that he desires, wishes, in any form that hedesires, wishes, and does so outside the temporal human frame of referencebecause he is timeless. This is why Dr. Osuagwu links him with the “AlphaPrinciple” for creations. In other words, nothing was prior to his existence,and nothing like him could exist. He is in a class of his own making as theultimate, complete and absolute. Osuagwu hints further that every otherthing outside of this Being cannot “be ultimate, absolute, most primordialand fundamental in themselves in order to be categorical and sufficientprinciple” (Osuagwu 1999). Therefore their attributes are seriously deficient

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in some ways: for instance, they have a knowledge which is shallow, fuzzy,insufficient in many regards, and so neither approximates to the absolutetruth nor to the perfection of God. This is his view of man’s imperfection:

This state of being accounts for creation’s finitude orlimitations, its frailty, fragility, and perishability or mortality.Createdness or creatureliness is consequentially and integrallya mark of various forms and degrees of limitation orimperfection. Willy-nilly, this is the universal scheme of things,but must not be seen as evil inherent in nature.

(Osuagwu 1999:49)

If it is not an evil inherent in nature, then it must be that which is originatedin society by the society as we have already argued. Limitations need not,of course, be evil, if that which is evil is that which is anti-God. But what iscrystal clear is that because of these limitations we, as humans, are incapableof being God. The limitations would seriously limit the knowledge of thetruth; in other words, empiricist knowledge is limiting in value. It is this kindof rationalisation that promotes the idea of destiny, in order to account forthe real truth.

Destiny, as a concept, returns, restores causation to God who implicitly(natural inspiration) or explicitly (divine revelation) complements andcompletes man’s efforts, but could also be opposed to man’s wishes anddesires. Destiny accepts that there are infinite possibilities in man’s dealingwith God, but that such possibilities are nevertheless narrowed down to thebarest minimum by whatever man has chosen. Individuals not only chosetheir destinies, their nations also do. And so we may ask: Is Africa destinedto lag permanently behind Euro-America in development? Helmut Kohlwas vehement in his rejection of this sense of fatalism:

1 cannot accept an attitude where people would say whatEurope managed to do cannot be done in other parts of theworld. There are developments in South America, forexample, and it does not just happen overnight and it is avery slow process.

(Kohl 2005: 63)

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Helmut Kohl is obviously driving home a point, that there is a truth,which may not arise from communion with God, as it is in the power of manto create change:

I am sure that with a lot of courage and a lot of patience,here in Africa, in certain parts of Africa and, of course, it isup to you to decide how big that community role will be andhow you will be able to set up something similar

(Kohl 2005: 63)

But Kohl has social value as his premise. His experience of the Berlinwall suggests to him that nature’s role is minimal; the mind plays a moresignificant role in the process of development. Those who work with the ideaof destiny would obviously object, as it is an estrangement from God and ajustification for a self-objectification, which is but nothing if it is not in consonancewith the interests and desires of God. This leads us to the issue of introspection.

Introspection plays on spatial metaphor: within/without, centre/periphery/centripetal/centrifugal, in order to present a process which is a criticalexamination of the self rather than of the other for a thorough, deeper, andfuller understanding of reality. Although it does tacitly accepts the “Alphaprinciple”, and hence proceed on the assumptions of man’s limitations, itnevertheless assumes that a unity with the Being is possible. Introspectionis akin to saying that one must find the centre of a sphere before he canexpand into full identity (unity) with (or of) that sphere. Like destiny it is ametaphysical framework of man’s existence, as it is intended to reveal thehidden, albeit through a process of critical examination of experiences whichwould ultimately reveal a potential. But the causal link between event andexperience is invisible, unless we related relations and impressions to mindand body problems.

There is a ground on which both destiny and introspectionism accountsseem to stand. And it is in respect of the role that God plays in creating andexpanding knowledge. It is equally the ground from which Anyiam-Osigweoperates, and through which for him thoughts are things. He writes:

He (man) must first realise himself as noting. He is becauseGod is; that without God he is no thing. Since we are becauseGod is and we are nothing without God. That is every one

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of us. Between you then there is no difference, between youand the next man or woman.– Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyuiam-Osigwe, 1921-1998

There are two points made here. The first is that God brings things intobeing. So, if there is no God, there is no being. The second point is that manand woman, nations, share same source for inspiration and destiny becausethey come from the same Being. So, we expect no difference in theircapabilities. What, therefore, one can do the other can also do. The twopoints lead to different philosophical considerations.

Regarding the first, Anyiam-Osigwe seems to hint on the origin of thought/history in man. Thought, as you will recall, is what brings things into being;and hence the beginning of history. But also recall that thought is like languagestrewn together by symbols and can as such unfurl in different directions.In which case, once thought brings into being, it also brings about differentpossibilities, different stories, that together constitute culture. Hence, on thesecond point, it stands to reason that every man/woman cannot be differentbecause they each carry in them the power of thought and dream, thoughthey may have different thoughts and dreams. Since thoughts are things (increation), then, every man’s/woman’s thought that originates from God isphenomenologically reducible to the thing, God, that produced it. This issomewhat similar to Husserl’s argument: Ego cogito cogitatum, (I thinksomething). In other words, there is always a link between consciousnessand thinking which is identified in the object of thought and the intentionalitythat creates the phenomena of experience (Oyeshile 2006: 4).

This, then, is our point: Anyiam-Osigwe accepts the role of God inthinking, but goes beyond introspectionism and chi philosophies by raisingthe issue of intentionality as an important element in the consciousness ofthe being. It is intentionality that, as we see in the passage below, makesthought good, bad, positive, negative, peaceful or disruptive in a world ofrelations that is cultural.

Don’t let your greed for power and ignorance about certainlaws and principles of the cosmos blind you to the point ofdestroying your beloved country.– Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyuiam-Osigwe, 1921-1998

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The passage is a warning to a social body that he presumes couldharbour the intention of destroying Nigeria, if only to let the dominance ofthe North over the rest of Nigeria prevail. Intentions can be empiricallyfounded. For instance, if the country is destroyed, then, it must be throughgreed for power or ignorance of the laws and principles of the cosmos.Intention exists in itself and for itself, in that, and by the fact that, it existsfor another consciousness; that is to say, it is only by being acknowledgedor recognised. The conception of this unity in its duplication, of infinituderealising itself in self-consciousness, raises quite a varied view to it andencloses within it varied significance. And to borrow words from G.W.F.Hegel:

Thus its moments must on the one hand be strictly keptapart in detailed distinctiveness, and, on the other, thisdistinction must, at the same time, also be taken as notdistinguished, or must always be accepted and understoodin their opposite sense. This double meaning of what isdistinguished lies in the nature of self-consciousness – of itsbeing infinite, or directly the opposite of the determinatenessin which it is faced. The detailed exposition of the notion ofthis spiritual unity kin its duplication will bring before us (a)process.

(Hegel 1966: 229/Connerton 1978: 41)

This is the process of taking God as the divine. No religion, of course,ever credits God with the bad. So a different explanation has to be foundfor how the bad came to be. Dr. Osuagwu wrote:

Undeniably, these negative, mechanistic and pre-deterministicinstances are just one way of accounting for the necessaryunfolding of the universe. Evident as they are, they howeverremain insufficient, inexhaustive and dissatisfactory accounts.They are exceptions, privations or absence of the positivequalities that should be the case. When God created theuniverse, He created it good, never evil.

(Osuagwu 1999)

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Every good thing, therefore, happens through God whom one can reach,deliberately, by intention, in order to seek for or understand his intention increativity by a process in which,

I reduce my natural self and my psychological life – thedomain of my internal psychological experience – to myinternal transcendental and phenomenological experience…the objective world which exists for me, which existed orwill exist for me, this objective world with all its objects isdrawn from me… all the existential meaning and value that ithas for me is drawn from my transcendental self. (Husserl quoted by Omoregbe 1990: 16; Oyeshile 2006: 50)

Every bad thing happens by not understanding God’s intention or bydeviating from His intentions. Introspection as validated by the intention toknow the truth, which is to know God in Anyiam-Osigwe’s philosophy, wouldeventually require a transcendental reduction, which is not in the form of adream, but as a thought is capable of asking what the thing there is for me!

ConclusionIf there is a point that Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe

seriously seek to make in his reflections about human development, it isthat, in the words of the wise saying “you shall know the truth and the truthshall make you free.” By the logic of his arguments, God is the truth and theknowledge of God the liberating force. God functions by His thought, whichmakes things happen. Humans can dream and, as well, think. While theirdreams may not make things happen, their thoughts can. The thoughts canmake the good as well as the bad happen, since in Anyiam-Osigwe’s logicthey are far from being God. They would, however, be able to do good ifthey can intuitively, imaginatively, or by introspection reach into God’sthoughts, and hence his truths.

We cannot hope to be simultaneously iconoclastic and creative unlesswe are free to pursue our work in a manner dictated by our spiritualinclinations, as they gradually emerge. We must be iconoclastic because itis the old orthodox ideas, which stand in the way of sensible new initiatives,and have been responsible for the failures and pains we experience as

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mere dreamers – who merely wish that things should happen. We must belike God, if we are going to be aware of gaps in our knowledge and movebeyond our limitations. There are many things that Anyiam-Osigwe himselfwished, mostly positive, that may not happen, but since they are in thoughttheir possibility cannot be foreclosed.

ReferencesAbimbola, W. 1975. ‘Iwapele: The Concept of Good Character in Ifa Literary Corpus’,

in Abimbola, W. (ed), Yoruba Oral Tradition. Ile-Ife: Department of AfricanLanguages and literature, University of Ife, pp. 389-420.

Connerton, P. 1978. Critical Sociology: Selected Readings. New York: PenguinBooks.

Emmanuel Oyechere Osigwe Anyuiam-Osigwe, 1921-1998: Selected Works.Unpublished Manuscripts.

Hegel, G.W.F. 1966 (1907). The Phenomenology of Mind. London: George Allenand Unwin Ltd.

Kohl, H. 2005. ‘Introspection and Integration as Effective Strategies forDevelopment’, in the Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, The Proceedingsof the Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Lecture Series, Lagos:All Media International Ltd. pp 52-62.

Lawuyi, O. B. and Taiwo, O. 1990. ‘Towards an African Sociological Tradition: ARejoinder to Akiwowo and Makinde.’ International Sociology 5(1): 57-73.

Omoregbe, J. I. 1990. ‘Husserlian Phenomenology and Existential Phenomenology.’The Nigerian Journal of Philosophy 10(1 & 2): 1-16.

Osuagwu, M. 1999. ‘The Onto-Theistic Destiny of Creation, The Chi Dynamic inthe Essential Determination of the Cosmos and man’, in the Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, The Proceedings of the Inaugural Session, Lagos: AllMedia International Ltd, pp 37-58.

Oyeshile, O. A., 2005. ‘An Existentialist Critique of Husserlian PhenomenologicalApproach to Knowledge’, in Akanmidu, R. A. (ed.) Footprints in Philosophy.Ibadan: Hope Publications Ltd, pp 40-63.

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5

Jim Unah

Values and Development

IntroductionValues are pursuits or engagements that are perceived by persons or

groups to be worthwhile. The perception of what is worthwhile may beright or wrong, positive or negative. The wrong or negative perception ofwhat is worthwhile would result in a wrong value system. Values arethemselves structurally interconnected with behaviour because they influenceand direct behaviour and vice versa. So a wrong value system will result ina wrong pattern of behaviour. The adoption of a wrong pattern of behaviourby persons or groups will in turn result in the negative unfolding of eventsaround them. In other words, the adoption of a wrong social conduct bypersons or groups will result in negative development, which Anyiam-Osigwecharacterises as retrogression.

Generally speaking, development is the unfolding of events. Someunfolding of events are without the intervention of human agents, whereasothers are propelled and directed by human agency. The occurrence ofearthquakes or hurricanes, for example, signifies the unfolding of eventswithout human intervention. In other words, the occurrence of these eventsis natural and therefore is development outside the causation of the humanagency. But the decision of persons or groups to clear large hectares ofland and to plant and to cultivate palm seedlings resulting in the employmentof human capital, thereby generating economic activity, is development inthe positive sense occasioned by human causative agency.

Anyiam-Osigwe is quite aware that development can have negative orpositive effects. The sort of development that is of interest to him is the oneexecuted deliberately and targeted at positive results for the well being ofhumankind. As he says, development “is the expression of the self-will ofthe individual that positively impacts on the natural order”. Genuine or

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authentic development consists in adding value to the world. In Anyiam-Osigwe’s view, such a value added should be environment friendly anduser- friendly. For him development is to be driven by enthusiasm or passionand founded upon the spiritual and moral character of individuals in society.

Consequently, a mere study of value theories and development theories,whether they are psychological, sociological, economic or axiological, willnot necessarily guarantee development. What makes socio-economic andeven political development possible is the intertwining of the spiritual andmoral fibres of individuals who are driven by passion to affect the world oradd value to it in an uplifting and positive manner. It is here that the conceptof introspection in Anyiam-Osigwe’s philosophy becomes the foundation ofauthentic development. Introspection means, for him, soul searching, selfanalysis, self awareness and self knowledge. Man is a bundle of potentialswhich become manifest through the right value orientation. Incidentally,Anyiam-Osigwe assigns the task of inculcating the right values and virtuesto the family, the basic unit of society. But society and its leaders must havea clear vision and right conception of the essence of life, as a people withoutvision shall perish.

In Anyiam-Osigwe’s vision and philosophy of value and development,the family is the bedrock of society and development (social, economic,political, scientific, or technological) which is to be powered by the peoplethrough an agenda of self-reliance. Drawing from the foregoing, therefore,it may be necessary, at this juncture, to move a little bit away from generalities(that is, the philosophical or the theoretical) to highlight in concrete termssome of the challenges that have hindered African nation states, notablyNigeria, from attaining the heights of their potentialities. Such challengeshave been identified, among others, as the collapse of the family andparenting; the decay of the right values and virtues; the enthronement ofmediocrity at every level of society; the uncritical surrender to and desirefor religious miracles; the destruction of patriotism and nationalism in theyouth; excessive materialism; large scale corruption; a culture of cynicism,and the transmutation of democracy to ochlocracy.

These highlights present us with serious challenges of development atthe family level, at the civil society level, and at the state level.

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Challenges at the Family LevelI begin with the most elementary unit of society - the family. The family

is our first port of call in the world. It is the kindergarten of life for thehuman person. All the dos and don ‘ts, all our elementary moral instructions,begin from the family. Although social consciousness (by which I mean thethinking and perception of society) largely determines the value system, it isat the family level that the values and virtues of society are inculcated inyoung persons. Thus, a proper institution of the family is structurallyinterconnected with the development of the right social conduct.

Basically, there are two types of families: the nuclear family and theextended family. The nuclear family is one in which you have two parents –Father and Mother – with one or more children living together. The extendedfamily is one in which you have both parents with one or more children aswell as the relations of either one or both partners living together. Nigerianshave experiences of the two types of family system.

Strictly speaking, the concept of the family, whether nuclear or extended,is structurally interconnected with the concept of parenting. It is throughparenting those values and virtues are inculcated in children. But parentingis a serious business which requires the active cooperation of man andwoman. Unfortunately, in the last two decades or so, due largely to economicfactors, families have undergone one form or other of social dislocationwith dire consequences for the quality of parenting.

ParentingParenting involves a whole range of activities, requiring synergy from

husband and wife or man and woman. Parenting involves the caring ofprogenitors for their young ones or the caring of adult couples for the youngpersons in their custody. It entails the provision of the needs of the young.The needs are many and are largely material, spiritual, moral, psychologicaland emotional. The provision of one or two of the needs to the exclusion ofthe others is improper parenting, as the consequence could be the productionof socially maladjusted children.

However, proper parenting assumes that parents themselves have beenassisted by the social regimes to achieve their dreams and aspirations of avigorous civil life and a prosperous and rewarding work experience. But

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with the regime of massive unemployment and periodic down-sizing of theworkforce in the last two decades, the integrated labour relationships formedover the years are destroyed. Man’s latent hostilities translate into despairas family dreams and aspirations are shattered. And as husband and wifeare separated by the struggle for survival, the children – the backbone ofthe future – are left unprotected and uncared for in several fundamentalrespects. The result of this is the decay of family values and social virtues.The point to be made in all of this is that once we get it wrong at the level ofthe family, society could never hope to get it right. In Nigeria today, wehave young people all over the place without moral sense, that is, youngpeople who have no shame in doing what is adjudged to be socially wrong.The same can be said of adult citizens who behave with reckless abandonin the open society.

Challenges at the Level of Civil SocietyThe collapse of the family has adversely affected the nation’s social

values and institutions, resulting in the enthronement of lawlessness andmediocrity at every level of society. With the decay of values and institutions,people break the law with impunity, from recklessly driving against the trafficto misappropriating public funds running to billions of naira. As it is to beexpected, the result of this is failure of government. Basic infrastructuresand vital social amenities, such as roads, railways, hospitals, power, education,etc. could not be efficiently provided. In the circumstance, the opportunitiesfor the pursuit of enlightened self-interest could not be guaranteed. Thisresults in hopelessness, insecurity and lawlessness, all of which vitiate everyeffort to realise authentic development. Where individuals are not out rightlycriminally inclined, on account of the inhuman conditions of existence, somecitizens have resorted to ethnic activism, armed brigandage and hostage taking.

The hopelessness arising from the failure of social regimes has resultedin the uncritical surrender of many to the bombastic promises of religiousmiracles. The danger of this development is that many are unable to cultivatestrong character, which is important to the development of a life of self-confidence, of creativity and commitment to positive social purpose. Insteadof a country where the locomotive of production and economic activitiesare engaged twenty-four hours of the day, you have a situation in which

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people would rather attend fellowships and pray for three days in a weekthan work. Industrial concerns are shut down on a daily basis and convertedto ecumenical centres and places of worship.

The point here is not that man’s spiritual need is unimportant. The pointrather is that religion is not properly engaged for social purposes. For example,the injunction, “seek ye to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” isnot intended only for spiritual purity and self-righteousness. It is to make thepoint that the life of anyone who takes God as a reference point ought to bea perpetual striving after perfection in all respects. Our constant referenceto God in our prayers, in our worships, in our daily commerce with theworld, is incongruous with our dirty habits, our lack of competences in ourchosen preoccupations, and our general inability to think and act on thebasis of a broad concept of humanity. The God thought is a clean thought,and the God act is a competency, an act of perfection. In this respect,Anyiam-Osigwe would rather speak of the intertwining of spirituality andmorality which is advancement over and above mere religious affiliations.

However, religion is not the main challenge here. The main challenge inour society is the inhuman conditions of existence foisted on civil society byoppressive social regimes. For instance, military rule, for more than a totalof three decades, damaged the psyche of civil society and compelled thecitizens to seek escape in religion and in other socially harmful life strategies.It is the circumstances of men’s lives that occasion their perception ofreligion as opium and a consolation and a miracle spinning industry.Fortunately, it would seem, the last eight years of civil rule has consignedmilitary autocracy to the dustbin of history. We now breathe the air ofdemocratic freedom. But we have another worry: the inability of the operatorsof civil rule to cash the cheque of democratic freedom in terms of thedelivery of public good, public welfare and public safety. This takes us tochallenges at the state level.

Challenges at the State LevelThere are several state policies that make it almost impossible for most

African states, particularly Nigeria, to attain a people oriented and self-reliant development. Such policies include:

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i. the allocation of spaces and resources on the basis of state of origin;ii. Absence of primary freedoms;iii. Absence of economic federalism;iv. and the excessive centralisation of a multi-ethnic, multi-national

society into a one-party state.

We cannot hope to rekindle the patriotic and nationalistic spirit inNigerians, especially the youth, if state policies are perceived to bediscriminatory against them. The policy that allocates spaces or resourcesto people that they do not need or cannot utilise is a wrong policy.

State of OriginOn the surface, or in the abstract, a policy that distributes spaces or

resources equitably to the distinct groups in a state may seem right. But thatis if they truly need and can utilise them. If they do not truly need them, if apeople are not equipped to utilise resources and there are others who reallyneed them and are equipped to utilise them, it would be sheer injustice todeprive the latter of the opportunity to do so simply because their kiths andkin have exhausted their slots or quota. The group with unused spaces orslots may feel that the dispensation is fair in not allowing a particular groupwithin a state to utilise all the spaces after using up its quota. It may feelthat the state is helping its group to save or conserve resources for futureuse by its people. The truth of the matter is that a policy like that has thecapacity to stunt the growth of or waste opportunities for a whole generation.

The problem with such a policy is that it perceives people as Yoruba,Hausa, Fulani, Igbo or Edo rather than as human beings. A region in a statemay have potentials which other regions may not have and vice versa. Thetask of the creative statesman is to identify such potentials and developthem accordingly, not to level down everything to uniformity. To say thesame thing in a different way, animal husbandry, for instance, should becultivated and developed to full industry in regions with potentials for animalhusbandry. People should be assisted by the state to develop in areas wherethey have comparative advantage. On no account should the state distributeresources to every region in the country, including the riverine communities,to cultivate and develop animal husbandry. Regions without potentials foranimal husbandry would have potentials for other occupations. It is these

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other potentials that the state should cultivate and develop, not animalhusbandry in this case.

The above argument is even more pertinent in the area of the developmentof human capital. The official position on the quota system notwithstanding,it is a wrong policy to reserve spaces in schools for people who are notready to use them. Apart from wasting the spaces, you completely alienatethe group of persons who qualify but are prevented access to education onthe excuse that “their quota is full”. Education is the right of everyone, andhigher education is the right of everyone who qualifies for it. The way torekindle hope, patriotism and the nationalistic spirit of our people is to developand utilize them according to their natural aptitude and training. Individualsshould strive to develop their best potentials, not to be a drag on others inareas where they have no natural aptitude. We should learn to pave theway for those whose potentials can be tapped for the benefit of all. Theway to begin to rekindle hope is to expunge the caption “state of origin”from our public documents.

Primary RightsThe constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recognises several

rights for the citizens. The most basic of the rights, which is inalienable, isthe right to life. Another basic right is the right to free and functional education.The right to education is recognised, but it is given half-heartedly. The stateof our public schools is so deplorable that decent citizens have opted forfee-paying private schools for the education of their wards. Where individualsare constrained to toil and labour all year round to pay exorbitant schoolfees for their children, what commitment could they have to the state?

A most fundamental right glossed over by the constitution is the right towork and earn a decent living. A right like this is so primary because theenjoyment of other rights depends largely on it. Such a right should beenshrined in the constitution and made justice-able. If this right is enshrinedin the constitution, it means that if you are an adult and you have no job, thestate owes you a living and support until you are able to find a job. This sortof arrangement would result in a welfare state where citizens would beready to die to protect the state. Besides, a welfare state leaves very littleor no money for state functionaries to embezzle.

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Consequently, one other way to catalyze genuine development is forthe state to upgrade its public schools and institutions, reduce the materialburden of parenthood, create adequate opportunities for people to actualisetheir possibilities and support those who cannot find their own work. Toachieve these objectives, the state should create competition among itsvarious component units by a constitutional strategy called “fiscal or economicfederalism”.

Economic FederalismAbsence of the practice of economic or fiscal federalism is one of the

factors militating against the realisation of authentic development in theemerging African societies. The control by the central government of theentire resources of the country creates room for complacency and indolenceamong the component units. Competition brings out the best in human beings.Since human beings populate and run the institutions and organisations ofsociety such as state or regional and local governments, it goes withoutsaying that the best in these governments would emerge if they are grantedgreater autonomy to control their own resources. It is the constitutionalpermission for component units to control a huge chunk of their own resourcesin a federal system of government that we call “economic federalism”.

Resources of all sorts abound in the various regions of African states.If there is a constitutionally authorised control of resources by the lowertiers of government, every unit would be compelled to tap the resources atits disposal for the economic growth of its people in particular and the overallwell-being of the nation in general. It is then that the government wouldtruly make the security and welfare of the people its primary purpose.

Thus, the inauguration of economic or fiscal federalism is one of theconcrete ways to rekindle the passion or enthusiasm of our people for creativedevelopment. But the inauguration of economic federalism requires politicalwill to prosecute, because such a task calls for the devolution of economicpower from the centre to the federating units. The problem is: are the politicalactors willing to bring about such a fundamental correction of our faultypolitical arrangement? Perhaps, a revisiting of the evils of excessiveconcentration of power may be helpful here.

