Chinedu Maduabum

Onitsha – Nigeria

Tuesday, September 9, 2003

“Water, similarly, where it occurs naturally in abundant supply on the surface of the earth, is freely accessible to all. Where it is scarce and obtained by heavy labour, exclusive rights are asserted by those who make it available.”

I. M. Lewis

INTRODUCTION

The indispensability of water the world over is one that is apparent and, if according to Sheila Bingham in the book NUTRITION (Better Health Through Good Eating) 60% of the weight of an adult is water and that of babies even more than, it clearly indicates the impossibility of human survival without water. In the pre-colonial Igbo society and even presently, albeit relatively low-keyed, river water was so fundamental that it was regarded as deities in some communities. The sources of the water are mainly from rocks, which are also consumed widely in Igboland.

Apart from the rock-source water, there are other sources of water in Igbo land such as rainwater and wells; the latter has been improved upon in the contemporary society to a safer and more protective method known as “borehole” in this part of the globe. It is these boreholes, which can be seen in virtually all the streets in Igboland and particularly in Onitsha, that are now serving as an alternative source of portable water -- no thanks to the more-than-two-years strike action embarked upon by the water corperation in Onitsha.

Inasmuch as the safety of these boreholes is guaranteed, one cannot say the same for the purity; thus, in order to avoid unclean water and water-borne diseases, people have also resorted to buying packaged water otherwise known as “pure water.” With this present condition of water crisis and the fact that it is obtained with heavy labour were available, one can only but imagine how the very poor masses and the socially excluded have been surviving in Igboland and Onitsha in particular. This quest for water has made me to ask the question whether our ancestors went this far in search of water? I know you will say NO! Therefore, what could have been the cause?

THE CAUSE

One major problem that has so bogged humankind presently is its inability to look down at the causes of the so many problems in the world; rather, all our leaders teach us is the after-effect of these problems and the resultant consequences. In one of our Igbo proverbs, it is said, “It is better to cut the tree from the root”; by so doing, the effect on the growth in future will become obvious. It is always better to cut the tree from the root thus putting a permanent solution to the desire to take it out in the first place.

In pre-colonial Igbo society, water was hardly a social problem and was freely accessible due to its abundance in nature. Fetching water in those days was not only a thing of joy, but also a thing of honour and prestige to young boys and girls who will stroll down the river sites situated at very hilly areas as a result of the natural occurrence. This was even a good platform outside traditional feasts for the young lads to cement their relationship with their intended spouses. Thus, the mutual and cordial relationships of coexistence flourished.

This remarkable and very fine society of Ndiigbo was short-lived with the arrival of the imperialists, who on arriving met a people so dedicated to the cosmic principles that govern the land and, above all, dedicated to the services of the Most High (Chi Ukwu). It became very complex for these imperialists to penetrate, thus the use of force and aggression where necessary. One very fundamental strategy applied by the Westerners was in the area of psychology. The Europeans were able to subdue Ndiigbo by sheer conviction of a better life in Europe by first of all making a taboo of our customs and culture. This paid well as there was a mass movement of the elite from Igboland to Europe in search of “greener pasture.” Having succeeded in disuniting the socio-cultural, socio-religious, and socio-political lifestyle of Ndiigbo, the door to Europe became complex, thus leaving Ndiigbo at a crossroad with a very controversial way back and a very difficult way forward. Ndiigbo became stocked in what is known presently as urban society.

With Ndiigbo frustrated in urban society, which has very little in common with our Igbo society but predominantly dominated by Western ideologies, Ndiigbo resorted to an Afro-Western life-style which is characterized by a very high level of competitiveness. It was under this platform that collective consumption pattern (C.C.P) emerged. Virtually all the natural gifts took a competitive form like water, which is being sold presently in Igboland for five Naira per sachet. Land, which was freely and evenly distributed, is now being sold for millions of Naira depending on the location.

COLLECTIVE CONSUMPTION PATTERN (C.C.P)

One very fundamental idea of contemporary capitalism is to deny the individual the right to possess and enjoy what one produced; rather it redounds the whole exercise of this right to general goods. It is this idea that I call collective consumption pattern. Dr. Amaechi Chizota describes this capitalist-oriented ideology as “the concept that members of capitalist society are constraint to adopt homogeneous cultural forms, which are products of mass production.”

Just because a group of individuals under the umbrella of Water Corporation embarked on a strike action, the entire masses will have to suffer the consequences. If it were just the strike, it would have been considerate, but my area of concern is this method or idea of having to have one general source of portable water for a whole community to be controlled by the state or a group of persons or person. Under such pattern, it will be very easy to poison an entire community, or is it not? One may pause to ask whether I am advising the people to return to fetching water from streams. If not that we still look at ourselves as slaves of Western ideologies, we would have deciphered that the same packaged water we drink is the same rock-source water, which some few individuals are exploiting to enrich themselves. All they need to tell you is that the water is polluted and you will believe. Now my own question is this: Do you think it will be possible to poison a stream of water? Or whether a traditional ruler can wake up and decide to stop people from fetching water from the stream? It is impossible; all you can get is sanction against an individual for having violated the ordinances with respect to the deity that protects and guides the stream.

Apart from the area of water, this pattern has made most Igbo women unable to cook the famous traditional soups like ‘ofe ora,’ ‘ofe ogbono’, ‘ofe onugbu’ and even ‘ofe egusi.’ These wonderful gifts from the Most High have been lost in time for what is known presently as McDonaldism, known in this part of the globe as ‘takeaway joints’ or ‘fast food centres.’ Other areas which we are suffering as a result of collective consumption include electricity and transportation.

This pattern has so paralysed the Igbo society to the extent that divine intervention is needed for these things to be restored or redefined towards a more wholesome focus.

Thus, the emergence of Joshua; to rebuild and restore the ruins of many generations.

CONCLUSION

In as much as our society is defiled, we have to play frontline roles in restoring it for the generations yet unborn, otherwise we shall only end up in encouraging a society that is rooted in three Western ideological institutions that are highly incompatible and mutually inconsistent: Democracy, Capitalism, and Christianity. The water crisis presently in Igboland is clearly one of the consequences of capitalism where few high materially influenced individuals have capitalized on the free and natural gift of nature for their own morbid aggrandizement. Thus, giving rise to inequality which by all standard contradicts and opposes the very basis of democratic principles.

This is the time for us to realize by teaching our children that for so long we have been living as Western ignoramuses. Instead of exploiting the poor ones, let us use our positions as leaders and provide a suitable platform for job creation and redefine our present position on stream water or a developed form of it so that acquiring water (a free gift) will not be obtained by heavy labour, thus asserting exclusive rights to these exploiters. By so doing, we would have taken a grand step towards re-educating the upcoming generations for a better tomorrow. My joy presently is that God has let loose the heavens making the crisis slightly unnoticeable. But for how long will the heavens be open?

OUR CULTURE IS OUR IDENTITY