Today, August seventeenth, nineteen hundred and ninety-five (Anno Domini) marks the first anniversary of the founding of igbo--net. At such milestones, it is customary to take stocks of what we have been able to do so far, the problems we have encountered along the way, the things we could have done differently, and where we hope to be (figuratively speaking) with our plans, say one year, two years, or even ten years from now.
It is almost hard to imagine that by this time last year, I was the only subscriber to this list. Since that time, I have watched our membership grow from one person to a total of roughly three hundred different subscribers at different times. Our membership has since the last six months maintained an average of roughly two hundred subscribers at any given time. Within this time frame, we have generated over twenty thousand pieces of mails -- enough to fill up one thousand pages of a good sized book.
As articulated in our mission statement, our real deliberations have been geared toward critically analyzing issues on and about Ndi-Igbo with a view to finding lasting solutions to the myriad problems facing our people. In these deliberations we have proposed some very good ideas for transforming Igboland materially, culturally, technologically, etc. -- for the better.
Consequently, we have created The General Council of Igbo Think Tank. The General Council of Igbo Think Tank is now fully functional and has been incorporated in the United States. Comprising mostly Igbo intellectuals and technocrats all over North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, the organization now has local chapters in most major cities of the world, and new ones are springing up quickly.
Clearly, our people are hearing the clarion call we sent out at the outset about re-orienting their mind-set with respect to the way they look at themselves, at the geographical entity in which they now feel so enchained, at their past, at their future, and their manifest destiny. For since the end of the Biafran war, they have been wondering around like sheep that have lost their orientation. Cognizant of the abysmal failure of those societies that have strived to improve the lots of their people by transforming their societies -- the former Soviet Union and the Warsaw pact nations come to mind -- we have instead chosen to transform Igboland by transforming the mind-set of our people. Our decision to follow this method is informed by the infinite adaptability and resilience we see in the Igbo people. We are confident that this method will lead us to the path of renewal and renascence in Igboland.
Today, igbo--net has reached Igboland. You have just received the updates from Cyril Orji with regard to the SNNUPM project. In due time, people in various sites in Igboland will be able to send and receive mails to and from igbo--net -- thanks to the SNUUPM project.
It is gratifying to note that the little fire we kindled last November as a way of extending igbo--net to Ala-Igbo has started burning where it ought to: Igboland. This fire must burn and engulf every section of Igboland until every square inch of our native soil is technologically, materially and culturally transformed for the better. It must not quench as long as we breathe life into it, and we must!
Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) deserve a special thanks for providing me with information on where to locate relevant softwares and hardwares for the project after I conceived the idea last November. In March of this year, I handed this project over to the Science and Technology Committee of the Igbo Think Tank. The following individuals therefore deserve special thanks for bringing this project to where it is today: Cyril Orji, Justin Akujieze, Kalu Ndukwe, and Akuma-Kalu Njoku. From the very moment this project was was assigned to them, they have gone beyond the call of duty to make it a success. It must be mentioned that the General Council of the Igbo Think Tank underwrote the expenses that have been incurred thus far since the inception of this project. The enormous zeal and dedication which Cyril Orji and colleagues brought to this project is exemplary.
Later this year, the first annual conference of The General Council of Igbo Think Tank will be held in the United States, and you will be reading more on this from Kalu Ndukwe in the near future.
Although we have achieved some modest successes, a lot still remains to be desired in the nature of some of our discourses on this net. It appears that some igbo--netters are more interested in discussing puerile issues that are light-years away from what we should be discussing on this net. Such discussions have taken the form of slander and outright lies that are clearly designed to engender conflicts and quarrels between members. Such discourses have also taken the form of racist and sexist writeups that are clearly in contravention of the stated netiquette of igbo--net. There absolutely must be no room for reducing the otherwise intellectual discourses on this net that ought to edify us to the depraved level of the language of the brothels. I am not interested in legislating morality, but common decency demands that lewd language is precluded from the arena of public discourse. What anyone does within the confines of his or her home is his or her business. To subject all of us, especially now that people at home are poised to come on-line, to such filth, is absolutely foolish, and must be stopped forthwith! Enough is enough! We have lost a number of good people on account of such rubbish. Our deliberations must perforce follow the dictates of civilized discourse.
We must criticize each other's ideas, but must refrain from writing evil things about them. Words we must know can be very harmful. Perhaps the following story that is told of a certain small village in Igboland will illustrate this simple fact. The story goes like this. Once upon a time in that village, a certain woman made it a point of duty to slander and make all sorts of scurrilous accusations and baseless insinuations and charges against the chief-priest of the village deity -- Idoto. At length feeling remorse for her lies and misrepresentations, this woman presented herself to the chief-priest, admitted her sins and asked for forgiveness. The chief-priest ruminated over this request for a short while, after which he told the woman to go to the top of the highest hill in the village and while there to cut open a feather pillow and scatter the contents to the winds. "When you are through scattering the feather, return back to me for further instructions," said the chief-priest.
The repentant woman did as she was instructed and returned to the chief-priest. "I have done what you have requested," uttered the woman. "Am I now forgiven?" "Almost," said the chief-priest. "There is just one more thing I want you to do. Go and gather up all those feathers again." "But that is impossible, protested the woman. "The winds have blown them away." "Right," said the chief-priest. "And so is it impossible to undo the damage you have done with your words, which as you now know can never be retrieved."
In our discussions and deliberations on this net, the need for us to always seek out those diamonds of truth which mined and polished will endure hard and bright can never be over-emphasized. Such truths can be found all over Igboland at every epoch in our history. They reside in the myriad problems facing our people today. For as long as we have our minds and our hearts and our sights trained on Igboland, we will never go wrong.
I must also state my disappointment with the meager sum of two hundred and fifty dollars ($250.) that was raised on this net for the SNUUPM project. We ought to do better than that. To all those that contributed towards this fund, I say: Thank you! And if you have not contributed already, I implore you to help us in this modest effort of extending the information superhighway to Igboland. Very soon we will commence a fundraising drive to equip various universities in Igboland with used computers. And I hope every igbo--netter will be generously disposed to contribute to this effort that will in the final analysis ease the transition of Ndi-Igbo from an essentially pre-industrial society to a society that is at ease with the realities of the twenty-first century.
We are determined to make the twenty-first century, the century of Ndi-Igbo. In that century, Ndi-Igbo must actualize their manifest destiny. When that day comes, oh, I hope am still alive. For when I look upon the past of Ndi-Igbo, I can afford to dispel the sadness which falls upon me by gazing into that happy future when Ndi-Igbo would have commenced their interrupted trek on the path that will lead them to their manifest destiny. But if it is not vouchsafed to me to behold that happy time with my own eyes, the conviction that such a time must inevitably sooner or later come will cheer my dying hour!