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Excessive Centralisation of PowerA familiar maxim in political theory is that “power corrupts, and absolute

power corrupts absolutely”. We may say this from our own experience thatexcessive concentration of power at the centre corrupts excessively. TheNigerian constitution, for example, is classified as a federal constitution interms of power structure. But economic power is concentrated at the centrebecause more money from the federation account is held by the FederalGovernment. This arrangement makes it impossible for the federating unitsto access sufficient funds for the economic development of their enclaves.The problem is more painfully felt by areas that harbour crude oil – thecurrent money spinner of the country. The areas of exploration andexploitation of crude oil called the Niger Delta are disaster areas. Theysuffer from oil spillages, gas flaring and ecological degradation. Yet, theyare the least developed in terms of the provision of basic amenities andinfrastructures. Complaints from this region over the years have not beenseriously addressed. Today, that region is the high tension power of rawactuality as it is now the enclave of hostage takers, armed bandits, kidnappers,and even “terrorists”.

Evidently, those who run the affairs of state, by excessively concentratingpower at the centre, have sowed the wind. The country is now reaping thewhirlwind. The immediate solution to this problem is to allow the people tocontrol their own resources. Let the sharing formula of funds accruing tothe federation account be by derivation.

The problem of excessive concentration of power at the centre is gettingworse by the day, even at the political front. By a deft political maneouvre,the last dispensation deformed all other political parties and railroaded almosteverybody into the ruling party. This has crippled political competition andopposition so vital for the thriving and sustenance of a democratic culture.That was how the last regime brought about a near one-party nationallegislature with the characteristics of a mob. Instead of a democracy wenow have, by the composition of the National Assembly, an ochlocracy –the rule of the mob. All of this vitiates every effort to return the country tothe path of true egalitarianism. The point here is that if we do not correctthe anomaly in our electoral process, we cannot hope to achieve meaningfuldevelopment.

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Interlaced with the greed of the national political administration inexcessively concentrating power at the centre and fusing all centrifugalforces from the various ethnic nationalities together in one huge concoctionof a political party, is the phenomenon of large scale official corruption.Corruption is one of the major obstacles to the delivery of public good and acolossal disincentive to investment and the economic buoyancy of the nation.Curiously, the networks of corruption are so complicated that those whohave publicly condemned it as a scourge still hope to, somehow, in an egregioussense, right the wrong by the social reproduction of corruption. Corruptionis so endemic that even where individuals of proven integrity ascend thehigh magistracy of the state, everyone still expects them to be corrupt.Where such individuals endeavour not to be corrupt in public office, theyare regarded with disdain by their kinsmen.

This situation has given rise to a culture of cynicism. The dispensationis: once you have occupied a public office, whether you are corrupt or not,you are still deemed to be corrupt. Luckily, the fight against corruption hasstarted and is gathering momentum. This should enable us in the course oftime to separate the corrupt from the not corrupt, and correct our cynicismby changing our individual mindsets and perceptions and rekindling our hopefor the future.

ConclusionThe above are the challenges that must be met to accelerate the coming

about of the rapid economic development of African societies. However,those challenges do not entail the conclusion that the future of Africansocieties is entirely one of gloom and doom. For, interwoven in the scenariosof failures and disappointments are the challenges that signpost the ingredientsof authentic development, already fully elaborated in the philosophicallyseasoned treatises of Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe.

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6

Adeshina Afolayan

Patriotism as a Core National Valuein Anyiam-Osigwe’s Political Philosophy

Patriotism and the Challenge of DiversityThe Oxford Dictionary defines patriotism as the support for one’s

own country, and goes on to list “nationalism”, “loyalty,” “xenophobia,”“partisanship,” and “chauvinism” as its synonyms. However, this definition,like most lexical clarifications, obscures the issues involved in the enunciationof what it means to be patriotic or to love one’s country. For instance, giventhe lexical synonymy, there would not be any theoretical problem ininterchangeably using “patriotism” and “nationalism” since the latter “refersto beliefs that are held, individually and collectively, about a nation” and theformer “refers to feelings about a nation” (Michener, 1998: viii).

In the orthodox political studies on the state, the concept of nationalismis assumed to be a “single intellectual stream” manifesting itself in differentforms in different ages and places. Nationalism derives its significance fromthe root idea of the nation as a culturally pure community founded on acommon language. On the one hand, therefore, nationalism is a set ofdoctrines about the “character, interests, rights and duties of nations.” Onthe other hand, it is also an “organised political movement, designed to furtherthe alleged aims and interests of nations” (Seton-Watson, 1982: 3). In thisunderstanding, patriotism serves the convenient purpose of being an emotivegesture of commitment or loyalty to the nation and its ideals. With thisparadigm, the nationalist hopes to have dealt with the problem of diversity inthe world: Since each nation has naturally been endowed with its uniquecharacter and inclinations, it should remain separate and independent butpolitically unaggressive in the international order. This benign, Herderian,1

vision has however been belied by the horror of the exclusionary logic ofnationalism within the context of the modern (nation-)state. In other words,

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the solidarity of the nation ensures the exclusion of non-members. Thus,rather than dealing adequately with the problem of diversity—the humancondition with which plural states are faced—the language of nationalismfurther aggravates the problem by exclusionarily preferring a group of peopleover the “others.”

The concern for human diversity especially looms large within theemerging awareness of our common humanity on a singular globe, and therhetoric of a global village. This cosmopolitan vision seeks to undermine theexclusionary strategy of nationalism with a framework which appeals tothe human rather than the nation. As human beings, inhabiting the sameglobe and sharing the same biological similarities, we become a citizen notof any nation but of a culturally diverse and hence enriched cosmopolis.The advocates of cosmopolitanism argue that this idea of a common humanityproffers a more viable means of managing unruly diversity than the idea ofdifferent and often incommensurable national communities. Such a broadvision would, for instance, for Nussbaum, respond more to the “internationalquality of life issues” (i.e. hunger, extreme poverty, ecological problem,extreme inequalities, etc) than nationalism with its “self-servingly narrowscope” (Nussbaum, 1996: 15). Patriotic attitude should therefore beaccentuated higher than the nation to make for the possibility of a moreglobal basis for political emotion and concern.

A third alternative is suggested by Maurizio Viroli. According to him,the conflation of nationalism with patriotism flies in the face of conceptualand historical distinctions that see the language of patriotism separated fromthe language of nationalism. The reason for such a rescue operation issimply that patriotism—from its emergence in Roman practices—had alwaysfollowed a different, republican, trajectory to nationalism’s ethnocentrism.It was only as late as the nineteenth century that the idea of republicanpatriotism—as the political love of an impersonal, abstract entity andinstitutions—was successfully nationalised and hinged to the national projectof the modern state.

Thus, a conceptual and historical clarification could indeed presentpatriotism, for him, as an antidote to the “nasty” ethnocentrism intrinsic tonationalism and the “abstract” nature of cosmopolitanism (Bader, 1999:379). The resulting “noble or republican patriotism” would be better suited

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not only to Nussbaum’s international quality of life issues, but also the diversitycondition of multiethnic and multicultural states. Viroli’s account of patriotism,as the “love of liberty,” the “love of political institutions” or the “commonliberty of the people,” shares with ethnocentric nationalism the “same terrainof passions and particularity.” In other words,

Both are eminently rhetorical, playing on the passions ofparticular people, their cultural and historical identity. Both“possess a unifying and mobilizing force that others lack.”Patriotism is thus a “formidable opponent of nationalism”and should be embraced by “the Democratic Left” in searchof a language “capable of countering nationalistic andcommunitarian languages”

(Bader, 1999: 385-386).

However, noble patriotism and ethnocentric nationalism are differentbecause both appeal to “different types of love.” Republican patriotism isqualitatively different in that Viroli employs the classic distinction in nationalismstudies between “civic” and “ethnic” nationalisms. Thus, for him, whilepatriotism’s love is “inclusive,” “expansive,” “charitable,” “generous,”“intelligent,” “defensive,” and full of “compassion” and of “tolerance” and“respect” for diversity, nationalism’s love is, on the other hand, “exclusive,”“invidious,” “deaf and blind,” “offensive” and full of “contempt,”“intolerance,” “hatred,” “fear,” and “resentment.” Yet, this classic distinctionhas not always been therapeutic especially in the attempt at creating apolitical umbrella under which diversity can be moulded into a unifying forcestrong enough to create a national sense of belonging.

At the conceptual level, however, the attempt to separate nationalism/cosmopolitanism from patriotism as one seamless language faces theenormous difficulty of

(1) How to combine reason and history, the universal andthe particular, the political and the ethnic-cultural; (2) howto combine reason and passion; and (3) how the presumedtransformation of parochial into [national and] globalobligations and allegiances works

(Bader, 1999: 383).

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This critique is legitimate not only because the sharp distinction betweencivic and ethnic nationalism (and hence between noble patriotism and nastynationalism) makes it conceptually difficult to achieve a viable connectionbetween the two, Viroli also arbitrarily grounds a specific understanding ofpatriotism without any adequate concession to the “protean” nature ofnationalism and patriotism. In other words, his analysis of republicannationalism fails to acknowledge the many faces of patriotism: “monarchical,republican, proletarian, liberal, communitarian, Christian, ethnocentristic,nationalist and imperialist” (Bader, 1999: 382).

The arbitrariness of Viroli’s patriotism comes from the awkwardnessof a context-independent choice that facilitates the construction of oneconception of patriotism out of the many contextualised versions available.More significant, however, is the fact that any idea of patriotism also requiresa correlate idea of (asymmetric) power relations and positions. Thesignificance of this last point for Africa should be obvious. Viroli’s republicanpatriotism would be confronted with obvious difficulties in an African context.In other words, its significance would not be immediately apparent giventhe distinction between the “civic” and the “ethnic” instrumental to itsmeaning. In spite of the fact that one of the problems of all plural states,especially in Africa, is that of creating unity out of an unruly diversity, Viroli’sidea breaks down because it occupies an indefinable ground “between theideal worlds of rational moral agents...and the real world of exclusive andnarrow passions...” (Viroli, 1996: 17).

One of the negative dimensions of the attempt at domesticating theidea of the nation-state in Africa is that the nationalists wrongly acceptedthe distinction that cast ethnic nationalism as intrinsically bad and violentand hence a fact to be rejected and suppressed in favour of civic nationalism.Yet, the career of civic nationalism in Africa is that it has consistently failedto transform the ethno-national values and the cultural bonds of the peopleinto an enabling instrument of (multi)national commitment. Ekeh’s classicanalysis of the antagonistic dynamics between the civic public and theprimordial public in Africa becomes instructive here.

In Ekeh’s analysis, the act of ethnic self-definition and self-defence againstthe African state was necessitated by the material disenfranchisement of the

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people by the postcolonial state driven by the logic of an external, legal-rational sovereignty that sought to mechanically unite the people rather thanproviding the good life in the form of the promises of independence. Thus,given the perception of the apparent failure of the state to deliver the post-independent social “goods”, the people rejected the state not only by seekingfor normative meaningfulness in their ethnic identities, they also entered thenational space as the antagonistic actors to all that the state represents. Thedynamics of the confrontation between the civic public and the primordialpublic derives from the normative weight that the political actors ascribe totheir participation in the two publics. The primordial public is conceived asmoral while the civic public is amoral “and lacks the generalized moralimperatives operative in the private realm and in the primordial public” (Ekeh,1975: 92).

Thus, since the same political actors simultaneously operate in bothpublics, the distinction between the civic and the ethnic nationalism becomesall the more aggravated. This is more so that the African state sought toachieve unity in diversity while maintaining its “policy of state preservation”(Clapham, 1985: 114) and rejecting the imperative of the legitimising conditionwhich the people have transferred to their ethnic groups. Without such a“normative condition of reconciliation” it becomes difficult for the Africanstate to achieve what someone has called “the people’s empeoplement as apolitical people” (Menkiti, 2002: 37). The imperative therefore is to see howvirtuous republican patriotism is in the resolution of the unruly diversity inAfrican plural states.

Solidarity and the Common Good in an African StateThe idea of patriotism is often couched in moral language. Thus, it is

usual to ask: Is patriotism immoral, or is it virtuous? For the advocates,there seems to be a consensus that patriotism as the love for one’s countryfinds its significance within the context of a moral tradition which concernsproviding “the narrative unity of our lives, which entails an obligation tosustain and promote the ideals and aspirations embedded in [a community’s]history through memory and hope, linking our destiny to that of our ancestors,contemporaries, and descendants” (Bell, 1996: 126).

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Such moral responsibility for a nation’s historical development is howeverpredicated, according to Bell, on “certain moral lessons” the citizens havebeen able to draw from the national history (Ibid: 130). Put in other words,

In any society where government does not express orrepresent the moral community of the citizens, but is insteada set of institutional arrangements for imposing abureaucratized unity on a society which lacks genuine moralconsensus, the nature of political obligation becomessystematically unclear (MacIntyre, 1996: 63).

The nature of patriotism is therefore distorted when the governmentand the society lack a moral consensus which makes it possible for a virtuouscoincidence of a loyal attachment to one’s country and obedience to theparticular government that is ruling (Ibid). The dislocation of morality, Ekehwarns, accounts for the present disjuncture that characterises the dynamicsbetween the civic public and the primordial public in most African states.Thus, most of these states lack this tradition of patriotism as a virtuousattachment to a patria, and ultimately the solidarity with a particularconception of the common good.

One cannot understand the idea of patriotism in Anyam-Osigwe withoutfirst understanding its grounding within a moral matrix. For him, patriotism,whatever else it may mean, is unquestionably a “morally binding devotion ofcomplex dimensions and character” (2002: 31). This matrix is significantnot in itself but because it allows for “critical thinking on patriotism as anideal”, which thinking is critical for “its application in the enhancement ofhuman development” (Ibid: 27). The idea of patriotism is howeversubordinated to a larger concept in Anyam-Osigwe. This is what is calledthe idea of the group mind. This refers to the psychic synthesis of severalindividual minds in such a way that “the fundamental interest[s] of therespective participants is preserved in the resultant commonweal whoselegitimacy and mutuality are subscribed to by all” (Ibid: 13). For him,

The principle states that the resulting force generated fromthe combining of like minds is geometrically greater than thesum of its parts. In other words, minds that are focusedtogether upon a common theme create mutual force, which

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is not merely additive, but vastly more powerful than that ofany individual or group of individuals. To that effect, man’screative propensity is enhanced when there is a synergy ofthe diverse attributes of various individuals who agree tocome together and function as a group that is inspired by acommon objective and guided by a common vision (Ibid: 8)

The participants in this psychic consciousness, be they individuals, groupsor even states, achieve a sense of belonging through the opportunities theypossess to influence the decision making process of the collective as awhole. We are immediately confronted with the significance of the groupmind for the concept of patriotism: The love for country could only flowfrom a sense of belonging and the feeling of trust enabled through themembership in a collective. Essentially therefore, for Anyiam-Osigwe,patriotism involves the “application of the Group Mind Principle at the largerand more expanded level of nationhood” (Ibid: 29) which ensures that astate eventually succeeds in coordinating its diverse and often unrulyconstituents towards national development. This becomes very significantgiven the often unsuccessful attempts by most states in Africa at achievingnationhood.

Our fundamental concern therefore revolves around the state as thearchetypal group mind and the ethnic groups, as well as the individuals thatconstitute the participants in that collective. What ought to be the relation ofobligations from one to the other? What makes the natural investment in theself effortlessly subsumable under the willing investment in the state? Withthese questions, Anyiam-Osigwe refocuses our attention to the classicproblem of the nature and justification of political obligation between theruler and the ruled, as well as the goals of political actions. This concernmotivates political philosophers as far apart as Plato and Karl Marx.

In Anyiam-Osigwe’s analysis, the Nigerian state is an example of agroup mind that has become politically psychotic. According to him, “as anation, Nigeria has yet to find a place in the consciousness of her citizens.”With this conclusion, Anyiam-Osigwe strikes at the crux of the Nigerianpredicament. In other words, it can be extrapolated from him that in spite ofthe many visions of Nigerian governments about what Nigeria should be,and the several attempts at foisting some forms of unity on an unyielding

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diversity, Nigeria is still very far from a national contract that precedes theimagination of nationhood. This conclusion comes out clearly in Anyiam-Osigwe’s sad but pungent analysis of the Nigerian situation.

The efforts that succeeding governments have made towards state-building–that is, attempts at propping up and defending the debilitating stateapparatus and institutions, even those obviously alienating the people, againstall reason–rather than the generation of national consensus, has the singularconsequence of further aggravating the huge gap between the citizens andthe government. Fundamentally speaking, for Anyiam-Osigwe, Nigeria is acountry devoid of the social capital of trust, honesty, cooperation, publicloyalty, respect for the law and for the rights of others, and spirituality. Thishas ensured that the citizens lose their sense of attachment to the state.Hence, a Hobbesian situation ensues whereby each person is left to determinethe path of his or her own personal desires and aspirations to the exclusionor even the undermining of the common good. In this sense, the “patriots”become those entrenched in the corridor of power who–by hook or crook–are determined to wrest their benefits from the state, usually at the expenseof other less-positioned citizens. On the other hand, the “criminals” (andhence, non-patriots) are those who are not so well-positioned but are equallydetermined to get their own share of the national cake, usually through thebarrel of the gun and other corruptible means. Either way, the consequenceis that Nigeria as a group mind has failed consistently to achieve a coordinatedeffort at building a nation out of its hostile diversities.

Reconstructing PatriotismHowever, and this takes us back to the significance of the moral matrix

in which Anyiam-Osigwe grounds his idea of patriotism, the nationalexperience of patriotism translates most of the time into the attempt toinsulate the concerns for national interests away from the critical andobjective parameters of morality. This is borne out by the notorious statementattributed to the US naval officer, Stephen Decatur (1779-1820): “Ourcountry! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in theright; but our country, right or wrong.” Thus, Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice, aonetime British diplomat, could passionately rhapsodise:

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I vow to thee, my country—all earthly things above—Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love,The love that asks no question: the love that stands the test...

(Encarta, 2008. Emphasis added)

Or Daniel Webster, nineteenth century US politician: “Let our object be ourcountry, our whole country, and nothing but our country.” In other words,within the framework of the national, a patriotic action becomes a relativeone not circumscribed by any objective standard. Within this context, theloyalty of the German soldier to his country, and the resultant Holocaust,become unimpeachable!

On the contrary, however, Anyiam-Osigwe proposes a reconstructionof patriotism in a manner similar to MacIntyre’s. According to MacIntyre,the morality of patriotism cannot be defended on the basis of its definitionas a mere proprietary love of one’s country. Rather, such patriotism mustbe conditioned by the possibility of a critical dissent from those acts of thecountry that are less than wholesome. However, the basis for such a moraldissent, for MacIntyre, could only be derived from a membership of aparticular moral community, through growing up within a particular family,learning a particular worldview, sharing a cultural perspective with a particulargroup of people, and caring deeply about all of this. A person loses touchwith a genuine moral standard of judgment if he attempts detachment frombeing a moral agent through particular moral rules taught in a particularcommunity with particular goods to share. For MacIntyre, while thisreconstruction of patriotic love still leaves us with the possibility of blindloyalty to a corrupt government, it is the best we can achieve.

Anyiam-Osigwe’s reconstruction of patriotic love comes with acosmopolitan bent absent in MacIntyre. This cosmopolitanism should reallybe seen as the logical conclusion of the Group Mind Principle accentuatedto the universal. He states particularly that when a constituent advancesthe development of a state, from a critical and deliberate knowledge of itsown development, such a constituent is thereby affecting the universal purposein consonance with divine accord. Thus, states exist as particular avenuesfor man to develop his creative energies. In this regard, democracy plays asignificant role. Anyiam-Osigwe recognises the imperative of a practicaldemocratic intervention that will achieve the bridging of the gap between

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the citizens and the state. He sought to achieve this through the establishmentof the Mission for Democracy in Africa project (MDA). The aim of theMDA is to achieve the diffusion of democratic ideals and principles to theNigerian populace through an enlightenment process that eventually givesthe people the capacity to challenge the anti-democratic tendencies of theirleaders. This enlightenment process derives from what Anyiam-Osigwecalls the KUAIPTED approach:

I have reasoned that one of the important ways in which Ican contribute positively to our political development anddemocratisation process is through the propagation of whatI have termed “the KUAIPTED approach to democratisation”,that is, an approach to democratisation which takes intoaccount the imparting of Knowledge, Understanding,Appreciation of the Implication and Practice of True andEnduring Democracy on the citizens of the country beingdemocratised.

His aim essentially is to affect the electoral choices of the electoratesin a way that will transcend their parochial religious, ethnic and socio-culturalrelationships. Thus, for him:

Our aim is not to tell them whom to vote for or which politicalparties to join, but to equip them with the requisite educationand self-esteem that would enable them make the rightdecisions. A decision we trust will be their own; a genuineempowerment of the people.

This commitment to educating the people not only recognises thedemocratic significance of the people, it also recognises the fact that theNigerian nation-building effort cannot effectively take off except the Nigerianstate and its functionaries can begin to take the decisions of the Nigerianpeople serious. This will eventually lead to the conversion of the disjointedenergies of the citizens into a coordinated synergy for national development.

This is where governmental policymaking becomes a critical link. Inthis sense, the citizens and the state resolve their differences at the level ofpolicies. A leadership cannot be said to possess vision and direction if thesedo not manifest as policies that contribute meaningfully to the well-being of

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the citizens. It is at this juncture that Aristotle links the happiness of thecitizens with that of the state.

In practice, for Anyiam-Osigwe, the attempt at resolving the crisisbetween the citizens and the state should begin at the level of localcommunities. It should begin specifically at the ward or constituency politicallevel. This level represents a proper locus for democratic political mediationbetween the government and the people because, on the one hand, itconcentrates government’s responsibility at making good policies in a specificmanner in order to achieve the maximum benefit for the people. On theother hand, it allows for an adequate vigilance by the people to make thegovernment responsive to their needs and aspirations. In other words, theconstituencies represent the critical-collaborative centres where the citizensand their representatives in government can watch over the policies of thestate and the definition of their well-being and security.

Given this democratic intent in the idea of patriotism, it therefore becomespossible to avoid an uncritical attitude towards the state since the state mustbe deserving of the patriotism of the citizens. Thus, the assessment ofpatriotism achieves a moral perspective dictated by an absolute, and henceobjective, index of human well-being; a universalism embedded in ourcommon humanity.

Anyiam-Osigwe’s cosmopolitanism shares a theoretical boundary withStoic moderate cosmopolitanism. The Stoics argue that all people, in spiteof their culture, tradition, custom and religion, are actually a manifestationof one universal spirit. The logic of such a spirit is that of a universal bond ofbrotherhood that transcends particular attachments. However, while theStoic cosmopolitan absolutists further argue that such a universal bondnecessarily demands a transnational existence not restricted by geographicalboundaries, the Stoic cosmopolitan moderates contend that such a universalbrotherhood is determinable first by one’s commitment to humanity throughthe parameters of one’s national base. For Anyiam-Osigwe, this is to theextent that the state represents only a stage in the manifestation of grouprelation. Once this is realised, once Nigerian leaders, for instance, begin tounderstand the linkage between the ruled and the ruler, then, for Anyiam-Osigwe, the Nigerian state is on its way to being integrated into the universalGroup Mind. Without this, however, Nigeria as a nation [will not] find a

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place in the consciousness of her citizens” (Ibid: 10). That, we could surmise,could only mean endless visions and dreams, and the eventual collapse ofthe Nigerian project.

Notes1. Johan Gottfried Herder is regarded as the founder of German nationalist

thought. His “political theory” is predicated on the cultural unity of a nationas a natural phenomenon.

ReferencesAnyiam-Osigwe, E. O. O., The Cosmopolitan Expression of the Group Mind

Principle: Patriotism and the Group Mind (Lagos: Osigwe Anyiam-OsigweFoundation, 2002).

Bader, Veit, “Review: For Love of Country,” Political Theory, Vol. 27, No. 3 (June,1999), pp. 379-397.

Bell, Daniel, Communitarianism and Its Critics (Oxford: Oxford University Press,1996).

Clapham, Christopher, Third World Politics: An Introduction (Wisconsin: Universityof Wisconsin Press, 1985).

Ekeh, Peter, “Colonialism and the Two Publics in Africa; A Theoretical Statement,”Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 17, No. 1, January 1975.

Menkiti, Ifeanyi, “Philosophy and the State in Africa: Some RawlsianConsiderations,” Philosophia Africana, Vol. 5, No. 2, Aug. 2002.

Michener, Roger, “Introductory Notes” in Michener (ed.) Nationality, Patriotismand Nationalism in Liberal Societies (Minnesota: Professors World PeaceAcademy, 1993)

Nussbaum, Martha, “Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism” in John Cohen (ed.) ForLove of Country: Debating the Limits of Patriotism (Boston: Beacon, 1996).

Seton-Watson, Hugh, Nations and States (London: Methuen, 1982)

Viroli, Maurizio, For Love of Country: An Essay on Patriotism and Nationalism(Oxford: Clarendon, 1995).

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7

Olatunji A. Oyeshile

The Mindset Factor in Self-Mastery

IntroductionEmmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam- Osigwe (1921–1998) a Nigerian

philosopher of Igbo extraction, has left behind some philosophical ideas thatcan help to shed light and proffer solutions, at the realm of ideas, to Africa’snumerous daunting problems. Many of the treatises on him, especially bythe Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, describe him as:

A student of truth and a humble servant of God- submittedhimself to the search for knowledge without inhibitions orrestraints from social, cultural, religious and psychologicalbiases. (Osigwe Anyian-Osigwe foundation publications 2003;2004; 2005; 2007).

My concern in this paper is to critically analyse the views of Anyiam-Osigwe concerning the mindset factor in self-mastery. In doing this, sectionone deals with the importance of self mastery, section two is on the mind-set factor in self-mastery, while section three looks at mindset and selfmastery as ontological foundations of development in Africa.

The Importance of Self-MasteryTo have mastery over anything implies that one has power over that

thing and that power can be used to manipulate the thing in question eitherin form of control, use, disorientation and so forth. Self-mastery logicallyimplies having self power, individual power and personal power over onesconduct. It would be almost impossible to change one’s situation withoutsome degree of self-mastery. But in achieving self-mastery a lot of otherfactors, such as knowledge, mindset, environmental disposition, and evenreligious and social values also come into play. However, for our purposeemphasis shall be on the mindset factor in self-mastery.

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Many of the developmental problems in Africa stem largely from ourinability, particularly that of our political leaders, to have a sufficient masteryof their situation be it political, economic, scientific and religious and eventheir individual disposition or conduct. In fact, many of the acclaimed leadersin the developed world, past or present, have demonstrated an efficientcontrol and power over their situation with the appropriate mindset and vastknowledge. Leaders such as D. Roosevelt, who ruled America at war-timefrom a wheel chair, would not have achieved such feat without self-masteryand the right mindset. (O. Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation publication, 2005:15).

It cannot therefore be overemphasised that self-mastery with theappropriate mindset is what is largely lacking in our quest for developmentin most African countries. If, for instance, a leader does not have a propergrasp of the economic situation in which he is operating, there would oftenbe failed policies whose consequences are underdevelopment, poverty,illiteracy, disease and oppression. It is not surprising then that in Nigeria,between 1999 and 2007, even till now, Nigerian leaders could not findappropriate solutions to the problems of employment, electricity, railtransportation and even political violence. However, we can only appreciatethe importance of self-mastery in the development process if we discuss itin conjunction with mindset. This is where Anyiam-Osigwe’s philosophicalruminations become very important.

The Mindset Factor in Self MasteryFrom the metaphysical perspective, the mindset is a subset of the mind,

which is an intricate part of the human person. Although the conception ofa person differs from one African culture to the other, and sometimes somecontradictions and overlapping result from such conceptions, it is still thecase that certain attributes are common in African cultures which, moreoften than not, commit us to speak of an African conception of a person.These features include the belief in the existence of a Supreme Being (God),the belief in the existence of lesser spiritual forces than God, such as thedivinities and the ancestors, the belief in material and immaterial aspects ofman and the belief in man’s destiny (Oyeshile, 2002;104-105).

It should be noted that all the features identified above are interconnectedthrough the belief in the existence of a vital force or an animating spirit.

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Furthermore, in the African world-view the starting point for knowledge issocial relations. Selfhood is consequently seen and accounted for from arelational perspective. According to Kuckertz:

African thought and philosophy on personhood and selfhoodis that the ‘I’ belongs to the I-You–correspondence as astream of lived experience without which it could not bethought and would not exist (Kuckertz quoted by Teffo andRoux, 1998:145).

The human mind also plays a central role in organising all that can bepredicated of the person. In fact, our minds, so it is said, seem to be themajor determinant of all our actions (Oyeshile, 2000:105-106). Many westernphilosophers identify it with consciousness as can be gleaned from Descartes’Meditations. According to one of the publications of the Osigwe foundationson Definition of Concepts:

Consciousness refers to a person’s awareness. To beconscious, means to be aware and knowledgeable aboutreality. This awareness can be personal when individuals areaware of factors influencing their lives. Group consciousnessrefers to awareness in the group as a whole, meaning thegroup members are aware of factors influencing and affectingthe group. (M. Anyiam-Osigwe et. al, 2002:28)

Before we engage in a detailed exposition of the ideas of Anyiam-Osigwe on the mindset factor, it is also pertinent to note that within theWestern philosophical tradition attempts have been made to argue for thesuperiority of the mind over the body and vice versa and this has resultedinto the popular conflict between the idealists and materialists. Iroegbudescribes the conflict thus:

The history of philosophical thought reveals an age-longconfrontation of the relationship between spirit and matter.Superiority complex and struggle for hegemony havecharacterised how thinkers relate them. Spiritualists in generalclaim that spirit is superior to matter even that matter is aproduct of, and therefore subservient to spirit.

(Iroegbu, 2002:9)

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In a similar vein, materialists claim that the body is superior to the spiritand that in fact the mind is a by-product of matter. This latter view hasinfluenced findings in neuro-science and artificial intelligence programmes.Iroegbu however mediates the conflict thus:

While spirit needs matter to be understood as spirit, mattercannot be matter completely outside of spirit… while matteris the hermeneutical foundation of spirit, spirit is theteleological fulfillment of matter. While integral matter isspiritualized matter, authentic spirit is material-related spirit

(Iroegbu, 2002:9).

The above analysis on the relationship between the materialists andidealists is important with regard to our analysis of Anyiam-Osigwe’sdiscourse on mindset for two major reasons, among others. One is that thehuman person is a composite of spiritual and materialist entities and thereforeany analysis of man, especially from purely material perspective, would befragmentary. Two, Anyiam-Osigwe’s work on the human person can rightlybe situated within the purview of idealist and rationalist traditions in whichwe can locate thinkers such as Aquinas, Descartes, and Plato.

According to Thomas Aquinas:

The spirit directly informs the body and gives it existence,and at the same time it is the source of man’s thought and ofall his vital activity (Aquinas, 1948:1a 76:1.)

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) the French Philosopher says that it is themind that is the only substance that confers reality on man which is beyonddoubt. To Descartes, therefore, “I think therefore, I am” or “I think thereforeI exist” (Cogito ergo sum). The more we try to doubt the factor of thinking,the more we establish our existence. It was on this Cartesian pedigree thatmodern philosophy laid its foundation (See Descartes, 1960:68-85).

Earlier, the great Greek philosopher, Plato, had argued that it is only themind, we may call it soul, can contemplate perfect or real objects in theworld of forms or ideas. Our focus on the mindset factor in self-mastery istherefore appropriate given the fact that “the mind serves as the mirror ofknowledge and reality” (Oyeshile, 2000:105).

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According to Anyiam-Osigwe, the mind-set is the supra-determinant ofdevelopment. It is his belief that the mindset constitutes an avenue towardswhich philosophy could be made to confront practical problems ofdevelopment, thereby removing philosophy from “the realm of abstractionwhich bears no empirical or immediate perceptible relevance in the life ofthe individual” (Mindset Factor, 2005:1-2). He goes on to define mindset as:“a conditioned thought form of the phenomena mind on which man’s realitiesis largely premised” (Mindset, 2005:3).

What are some of the attributes, characteristics or features of the mindsetaccording to Anyiam-Osigwe? According to him, the mindset determinesthe basis on which man nurtures and advances his ideas and inventions. Inaddition, the mindset of the individual is reflected in his/her pattern of speech,mode of dressing and eating habit. It also includes choice of subjects towhich thought and attention is devoted, ranking of priorities, response togiven situations, perception and interpretation of the environment, as wellas relationship with his realities (Mindset, 2005:3-4).

It is therefore imperative, according to Anyiam–Osigwe, to give centralityto the mindset in issues of development. He puts it thus:

Humanity stands at great risk of stagnating in a state ofperennial expectation, unfulfilled hopes, setbacks,prevarications and the likes when development efforts andinitiatives do not effectively or appropriately factor in thecentralism of the mindset in the dynamics and processesthat bring about development (Mindset, 2005:4)

Anyiam-Osigwe has the fervent belief that the mindset must beappropriately attuned and when this is achieved the individual integrates theright values into the subconscious of his being. Within the subconscious “theindividual apprehends the mental and physical energies from which he derivesthe vision and motivations applied to his endeavours, duties and responsibilities(Mindset, 2005:5). Furthermore, the individual can only achieve his goalswhen “he achieves peace of mind, harmony and happiness in the relationshipwith himself, others and his environment” (Mindset, 2005:5).

Although emphasis is laid on the individual’s ability to develop the rightmindset that will lead to self-mastery, social factors cannot be underplayed

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in this process and that is why Anyiam-Osigwe brings in the notion of equity,communal fellow-feeling as enunciated in the African concept of UBUNTU,and the radical communitarian theory of person in Africa, whose main dictumis given by Mbiti thus:

“I am because we are, and since we are, therefore, I am”(Mbiti, 1969:108).

The foregoing shows that it is mainly the social situation that determinesthe mindset of individual . It is here that the relevance of social theories,such as Marxism, Gandhism, Taoism, Krishna consciousness, Christianityand Islam come in. Their prevalence determines the direction of thought ofindividuals, which in the end determines the level of development of anyparticular society.

According to Anyiam-Osigwe, the development of an appropriatemindset or positive mindset can be used to address the problems ofoppression against women, the problem of the physically and mentallychallenged, the problem of poverty and disease and all kinds of developmentalproblems, which, in his view, are to be approached from a holistic perspectiveor what he refers to as “an all –inclusive approach to development”.According to him:

Where the ability to produce and contribute to thedevelopment process by majority of the composing individualsis constrained by the impairment of their apposite mindset,the comparative yield of society falls short of the expectedsum total, thereby engendering and increasing poverty in thesocial system. (Mindset, 2005:19).

The inability of the mindset to be appropriately tuned is due mainly to itsdistortion and this can arise from physical, mental and or spiritual impairment.On the spiritual aspect Anyiam-Osigwe says:

Man’s estrangement from his spiritual essence and theinherent universal ethical cannons has been largely responsiblefor the impairment of his mindset. The lack of honesty andprobity in the managing of public affairs and assets, thedisposition to unlawful acquisition, falsehood, hatred, envy,

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jealousy, and lust are all manifestations of spiritual impairment,which adversely affects the appropriate configuration of themindset (Mindset, 2005:20).

Extrapolation from the discourse of Anyiam-Osigwe also reveals thatthe African mindset has been distorted by colonialism. And the consequencesof this are myriad. We speak the white man’s language, we think in thewhite man’s way, we want to do everything the white man’s way to theutter neglect of our cultural peculiarities. He strongly believes that while wewant to embrace global culture with regards to some of our problems, weshould still preserve our bonafide African identity.

He rounds up on the importance of mindset factor in African developmentthus:

Overcoming the challenges to Africa’s development isdependent on imbuing the individual with the appropriatemindset; a mindset that would elevate him beyond thesubjective limitations of the encumbrances of colonialincursion, to perceiving and exploring the new opportunitiesthat the process of colonisation, decolonisation andglobalisation offer (Mindset, 2005:41)

Mindset and Self-Mastery as Ontological Foundations ofDevelopment in Africa

The Mindset factor is central to self-Mastery. Self-mastery is importantin any developmental situation because it is the factor that enables us tohave a total control over policies and actions.

Although self-mastery starts from the individual level, it must also bepresent in group and community actions. The myriad of developmentalproblems in Africa can only be properly tackled if we base our self-masteryon the appropriate mindset as Anyiam-Osigwe would recommend.Developing the appropriate mindset for self-mastery would require thatAfrican leaders do away with such attitudes and features that are anti-thetical to development. These attitude and features include corruption,nepotism, political violence, human right violation, ethnic chauvinism, religiousbiogotry and sex discrimination.

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In Africa, we need a mindset that is pro-development. And, we mustnote, mindset is a given, nurtured by the social situation. So it could manifestin positive or negative ways, positive, when it promotes development, andnegative when it is antithetical to development. Furthermore, self-masteryis not an end in itself. Self-Mastery on the part of individuals who findthemselves in leadership positions in Africa should be used to alleviate thesuffering of the people and better their lot. Anyiam-Osigwe’s admonition isthat the appropriate mindset would lead to self-mastery which can promotethe development of a society. It is also imperative to tune the individualmindset towards achieving the goals of the community. This is so because itis the community that provides the social context and culture from whichthe individual actualises his goals. The excesses inherent in individual’smindset must be curbed to be in tune with the desires and aspiration of thecommunity. In fact, the problem of development in Africa today can betackled substantially if the individual reconciles himself not only with theother but also with the community.

Finally, in line with Anyiam-Osigwe, African leaders and intellectualsmust purge themselves of the colonial mentality which has tended to resultin the perpetual degradation and colonisation of the African mind. Thistendency has imposed alien ideals and ideas on us as Africans and has beena major obstacle to developing the appropriate mindset and self-masterynecessary in ordering our lives as Africans.

We want to conclude that Anyiam-Osigwe’s discourse on mindset is apositive route towards tackling the challenge of development in contemporaryAfrica and therefore more attention should be given to it by Africans,especially by our leaders.

ReferencesAnyiam- Osigwe M. et al. (eds) (2002), Definitions of Concepts, Sinoville: Groep 7

Drukker en Uitganers.

Aquinas, T. (1948) Summa-Theologiae. Maryland: Christian Classics.

Descartes, R. (1960). Meditations on First Philosophy. Indianapolis: Library ofliberal Arts.

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Harnessing Africa’s Capital that The People May have life And Live it MoreAbundantly (2007) Lagos: An Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe FoundationPublication.

Introspectionism: Green Grasses of Home; The Key to Development is within andAround you (2004); Lagos: An Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe FoundationPublication.

Iroegbu, P. (2002); Beyond Materialism and Spiritualism. Ibadan: HopePublications

Oyeshile, O.A. (2000), “The Problem of Mind” in K.A. Owolabi (ed.) Issues andProblems in Philosophy. Ibadan: Grovacs Network: 105-121.

Oyeshile, O.A. (2002), “Towards An African Concept of A person: Person in YorubaAkan and Igbo Thoughts”, Orita: Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies,XXXIV/1-2, June and December: 104-114.

Oyeshile, O.A. (2005). Reconciling the self with the other: An ExistentialistPerspective on the Management of Ethnic Conflicts in Africa. Ibadan: Hopepublications.

Oyeshile, O.A. (2006) “The Individual- Community Relationship as an Issue inSocial and Political Philosophy” in O. Oladipo (ed.) Core Issues in AfricanPhilosophy. Ibadan: Hope Publications 102-119.

Teffo, L.J. and Roux, A.P.J. (1998) “Metaphysical Thinking in Africa” in P.H. Coetzzeand A.P.J. Roux (eds.) The African Philosophy Reader. London: Routledge.

The Cosmopolitan Expression of the Group Mind Principle (2003), Brief on thefifth session Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam–Osigwe Memorial lectureseries. Lagos: An Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation Publication.

The Mindset Factor in Creative Transformation: All Minds at Work: All Handson Deck, (2005) Lagos: An Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe foundation publication.

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8

Isaac E. Ukpokolo

Personal Values, Self-Mastery and Developmentin the Light of Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s Sagacity

IntroductionThis paper attempts a systematic analysis of the character of personal

values and the phenomenon of self-mastery as most potent conditions forsocio-political and economic development. The analysis falls within the ambitof the first of the three pillars that constitute a holistic approach to life anddevelopment espoused by Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe1.The paper is divided into four sections. The first is devoted to the clarificationof the notion of personal values. This includes an analysis of the origin andcategories of personal values. This takes the discussion to the second sectionwhich is a representation of the power of personal values and self-mastery.The third attempts to combine our understanding, application of, andcommitment to, personal values and self-mastery as a veritable foundationfor personal accomplishment and social development. The paper in this partgoes on to locate the discussion of personal values, self-mastery anddevelopment within the reflections of Emmanuel Onyechere OsigweAnyiam-Osigwe. It makes some critical points and concludes, that amongother things, Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe is clearly asage- philosopher, and that his philosophical sagacity, though not put togetheras a systematic body of knowledge, clearly constitutes a base for a trulyhumanist philosophy of an Africa typology.

What are Personal ValuesEach of us is motivated to move our lives in certain directions. Such a

motivation is determined by the values we subscribe to as individual persons.Personal values are the formations and ideations of thought; the distinctformulations of understanding that express what we perceive to be important

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truths about life.2 These ideals are then reinforced by our emotions andfeelings, turning such mental perceptions into a vital ‘passion’ that we hopeto realise in our lives. Whether we actually make the effort to implementthem is another matter.3 In all, therefore, personal values are idealisedconceptions that are endorsed by the personality. In most literature thewords ‘values’, ‘personal values’ and ‘core values’ are used to refer to thesame thing – desirable qualities, standards, beliefs, or principles. Theyrepresent a person’s driving force, which influences his or her actions,reactions, decisions and choices. Whether we are consciously aware ofthem or not, every individual has this core set of “foundational truths”, rangingfrom self-reliance, concern for others, and freedom to harmony of purpose4

At some other times an individual cannot but be conscious of them. To thatextent, they are our convictions regarding what we believe is important anddesirable, such as integrity, honesty, hard work, punctuality, self-giving andlove, to mention a few.5

To be sure, personal values come in two varieties – terminal andinstrumental6. Terminal values are the desired end-states a person stronglywants to achieve, such as ‘a comfortable life’, ‘freedom’ or ‘salvation’. Assaid earlier, each individual has a set of end-states in his or her value systemor value complex. On the other hand, instrumental values are convictionsabout a person’s desired characteristics or ways of behaving, such as‘ambitious’, ‘forgiving’, ‘polite’. We possess instrumental values becausewe believe that each one helps us to achieve our terminal values. For instance,‘ambition’ may be an instrumental value that helps one progress towardsthe terminal value of a ‘comfortable life’.7

As deeply held beliefs that guide our behaviour and decisions, residingdeeply within the subconscious and tightly integrated into the fabric ofeveryday living, personal values originate first and foremost from the family.We assimilate a beginning value-set during childhood from parents, teachers,coaches, pastors, friends and other influential people around us. In lateryears, as a result of critical thinking and life experiences, we may discardsome values and add new ones. But many values that subconsciously operateas basics for choices, decisions, and behaviours are the core valuesassimilated during our early years.8

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It is possible to identify about four categories of a personal value system.These are: (i) Those traits we see as worth aspiring to, and that define ourcharacter; (ii) values that connect us to a higher power and give us a senseof purpose beyond our material existence. These are spiritual values. (iii)The third consist of love and care for those we are close to – our children,our parents, other family members, as well as our friends. These values arefamily values. (iv) There are career values. They consist in the best useand expression of our talents and skills for the purpose of self –accomplishment, and development, as well as contribution to society andstate.9

However, no matter what tradition we are brought up in, there arecertain characteristics, traits or values we cherish in others. These traitstranscend social, economic and religious boundaries. The first of thesecharacteristics is integrity, which has to do with trustworthiness, honestyand uprightness of character. We value people of integrity because weknow what to expect from them. We know they will act honourably andwould do what is right. We want people with integrity as our friends, on ourteams and in our organisations. Another trait appreciated by all is respect.Respect is honouring the worth and dignity of people. Those who respectothers treat them with fairness and courtesy. They treat others the waythey themselves wish to be treated. Loyalty is yet another. This is commitmentand faithfulness to a person or cause. Those who are loyal to, for instance,their families, friends, organisation and country stand and provide supportduring good times and bad times. They can be counted on to be there whenthe going gets difficult, and to help out when the chips are down. Anothersuch trait is responsibility. Those who are with this trait are reliable, dependable,and willing to take responsibility for who they are and for what they do.They believe they have moral obligation to fulfil with regards to others andto society. 10 Now, no matter what values we choose to live by, it is vitalthat we look at the holistic picture of life, assess what we want our role tobe, and map out how we intend to conduct our lives.

The Power of Personal Values and Self-MasteryPerhaps, the key point about personal values is that, living by them

energises the individual. Put differently, commitment to and applying values

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releases a certain kind of energy which always leads to self-mastery andwell-being. Without personal values we would be beings, driven by thevicissitudes of life, or compelled to actions solely by our urges and passions.Our personal values are the truths we hold dear to ennoble and enrich ourlives. A life devoid of values is, therefore, without meaning or purpose.11 Atthe personal level, then the inculcation and application of the appropriatevalues produce purposeful and dynamic existence.

People relate to personal values in a number of ways. But generally,thoughtful people are continually thinking about those things they cherishand believe in, and are motivated to live by them. And so, most successfulpeople are constantly evaluating their values, and are continually driven toturn them into a living reality. For these individuals, personal values are aninexhaustible source of inner power that energises them to no end; drivingthem to the heights of success and development, and bringing about deepfulfilment in their lives.12

Closely related to the individual’s application of, and commitment to,personal values are self-mastery. This is the successful application of self-knowledge in consciousness which rekindles the progressive ability for rightaction and desired personal changes at will. It is that state of spiritualattainment which reflects an awareness and application of the embodimentof truth in daily living. Put simply, self-mastery has to do with the ability toexhibit strong influence over one’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Theterm is sometimes used interchangeably with ‘self-control’. It has, however,been argued that complete control over one’s thoughts, feelings, emotionsand behaviours would make one robot-like. So the preferred term is said tobe ‘strongly influence’, such that being able to strongly influence ourselveson a regular basis allows for self-mastery and spontaneous, creative and‘uncontrolled’ thoughts, emotions and behaviours. Complete control overoneself, it is therefore inferred, would make for a boring, restricted life.13

This argument, however, stands suspect. The term ‘self-mastery’ maysound difficult or selfish. But development or accomplishment involveschanging, not only oneself but also one’s environment. But, if a person is notable to help or change himself or herself how can he or she change his orher environment? The point here is that once an individual is able to changehimself or herself through positive self-mastery, the world around him or

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her will change for the better, without much effort on his or her part. For, hewho rules his spirit has won a greater victory than the taking of a city. And,one cannot attain genuine awareness and enlightenment without disciplineand practice which are the main pillars of self-mastery.14

Appropriate rituals channel the individual’s emotions and life energytowards the light. Without the discipline to practice them, the individual fallsconstantly backwards into darkness. Thus understood, he who controls othersmay be powerful but one with self-mastery is mightier still. In the samevein, knowing others is intelligence, but knowing oneself is true wisdom, justas mastering others is strength, but mastering oneself is true power. 15

Personal Values, Self-Mastery and Development:Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s Sagacity

To be sure, development here describes the growth of human thoughtand life – from conception to death. The scientific study of humandevelopment seeks to understand and explain how and why people changethroughout life. This includes all aspects of human growth – physical, spiritual,emotional, intellectual, social, perceptual and personality development.Development, therefore, does not refer to the biological and physical aspectsof growth alone. It also refers to the cognitive and social. Most important,however, are the practical applications of studying human development. Bybetter understanding how and why people change and grow, we are able tohelp people live up to their full potentials and accomplishments.

In bringing together the gains of personal values and self-mastery forthe purpose of development or accomplishment, it would be pertinent to re-interate the fact that values are expressions of emotionalised truths that,when implemented, energises whatever they come in contact with, therebyenabling greater positive results. Thus, values are the propellers of progress.They have to do with the call to the mind to seek a better life – to pursueultimate delight and fulfilment in life.

In practical terms, values, being mental objects, emit mental energy.Accomplishment in life depends not only on physical energy, but even moreon the intensity of mental energy we are able to bring to our action. Interest,commitment, determination, passion, drive, enthusiasm are some of ourcharacterisations of this intensity of our mental energy. It turns out that

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values (which are mental objects) direct our mental energy foraccomplishment. Thus, in terms of accomplishment, thoughts are the formsof mental energy emitted by mental objects. This energy does not necessarilylead to action, but is carried in ideas or opinions as the force of mentalconviction or emotional endorsement. This mental conviction translates intoattitudes which rule our lives. This way, values issue from a deeper andhigher centre of motivation in our personalities, and therefore, carry enormouspower, greater than opinions and attitudes, and needed for self-mastery anddevelopment or accomplishment.

The sage philosopher, Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigweis one individual whose reflections demonstrate a robust call for thedevelopment and combination of certain values and self-mastery to enablethe development not only of the self, but also of the environment – physical,social, cultural, economic and political. His words:

In serving God, as an instrument of His Divine will, mypurpose is to set forth those who wish to follow in the footstepof the Great Master, the wisdom of God which does notmock Man’s effort to emulate his creator. I seek to conveythe sense of unity in the teachings of the masters who havewalked the earth showing mankind how to live by dispensingboth practical and spiritual wisdom; to hold out hope ofinherent treasures in these teachings. But more importantly,I wish to re-awaken mankind imperative need for each of usto construct nobility of character in imitation of Divinity; tore-state the boundaries of the temple of God in Man, andenable each individual to begin to understand himself as acomponent of God. I wish to chart a path to self-mastery,which will lead man to his re-union with the Most High. Inthis service, I cast away all esteem to myself and withunfeigned humility account myself to be no more than agrateful servant of God and Student of Truth. – Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (1921-1998)

One finds in the above statement, deep-seated personal values of self-giving, service and the pursuit of truth. At the level of the individual he callsfor a concerted effort towards self-mastery directed at a re-union with the

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Divine will. Along with truth, he identifies honesty, integrity and discipline asintrinsic aspects of the development of any society He does not leave outfamily and religious values in the fostering of a better society and people.

Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe remains, through hisreflections, a strong advocate of what he identifies as a holistic approach tolife and development. This holistic orientation rests on three identified pillars:

(i) Development of personal values, personal awareness and self-mastery.(ii) Enhancement of socio-political existence and order.(iii) Economic existence, awareness and responsibility.

Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s idea is that there is an intimate linkagebetween individual development and social development. For him, to achievegenuine development at both the individual and social levels, these threepillars must be erected. Of these three, however, the development of personalvalues, personal awareness and self-mastery is basic to the realisation ofthe other two. The kind of personal values, personal awareness and self-mastery that would engender individual accomplishment and socio-politicaland economic development is best formulated from early life.

One of the very fundamental, though general pictures, of Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s personality is that of:

A student of truth and a humble servant of God; submittedhimself to the search for knowledge without inhibitions orrestraints from social, cultural, religions and psychologicalbiases.

However, a most embracing value of personal conviction expressed byOsigwe Anyiam-Osigwe is what he refers to as “all-inclusive approach todevelopment.” According to him:

Where the ability to produce and contribute to thedevelopment process by majority of the composing individualsis constrained by the impairment of their apposite mindsets,the comparative yield of society falls short of the expectedsum total, thereby engendering and increasing poverty in thesocial system.

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In all, the philosophy of development espoused by the reflections of thesage is perhaps described as the extension of ethics or ethical principlesfrom the level of the individual to that of society or polity.

ConclusionThe reflections of Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe are

certainly not found in a systematic body of thought. They are found in bitsand pieces in his diaries and in commentaries on him. Nonetheless, hissagacity clearly stands as viable materials for professional philosophicalengagements. It is an embodiment of a philosophical trend best describedas ‘humanism’, though not secular humanism.

References1. Roy Posner, The Power of Personal Values (2004) New York: Blackwell

Publishers.2. Ibid3. Schwartz, S.H. (1992) Universals in the content and structure of values:

Theoretical Advances and Empirical Tests in 20 countries, In M.P. Zanna (Ed.)Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25:1-65, Orlando, FL: AcademicPress

4. Rokeach, M. (1973) The Nature of Human Values New York: The Free Press5. Ibid.6. Ibid7. Ibid8. Ibid9. Ibid10. Ibid11. Edwards S.P. The Idea of Personal Values (1990) Oxford: Manna Press12. Ibid13. Ibid14. Ibid15. Ibid

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9

Wale Olajide

Personal Awareness,Self-Mastery and Leadership Qualities

This paper is an attempt to provide an existential theoretical foundationfor the views and ideas of Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigweon issues of personal awareness, self-mastery and leadership qualities. Ishall justify this relationship before discussing in some detail his emphasison the self as awareness and initiator of collective consciousness as well asthe agent of change and leadership.

Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe did not go all the way to draw the final line onspecific issues as some authors of similar reflections would have done. Yetthere exists in his various submissions and suggestions a passionate moralcommitment, a philosophical conviction on the unity of all things and a candidand firm belief in the interfusion of the human and the divine. The idea hereis that man is not alone, that, in fact, there is an immanent presence of thegods or God with us. The clear references made to the intelligence that isbehind every planet, his emphasis on the hidden forces and hidden sciences,the fact that man is born into the infinity of life and the affirmation that manis nothing without God, all point to a mind that is convinced that there ismuch more to what we experience. For Anyiam-Osigwe the universe is akind of community ordered by a mind into a unified whole in which everythinghas its appropriate role and fulfils its duty, one in which nothing happens byaccident or is wasted. We do not intend to analyse this world-view in thispaper. Rather, our aim is to portray the existentialist emphasis in the reflectionsof Anyiam-Osigwe.

The Existentialist Empahsis in Anyiam-Osigwe’s PhilosophyWithout any formal training in philosophy and certainly without the

sophisticated jargons and styles of professional philosophers, Anyiam-Osigwehas been able to leave behind a legacy of thoughts on human life and existence.

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Indeed, what Anyiam-Osigwe presents is vintange existential philosophyreflecting a present concrete reality. This is in agreement with his goal tobring philosophy from the realm of abstraction to the domain of practicalapplication where it will serve as a means for the consideration of thosefactors that are integral to improvements in man’s standard of living and thepreservation of (his) environment.1

For Anyiam-Osigwe, the primary task of the philosopher isto make philosophy and philosophizing count. For him,philosophy should evolve as a potent vehicle for advancingconcrete and practical development rather than remaining inthe realm of abstraction which bears no empirical orimmediate perceptible relevance in the life of the individual.2

This is exactly what Existentialism as a philosophy and thought processhas been doing not at any specific time by a specific set of people, butindeed from the birth of philosophy.

Existentialism is as old as philosophy itself just as it is as current as thehuman condition which it always tries to examine and reflect on. Indeed,Existentialism represents a long tradition in the history of philosophy in theWest extending back at least to Socrates. In this tradition, philosophy is notjust an abstract set of theoretical truths but care for the self.

The emphasis on truth as subjectivity, something that is immediate,concrete and felt sums up the existentialist truth and defines the task of itsphilosophers. For, as Kierkegaard noted in his Journals, the task is to finda truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die.The jottings of Anyiam-Osigwe reflect this same commitment. And if itmust be stated for obvious reasons, existentialists are not irrationalists in thesense that they turn their backs on abstract philosophy and deny the validityof logical argument and scientific reasoning. On the contrary, they simplyquestion the ability of such reasoning to access the deep personal convictionsthat guide our lives and tell our truth as felt and lived. The futility and nearirrelevance of abstract philosophy on issues of here and now existenceunderscore the point that we are an integral part of that universe and thecultural world that envelopes it.3 The challenge which Anyiam-Osigwe posesis that we should do something – act.

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Anyiam-Osigwe insists, by insight and reflection, on the idea of mindsetas a collective consciousness that drives human situations. The correctnessof this discovery is underscored by the Husserlean principle of intentionalitywhich is rooted in subjectivity. It is possible to argue that Anyiam-Osigwe’scollective mandate that all men must, of necessity, acquire the appropriatemindset can ultimately degenerate into a ‘herd spirit’ where the power ofother people to influence and coerce our desires, beliefs, ambitions andpreferences stifle individual freedom and promote alienation. His primaryinsistence on the self however precludes this possibility. At least, likeDescartes, he affirms the primary, incontestable position of the “Corgito’ asthe intending consciousness. What is left therefore to be justified is thevalidity of the claim that our manner of intending as consciousness (towards)differs as we perceive, conceive, imagine or recollect images. We are thusbound to draw varieties of impressions and recollections which invariablywill affect our convictions. This is the nature of the process of our namingreality as human beings in the world. Since in every case being conscious isa way of being in the world, our perceptions are different as indeed are ourrecollections and by extension our submissions.

Existentialist philosophers are not ambiguous on the need for theindividual to affirm his freedom, enhance and sustain it by his everydaychoices. This effectively is the absolute character of the free commitmentby which every man realises himself in realising a type of humanity. In life,says Jean Paul Sartre, a man commits himself, draws his own portrait, thatis, of an affirmed self; a separated, self centered, individualised, incomparable,free determining self.

But the definition of life, according to Anyiam-Osigwe, is initiated bythis separated being not as an isolated individual but rather as a being-in-situation-with-others. The desire for collectivity here is not tainted by badfaith or inauthenticity. Rather, there is, according to him, a chance of universalredemption where the possibility exists of a paradise on earth, via a collectivemindset. This is in consonance with the observation of Paul Tillich, that

the self is self only because it has a world, a structureduniverse to which it belongs and from which it is separatedat the same time. (But) man participates through that sectionof the world which makes him a person. Only in the

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continuous encounter with other persons does the personbecome and remain a person. The place of this encounter isthe community.4

And as De Klerk notes, as individuals, we are defined by the group towhich we belong. It is this community that ultimately acts as the crucible ofdevelopment.

Anyiam-Osigwe remains most optimistic of the goodness of the collectiveinitiative as the panacea for growth, development and peaceful co-existence.But a collective society is one in which the existence and life of the individualare determined by the existence and institutions of the group. In collectivistsocieties, often, the courage of the individual is the courage to be as a part.This disfigures the prospect of an authentic existence. Carl Jung explainsthat the scope of dependency is wide and varied. Faced existentially withthe task of differentiating himself from all others and standing on his ownfeet from the beginning the individual is still relying on a collective organisation(mindset) to effect his differentiation and individuation. According to Jung:

all collective identities interfere with the task of(individuation). Such collective identities are crutches forthe lame, shields for the timid, beds for the lazy, nurseriesfor the irresponsible; but they are equally shelters for thepoor and weak, a home part for the shipwrecked, the bosomof a family for orphans, a land of promise for disillusionedvagrants and weary pilgrims, a herd and a safe fold for lostsheep and a mother providing nourishment and growth.5

Collectivity remains essential but when it is paraded, as it is in moderntimes, in forms of conformity, the self stands to be submerged, immobilizedand rendered impotent. Again, even here, what Anyiam-Osigwe envisagesis a redeemed self who in choosing the appropriate mindset for himselfdoes so for others. This is a position that again is in agreement with the truenature of choices as defined in existentialist philosophy where to choosebetween this or that is at the same time to affirm the value of that which ischosen; for we are unable ever to choose the worse. What we choose isalways the better; and nothing can be better for us unless it is better for all.If moreover, existence precedes essence and we will to exist at the same

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time as we fashion our image, that image is valid for all and for the entireepoch in which we find ourselves. Our responsibility is thus much greaterthan we had supposed, for it concerns mankind as a whole … in fashioningmyself, I fashion man6

What blueprint then does Anyiam-Osigwe offer to enable man affirmhis seperateness and at the same act as initiator of a collective mindsetwhich sets the pace for human development? The answer is contained inhis analysis of man, specifically in terms of self-awareness and self-mastery.

Totaling the Self for ActionThere are many areas of Anyiam-Osigwe’s treatise where he makes

man the central figure that initiates, motivates and mobilises for change andnew states of affairs. The assumption, though nowhere explicitly stated, isthat all members of the human community possess this nature and can, to alarge extent, be made to use reason, change and adapt. It is assumed thatman is able to sustain the process of change, and through adaptation, he isable to tolerate the discomfort and demand of change. This assumption istenable.

It is the case in fact that all men through the natural gift of the humanbrain can think and reason; they can be reasonable and rational. Yet manoften falls short of this expectation since not all men actually think andreason. Some and in fact most do think but fail to reason while some doneither. It is only for those who reason that we can safely assume thinksince the latter is vehicled by the former. Perhaps it is the man within thisbracket that Anyiam-Osigwe speaks of as he sets out his ideas of selfawareness, and self-mastery, since these activities, when thoroughlyanalysed, are intricate manifestations of a reflective consciousness.

This observation is significant and relevant because what Anyiam-Osigwe thesis contains is a proposal and not necessarily a mandate. Yet, hispronouncements are firm and almost conclusive as he says “as a man thinkethso is he”. He refrains from saying categorically that man is the measure.Neither does he take the existential posture of naming man that is throwninto a world he never lobbied for and saddled with the imperative need toname himself and choose his values. Put in another way, he simply wishesto say that thinking makes the man.

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As a man thinketh so he is represents, therefore, a bold claim and aclose assertion that beyond and outside the mental disposition of thinkingthere is nothing and man is nothing. A mind without concepts would have nocapacity to think and a mind armed with concepts with no sensory data towhich they could be applied would have nothing to think about. His thoughttherefore is his mould within which he is cast and formed. With regards tothe contents of man’s thought, no thought is empty. Rather every thought isinformed with world structures, moods and patterns. These of course, willinclude language, meaning and culture. Whatever the thought, theseingredients are present and often times they are merely passed down to beimbibed. These are themselves thought residues that are summations ofother thinking processes carried out by some other men.

We could, for the sake of expanding our explanation without beingsimplistic, roll back to the first man with the first thought. Here too thefurniture of his thought (i.e. thinking) nevertheless would be the structureslisted above. His thoughts could not have been empty. He exists in a worldwhich predates him in all things, a world which he can only access with theaid of his five senses. As Kant argues, without sensibility no object wouldbe given to us, without understanding no object would be thought. The latterprovides the windows through which we perceive and apprehend the world.They act as sources of knowledge and validation of our claims. It is for thissingular observation that we often suffer considerable discomfort whenconfronted with claims of knowledge not obtained though the senses andyet presented as knowledge. The irritation is particularly heightened whenthey are called truths.

What Anyiam-Osigwe says is that thinking makes the man. This strictlyis his fundamental claim. It is pertinent therefore to draw a line betweenthis assertion and that which Marcus, Aurelius Antoninus, the Emperor,philosopher poet (AD 121 – 180) makes, namely, that “all is as thinkingmakes it so”;7

and you control your thinking. So remove your judgementswhenever you wish and then there is calm – as the sailorrounding the cape finds smooth water and the welcome of awaveless bay. (119)8

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Further still,

and you have forgotten this too, that every man’s mind isgod9 … that all is as thinking makes it so, that each of uslives only the present moment and the present moment isall we lose.10

Anyiam-Osigwe’s claims are clearly modest with clear emphasis onlyon the quality of the thinking man. Perhaps he would go further to put amoral stamp on such a man. The ease with which some embrace corruption,for example, while others uphold integrity, honesty of purpose, decency,equity, probity and accountability could be as a result of their thinking process,their undiluted and unflinching respect for moral ideals. This explains whysome humans find specific acts attractive, permissible and acceptable andothers find same acts most distasteful or, as we say, simply unthinkable.Because Anyiam-Osigwe’s search is for the unique individual that will actas the springboard the emphasis must be on quality, which in this case, derivesfrom self-awareness and self-mastery. The key concept here therefore is value.

Aurelius moves beyond man as a subject of awareness and makes himthe naming agent that confers meaning. Values and meanings are not externalpassovers but internally worked out summations and authentically derived.Aurelius is thus the core straight-laced existentialist, but Anyiam-Osigwe,while remaining an existentialist philosopher, accommodates the externaluniversal influence of the “other” over the self even though the latter is thepivot on which self-discovery and awareness revolves. For both Aureliusand Anyiam-Osigwe, the primary place of thinking as the primordial sourceof action and creation, however remains undiluted. With the same simpleclarity of Socrates, the focus is, in the final analysis, on man. The charge isthe same: man, know thyself!

Two options are immediately available to the man who is plunged intothe thought vortex. He either adopts thoughts as distilled by others or atbest in their crudest forms or does nothing about them, or he could embracethem, turn them around and make his own inferences and judgements. Theman who embraces the latter option is the thinking man and it is only to thisman that Anyiam-Osigwe directs his attention since it is only with him that

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his proposal can receive quality attention. This is the man who has thecapacity for self-awareness and self-mastery. Both tendencies howeverreflect the dialetic nature of thinking as a dynamic resource that goes outsideof itself, initiating other thoughts and propelling man to some form of action.Anyiam-Osigwe hits the nail on the head therefore with the proclamationthat “thought is creation and creation is thought”. Even if it is a myth, thecreation story in the Book of Genesis underscores this vital point.

Before God said ‘Let there be light’ and there was light, there was(must have been) at least a thought. Hence scholastic and medievalphilosophies parade God as Absolute Thought; a being whose essence is histhought and creation is a mere manifestation of His will. Indeed there is nodicothomy. Thought is creation and creation is thought. The thinking man,homo rationalis, is the specie that has the capacity not only to think andreason but also to deliberately reflect and act on his condition. Here lies, Iwish to suggest, the catalyst for self-awareness which first must be precededby self-discovery.

The project of self-awareness and self-discovery is not initiated througha process of divination, meditation, or yoga. It is rather though a process ofreflective thinking which is identified as the panacea for human growth anddevelopment. All men are disposed to this process but not all will come tothe awareness and realisation at the same time with the same passion andconviction. For those who make it, they are likely to recognise the importanceof Anyiam-Osigwe calls the supra-determinant of development. This is themindset, which he defines as “a conditioned thought form of the phenomenamind on which man’s realities is largely premised.” Thus, what is referredto is human thought in action aggregating patterns of speech, mode ofdressing, eating habit, choice of subjects to which thought and attention isdevoted, ranking of priorities, response to given situations, perception andinterpretation of the environment, as well as relationship with realities. Whenall these are realised, the man emerges as concrete reflective consciousness,convinced and capable of affecting other humans for the purpose of growth.For the subject now knows himself and could account for the positionwhich he now maintains. In other words,

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when the mindset of the individual is appropriately atuned,he integrates into the subconscious of his being. There, heapprehends the inherent mental and physical energies fromwhich he derives the vision and motivation applied to hisendeavours, duties, and responsibilities.11

The achievement of peace of mind, harmony, happiness and full integrationwith the self and the environment follows.

This then is the challenge posed by Anyiam-Osigwe’s view on the mind-set as a precondition of development. For him:

when a number of individuals within the context of theirpersonal lives attain the appropriate mindset, the commonalityof values arising from their status as embodiments of theappropriate mindset engenders a synthesis from whichevolves an apposite mindset complex – a natural meeting ofminds.12

This, in the end, is the Promised Land.With clear emphasis on the need for individuals to work ‘within the

context of their personal lives’, Anyiam-Osigwe argues for absolute freedomwithin which each individual is expected to reflect and act. In attaining theappropriate mindset uncoerced and unhindered by the thoughts of others,the individual arrives and adopts a mindset which, in the existential mode,wills for others. When he adopts, he chooses and as he chooses he wills forothers. Since others are equally reflectively preoccupied, the end result oftheir reflection in the end will be good for all. Here, I find a very useful andilluminating connection with Kantian categorical imperative and the mentaldisposition which in choosing the good wills it as a universal law. Thepresumed universal goodness and selflessness in man is equally noticeable.

Perhaps, then, the earlier emphasis noted in the definition of the supra-determinant as “a conditioned thought form” should not be read in isolationsince if it is so read, we shall certainly not be too far from B. F. Skinner’sWalden Two, which is a state of conditioned thought patterns where self-reflective consciousness is subsumed in environmental thought conditioning.While there is yet a valid claim to be made on the lasting and mouldingeffects of nurture on human thoughts and values, there is a need to insist,

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most emphatically too, on unmuffled and unfettered thinking. No creed orideology should act supreme nor position itself as a monopoly of truth orcorrect thinking for that matter.

We may worry a little about the optimism of Anyiam-Osigwe, that indeedat some point in time in the life of a given community all men or majoritymembers of that community will attain the same mindset. This worry islegitimate knowing how unreflective, unthinking and selfishly obdurate mosthumans are. Yet, the prospect is not far-fetched. Human communities aredaily being identified in terms of common beliefs, goals, interests andaspirations. It is when such collective factors of identification becomefanatical and vindictive in nature that there is every cause to worry. Perhaps,the most fearful culprit is religion, if we take into account the prominence itenjoys in many human communities and the problem of the under-determination of religious beliefs by facts, which makes rational argumentsabout them difficult if not impossible.

There, too, is the problem of the time that it probably may take for themajority to attain and achieve the appropriate mindset. When, we may ask,will Nigerians for example arrive at the position when it will be a commonresolve to wrestle power from the hands of those who have pretended forso long to serve the people when indeed they have been very busy servingthemselves?

The challenge of leadership is to pursue the attainment of those noblevalues which uplift the people. It is to perfect this messianic task and bemost suitably disposed towards executing it that the self must first actualiseitself in total awareness and name itself comprehensively as a viable andveritable catalyst of change. Full awareness and optimum consciousnessthus serve as vital ingredients of self-discovery and consummate influence.They both form the foundation of the possibility of a collective mindset onwhich human growth and development may take place. Having reflectivelyarrived at the realisation that the human community is best served along thepath of equity, justice, truth, accountability, and loyalty, there is no otheralternative than to see these as set goals. A leader will thus function withinthis conviction that he has the key to growth and human development. AsAnyiam-Osigwe notes,

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with the appropriate mindset, therefore, man does not seekto better his personal life but embeds his well-being withinthe development and well-being of his community.13

Here is the relevance to development of leadership by conviction, one that isfired and sustained by passion and total commitment, to human well-being.

ConclusionThis paper sought to identify within the corpus of Anyiam Osigwe’s

reflections visible signs of a vibrant and sustainable existentialist philosophy,particularly as defined as a philosophy of concrete human existence withman as its subject. I have tried to do this by placing emphasis on the self asthe pivot and focus of Anyiam-Osigwe’s developmental philosophy. Throughthe processes of re-orientation, re-alignment and reflective re-assessment,man is capable of arriving at a mindset with which he could build an equitablesociety where noble, humane and sustainable values thrive.

Notes and References1. Peace Anyiam-Fiberesima, Adegbola Adesina, Rotimi Olayemi (Eds.) (2005)

The Mindset Factor in Creative Transformation: A PhilosophicalUnderpinning for Human Development, Lagos, Osigwe Anyiam-OsigweFoundation, p. 2.

2. Anyiam Osigwe, Ibid, pp. 1 – 2.3. Thomas Flynn (2006), Existentialism, London, Oxford University Press, p. 65.4. Paul Tillich (1952) The Courage to Be, Yale, Yale University Press, p. 90-915. C. G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, translated by Richard and Clara

Winston, Fortana Press, London, 1995, p. 375.6. Jean-Paul Satre, Existentialism and Humanism, translated by Philip Mairet,

London: Methuen, 1948, p. 29-307. Marcus Aurelius, (2006) trans, Martin Hammond, Meditations, London,

Penguin, p. 119.8. Ibid, p. 1199. Emphasis mine10. Ibid. p. 12011. Anyiam-Osigwe, quoted in The Mindset Factors in Creative Transformation12. Ibid p. 5

13. Ibid p. 8

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10

Joseph C. A. Agbakoba

Personal Values and Democratic Ethics

IntroductionIn this paper I intend to explore Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe’s perception

of personal values and its relationship to democratic ethics. Personal valuesmay be viewed as individual ethics. This aspect of ethics, Thiroux says,refers “to individuals in relation to themselves and to an individual code ofmorality which may or may not be sanctioned by any society or religion”1.It stems to a large extent from individual conscience and it includes theobligations individuals have to themselves (to promote their own well-being,to develop their talents, to be true to what they believe, and so on)”2. Theindividual conscience, which forms the bedrock of personal values, is formedto a great extent by customs, religion, family, and society. This is the basisof the codes or standards of conduct in a family and the ethics that a societyand state teaches formally and informally through its institutions. Let usnote here that the existential notion of authenticity applies to personal orindividual ethics a great deal because an individual’s actions or inactionsshow a great deal of the values such an individual actually holds; that is thevalues he/she has succeeded in internalising and appropriating as distinctfrom the values he/she admires or acknowledges but is not yet committedto authentically.

So far, we have used the words ethics and values interchangeably; weneed, however, to clarify their meanings. Ethics comes from the Greekword ethos which means character. In philosophy, however, the term isalso used to refer to a specific area of study, the area of morality, whichconcentrates on human conduct and human values3. Value refers to theworth placed on a thing, idea, and so on by a person or group of persons.The notion of value readily goes with preference because a thing or ideahas more or less worth in relation to other things and ideas. At the top of

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the scale of values are supreme values, which may also be ideas valued inthemselves. An individual’s ethics and character are formed ultimately fromsuch an individual’s supreme values; a person’s ethics is an expression ofsuch a person’s preferences, (values) with respect to the relations betweenhuman beings, between humans and the environment, between humans andthe supernatural and with respect to the obligations the individual oweshimself/herself. Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe has a perception of ethics,and personal values that reflect the above for he apparently states that“those ruled by a valueless system become a valueless nation”.

Let us now examine in more details the foundations of personal values,and its connection to other types of values, especially social, political values,as well as its connection to the state and political systems especiallydemocratic ones.

Personal Values and Socio-Political ValuesPersonal values as seen above derive largely from an individual’s

conscience and commitment to internalised standards. Such conscienceand commitment derive largely from the religion, culture, family and societyas well as the inclination of an individual to the search for knowledge andwisdom. Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe understands this. Thus, he states that:

Beyond mystical feelings, piety and devotion, religion isindeed a higher cosmic mission that is purposed to transformman from a creature dominated by basic instincts to anincarnate personality worthy of description as a manifestationof Divine Intelligence. In this regard, religion is a psychicprocess intended for the enhancement of man’s evolution,ascending from matter to spirit.

We can see from this that, for Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe, religion is thepillar or one of the pillars of personal values and culture; and in respect of theobligations an individual owes himself/herself and the search for knowledgeand wisdom, he states that “the first principle of personal well being is tocontrol and direct your thought towards positive, progressive and harmoniousideas”.

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In a sense, Emmanuel Anyiam-Osgiwe could be seen as perceivingreligion as a popular philosophy or worldview, which provides adherentswith an interpretation of reality, and which also provides the guiding principlesthat may uplift human existence. One interesting question that may arisefrom this is how does religion do this? Scholars have tried to address thisissue for centuries and it forms one of the core issues in the culture theoryof development. One of the most important views in this regard is Hegel’snotion of the match of the Absolute Spirit. For Hegel, the Absolute Spiritcomes to its highest realisation in the Germanic societies under the influenceof Christianity4. Max Weber, decades later, stated that the rise of Capitalismwas due to the values of Protestant ethics. Clifford Geertz tried toencapsulate this influence by stating that religion influences dispositions,particularly motives, and moods of people5. Emmanuel Anyaim-Osigweapparently will agree with Geertz assessment of the ways by which religioninfluences individuals and societies.

Worldviews, (whether they are religious or non-religious), institutions(both formal and semi-formal ones) and customs, provide people and theindividual with a large part of the resources out of which to build personalvalues. The individual, however, needs to actively participate in the processof creating his/her personal values. Again Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigweapparently understands this, hence his principles of personal well being statedabove.

It is important to note at this juncture the relationship between personalvalues, personal identity and personhood. The personal identity of a personis composed of what we may call his/her social identity, that is, the groupsto which he/she belongs and their values (ranging from the family toassociations and organisations of various types including the State) and anindividual’s idiosyncratic self (the things/ideas peculiar to an individual –this at times is regarded as personal identity) 6. Personal identity is thuscomposed of social identity (SI) and ones idiosyncratic self (IS). Whereas,however, the individual initially receives his/her social identity (and they arefrequently social facts he/she has to grapple with), the idiosyncratic self ismore of what the individual wants it to be, through his/her own selfdevelopment. This is not to say that an individual cannot transform his/hersocial identity; it is rather to say that the transformation of the idiosyncratic

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self is more within the reach of the individual and it is also at times a preludeor precondition for the transformation of a social identity. Personal valuesapparently play an important role in the formation and transformation ofsocial identities and the idiosyncratic self; and the result of such effort maybe adjudged a more or less well-formed person. This is because the attributionof personhood to a human being requires an individual to meet certainstandards of conduct7.

Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe was concerned with the development ofthe individual and personal identity for the good of the individual and society.For him, the individual has to struggle and overcome his/her lower nature.He sees this as the resolution of the conflict within the individual; but theprocess, however, is the same in society as a whole because social groupsface the sort of conflict the individual has to contend with. In a sense asocial group is an individual writ large; and in a rather Kantian way, theresolution of the conflict in the individual or smaller unit paves the way for itsresolution in a broader social setting8. This comes out in the question he asks:

Is the conflict of man with his fellow man or of peopleagainst people or of nations against nations an extension ofthe internal conflict in the individual which extends to otherpersons other than himself, each person this conflict toucheshas his conflict roused (because the conflict is already inhim)?

For Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe, the personal values that should becultivated and the consequent personal development a person can attain centrearound humility, truth, justice and the search for divine enlightenment throughprayers and meditations. The development of such values by citizens iscardinal to the development of a nation. Thus, he states, in respect of Nigeria,that “the day Nigerians adhere to truth for the sake of truth, we shall have awonderful country”.

Personal values, Democratic Ethics and Political SystemsIn this section, we shall explore the relationship between personal values,

democratic ethics and political systems, particularly democratic ones. Apolitical system may be viewed as a way of conducting political affairs andgovernance in a state. Such a system usually would contain, among other

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things, in an implicit or explicit way, the distribution of state power, the rulesabout gaining office or authority, the transfer of power (succession), thegoals/purposes of exercising power, the control of abuse of power. It shouldthen be clear from the above that a political system is developed and sustainedby the standard of conduct/expectation that the majority of the people acceptor at least acquiesce in. So, over and above the constitution of a state andits apparent political structure are the foundational ethics that make such aconstitution possible and realisable. We may call such foundational ethics,the “compositional ethics” of a state. Without the appropriate compositionalethics, the stated constitution of a state, no matter how desirable, cannot beeffective, real or realisable.

A democratic system of government, going by Lincoln’s populardefinition, is government of the people, for the people and by the people. Itinvolves the participation of all qualified adults, that is, mass participation.This participation, in a modern State, is largely through elected representativesdue to the large size of the population of many states and the complexity ofmodern political, economic and social affairs. Power, in modern democracies,thus lies in the power of the people to elect (or refuse) to elect candidatesthat come forward for political offices open to election in a state. It is,therefore, very necessary that the popular ballot is respected, that is, thatrigging of elections by any means does not come into play; that people leaveoffices as at when due; that political actors accept the result of free and fairelections; that the elected representatives of the people use the powerentrusted to them in the service of the people. All these require the rule oflaw, respect for persons as ends-in-themselves, commitment to service,among other values.

The compositional ethics necessary for the operation of a democracy,given the above, include self-restraint, patience, a certain level of self-non-gratification, and compassion. The citizens of a nation, especially thosewith access to the arms of government and the bodies that organise elections,should have a high level of compositional ethics, in order to have a functionaland effective democracy. Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe seems to appreciatethe importance of the compositional ethics of a state for he states that “thesuccess and progress of Nigeria will depend on the sincerity and honesty ofits citizens”; and again; “power should not be held for the sheer love of

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power, power should be sought, held and exercised for the greater good ofhumanity”. His views on the compositional ethics of a state are germane todemocracy; they are a part of democratic ethics.

ConclusionFrom the foregoing, we can see that Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe held a

holistic and possibly organismic view about nature, human nature, society,values and politics. The development of the individual, through the cultivationof the appropriate personal values, is crucial to the development of society,including the development of democratic ethics. This approach apparentlyemphasises the role and power of the individual in social progress incontradistinction to the perspectives that emphasise the role of socialstructures, such as Marxism and Neo-Marxism, in which the individual isreduced to a pawn at the mercy of powerful social forces and in which theindividual ceases to be a proper moral agent, capable of taking responsibility(and with it blame or praise) for his/her actions.

Notes1 J. P. Thiroux, Ethics, 3rd Edition, (New York: Macmillan Pub. Co., 1986) p 11.

2 J. P. Thiroux, Ethics, 3rd Edition, p 11

3 J. P. Thiroux, Ethics, 3rd Edition, p 2

4 G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of History in Alburey Castell (ed.) 3rd edition, AnIntroduction to Modern Philosophy (New York: Macmillan Pub. Co. Inc.,1976) p 395

5 Clifford Geertz ‘Religion as a cultural system’ in The Interpretation of Cultures(New York: Basic Books, 1973) pp 81-126

6 Ian Vine, ‘Inclusive Fitness and the Self-System of Human Nature andSociocultural Processes in Discrimination’ in The Sociobiological Basis ofEthnocentrism, V. Reynolds, V. Falgar and I. Vine (eds.) (Surry Hills, Australia:Croom Helm Publishers PTY Ltd., 1987) p. 74

7 J. C. A. Agbakoba, ‘Cognition, Ethnicity and Democracy’, in Journal ofLiberal Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1, June; 2002, pp 251-263

8 I. Kant ‘Idea of a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Standpoint’ inAlburey Castell (ed) 3rd edition, An Introduction to Modern Philosophy(New York: Macmillan Pub. Co. Inc., 1976) pp 378-387

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11

Kolawole A. Olu-Owolabi

A Critical Reconstruction ofAnyiam Osigwe’s Environmentalism

The quest to attain self-mastery must not rely essentially onhistorical events at a particular period or the past as a whole.Rather, the quest should challenge us to earnestly seekuniversal truths whose timelessness and permanence areintegral to the ever unfolding transformation that comes withthe inevitability of time. – Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam Osigwe, 1921-1998

The current trend of development globally has left a lot of itspeculiar contradictions. Consequently, Africa’s quest forgenuine development challenges philosophy to unfold a newvista of theoretical and practical paradigms which like ithappened for the Greeks, Egyptians and of late the Americanswould elevate man to a new panacea of creative existenceand progress – Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam Osigwe, 1921-1998

IntroductionIn choosing the above epigraphs as the starting point of our essay on

the theme of the environmentalism of the Nigerian philosopher, Anyiam-Osigwe, we are attempting to drive home the point that though thisphilosopher, like most of his contemporaries in post-colonial Africa, was soconcerned and anxious about the urgent need for the African society torealise the ideal of development at the expense of all other contending values,Anyiam-Osigwe’s genius and insight as a philosopher made him recognisethat the aspirations of humans are ever dynamic. For this reason, his creedis that the philosophical mind should be eternally attuned to the necessaryadaptation not only to a particular value, but constantly to the various

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axiological challenges that will always confront the society or even theentire human race.

The philosopher’s mission is to demand that the society should alwaysensure that positive values are constantly promoted such that the humanperson can achieve his original essence in the mind of his creator. Althoughenvironmentalism, which we shall extensively define later on this essay,can be presently conceptualised as the concern for the stability andsustainability of the environment despite the onerous task of realising thegoal of material transformation, is just being recognised today as a contendingvalue that limits the drive for development, our position in this essay is thatthe vision for environmentalism exists in the holistic philosophy of Anyiam-Osigwe. It shall be our task in this essay to present explicitly the implicitenvironmentalism in the thought-system of this great thinker.

Anyiam-Osigwe and the Issue of DevelopmentA detailed study of Anyiam-Osigwe’s deep reflection and philosophical

postulations will reveal the fact that the idea or ideal that is consistently thepivot of his thought is the notion of development. Anyiam-Osigwe is deeplycommitted to the issue of development that has eluded the African societythroughout its history as an independent society and has reached a crisislevel in the last two decades of this philosopher’s existence. In recognisingthat genuine development can only be realised through a composite andholistic approach to the ideal of development, Anyiam –Osigwe demonstrateshis foresight and his deep commitment to a holistic rather than a lopsidednotion of development. This holistic approach agrees with the goal andessence of environmentalism as a philosophy of deep concern for the stabilityand sustainability of the environment in the human pursuit of the goal ofdevelopment. It is in this respect that the philosopher has been credited withthe belief that genuine development comes only with mans’ capacity torestrain himself and engage in the developmental process consciously andcarefully, taking into consideration the need for the natural resources toreplenish and reproduce themselves for future use. According to acommentator:

Anyiam-Osigwe notes that man is endowed with a fount ofattributes that sets him apart from all other creatures of

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existence. This difference he situates in man’s capacity togenerate, reengineer and regulate his environment. Thereforethe development and endowment of the human capital withthe relevant intellectual capacity and mindset is a requisitefor development.1

Anyiam Osigwe’s vision here is that humans are unique in their abilityto recreate nature unlike other species of nature. It is with this capacity thathumans can reproduce and completely transform nature in the course ofseeking for ways of improving their material situation. The call for humansto restrain themselves from a blind pursuit of development and show concernfor nature is what stands an environmentalist philosopher from adevelopmentalist who seeks development by all means. It is therefore theintention of this essay to do a detailed discussion of Anyiam-Oslgwe’sphilosophy of the environment.

Anyiam-Osigwe’s EnvironmentalismAnyiam Osigwe clearly understands and appreciates the spirit and

essence of environmentalism, which is simply to maintain the balancebetween humanity’s drive for material satisfaction from the exploration ofnatural resources and the need to ensure that nature itself, the source ofhuman material satisfaction, does not lose its capacity for self replenishmentdue to excessive exploitation. The environmental philosophy of AnyiamOsigwe has been given expression in this manner:

Consequently, he advocated a strategy for human existence anddevelopment that addresses the spiritual, economic and socio-political wellbeing of the individual. His life and works found inspiration in a personalquest for truth and goodness. He promoted value systems that emphasisethe personal worth of each individual. The development of human virtue, inall its forms, to its fullest extent was a key ideal he strove for. This idealimplied not only such qualities that are associated with the modern word –humanity, understanding , benevolence, compassion, mercy etc. – but alsosuch more aggressive characteristics as fortitude, enterprise, judgment,prudence, eloquence , love, and honour. For Africans these should reflectthose norms and values that enabled us to mould an ordered society, namely:

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respect for our elders, strong family ties, belief in the communion of spiritsand the sanctity of life2

It is our contention in this essay that Anyiam-Osigwe did not succumbto the allure of developmentalism. This, in our view, is so because he cherishedthe values of “respect for elders”, “strong family ties”, “belief in thecommunion of spirits” and “the sanctity of life”. These core values andsome others, we shall argue, are the reason for Anyiam- Osigwe’ssubscription to environmentalism rather than developmentalism. Becauseof respect for elders, this philosopher recognised the need to use cautiouslythe natural resources that belong to all generations, including the elders whoare now ancestors to be eternally referred. Due to his reverence for familyties Anyiam-Osigwe believed that natural resources are jointly owned bythe members of the larger family and not an individual, and should thereforebe carefully used. Also the belief in the communion of spirits made him torecognise the spirits in all things of nature and their communion whichdemands reverence for all spiritual forces. Finally, Anyiam-Osigwe’s beliefin the sanctity of life forbids a careless disregard for all the living things ofnature. These values, cherished by this philosopher, stand him out as anenvironmentalist rather than a developmentalist.

At the heart of our discourse in this essay is the question that is thepropelling force of environmentalism which is this: To what extent can anindividual or a social system be able to strike a balance between the self-interests of a person or group and the interests of the natural environmentto continue to maintain and sustain its capacity for self -replenishment forthe benefit of all generations, both living and unborn? What is Anyiam-Osigwe’s response to this golden question of environmentalism? To whatextent can we say that, within his detailed reflection on the human situationand the problems generated by human existence and essence, that Anyiam-Osigwe possesses an appropriate answer to the question of environmentalsustainability as we have posed it in this present work? How do we developa detailed and appropriate response from the body of ideas of this philosopher,a robust and sophisticated environmental philosophy that can appropriatelybe described and defined as Anyiam-Osigwe’s environmentalism? In anutshell, it is the project of this essay to do a critical reconstruction of Anyiam-Osigwe’s environmental philosophy. But before we proceed to do this it is

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necessary for us to do a conceptual clarification of the two contendingviewpoints: environmentalism and developmentalism.

Environmentalism versus Developmentalism: Matters ArisingThe concept of environmentalism is rarely used in the discourse of the

environment; the phrase or concept that is popularly employed is the conceptof environmental sustainability. The latter concept denotes the demand touse the environment in such a way that it can persistently maintain its naturalcapacity for self replenishment. Environmentalism, as we desire to use it inthis essay, refers to the philosophy that celebrates and propagates the valueof environmental sustainability. It is simply the philosophy that argues forthe need for the sustenance of the environment. The argument here is thatnatural resources can be exhausted if caution is not exercised in their use.

Environmentalism as a philosophy stands in antithetical position todevelopmentalism. By developmentalism we mean the desire to realise theideal of development by any means possible. It refers to the wild pursuit ofmaterial transformation for human benefit with little or no regard for thenatural environment. Developmentalism is the belief that the purpose ofnatural resources is simply to satisfy human needs and interests and in thisrespect there is absolutely no reason for humans to treat natural resourceswith any sense of caution. Development is therefore regarded as the ultimatevalue, the ultimate end, while all natural resources are indeed only meansfor the realisation of this end.

From this we can see that there is no way one can discuss the idea ofenvironmentalism without considering the idea of developmentalism or theconcept of development. Indeed the concern for the environment and indeedenvironmentalism came as a challenge to the blind pursuit of developmentor developmentalism. Environmentalism actually developed as a responseto the excesses of developmentalism, arguing that the pursuit of developmentis not without limit. Environmentalism discovers that, in the blind desire toexploit the resources of nature, there is the likelihood that there can be atotal depletion of these resources such that the natural ability of nature forself replenishment may completely be lost such that the desire and needs offuture members of the community would be totally compromised. It isprecisely this realisation that led to the new position that development has

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its limit. It is in the light of this tension between the ideal of development andthe value of environmental sustenance that the new concept of sustainabledevelopment came into human discourse as the compromise between thedesire for development and the need to sustain natural resources. It is forthis reason that the World Commission on the Environment definessustainable development as the use of “the environment for development insuch a way that the needs of the present generation shall be met and that offuture generation shall be guaranteed.” 3

The bone of contention between environmentalism and developmentalismis thus on the issue of whether development can be pursued without anycaution for the fate of natural resources. While developmentalism positsthat development, being the ultimate end of all human actions, cannot belimited, environmentalism argues that development that does not respectthe rights and interests of all other constituents of nature and therefore betempered by this cannot be enduring. This is because, sooner or later, theexploitation of natural resources without caution will lead to the eventualdefeat of the project of development when nature is exploited to the extentthat it can no more replenish itself for the future use of human society.

Environmentalism, from the above discussion, is a philosophy that seeksto caution developmental pursuits by insisting that nature needs to berespected and given the allowance for self replenishment and reproductionfor future use. It affirms that development is not just a partial transformationof material existence but rather a holistic and positive improvement in thetotality of the life of an individual or society. Environmentalism affirms thatthe desire for material transformation should be moderated by the value ofenvironmental sustenance. It also posits that the idea of anthropocentrism,that is, the view that the human person should be the centre and end of allevents, need to be jettisoned for an ecocentrism. Ecocentrism is the viewthat the entire ecosystem should be considered as important and that allspecies that constitute the ecosystem are as important as humans inmaintaining the ecological balance that is imperative for the survival of allspecies in the ecosystem, including human beings. Most especially,environmentalism is an axiological position to the effect that special valueshould not be given to humans at the expense of other constituents of the

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universe. All these are the essential issues generated by the contemporarydebate between the environmentalists and the developmentalists.

The discourse on the environment is now being presented as a crisis ofvalue and as an ethical problem. It is being said that development today hasto be pursued with the moral consciousness of the rights of the otherconstituents of nature; it needs to be carried out by humans and socialorganisations with certain duties and obligations to the non-human membersof the eco-system such that there can be eco-stability which is necessaryfor the survival of human beings and indeed for the genuine development ofthe human society. In this respect there is the contention that human rightsmust co-exist with animal rights, plant rights and, indeed, the rights of allspecies, however small and infinitesimal they may appear.

Environmentalism today is raising the issues of value and morality. It isbeing said that development in relation to the natural environment is notpurely an economic idea but also a moral and value-laden issue. The desireto develop has to be pursued along with the need to behave in a manner thatwill ensure eco-diversity and eco-balance. The goal of development mustbe pursued with the consciousness that no member of the natural environmentmust be exploited without caution for the maintenance of the capacity ofnature to be self sustaining. As a writer on this issue maintains:

Our task on the agenda of the ethics of sustainabledevelopment is to reconceptualize our inherited moral ideasso that they can do justice to the full complexity ofinteractions within and between biological and socialcommunities.4

These issues of environmental sustenance in relation to human andsocial development are the matters that have arisen in relation to the tensionbetween environmentalism and developmentalism. Essentially the problemof environmentalism is best posed in this way: How can we reconcile thetension between the temptation for humans to maximize their interest fordevelopment and the common good of the need to maintain environmentalsustenance? The question now is: To what extent has the African philosopherAnyiam- Osigwe been able to appropriately respond to this question at theheart of the discourse of the environment in today’s world? The answer to

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this question will go a long way to determine the nature and depth of Anyiam-Osigwe’s environmentalism.

An Exposition of Anyiam-Osigwe’s EnvironmentalismOur position in the last section is that the issue of whether an individual

and indeed a person worthy of the title of a philosopher is an environmentalistor a developmentalist shall be determined by his reaction to the tensionbetween the call for self interests that drive developmentalism and thedemand for the sustenance of the common good that is the driving forcebehind environmentalism. How has the philosopher, Anyiam-Osigwe, reactedto this issue and to what extent can we develop a consistent and virileenvironmental philosophy from his entire thought-system?

To begin with, Anyiam-Osigwe may not be conscious of the need forenvironmental protection but he is aware of the fatality of the blind pursuitof development as the ultimate end. This indeed can be a good and anappropriate starting point for his environmentalism. To him development issimply a means to an end and not the end in itself. Not only that, he alsorecognised the danger of conceiving development as essentially materialand economic transformation. He is indeed critical of this notion ofdevelopment. This is the reason why the essential vision of his idea ofdevelopment is his “holistic approach to development”. This thinker wasconscious of the need to conceive development not as purely material butas a total transformation of the human condition. In his conception of the“holistic approach to development” he has been quoted to have said that thepursuit of development is a cognitive voyage. As he says:

Our goal should be nothing less than a complete understandingof the universe we live in, its purpose, its workings andMan’s place in the scheme of things ...Man must unlock hisinnate potentialities to unravel the mysteries of existence notonly conquer ignorance and poverty but to elevate ourconcept and consciousness of the phenomenon of existencebeyond the apparent limitations of the act of living and dyingas mortal beings5

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From this extract we can see that Anyiam-Osigwe abandoned theconventional conception of development as a mere antithesis of poverty ormere material change. Rather development is a continuum; it is a continuousvoyage of existential rediscovery in which man is consistently advancingphysically, mentally and spiritually. Commentators have said so much abouthis holistic approach to development. But the essential elements of thisconception are:

(1) That development is dynamic, continuous and dialectical(2) Development is not purely material, but indeed triadic in the sense

of being material, spiritual and moral.

Let us at this point give attention to this “holistic approach todevelopment” and its implication for our project of a critical reconstructionof Anyiam-Osigwe’s environmentalism.

The holistic approach to development, Anyiam-Osigwe discusses it,has taken him away from the terrain of developmentalism to the realm ofenvironmentalism. Despite his strong desire for development for the Africanpeople because of their many centuries of conquest and deprivations, herecognised the fact that genuine development will not occur in this societyof misery and want if all that is pursued is material change. Rather, what isneeded in the continent is a balanced demand for material transformation,moral regeneration and spiritual upliftment. This multidimensional, positiveand complete transformation, to him, should not be static but dynamic andresponsive to the historical and dialectical process of existential experience.

Development, in the conception of Anyiam-Osigwe, is holistic ratherthan mere material transformation of the life of the individual and the society.It is not a concept that is amoral or morally neutral. It is, in this thinker’sconception, an idea that has moral import. This moral conception ofdevelopment, as we know, is the essence of environmentalism. Development,according to Anyiam-Osigwe is not only about what humans receive,especially from the natural environment, but it is also about what humanscan give in terms of moral duties and obligations. In his discussion of the“holistic approach to development” Anyiam-Osigwe considers morality asthe appropriate conduct or behaviour of man that is consistent and coherent

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with his final destiny, which by implication is his final reconciliation with thedivine creator.6

What, then, is the spiritual dimension of development in Anyiam-Osigwe’sperception? There is no doubt that this thinker gave a more detailed attentionto the neglected spiritual aspect of development. Spirituality, according tohim, is “chiefly concerned with the continued existence of Man’s sacred orfundamental identity and essence, independent of matter”. 7 Spirituality, hecontinues “is about holistic harmony with all that concerneth the attainmentof conscious unity with the Most High, i.e, the reunion of the collective ofsoul, spirit and mind (intellect) with the absolute.”8

Anyiam-Osigwe’s spiritual dimension of development is essentially aboutthe cooperation of all forces, living and non-living, which has been said to bepart of Africa’s ethno-metaphysics. His desire about spiritual developmentis essentially about the revival of that spiritism that is an aspect of traditionalAfrican belief system and how this can be reactivated to ensure that thereis appropriate cohesion between all constituents of nature. As he clearlyaffirms, spiritual development is about the understanding of universal lawsand principles. He further sees a strong connection between the spiritualdimension and the moral dimension of development.

… morality and spirituality are strongly linked and indeedinterwoven. They ultimately fuse in the realm of higher ideals. Morality and spirituality not only impact on every aspect ofexistence, but are fundamental in man’s quest for theattainment of ultimate reality–eternal life. For Anyiam-Osigwe, both spirituality and morality find holistic expressionin a mystician born of the revelation of the living God. A Godthat opens himself to union with man, arousing in himcapacity to be united with him, especially by means of suchwholesome virtues as faith, hope and most especially love.9

What then are the implications of Anyiam-Osigwe’s philosophy ofdevelopment for our mission of constructing his environmentalism? Do wehave in this philosopher’s thought adequate raw materials for thedevelopment of a philosophy of sustainable development? The answers tothese questions are in the affirmative. Anyiam-Osigwe has taken a position

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against developmentalism. To him, as we have seen clearly in this essay,development is not only multi-dimensional but a means to an end, the endbeing the realisation of man’s ultimate destiny, which is reconciliation withthe author of the universe. There is indeed an environmentalist philosophyembedded in Anyiam-Osigwe’s thought and this we can identify in his holisticconception of development and his spiritual and moral conception ofdevelopment.

Anyiam-Osigwe’s holistic conception of development is an affirmationof environmentalism. Indeed, environmentalism, as we have been saying inthis essay, is the position that development should not only be mere exploitationof natural resources, but it should involve a cultivation of a culture thatrespects all forces of nature and exploit them with regard and respect forthem. In also recognising the spiritual and the moral dimensions ofdevelopment, Anyiam-Osigwe is taking his leave from the anthropocentrismof developmentalism that considers human interests as the only end worthpursuing. His philosophy is calling for a community and communion of allthings, which is essentially the thesis of environmentalism. If indeed in theAfrican sense of the idea of spiritism, Anyaim-Osigwe affirms that all thingsconsist of spirits, then the respect for all constituents of nature, which is thedemand of environmentalism, is an aspect of the philosophy of Anyiam-Osigwe that needs further analysis here.

Indeed, Anyiam Osigwe has presented the position of how this Africanregard for spirits can help our project of environmental sustenance in thecontinent. In this regard we can identify his idea of metaphysical capital asvery helpful in the development of his environmentalism. Anyiam-Osigwe’sidea of metaphysical capital is a further advancement of his holistic approachto development. Metaphysical capital, the way it is conceived by Anyiam-Osigwe, is about the totality of positive values that can ensure that thecommunity – that is the community of the ancestors, the living and theunborn-in the African sense of it – is well coordinated and cohesive. Acommentator on his work says:

Anyiam-Osigwe avers that by harnessing the metaphysicalcapital of a given society – its spirituality and moral propriety,the right values are imbued in every individual, the lure orproclivity for impropriety and unwholesome conduct is

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avoided and the capacity of community is optimized both atthe level of the leaders and the led.10

The issue of how to ensure that the natural environment is exploitedfor human development without compromising nature’s capacity for selfreplenishment, which is at the centre of development, is an issue of appropriatevalue as we have said persistently in this essay. Anyiam Osigwe’s ideas of“spiritism”, “community of beings” and “metaphysical capital” can be goodspring boards for reacting to this challenge of environmentalism. It is hisbelief that there are certain tendencies embedded in African culture thatwill facilitate this desire for environmental sustenance. Those culturalpeculiarities can be further developed in aid of the drive for environmentalsustenance.

Our belief in spirits can be developed to enable us give attention andrecognition to all things in creation. In the same way our belief in “communityof beings” can favour the respect and regard for the non human objects ofnature. But by far the most relevant of this tendency is Anyiam-Osigwe’sidea of metaphysical capital. The importance of this idea lies in its relevanceto the inculcation of the right values in human societies. Environmentalismis about choosing the appropriate values that will facilitate not only ourwelfare but that of the eco-community and posterity.

Anyiam-Osigwe recognises man’s capability to transform hisenvironment positively or negatively. But the positive tendency can beenhanced if there is an appropriate choice of values that will limit him andmake him adjust his desire and subject them to the higher value of communitygood. In the conflict between personal values and communal good everyman must be tutored and disciplined to promote the latter and disregard theformer. The implication of this for the project of environmentalism is thatman, if he is able to cultivate the right value through moral and spiritualadvancement, will by necessity and intuitively operate on natural resourceswith caution and respect for all the members of the eco-community. Anyiam-Osigwe, in this respect has been explained well in this manner:

He argues that man is endowed with a limitless inventivecapacity, which could be applied positively and negatively.Ensuring that our existence is guided by cardinal precepts

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and moral creeds that are integral to the universal are, requiresour assimilation of those core values to which all mustsubscribe as integrals of the natural laws of existence.11

We need to say at this point that the most important idea that is ofutilitarian value for the construction of Anyiam-Osigwe’s philosophy of theenvironment is his idea of self-mastery. The idea of self-mastery is animportant principle in Anyiam-Osigwe;s philosophy. The idea is also closelydeveloped with the idea of the mindset. The idea of self- mastery is verysimilar to the Socratic idea of self knowledge or self examination aptlycaptured by the aphorism” know thyself”. It is the position of Anyiam-Osigwe that most human problems arise out of the inability of humans todiscipline and take control of their own personalities, desires and aspirations.

The principle of self-mastery, as well as that of the mindset in Anyiam-Osigwe’s thought is about the nature of human-beings as unique animals inthe sense of having the will and mind. These two qualities make humanbeings to be different from all other animals. Not only that, this will ormindset is a doubled-edged sword that can be employed positively andnegatively – the human mindset can be very creative and can be destructive.It can serve positive ends if man exploits his capacity to take control ofhimself through what Anyiam-Osigwe calls self mastery, that is, the abilityto take charge of one’s life, and restrain it consistently by bringing it underthe control of reason.

The relevance of these two principles to our discourse of Osigwe’senvironmentalism is this. The present environmental crisis we are witnessingin the world today is a product of man’s inability to discipline himself andrealise that it is in the interest of humanity to exploit the environmentcautiously. This cautious use of the environment can only be realised ifhumans decide to employ their mindset positively and pursue the goal ofself-mastery. Self-mastery in this respect will mean that act of curtailingthe egoistic drive of humans and subjecting it to consistent control. Whenthis is done, humans will use the resources of nature only for their need andnot for their greed. As we know, it is the greedy exploitation of naturalresources that is presently generating the environmental crisis that we arewitnessing in the world today.

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Notes and References1 Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, Harnessing Africa’s Capital: That the

People May Have Life and Live it More Abundantly, Lagos, Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, 2007. Chapter 4.

2 Ibid.,3 World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future

(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987).4 J. Ronald Engel Introduction: “The Ethics of Sustainable Development” in J

Ronald Engel and J.Gibb Engel, Ethics of Sustainable Development: GlobalChallenge, International Response, (Tucson: The University of ArizonaPress 1990) p. 19.

5 Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, Advancing the Cause for a HolisticApproach to Human Existence and Development: Towards a Better WorldOrder, The Family as its bedrock. Proceedings of the Second Session of theEmmanul Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam Osigwe Memorial Lecture. p.25.

6 Ibid., p.277 Ibid.8 Ibid.9 Ibid.10 Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, Harnessing Africa’s Capital: That the

People May Have Life and Live it More Abundantly, Chapter 2.11 Ibid., Chapter 4

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12

Francis Offor

Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe on Personal Values,Self-Mastery and Africa’s Socio-Economic Transformation

IntroductionIn this essay, we examine Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-

Osigwe’s perspective on the onerous task of achieving the socio-economictransformation of Africa in the face of her seemingly intractable problemsof development. The paper examines Anyiam-Osigwe’s treatise which drawsattention to the benefits of exploring the inherent attributes and values withinas a premise for evolving effective responses to human challenges. Thisthesis, for Anyiam-Osigwe, applies at the different levels of human existence,that is, at the individual, community, national and even international levels.1

This is because Anyiam-Osigwe is of the view that enormous resourcesand potentials reside within, at the different levels, which can be effectivelyharnessed for humanity’s socio-political and economic well-being.

Although Anyiam-Osigwe’s approach is concerned with the individual,that is, with how individuals can gain access into their innate endowmentsand apply them for holistic development, he still advocates a wider socialexpression of this principle as equally efficacious in addressing humanproblems within the context of the larger society, state or nation. For him:

As man is immensely endowed with resources that areinherent in human nature that can be tapped for his or herdevelopment, so also are states and nations endowed withinternal attributes and potentials…that are fundamental andreadily available for their development.2

Within the context of African predicament, Anyiam-Osigwe calls onnation-states in Africa to seriously look inward to identify and evaluate theirvalues and resources as embedded in pristine African cultures, as well astheir potentials, with a view to developing them towards the socio-economic

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and political transformation of the continent. He thus, canvasses for “anAfrica-based, Africa-led, Africa-focused and Africa-owned developmentinitiative”3

The African predicament persists partly because of what Anyiam-Osigwe described as self-inflicted alienation from those internal substancesthat define our essence as Africans, which is a consequence of our overtsensitivity and susceptibility to foreign development initiatives. The first steptowards the socio-political and economic advancement of the continent,therefore, is to deploy those energies which we have hitherto “dispersed forouter probing” into exploring those innate endowments that lie within. Thetake here is, as Edgar Cayce pointedly notes:

The more each relies upon the force within, the greater,the farther, the deeper, the broader, the more constructivemay be the result.4

What is being suggested here by Anyiam-Osigwe is not a new energysource or base for individuals and states, but a proper rechanneling of alreadyexisting strengths and energies to identify and develop those values andpotentials required for our development. This further heightens the prospectsAnyiam-Osigwe’s perspective holds for addressing the socio-political andeconomic problems presently confronting the African continent.

While admitting the universal character of problems confronting modernsocieties, the paper notes most importantly, the peculiar angle such problemshave taken on the African continent, given the cultural peculiarities of oursocieties in Africa. What is needed to complement Anyiam-Osigwe’s effort,the paper concludes, is a fundamental restructuring of the socio-politicaland economic structures in modern African states to make them morereceptive to some of the laudable ideas being suggested by EmmanuelOnyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe

Personal Values, Self Mastery and Human DevelopmentFor Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe, the human person has imbued in his nature

certain values, which when properly harnessed, can bring about the all-round development of the individual. In other words, the multifarious problemsconfronting the individual stand a chance of being solved, provided the

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individual is able to draw insights from his natural values which can serveas impetus for appropriate motivation in his response to various challenges.

Anyiam-Osigwe’s idea of personal value is in the positive, moral, senseand can be likened to what the Greek philosopher Aristotle describes as thearete, by which he means those good qualities of the mind by which menlive rightly.5 It is these qualities, according to Aristotle, that make its possessorand his works good. Now, the list of what constitute personal values isindeed an unending one. Such a list would include honesty, dedication,simplicity, selflessness, justice, prudence, temperance and courage orfortitude. The mere possession of these qualities does not however translateautomatically into an overt physical or spiritual development of the individual;it is a mere indication of certain inclinations which are latent and thus in astate of potentiality, only waiting to be activated. Such inclination or tendencydoes not in itself translate into actual development for the individual.6 Hence,the need for the individual to develop the necessary dexterity of ‘lookinginward’ not only to discover the abundant values he possesses but also howthese values can be harnessed and made relevant to daily life, for theupliftment and overall betterment of the individual. This dexterity is ourunderstanding of what Anyiam-Osigwe describes as ‘self- mastery’ andthe idea of ‘inward looking is what he captures with the term ‘introspection’.

Introspection, for Anyiam-Osigwe, does not only describe a view of theinside or the gaining of access to man’s innate endowments, it also encompassesthe process of critically self examining these innate endowments and applyingthem for man’s holistic well-being or development.7 Introspection serves thereforenot only to awaken man to the benefits of looking inward for the resources andpotentials that can be effectively harnessed for his overall development, it ensures,also, a careful and conscious harnessing of these values in the direction thatwould yield overall positive development.

The benefits of looking inward to harness our personal values and thepossibilities they provide for our overall development are auspicious. Studieshave revealed that major breakthroughs in most Western and key Asiannations today were brought about by individuals who were able to harnesstheir innate resources, potentials and capabilities in bringing themselves upto a level where they could positively influence their societies.8 For Anyiam-Osigwe, these values:

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hold the solution to the many and varied challenges in allspheres of human existence and have through the agesprovided man with the inventiveness, knowledge andunderstanding with which to conquer, subdue and establishdominion over the continent.9

The more, therefore, man relies upon these values within, the greater,the further, the deeper, the broader and the more constructive he is likely tobe. Man, of course, in order to bring himself to a certain level of physicaland spiritual development, would require those values earlier mentioned.For instance, prudence is needed in order to develop the capacity for largescale planning, while temperance is required for a man to be focused andnot be deflected from long-term goals. Courage of course is needed topersevere in the face of setback and weariness, while justice is needed tosecure mutual trust among members of the society in which man lives. Theunderlining challenge for man, according to Anyiam-Osigwe, is to regenerateman’s cognition of the benefits of looking inward through introspection as ameans of advancing his development.

A major challenge for Anyiam-Osigwe’s position is not with the inwardlooking journey into unraveling our innate values or with the critical andsystematic harnessing of such for the overall development of man. Thechallenge comes in terms of how his prescription, which is still at the levelof intellectual abstraction, can be brought down to the level of praxis. Thistransition is important because of the nature of the human person whoseduty it is to harness these values. As Kant rightly points out,

intelligence… courage, resolution, perseverance… areundoubtedly good and desirable in many respects; but thesegifts of nature may also become extremely bad andmischievous if the will which is to make use of them andwhich therefore constitute what is called character, is notgood…10

Even if we are to agree with Socrates and Plato that man possessesthe natural capacity for right behaviour, we all know too well that man doesnot act rightly by nature. A man’s life, according to Aristotle, consists of anindeterminate number of possibilities. “Goodness is in man potentially”, says

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Aristotle, “but unlike the acorn out of which the Oak will grow with almostmechanical certitude, man must move from what is potential in him to itsactuality by knowing what he must do, deliberating about it and then choosingin fact to do it”.11 Also, it is possible for a particular quality that would resultin positive self development for some, to result in the development of negativetraits in some others. For instance, honesty is a value that can be harnessed forthe positive development of the self. However, it is also possible for someone todevelop this quality to the point of being tactless, thereby always revealingsacred and important information even in situations whose accidentalcircumstances make knowledge of such information most unsuitable.

However, Anyiam-Osigwe, like Immanuel Kant, seems to haveanticipated this problem by noting that the right thinking man would subscribealways to the maxim of acting, all the time, in accordance with the dictatesof right conscience. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe seems to re-affirm hiscommitment to this maxim with these words, describing it as the first principleof personal well-being:

the first principle of personal well-being is to direct ourthoughts towards positive, progressive and harmoniousideas.12

In line with this principle and since man is always seeking his own well-being, it follows then that man would always cultivate his values towardspositive self development.

Traditional Values and the Socio-Political and EconomicTransformation of Modern African States

For Anyiam-Osigwe, the principle of applying the methodology ofintrospection to gain access to man’s innate endowments and apply themfor his holistic well-being is equally applicable and efficacious in addressingwider human problems within the context of the larger society, state ornation. Anyiam-Osigwe believes that just as man is immensely endowedwith innate qualities that can be tapped for his development, so also arestates and nations endowed with potentials that are fundamental to andreadily available for their development. He therefore extrapolated his analysis

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of the practice of introspection by the individual to the state and nation forwider social manifestation.

Anyiam-Osigwe acknowledges the existence of diverse capabilities andattributes within the domain of the various nations of the world, but withparticular reference to Africa, he locates these endowments within theprimordial cultural frameworks of indigenous Africa. This is because forhim, the crises of Africa’s underdevelopment is “culture-based and culture-driven”.13 Anyiam-Osigwe contends that just as the individual can fail toachieve his full potentials and thereby make no significant strides indevelopment because he has failed to explore his innate attributes and naturalpotentials, so also have most modern states that are plagued with diverseproblems failed to explore their internal attributes in resolving their problems.He therefore urged affected states in Africa to adopt a paradigm ofdevelopment that involves the exhaustive exploration, harnessing andapplication of their internal attributes and potentials towards theirdevelopmental needs. The argument here is that the reason most developingnations have so far failed to surmount their problems of poverty andunderdevelopment is because they lost sight of the natural endowments andinherent potentials that would have been instrumental to resolving theseproblems.

For Anyiam-Osigwe, since no two communities can be assessed on thebasis of identical socio-political and economic indices, the solutions to theproblems of communities or nations must encompass the specific underliningelements and peculiarities of the given community or nation.14 The reason,Osigwe avers, foreign development paradigms have so far failed in addressingAfrica’s socio-political and economic problems is because they not only failto encompass or take on board elements that are peculiar to African realities,they largely undermine these innate endowments and capabilities. Osigweencapsulates this situation in what he terms:

the imposition of a non-contextual value that relegated,negated and even denigrated hitherto sacrosanct Africanvalues.15

In taking the African cultural heritage as his source for the paradigmaticreconstruction and repositioning of the continent, Anyiam-Osigwe identified,

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in their undiluted form, those endowments – ideas, precepts, principles andpractices – in pristine African cultures from which modern African statescould draw in their attempts at constructing an authentic developmentparadigm suitable for Africa’s socio-political and economic conditions atthis crucial moment of her history. Osigwe shares the view with manyothers that Africa had workable systems and structures before the adventof colonialism.16

In the area of financial administration he made allusions to the traditionalsavings and loans scheme variously called ‘akawo’, ‘ajo’, ‘njange’,‘tontin’ and ‘esusu’ in different African languages. In the area of agriculture,he pointed to the indigenous food processing and preservation techniques/technology as well as the know-how applied in such areas as irrigation andanimal husbandry. In the area of education, he referred to the hieroglyphics,hieratic and demotic scripts of the Egyptian civilisation from which modernwriting borrows enormously. Not left out also is Africa’s indigenous capabilityin the fields of medicine, geometry, metallurgy and building technology.

In the area of governance, there were animating principles of goodgovernance that formed the fabric of most traditional African societies. InYoruba traditional society, for instance, there was a plethora of ideas,concepts and principles, which conveyed the people’s beliefs regarding howa society should be run. These ideas and principles included those thatreflected the virtues of justice, equality, accountability, prudence, temperance,courage, mutual trust, and cooperation.17 In the traditional Egyptian socio-political setting, the idea of justice as represented by ma’at also constitutesa valuable criterion for good governance. Acts like dictatorship, corruptionand other forms of injustice were contrary to the injunction of ma’at.18

Generally in the area of governance, Africa, according to Osigwe, hadprimodial institutions that reflected qualities like participation, accountability,tolerance and respect for human rights – qualities that are today the hallmarksof successful governments.

In addition, primordial African systems functioned within inherentlyregulated mechanisms of checks and balances that were more efficaciousthan any regulatory mechanism associated with modern systems ofgovernance. Such regulatory mechanisms drew their support not only fromthe social institutions of society as we have them in modern states, but from

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the abstract metaphysical or divinatory institutions of cultural and religioussystems. In other words, leaders in traditional African societies were notjust checked by the institutions of society, but were also restrained by theiracute consciousness of the ancestors and deities and their capacity to meteout instant punishment to those who contravened the rules, conventions andprescriptions of the traditional order of society.19

Unfortunately, however, this rich cultural heritage and the dimension ofprogress which it engendered were carefully eroded by the Europeansthrough colonialism. This was achieved through an imposition of:

a pseudo-foreign culture that in the final analysis was anamorphous hybrid Euro-Afro culture as a replacement forthe systematised and coordinated indigenous culturalperspective of pristine African societies.20

The consequences of this went far beyond altering the political andsocial institutions of societies; it had profound negative impact on the psycheof Africans as regards their spiritual, cultural, socio-political and economiccomponents of life. The evolving mindset from this onslaught resulted in asituation in which:

the African sees and admires his culture from a distance,discussing it with a sense of nostalgia, yet is unable to relateit with the institutions that he considers or perceives relevantand critical to his development and success in life.21

While the African has broken faith with his culture, its traditions andvalues as suggested from the passage above, he is nevertheless unable togarner the desired degree of faith by which he could wholesomely attune tothe non-indigenous culture that has been imposed on him, thereby remainingin a limbo of ambiguous and amorphous identity that lives him hangingbetween two realities:

the past to which he belonged and which has been subduedby his new realities, and a present that is alien and somewhatimpossible to completely comprehend, absorb or repose faithin. 22

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This ultimately results in a loss of capacity for purposeful and independentaction on the part of the African. To begin to address the socio-political andeconomic problems presently confronting the continent, Anyiam-Osigwetherefore calls for the restoration of Africa’s vastly rich cultural, economic,scientific and philosophical heritage, and the potentials and capabilities thathave been destroyed, stolen or suppressed through colonial encounter.Anyiam-Osigwe had unwavering faith in the ability of the modern Africanto achieve this goal:

We are an intelligent, talented, creative and resilient race andcan indeed offer the world the very best there is in all spheresof human endeavour. The responsibility to define, identifyand harness Africa’s abundant resources lies with no othergroup of people than Africans.23

Not oblivious of the fact that it is good individuals that begat a goodsociety, Anyiam-Osigwe recommends that the quest for the developmentof the African continent should begin with the individual. Africa’sdevelopment, he says, should begin with developing the individual “personalitythat is nutured with faith in the self, faith in his antecedents, faith in thecommunity and a competitive intellect.”24 The aim here is to form or createfrom the present amorphous pseudo-modern African personality, a distinctand authentic African personality that would embody the appropriate mindset’needed to achieve this task of enculturation. “We”, that is Africans, hesays, “have it in our power to begin the world over again.”25

Anyiam-Osigwe’s Approach to Socio-Economic Transformation inAfrica and Contemporary Challenges

Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe no doubt has a lofty vision for Africa, and it isto see Africa evolve from its present condition as a region overwhelmed bya myriad of crises that has left it dogged by scepticism and hopelessness,into one that is built on renewed hope, assurance, self-confidence and theattendant self-esteem that engenders the vision and energy required to propelits potential and capabilities to the realisation of a viable and prosperouscontinent.26 But there are some critical issues that should be addressed tofurther complement Anyiam-Osigwe’s effort.

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In the first place, Anyiam-Osigwe’s embrace of traditional values andpractices should not be interpreted to suggest a direct carryover of thesepractices from pristine Africa to modern times, as this would amount topretending that everything about traditional African values was good andtherefore desirable. Many aspects of traditional African values have become,to use Wiredu’s description, ‘anachronistic’27 and therefore no longerexistentially relevant to modern ideas of development or progress. Anyiam-Osigwe’s reference to, and reliance on, these traditional practices, has todo with the ‘spirit’ or operational principles behind them. Certainly, thetraditional savings and loans scheme (ajo or esusu) will no longer work inmodern societies given their population sizes and other administrativeparaphernalia, but the principles behind the practice, such as ‘trust’, ‘honesty’,‘integrity’, ‘frugality’ and ‘cooperation’ are what can be harnessed to improvemodern practices in the area of financial administration.

Again, like other ideas of development, Anyiam Osigwe’s prescriptionswould require for their concrete implementation, socio- political institutionsand apparatuses. Otherwise his effort would remain an exercise inintellectualism. But the socio-political structures on ground in most Africanstates today are still those inherited colonial structures of Western origin,which were originally put in place by the colonialists, not only to displacelocal cultures and values but to sustain neo-colonial interests. These structurestherefore remain unsuitable and inadequate for any vision of developmentthat will take traditional African values and practices, which they originallycame to displace, as its core.28 The existing socio-political institutions inmost of the states in the continent need restructuring.

Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe made some significant move in this direction,especially with his Mission for Democracy in Africa (MDA) project and hissubsequent adoption of the Congress of Town Union as an avenue fordisseminating the MDA messages to households within given communities,thereby challenging the existing pattern or structure of disseminating politicalmessages within the society. But, what we are suggesting here is a morefundamental systems or structural re-engineering to make them betteradaptive to the kind of approach being suggested by Anyiam-Osigwe.

Finally, Anyiam-Osigwe’s approach to resolving the problems associatedwith the African predicaments and his insistence on an “Africa-based, Africa-

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led, Africa-focused and Africa-owned development initiative” does not inany way suggest that the problems confronting us are basically peculiar toAfrica. Now, what is the nature of these problems? They are the problemsof hunger, insecurity, infrastructural decay, social order, political and economicmismanagement, deprivation, human rights abuses and corruption and soon. These are universal human problems that transverse national boundaries.Virtually all the nations of the world have suffered and some are still sufferingfrom these problems. The realities of the present globalisation phenomenonhave made the problems obvious. The state today is “increasingly trappedwithin webs of global interconnectedness”29, says Held. Consequently, “nonation, given the reality of the unfolding global interconnectedness canexclude itself from the international system (including its problems)”.30 Butwherever any of these problems afflict a society, it takes on a particulardimension, depending on the specific underlining elements and culturalpeculiarities of the given community or nation. It follows, therefore, thatany development paradigm for addressing a problem within a particularsociety will only prove effective when such a paradigm draws heavily fromthe cultural and institutional frameworks of the society in which it is to beapplied. It is in this respect that Anyiam-Osigwe’s perspective becomesmost relevant to the African situation.

“Wisdom”, as Anyiam-Osigwe rightly notes, “consists of understandingthe cause and source of things”.31 The cause and source of Africa’spredicaments have been rightly identified by Anyiam-Osigwe. But hisrecommended perspective which emphasizes not only the primacy oftraditional values as important ingredients for development but also thecommitment and positive disposition of Africans, does not preclude thepossibility of borrowing from aspects of other cultures that are existentiallyrelevant to achieving socio-political and economic transformation for thecontinent. This is because introspectionism, for Anyiam-Osigwe, does not“mean or imply self seclusion or isolationism”.34 Given therefore the peculiarsocio-historical and cultural circumstances of the African continent, on theone hand, and the unfolding realities of the globalisation phenomenon, onthe other hand, the fundamental challenge for modern African states becomesthat of evolving a viable development paradigm through a synthesis oftraditional and modern development models. This way, a strategy of

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development that is founded on local experience and knowledge, butinterlinked with the global arrangements33 would have been put in place.Such a paradigm will present the continent as dynamic and open todevelopment, without necessarily eroding those fundamental African canonsthat scholars like Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe have laboured so hard to protect.

Notes and References1. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2004), Introspectionism: Green Grasses of Home;

The key to Development is within and Around You (herein after calledIntrospectionism), Lagos: Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, p.1.

2. Ibid., P. 35

3. Ibid., P. 40

4. Edgar Cayce is cited in Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2004), Introspectionism,Op. cit., p.6.

5. Francis Offor (2006), “Globalisation and State Collapse in Africa: A Critiqueof the Critical Theorist Perspective”, Journal of Social Development in Africa,School of Social Work, University of Zimbabwe, Harare Zimbabwe, Vol. 21,No. 2, P. 25.

6. Okoye J.I. (2004), “Governance and the Quest for Virtue” in J. Obi- Oguejiofor(ed.), Philosophy, Democracy and Responsible Governance in Africa, Enugu:Delta Publications, pp. 12 - 21.

7. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2005), Introspection and Integration as EffectiveStrategies for Development (herein after called Introspection andIntegration), Lagos: Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, p.6.

8. ibid.

9. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2004), Introspectionism, op.cit., p.2.

10. Immanuel Kant is cited in Samuel Enoch Stumpf (1993), Elements ofPhilosophy An Introduction, New York: Mc Graw-Hill, p. 64.

11. Aristotle is cited in Samuel Enoch Stumpf (1993), Elements of Philosophy AnIntroduction, p. 37.

12. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2007), Harnessing Africa’s Capital, op.cit., p.37.

13. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2004), Introspectionism, op.cit., p.39.

14. ibid., p. 45.

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15. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2005), The Mindset Factor in CreativeTransformation: All Minds at Work: All Hands on Deck (herein after calledThe Mindset Factor), Lagos: Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, p.38.

16. See Innocent I. Onyewuenyi (1993), The African Origin of Greek Philosophy:An Exercise in Afrocentrism, Nsukka: University of Nigeria Press.

17. See Sophie Oluwole (2004), “Democracy and Indigenous Governance: TheNigerian Example” in J. Obi Oguejiofor (ed.) Philosophy, Democracy andResponsible Governance in Africa, op.cit., pp.419-430.

18. Ntumba, M. T. (2004), “From Ma’at to the legally Constituted State: Conditionof Good Governance” in J. Obi Oguejiofor (ed.) Philosophy, Democracy andResponsible Governance in Africa, op.cit., pp.401-418.

19. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2006), As It Was in the Beginning: Synthesis forAfrica’s Socio-Political and Economic Transformation (herein after calledAs It Was in the Begining), Lagos: Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation,p.11.

20. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2005), The Mindset Factor, op.cit., p.29.

21. ibid., p. 37.

22. ibid., pp. 39-40.

23. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2007), Harnessing Africa’s Capital, op.cit., p.8.

24. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2005), The Mindset Factor, op.cit., p.40.

25. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2007), Harnessing Africa’s Capital, op.cit., p.37.

26. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2004), Introspectionism, op.cit., p.45.

27. See Kwasi Wiredu (1980), Philosophy and an African Culture, London:Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-2.

28. See Olusegun Oladipo (ed.) (1998), Remaking Africa: Challenges of theTwenty-First Century, Ibadan: Hope Publications, p. 11.

29. David Held (1995), Democracy and the Global Order, United Kingdom: PolityPress, p. 92.

30. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2005), Introspection and Integration, Op. cit., p.8.

31. This excerpt is from Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s handwritten briefs.

32. Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe (2005), Introspection and Integration, Op. cit., p.8.

33. Anya O. Anya (1998), “Knowledge and Experience: Biology and the Evolutionof a New Paradigm for Africa’s Sustainable Development”, in OlusegunOladipo (ed.), Remaking Africa: Challenges of the Twenty-First Century,op.cit., p. 26.

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13

Adebola B. Ekanola

A Critical Exposition of the Views ofEmmanuel Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe on

Youths, Education and Social Development

IntroductionEmmanuel Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe is a firm advocate of what he

describes as a holistic approach to life. This stands on three pillars:development of personal values, personal awareness and self mastery;enhancement of socio-political existence and order; economic existence,awareness and responsibility. His idea, basically, is that there is an intimatenexus between individual development and social development, and to recordreal and sustainable development on both the individual and social fronts,the three pillars of the holistic approach to life must be given adequateattention.

He goes further to explain that of the three pillars, the development ofpersonal values, personal awareness and self-mastery is foundational to theattainment of the other two pillars. Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe recognisesthat the kind of personal values, personal awareness and self-mastery thatwould enhance both individual and social-economic and political developmentis best cultivated from an early stage in life. Hence, an aspect of hisdevelopment philosophy is devoted to the education of youths as a means ofachieving the all-important first pillar of the holistic approach to life. Thethrust of this paper is to critically examine the views of Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe on youths, their education and role in the quest for socialdevelopment.

Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe’s Idea of the Human PersonalityAlthough our primary focus is on the views of Onyechere Anyiam-

Osigwe as they are directly related to youths, education and social

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development, it is instructive for us to begin with a brief account of hisconception of the human person. A youth, in a very fundamental sense, isfirst a human being. Thus, much of what can be said about youths derivesprimarily from the fact that they are human. Anyiam-Osigwe sees the humanperson as a composite of the material and the spiritual aspects. S/he is saidto be an aspect of the absolute, otherwise described as the transcendentalessence and deemed to possess an inherent knowledge that transcendstemporal comprehension.1 The human person is also seen as possessing aninherently moral goodness that can be enhanced by proper education orperverted by inappropriate education. In his opinion, the human person hasa vast inherent capacity for knowledge and moral goodness that should bebrought to full realisation through proper education.

Going by the available literature on Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe’sconception of the human person, there is sufficient evidence, showing thathe has given serious thought to the nature of the human person.2 In anunpublished collection of his thoughts on a wide array of issues, he raisedsome fundamental questions about man: Who am I? From whence came I?What am I here for? What is my place in the cosmic (eternal) scheme ofthings? What is life? What is death?

Obviously, he subscribes to the dualist conception of man. Thus, manyof the philosophical problems emanating from traditional and philosophicaldualistic conceptions of the human person are likely to be applicable tohim.3 Thus, there is need to critically analyse his claims on the nature ofman to determine the extent to which they are plausible from the philosophicalperspective.

Some of the claims made by Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe on mandemanding further exposition and philosophical analysis include themetaphysical claims: that the human person is an aspect of the absolute;that s/he has a transcendental essence; that s/he is inherently good andpossesses an inherent and transcendental knowledge.4 Some of the basicmetaphysical questions we need to provide answers to include:

· What is the absolute?· How do we come to know it?· In what way does man participate in the absolute?

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· What is the transcendental essence of man and how do we cometo the knowledge of this essence?

· How are we supposed to pursue the fulfilment of this transcendentalessence?

· If man is inherently good, why do we have so much evil in society?

The answers provided to these questions will have direct implicationsnot just on his views on youths, education and social development but alsoon his position on several other issues.

Who is a Youth?Going by the available writings of Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe, he did

not make any direct attempt to define who a youth is. He assumes that theword “youth” has a relatively clear connotation. But, for our purpose, it isimportant that we proceed with a clarification of the notion of a youth.According to Chambers Dictionary, a youth is a person going through theprocess of development and growth, a young person between childhood/adolescence and maturity. From the above, we can deduce that a youth is ayoung person still going through the process of development. This startsright from conception, through childhood and adolescence to maturity, if thisis ever fully achieved.

A problem with this attempt at defining a youth, however, is that whilewe are reasonably sure that the process of development, employed to definewho a youth is, begins right from childhood, we are not sure if and when thisprocess stops and maturity is fully attained. Indeed, there are two importantquestions we need to address in this regard: the first relates to when childhoodstarts. Is it from conception, from birth or a certain point after birth? Atleast, it is obvious that development characterises the life of each individualright from conception. Without unnecessarily belabouring the issue of whenchildhood commences, we may safely put this at immediately afterconception. A reason for this position is that we observe in individual personsmarked signs of growth, especially physical growth, right from birth withmanifestations of other forms of growth (intellectual, emotional, spiritualand cognitive) following as the child develops physically.

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The second question is “is there any point in the life of the humanperson that s/he finally achieves maturity and ceases from growing anddeveloping?” From the legal perspective, the age of maturity/adulthood islocated between the age of eighteen and twenty-one in virtually all countries.But, one fact that we can hardly contest is that the process of growth anddevelopment extends far beyond the age bracket of between eighteen andtwenty-one. Thus, if maturity is to be understood as the point at which theprocess of growth and development terminates and maturity is fully attained,then it is obvious that this cannot be rightly located between the age ofeighteen and twenty-one. Besides, it is very much doubtful that we canidentify a definite age at which persons attain maturity, understood as thestage of full growth and development. Development, as mentioned earlier,has quite a number of forms, with each form requiring different timeframesand elements to take place. In humans, people achieve different levels ofgrowth in the diverse areas of human existence within given timeframes.

Thus, the problem with the attempt to define a youth in terms of theperiod and process of development is that these vary from person to person.The process might even continue in some individuals from childhood, farbeyond what people would ordinarily want to consider as the period ofyouthfulness and extend to what is described as the middle or even the oldage. There is really no period in human life that development cannot and, asa matter of fact, does not take place in one aspect of life or the other. Giventhis understanding, if we are to retain our conception of the youth beingmarked by the period and process of growth, then it might be helpful toextend the concept to include anyone who appreciates the need for growth,seeks for growth or is actually growing in areas that are crucial for bothpersonal and social development.

Youths and EducationUnlike his metaphysical speculations about man, which is highly abstract,

Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s views on youths and education arequite practical. He sees education as a process of learning and development.5

The process, according to him, is embarked upon with the objective offacilitating intellectual and moral development in individuals so as to makethem become productive members of society. The process involves the

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transmission of values and accumulated knowledge. It assists individuals tofashion out, pursue and actually achieve their life goals. Whether formal orinformal, its basic objective is to unleash a person’s potentials and developknowledge, skills and socially desirable and useful behaviour patterns. Whileformal education is acquired in schools, informal education takes place througheveryday experiences and actual relationships with people around you.

We need to note that Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe rightly construeseducation as a process that is not limited to the classroom. Rather, he seesall human activities and the environment in its totality as means of education:“Education is a process that is existent in everything we see, all we hear, allwe say, all we do, either in commencing an action, concluding an action orjust by being a conscious part of the natural environment”6

In our effort to define who a youth is, the process of developmentstands out as an essential element. This suggests that education, understoodas a process of learning and designed to facilitate development in individuals,is germane in any discourse on youths and the prospects of theirdevelopment. This fact is very obvious to Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe;hence, much of his texts on youths focus on questions relating to theireducation and the contemporary challenge of fashioning out an appropriatesystem of education. In his opinion, an appropriate system of educationmust facilitate the “holistic enhancement of the youths”7, and this is essentialto overcome the growing doubts about Africa’s prospects of developing inan increasingly competitive world.

What does he mean by the “holistic enhancement of the youths”, wemight ask? Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe contends that education should gobeyond mere economic empowerment in order to earn a living. It must alsoenhance the capacity of all to exert a regenerating and creative moralvibration on the social system.8 This might be interpreted to mean that apartfrom equipping youths with the intellectual capacity and practical skillsrequired to earn a living in contemporary society, the process of educationshould also emphasise the moral development of youths, that is, the kind ofmoral development that will have a positive impact on society. This aspectof education has been neglected in the past, but it is highly essential toregenerate the social system and cleanse it of much of the ills afflicting ittoday.

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For Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe, holistic education must result in thespiritual, moral, economic and socio-political enhancement of both theindividual person and society as a whole. He contends that the collapsingmoral fibre of society, which according to him, is worse in countries reputedto be educationally advantaged, is due to the neglect of the “primordialessence of education”9, which is to instil moral order in the individual. Theultimate end of education, according to Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe, is toproduce good people and good members of society. In his words, “theprimordial essence of education is to reawaken the moral order inherent inthe human essence: that is, mould the individual in a manner that ensuresthat he or she becomes a good member of his tribe or community”10 Hence,he advocates for a restructuring of the system of education to exemplifythe primordial essence of education, that is, the moral development ofindividuals without neglecting other essential intellectual and technicalcomponents of development.

However, I would want to quickly identify a fundamental philosophicalproblem that is generated if we consider what Onyechere Anyiam-Osigweconsiders as the primordial essence of education against the background ofa claim he made with regards to the nature of humanity. He affirms thathuman beings possess an inherent moral goodness that is derived from theirparticipation in the absolute and transcendental essence. If this were to bethe case, then Anyiam-Osigwe would have to justify his position that moralorder has to be implanted in individuals through a process of education. Itappears that these two positions cannot be consistently held together. Eitherhumans are not naturally good and require to be taught morality or they areinherently good and do not need to be implanted with morality. This issuemay be pursued further in a separate discourse.

Restructuring the System of EducationTo achieve the primordial essence of education, Anyiam-Osigwe calls

for a restructuring of the system of education. He argues that while formaleducation contributes significantly to the learning process, it remains truethat the bulk of the knowledge we acquire is imparted in informal learningenvironments and “through inspiration from Infinite Intelligence”.11 Theinfinite intelligence, he says, is the source of all knowledge, creativity and

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inventions.12 Besides, some crucial aspects of life, pertaining to moral andspiritual development are neglected by a total reliance on formal education,where no or very little attention is paid to these aspects of life. Anyiam-osigwe believes very firmly that there are certain values and “limitlessknowledge” inherent in the human consciousness that should be unlockedand further developed through education, but which have been completelyneglected by formal education.13 The consequence of this, according tohim, is manifested in the preponderance of extreme materialism and a generalloss of faith in human and spiritual values in youths today. Consequently, headvocates that there should be a restructuring as well as an integration ofthe formal system of education with the informal and natural process throughwhich knowledge is acquired.14 He is convinced that this integration isessential for the attainment of a holistic education, the kind of educationthat aims at the attainment of “the truth of man” and explores the inherentknowledge required to sustain standards perceived to be absolute.15

It is important at this point to highlight four crucial assumptions in theviews of Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe. These assumptions havebeen the focus of a perennial debate in the history of philosophy and it mightbe rewarding to subject these views to further philosophical scrutiny to seewhat fresh insights could be gained. In addition, the ways they feature in histhoughts need to be clarified and placed in the right perspective. The first isthe assumption that, at least, some if not all knowledge and values areinnate and require to be unlocked through a process of education. Thesecond is that some knowledge can be acquired through “inspiration fromInfinite Intelligence”. The third assumption is that there is “the truth ofman” and the fourth is that there are absolute standards. Other issues thatare in need of further philosophical analysis in his views emanate from theclaim that “nothing is that has not been”. It is assumed that all we need toeffectively come to an understanding of this reality is to transcend thetemporal scheme and explore the sea of knowledge in which we inhere”.What precisely does this claim mean? Does it imply that there is no newknowledge? How are we to transcend the temporal scheme in order toexplore that he calls the sea of knowledge? Is it by introspection as suggestedin his writings? What is introspection? How reliable would its conclusions be?

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Coming back to his proposal for the restructuring of the system ofeducation, he contends that the formal education sector should be structuredin such a way that school curriculum is learner centred, reflecting the desiresand interests of the learner.16 Learning, in his opinion, is best achieved byparticipation in actual human experience and not simulation. Additionally,the process of teaching and learning should also pay adequate attention toboth the objective and subjective realms of human existence. In this regard,Anyiam-Osigwe avers that emphasis should be laid on self-realisation andthe development of the individual’s inherent capabilities. He opines thatbefore individuals can contribute to social development they must first beeffectively developed. According to him, the improvement of the socialorder derives from an improved man.17

Granted that Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe appears to be more interestedin the subjective realms of human existence that relates directly to spiritualand moral development, his view that learning is better achieved byparticipation rather than simulation is given credence by the product ofresearch in the field of education. This shows that pupils would learn betterwhen activity-based teaching methods are adopted than when those methodsthat require them to be passive in class are employed. This led to theconstructivist theory of learning which lays emphasis on the fact that effectivelearning involves the active participation of both the teacher and student.18

On the basis of this theory, new methods of teaching that are participatoryand activity based have been constructed in formal education to complementthe traditional teaching methods that require pupils to learn by rote.19 Forinstance, there is the 5-E teaching method, described as an integrated methodof teaching that involves five important phases: Engage, Explore, Explain,Elaborate, Evaluate. Other teaching methods are the probing and engagingmethod, Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) method and the 7-E teachingmethod.

Just as new methods of teaching are being evolved in the field of formaleducation to teach the conventional subject areas, the Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation in collaboration with the Africa Institute for Leadership,Research and Development has evolved the Holistic Lifestyle Curriculum(HLC).20 This is based on the teachings of Onyechere Anyiam-Osigweand it aims at introducing school children to a sound moral education as a

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crucial component of a holistic life. It focuses on the mutual dependenceand influence of the four dimensions of human life: the spiritual/moral, social,economic and political. However, we must note that the HLC is tocomplement existing formal system of education and not to replace it.

Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe advocates a of system of education thatwill reinforce the ethical values that give concreteness to human existenceand are significant in the formation of morally good personal characters.21

Some of these ethical values include honesty, probity and equity. Today,such ethical values, according him, are better ingrained in the character ofpeasants and community people who have received only informal educationthan is evident in the personality of the people with the privilege of formaleducation. Consequently, he argues that beyond strengthening formalinstitutions of education, the family should also be strengthened within thesocial system so that it can effectively play its role as a consolidator in earlychild development. This way, requisite moral values will be more effectivelyinculcated in children on the home front while they still continue to benefitfrom the formal system of education.

An important component for the improvement of the family is thereduction, if not a total elimination, of poverty at the family level. Theassumption is that if the economic environment of the family is enhanced, itwould be in a better position to positively influence the child right frominfancy to adulthood. And despite the shortcomings of formal education asfar as the moral and spiritual development of the child is concerned, Anyiam-Osigwe recognises that formal education is symbolically related to economicenhancement and socio-political development.22 So, here we see afundamental connection and interdependence between the formal andinformal sectors of education in the attainment of the primordial essence ofeducation, which is to reawaken the moral order inherent in the humanessence and mould the individual in a manner that ensures that he or shebecomes a morally good member of society. For this to be achieved,Onyechere Anyiam-Osigwe calls for the strengthening of the family, a unithe sees as having the responsibility and also best suited for the moraleducation of children from the early stage of life. However, for the familyto be empowered to function effectively in this capacity, he argues that itseconomic condition must be sufficiently enhanced through sufficient reduction

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if not a complete eradication of poverty. The economic empowerment ofthe family, in turn, is premised upon the positive exploitation of the benefitsof formal education.

The Mindset Factor in Youth Education and Social DevelopmentOnyechere Anyiam-Osigwe is of the view that for the individual’s

capacity to contribute optimally to social development to be fully realised,an appropriate mindset must first be developed. Such a mindset shouldengender the requisite composure and comportment of the self and in thefinal analysis enhance the desired cohesion and harmony in society. 23 Hence,for individuals to contribute maximally towards social development, theymust be brought up, right from their early years, in ways that can enhancethe cultivation of the appropriate mindset.

A question that readily comes to mind and which needs to be answeredbefore we can profitably discuss how best to cultivate the appropriate mindsetis: what precisely is the content of the appropriate mindset that Anyiam-Osigwe advocates? Several claims are made about the appropriate mindset,but one that appears most relevant to the present discourse says that “withthe appropriate mindset, therefore, man does not seek to better his personallife but embeds his well-being within the development and well-being of hiscommunity”.24 Such mindset, according to Anyiam-Osigwe, is altered andits initial cultivation hindered by discrimination and inequity in society.25 Itcould also become distorted as a result of physical, mental or spiritualimpairment. Another factor that can adversely affect the development ofthe appropriate mindset is described by him as “man’s estrangement fromhis spiritual essence and the inherent universal ethical canons”26 However,in another breath, Anyiam-osigwe’s argues that “when humanity achievesthis character of mindset, we would transcend the barrier of discriminationor the imposition of the ego and be able to see and appreciate the equality ofall human persons, irrespective of gender or physical or mental challenges”.27

The problem here is that the two claims seem to entrap the prospectsof achieving the appropriate mindset in a vicious circle. While he says thatthe cultivation of the mindset is hindered by discrimination and inequity, hestill maintains that it is only when the mindset is achieved that the problemof inequity and discrimination would be resolved. In my opinion, Anyiam-

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Osigwe ought to have focused on evolving more creative and feasible meansof achieving the appropriate mindset for a more stable and vibrant socialorder. He should also have attempted a more comprehensive elaboration ofthe content of the appropriate mindset and how it can be cultivated in practicalterms. Rather than do this, he devoted more time and energy to a discussionof the factors that can distort or hinder the cultivation of the relevant mindset.Nonetheless, as we subject his views to philosophical examination, theseobjectives can be pursued in order to fill the necessary gaps in his thoughts.

Be that as it may, one fact that stands out is that, for him, the appropriatemindset is one that is conscious of and totally committed to social well-being. It defines individual well-being in terms of the social well-being. And,for this mindset to be adequately cultivated and sustained by individuals, theprocess must be integrated into the youth development programme of society.However, the direct responsibility of cultivating the appropriate mindset islaid upon the informal sector of education, especially the family.28

Granted that he is on to something very important here, there are still anumber of questions that require answer. These include: how precisely wouldthis mindset translate into an improved society? To what extent can thefamily influence the cultivation of the mindset given its declining influencein character formation today?29 What is the relationship between the viewsof Anyiam-Osigwe on the appropriate mindset and the proposals by scholarsand nationalist leaders like Julius Nyerere for African Socialism? How usefulwould his proposed mindset be, given the capitalist mindset dominating humanaffairs today? Do we really require the cultivation of this mindset toovercome the myriad socio-economic and political problems afflicting manycontemporary societies?

ConclusionWe have been discussing some of the ideas of Onyechere Anyiam-

Osigwe on youths, education and social development. Our discourse doesnot pretend to be exhaustive as there are definitely a lot of issues leftuntouched, with many others yet to be discussed in details. Nonetheless, itis hoped that by this brief analysis of Anyiam-Osigwe’s views, we havebeen able to stimulate some interest in his thoughts in ways that wouldmotivate philosophical investigation into how these thoughts can be further

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developed and applied in practical ways that can facilitate social developmentin Nigeria and other countries facing similar challenges as ours. One thingthat stands out in the thoughts of Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe is theconcern for the holistic development of the individual person and societyand the realisation that the attainment of true and sustainable developmentin society is absolutely dependent on the holistic development (spiritual,moral, intellectual, economic and political) of the individual person makingup society.

Notes and References1 Charles Anyiam-Osigwe, Peace Anyiam-Fiberesima and Rotimi Olayemi (eds.),

Youth and Education: Africa’s 21st Century Youth; Everyone a Fisherman,Lagos: Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, 2002a, p.52-53

2 For a variety of accounts on human nature see Leslie Stevenson, The Studyof Human Nature, London: Oxford Publishers, 1980

3 See Jerome Shaffer, Philosophy of Mind, Englewood: Prentice-Hall Inc,1968, pp. 34-44 for a detailed account of the dualist conception of man.

4 Here, it is necessary that we resolve an ambiguity in the claims made byOnyechere Anyiam-Osigwe with regards to human nature. He seems tooscillate between saying that man as an inherent capacity for knowledgeand that he actually has an inherent transcendental knowledge. These twoclaims generate different philosophical implications.

5 Michael Anyiam-Osigwe, Coetzee Bester and Retha Claasen (eds.), Definitionof Concepts, Sinoville: Groep7Drukkers en Uitgewers, p.56

6 Charles Anyiam-Osigwe, et al, 2002a, p.15

7 Ibid., p.5

8 Charles o. Anyiam-Osigwe (ed.), Youth and Education in a Changing World,Lagos: Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, 2002b, p.18

9 Charles Anyiam-Osigwe, et al, 2002a, p.9

10 Charles O. Anyiam-Osigwe, 2002b, p.16

11 Charles Anyiam-Osigwe, et al, 2002a , p.24

12 Ibid., p.29

13 Ibid., p.26, 28

14 Ibid., 24, 28

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15 Ibid., 28

16 Ibid.,29

17 Ibid.

18 See A.Y. Ekanola, “Current Trends of Teaching Elementary Science” in 4thQuarter: 2006 Capacity Building Workshop Training Manual, Ekiti StateUniversal Basic Education Board, p.9 for an account of the constructivisttheory of teaching and learning.

19 Ibid., pp12-19

20 Charles O. Anyiam-Osigwe, 2002b, p.23

21 Ibid, p.41

22 Ibid., 45

23 Charles Anyiam-Osigwe (ed.), The Mindset Factor in CreativeTransformation: A Philosophical Underpinning for Human Development,Lagos: Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, 2005, p. 5, 23

24 Ibid, p.7

25 Ibid, p.10-13

26 Ibid., p.19

27 Ibid., p.24-25

28 Ibid, p.22

29 Studies between the 1980’s and 1990’s reveal that while the family and thechurch ranked as the first and second sources of influence on children in the1960’s, the media (especially movies and music) and peer groups rank as thefirst and second major sources of influence in recent times.

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14

Amaechi Udefi

Family and the Development of Personal Values

Introduction“The character of the world we see today is a reflectionof the character of today’s man.”– Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam- Osigwe (1921 – 1998).

Beginning with the above quotation as our initial premise, let us statehere that the Nigerian society is today engulfed by various social problems.There is a preponderance of economic and social indiscipline, politicallawlessness, widespread official corruption, massive electoral fraud, politicalviolence, armed robbery, cultism, prostitution, drug addiction, humantrafficking, child abuse, and so on. The factors responsible for this unfortunatescenario include a tragic failure of leadership and a breakdown of societalnorms, morals and family values.

Many scholars in the disciplines of psychology, sociology, economics,political science, philosophy, and so on, who have theorised the presentsocial pathology in Nigeria in particular, and Africa in general, have tendedto focus more on the transformation of the Nigerian (African) society usingcertain political and economic variables. In their discourses, little or noattention is paid to the family as a key component and a basic building blockin the quest for a sustainable social order in Nigeria. It is this lacuna in theexisting literature we set out to fill using the postulates of Chief EmmanuelOnyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe.

Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s HolismAn understanding of Anyiam-Osigwe’s ideas on the family and the

development of personal values, which is our focus, cannot be completeunless due attention is paid to his holistic approach to human existence and

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development. Anyiam-Osigwe’s holistic approach to human existence anddevelopment is based or anchored on his hypothesis on the three constituentsof existence, namely, the spiritual, economic and socio-political aspects ofmeaningful or authentic existence. As a student of Truth and grateful servantof God, Anyiam-Osigwe believed in God as an infinite being whose attributeshuman beings share on the earthly plane. His commitment to the developmentof the spiritual constituent of human existence was dictated by his convictionthat God is the bedrock of Truth and ultimate reality. This is how Most Rev.Dr Anthony J. V. Obinna, while commenting on Anyiam-Osigwe, expressedthis idea:

…. He chose to align himself to the grid of the great patternsof the law that undergirds the universe, realizing that thesepatterns also exist within him. His efforts to replicate theseuniversal patterns or principles in the context of his ownearthly life was with a view to discovering that peace thatsurpasseth the understanding of the human archetype infavour of the Divine1

A perusal of the programmes and projects of Osigwe Anyiam-OsigweFoundation and the African Institute for Leadership, Research andDevelopment will reveal a vigorous and unrelenting attempt to promote thethree constituents of human existence hypothesis2. Under the spiritualdimension, both the Foundation and the Institute cover such diverse butinterrelated issues as; Self-mastery, Principle-Based Leadership, Family etc.

The FamilyAs mentioned above, the family is categorised under the spiritual

dimension of the three constituents of existence. The family is taken byAnyiam-Osigwe as very strategic in the realisation of a principle based lifeand good society, since the family is the nucleus of a person’s formative lifein terms of the acquisition of values, inspirations, habits, and so on, andexposure to the environment. According to Anyiam-Osigwe, within anysocial system, man’s interaction with others must start from the family level,through community, local council, state, national to the international or globallevels. Hence, there is an urgent need to strengthen family values, so that

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when the principle-based leaders or philosopher-kings, in Plato’s parlance,are unleashed on the society, it will from “one goose raise 1000 geese” ,that is, engander policies that will positively enhance the well-being of theirpeople.

The emphasis on the family as the bedrock of the society by Anyiam-Osigwe is not accidental or fortuitous; it is based on a careful analysis ofthe synergistic potential of it to the other integrals or elements of humanexistence. The assumption here is that since a man is born into a family, hispersonality must of course reflect the ethical, moral and spiritual values ofhis family. Hence, there is the need to resuscitate those positive moral valueslike honesty, sincerity, truth-telling, and discipline, which once characterisedour traditional family structure. According to Anyiam-Osigwe:

Man’s first port of call in the physical realm of the universeis the immediate family. The values and principles adoptedand practiced by the parents constitute the mould on whichtheir offspring are fashioned, and in the final analysis,determine how they turn out and who they become in theworld3

Based on this, the family is seen as the most important platform for a man’scognitive and behavioural development as well as the internalisation of societalvalues.

What, then, is the family?It is generally recognised that human beings must of necessity interact

with one another and by so doing create some forms of association. Theseassociations vary, depending on their functions in the network of humanrelationships. Social institutions, organisations, groups, collectivities, and soon are some examples of these kinds of association4. Again, social institutions,as “organised system,” embody certain common values of the society andthe means or procedures of achieving some basic needs of the society.Such institutions of the society include economic institutions, which serve toprovide the food, shelter, and clothing needs of man; family institution forlove, protection and affiliation, educational institutions take care of knowledge,skills and attitudinal change; religious institutions which take man away

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from the mundane and everyday activities to the transcendental with thehope of inheriting eternal life. Of all these institutions, the family is consideredas important and crucial to the survival of the society. Thus the family istaken as the basic building block or cornerstone of all societies. This is sobecause it has a great influence on the personality of individuals, and assiststhem in the process of social adaptation as well as serving as a basic socialand economic unit.5

There is apparently no univocal definition of the family, which iscomprehensive enough to accommodate all known forms of family. However,to say this does not imply that a definition of the family is impossible. Thetraditional view of the family is that it “consists of two or more persons whoare linked by marriage or descent and who engage in common activities”6.Put differently, the family as a social group, is made-up of a man, his wife orwives, and children living under a common roof, interacting and influencingthe behaviours of each other in a more intimate manner than with otherswho do not belong.7 Notwithstanding any cultural differences or variationsin terms of the formation of the family, one thing is common and that is thatthe family is built on marriage. In broad terms, marriage is a life-long,emotional, physical and legal bond between men and women8. Marriagewithin the context of Nigerian and African cultures involves whole families,nuclear or extended, and by extension, the entire community.

Types of FamilyThe types or configurations of family prevalent in traditional and

contemporary African societies, though they also exist in other cultures, arenuclear and extended family. The former (nuclear or conjugal family) consistsof a man, his wife and children. Here the usual saying is Tea for Two asemphasis is placed on marital bond rather than blood relationship and thelater (extended or consanguine family) serves a as rallying point as it tendsto unite at least three generations of the nuclear families. The extendedfamily usually consists of a married couple and their children, their children’sspouses, and their grand children. Here priority is given to the blood tiesbetween relations. In Nigeria and other agrarian societies, emphasis is placedmore on the extended family than the nuclear family because of itsusefulness as an economic unit for producing household goods. The distinction

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that is usually made between brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, and so on, isalien to Africa since there are no clear-cut distinctions between the nuclearand the extended family. The African would regard everybody as brotheror sister whether at home or in the diaspora.

Functions of the FamilyThe primary functions of the family can be broken into biological and

social needs, though the two do not exhaust the functions of the familysince other functions may have arisen due to the dynamic nature of thesociety and increasing urbanisation which have introduced new changesinto family life. Under the biological imperative arises the need forprocreation, regulation of sexual behaviour, infant or child care, while wehave under the social needs, socialisation, character building, economicsupport, education through the transmission of societal norms and valueswith a view to ensuring order, control and stability in the society.

New Realities and Changes in the FamilySince the society is dynamic and with advances in science and

technology as well as economic challenges, certain changes andtransformations have occurred in the family in the past two or three decades.For African and other developing counties, it is like an anti-climax as thetraditional family is threatened with collapse. The immediate cause of theapparent rupture is the intrusion of Europe into Africa, leading to an upturnand devaluation of our time-honoured traditions and cultures. The obviousconsequences of this are multifarious. One of them is the tendency by ouryouth to brand the old habits and conventional ways of doing things as “oldschool.” There is a downright disregard for the core values of our traditionalsociety like honesty, tolerance, respect for the aged, hard work, etc. Giventhis scenario, there is a high level of moral decadence in the society.

This scenario is disturbing as it tends to emasculate and erode familyvalues and by extension uproot the very foundations of our collectiveexistence and development. A recent UNESCO report on the family raisesalarm on the declining fortunes of the family and calls for a concertedaction to strengthen it. The report states in part thus:

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The … family is threatened both in its form and in itssubstance. The main reasons for this break-up are changingsocio-cultural, scientific progress,demographic trends andthe international situation9

Accordingly, the report outlines those indicators of changing social andcultural values as follows:

· Increase in the number of illegitimate births by adolescent girls.· Increase in the number of divorces.· Urbanisation and changing status of woman. e.g. sexual equality.· Advances in biology and medicine, particularly in methods of artificial

insemination, in-vitro fertilization, sperm/ovum donors, surrogatemothers, freezing gametes and embryos and gene manipulations,cloning, etc.

· Displacement of persons, particularly women and children, duringwars

· Transmission of obscene and ponographic materials and other scriptsawash with crime and violence through the media, internet andGSM technology10.

Most counties have come to the realisation that the family can no longerbe left to the private sphere. There is therefore the need for state intervention,particularly in the areas of social welfare and demographic polices, legalreforms, and so on.

For Anyiam-Osigwe, what the above indicators and other intrusions inthe family reveal is a family and by extension society in degeneracy. Hesees the family as an endangered species, which should be saved andprotected. Since he takes the family as the building block of the society, heconsiders strengthening the family as the first principle or condition in oursearch for a better world order. There is, therefore, the urgent need toprotect family values in a “world in dire and urgent need of restoration ofmoral principles and values”.11 Anyiam-Osigwe’s views agree with thoseof the functionalist school, which analyses the family from the points ofview of the functions and contributions of the family to the maintenance ofthe social system and the assumption that there must be a certain degree ofintegration and harmony between the parts of the social system if society is

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going to function efficiently.12 Based on his view on the constituents ofhuman existence, Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe opines that:

Man as an integral function of the spiritual, economic andsocio-political can only approach the frontiers of his fullestpotentialities when his approach to his existence anddevelopment is designed to harness and promote in“synchronous harmony” these key constituents of existence.Thus “if we get it right at the family level, it will translate toa better community which in turn would impact on the largersociety thereby contributing to a better world order13

According to Anyiam-Osigwe the changes which we experience incontemporary African society, which were unimaginable in the traditionalAfrican society, with regard to family values have prompted the need to re-conceptualise and clarify the concept of the family with a view to restoringfamily values. This, for him, requires a strong emphasis and reversion to thetraditional family life, particularly the extended family system not mindingthe spate of attacks and criticisms of it as retrogressive and archaic. As heputs it:

the … extended family system would not only provide aviable framework that would accommodate and support allconfigurations of family, but more importantly it would serveas a reference beacon from which all minds all families cantake their bearing14.

Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe’s preference for the extended family systemseems to pulsate with the African social philosophy, which emphasises thepriority of the community to the individual. Thus, his views on the familyharmonises with the views of some African scholars, particularly J.S. Mbiti,who submits that the extended family is in agreement with African culturewhich stresses corporate existence than atomistic, individualist, and self-centred existence which typically characterises Western society.Accordingly, Mbiti deposes that:

Just as God made the first man as God’s man, so now manhimself makes the individual who becomes the corporate or

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social man… only in terms of other people does the individualbecome conscious of his own being, his own duties, hisprivileges and responsibilities towards himself and towardsother people… whatever happens to the individual happensto the whole group, and whatever happens to the wholegroup happens to the individual. The individual can only say:I am, because we are, and since we are, therefore I am: Thisis a cardinal point in the understanding of the African viewof man15

Personal ValuesChief Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe is unequivocal

in his identification of the pivotal role of the family in the enhancement anddevelopment of the other constituents of the society, namely the socio –political and economic aspects, through the inculcation of positive values byindividuals. For him, the family is important in this process. According tohim:

The society imparts concrete values on the child from the family.These include the virtues of good and qualitative education,worthwhile skill, constructive economic activities, dignity oflabour, the holistic benefits of honest hardwork, etc 16

What Are Values?Attempting a definition of values in a strait jacket manner may be a

herculean task, especially because of its expansive nature. As a concept,value features prominently in the philosophical, sociological, psychological,anthropological and cultural fields or discourses. Of course, a definition ofvalues must pay attention to culture since every society has certain dynamicsand core values which sustain it. In other words, values serve as thefoundation upon which the society firmly stands. The terms, values, morality,ethics are sometimes taken as synonymous since they focus on the ethos,mores, customs, and conventions, do’s and don’ts of any social group orcommunity, though ethics, as a branch of philosophy, studies morality byanalysing and clarifying such words like “good”, “bad”, “right” and “wrong”.With this clarification, we can now define value, following C. Kluchkhohn,

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as “a conception, explicit or implicit, distinctive of an individual orcharacteristic of a group, of the desirable which influences the selectionfrom available modes, means and ends of actions”17 Kluchkhohn furtherexpanded the definition by saying that:

it is a socially sanctioned attitude typical of a certain culturewhich is interiorized by their society’s members and helpsthem make choices, it directs them to their goals and pointsto means of action; it also strengthens action in the frame ofthe same socio-cultural domain in which it is rooted. Anobjective criterion of its significance is its place within agiven cultural system of values, or in other words, its role inthis system. A subjective criterion of the significance of acultural value is its place (role) in the structure of thepersonality of a concrete individual 18

What can be deduced form the above definition of values is that theyconstitute the very essence of society as they are the original stuff whichan individual imbibes, assimilates, deepens and realises in various ways inboth private life and public life. Again, they play a fundamental and primaryfunction in directing the conducts, behaviours, and attitudes of the individualsin a society. Any change or intrusion in the form of modernisation or alterityamounts to destruction, atrophy and the undermining of the fabric of thesociety. On this, Jerzy Smolicz states thus:

They act as identifying values, symbolic for a group and forits members… social groups are identified as culturallydistinct communities, able to maintain vitality and creativityin the frame of their own cultures. A loss of core values bya given group leads to its disintegration, to destruction ofthe authentic and creative community capable of survivingand of transmitting the values to the next generation19

Within the context of African (Nigerian) culture, such values that aretenaciously held and cherished include sanctity of human life, family life,children, honesty, fidelity to promise, character, truthfulness, hard-work, goodname, hospitality, brotherliness, tolerance, generosity, solidarity, reciprocity,

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etc. The individual, as stated above, acquires, internalises and exhibits themin his private and public conducts in his interaction with other people in thesocial system. The child first apprehends these values through his familyexperiences. So the way and manner the family reacts to these valuesdetermines the development and conduct of the child within the society.

In the opinion of Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe, what Nigeria needs in orderto overcome the many woes and calamities inflicted on it by the inept andcorrupt leaders and politicians is to go back to our pristine traditional valuesas highlighted above and adopt them as principles of conduct and behaviourin business and social life. As he says:

Nigerians…must ensure that they make truth and justice asthe cardinal principles of this nation. To see light and call itdarkness and comfort ourselves by saying it is a politicaldecision is nothing but worshiping the devil 20

Apart from the socio-ethical and cultural values of the society which anindividual learns and translates into action through a positive life style, aperson can also develop some innate potentials through introspection,reflection and meditation. On the basis of his conviction that “man is amanifestation of Divine intelligence”, Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe enjoins “manto be less reliant on the sense cognizant intellect and its attendant materialproclivities and go within to harness what is, perhaps, the most potent formof energy, the energy of integrated consciousness; that which emanatesfrom pure virtues of the soul”21

ConclusionThe family is pivotal to the development of the individual in terms of

cognitive and behavioral development. There is, therefore, the need forgovernment intervention and institutional support to strengthen family valuesas espoused by Chief Emmanuel Onyechere Osigiwe Anyiam-Osigwe. Suchagencies of government like the National Orientation Agency (NOA),educational and religious institutions as well as Non-governmentalOrganisations should embark on enlightenment and sensitisation programmeson how best to tackle the myriad of problems now confronting our society.Similarly, the National Film and Censors Board should do more than it has

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done in terms of proper screening of the kind of films, whether Hollywoodor Nollywood, that are transmitted via the media with a view to eliminatingany obscene, and bizarre aspects which are injurious to our cultural andmoral health.

References1. Anthony J.V. Obinna, “The Onto-Theistic Destiny of Creation of the Cosmos

and Man” in Proceeding of the Inaugural Session, of Emmanuel OnyechereOsigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Memorial Lecture Series 1999, p. 30

2. The Objective and Mandate of the Africa Institute for Leadership, Researchand Development, pp. 11-17

3. Towards A Better World Order: The Family as its Basic Building Block,Proceedings of the Second session of the Emmanuel Onyechere OsigweAnyiam-Osigwe Memorial Lecture Series, 2000, pp. 65-66.

4. Ekong E. Ekong, Rural Sociology An Introduction and Analysis of RuralNigeria (Ibadan: Jumak Publishers Limited, 1988) p. 203

5. Ibid, p. 2056. Lewis A. Coser, Introduction to Sociology (Network: Harcourt Brace

Jovanovich, Inc, 1983), p. 2757. Ekong E. Ekong, Rural Sociology, p. 2068. Shindi, J.A, “The Development of Sense of Nationalism and Patriotism With

Particular Reference to Childhood Family Experiences “in D.C. Uguwegbu(ed) National Orientation Movement (Lagos: Federal Ministry of Informationand Culture, 1989), p. 18.

9. Djamshid Beham, “An International Inquiry into the Future of the Family: AUNESCO Project” in International Social Science Journal No 126 November,19909, p. 547.

10. Ibid; pp. 548-54911. Towards A Better World Order: The Family as its Building Block, pp. 53-5412. Michael Haralambs, Sociology Themes and Perspectives (Oxford University

Press, 1996), pp. 330-331.13. Towards a Better World Order, p. 5514. Ibid. p. 6415. John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (London; Heinemann,

Educational Books Ltd, 1969) pp. 108-109.16. Towards a Better World Order, p. 68

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17. C. Kluckhohn, “Values and Value-Orientations in the Theory of Action, AnExploration in Definition and Classification” in T. Parsons and E.A. Shils(eds) Towards A General Theory of Action (New York, 1962), p. 395

18. Ibid19. Quoted from Leon Dycewsky, “Values and Polish Cultural Identity” in Leon

Dyczewsky (ed.) Values in the Polish Cultural Tradition. PolishPhilosophical Studies 11 (Washington DC. The Council for Research inValues and Philosophy 2002), p. 23.

20. Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe 1921-1998, Personal Diary.21. Introspectionis: Green Grasses of Home, The Key to Development is Within

and Around You, Brief on the Central Theme of the Sixth Session of theEmmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Lecture Series, 2004, pp. 2-3.

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161

Index

AAnyiam-Osigwe, Eze, 3, 4, 5Aba, 5Abakaliki, 10Abimbola, 44Afolayan, Adesina, 62Africa, 25, 31, 46, 47, 65, 74, 80, 81, 109,

111, 127, 130, 148, 152Agbakoba, Joseph, C.A., 102Agulanna, C.O., 15Almighty God, 12Amaroji Ugwu Na Agbo, 2America, 9, 75Americans, 40Anyiam-Osigwe, Nwaorie Lolo, 2, 4, 5Anyiam-Osigwe, Osigwe, 1-155

- biography of, 1-13- theory of Innatism, 18

Aquinas, Thomas, 77Aristotle, 15, 18, 124, 125, 126Ariyoha, Uchenna, 5Arthur, Cecil, 69Augustine, St., 15Azumini, 2, 4

BBell, Daniel, 67Britain, 8

CCayce, Edgar, 123Creative Ideas, 15

DDecatur, Stephen, 69De klerk, 94Democratic system, 106

Descartes, Rene, 20, 77, 93Destiny, 46Development, 23, 28, 29-33, 52-61, 87-

90, 108-120, 130Dozie, Dorothy Chinyere, 11DR Congo, 10Dream, 32-44, 50

EEdo, 57Ekanola, Adebola B., 135Ekeh, 65-66Emenike, Jas, 6Enugu, 6Environmentalism, 108-120Eshi, 2Europe, 152Europeans, 2, 8, 40Existentialism, 92-101

FFamily, 53-54, 149-154Fulani, 57

GGod, 38, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49,

50, 75, 88, 91, 98, 149Grayling, A.C., 30

HHausa, 57Hegel, G.W.F., 49, 104Herder, Johan Gottfried, 73Human life, 23- 28Husserl, 48

Index

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IIbadan, 10, 44Ideas, 15, 50

- history of, 15Igbo Cosmology, 1, 12Igbo, 57Ihekwuba, Francis, 6Imo state, 2Ishiagu, 10

JJaja of Opobo, 3Jos, 10, 11Jung, Carl, 94

KKaduna, 8, 10Kant, Immanuel, 20, 96, 125, 126Kierkegaard, 92Kluchkholu, C., 155, 156Kohl, Helmut, 46, 47Kuckertz, 76

LLagos, 11, 44Lawuyi, O.B., 35Leibniz, 17Lincoln, 106

MMacIntyre, 70Marx, Karl, 68Mbiti, 79Metaphysics, 15-22,

- definition of, 16 – 17,- themes in, 17

Mgbirichi, 8Mind-body relationship, 20-21

NNationalism, 62-66Netherlands, 10Niger Delta, 2, 3, 30, 60, 146Nigeria, 2, 8, 11, 27, 30, 31, 48, 49, 55, 56,

58, 68, 69, 106, 146, 148, 151Nkwerre, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10Norway, 10NUEL, 10, 11Nussbaum, 64Nzimiro, 6

OObinna, Anthony J.V., Most Revd. Dr.,

149Offor, Francis, 122Ogbogbo, C.B.N, 1Oguta, 6Okigwe, 5Okri, Ben, 27Okwelle, 6Oladipo, Olusegun, 23Olajide, Wale, 91Olu-Owolabi, Kolawole A., 108Onitsha, 6Osuagwu, Dr, 45, 49Owerri, 11Oyeshile, Olatunji, A., 48, 74

PPantheism, 19Parenting, 54-55Patriotism, 62-72Personal values, 83, 102

- and democratic ethics, 102-107- and socio-political values, 103-105- and self-mastery, 85-90

Plato, 16, 18, 29, 30, 68, 77, 125, 150Political system, 105

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Port-Harcourt, 5, 6, 11Power, 59-61

RRadhakrishman, 25Rights, 58-59Roosevelt, D., 75

SSelf-mastery, 74, 120

- mind set factor in, 75-81, 20Shittu, 9Sir Egu, 12Smolicz, Jerzy, 156Socrates, 15, 16, 25, 92, 97, 125Soyinka, Wole, 29Spinoza, Baruch de, 15, 19Sulaiman, Mallam, 9

TThoughts, 32-44, 48, 50Tillich, Paul, 93

UU.K., 8, 10U.S.A, 8Udefi, Amaechi, 148Ukpokolo, Isaac E., 83Ukwuniyi, 2Umuahia, 6Unah, Jim, 52UNESCO, 152Uriah, 5, 6, 10

VValues, 52, 155Viroli, Maurizio, 63, 64, 65

WWeber, Max, 104Webster, Daniel, 70Wilson, John, 27Wiredu, Kwasi, 131

XXenophon, 16

YYoruba, 57Youth, 137

- and education, 138-145

Z

Zaria, 9