By
Obododimma Oha
I am an Igbo person but this is not necessarily to sing the praises of Igbo people. It is to respond to a Cameroonian friend who once claimed thus about Igbo people : "They could be found in every wallcrack," which makes one think of a global ethnicity, a global Igbo or globalized Igbo. We already have the Eze NDIGBO concept as a globalizing force. That the Igbo can be found in every wallcrack is an exaggeration and a metaphor. Really, they are not wall geckoes and it is just a way of saying that they are everywhere, which is not exactly true. They may not be found in that county or village, even though we know one of them may be secretly planning to go there and establish a business. They may not be in Sambisa Forest either!
It is possible to find an Efik, Yoruba, or Ogoni person where that person is least expected to be seen. It is not that easy to account for the movement of human beings, especially in a world driven by powerful forces and survival is the key pursuit.
The issue is that naturally, Igbo people know and go places. That is to acknowledge that there is an element of truth in that claim. This obviously leads to asking why they are in "every wallcrack."
The Igbo society in Nigeria is driven by a force of competition : mainly to outshine the other, but basically not to lag behind among one's peers or age - mates. In the age-grade meetings, at a funeral, at the market, etc one could be told in njakịrị, a playful criticism, that one steals. One would certainly think and feel bad when one gets home. But it doesn't end there. Instead of going to fight someone or employ a charmer, the offended may just look for money and vanish to somewhere, with the desire to rise above ridicule.
Not that many in the wallcrack come to occupy it this way. Some may have planned and strategised for long, asking prophets to pray for them and giving testimonies in churches when their visas are through. Next thing, they are in "obodo oyibo," the white man's country, and would return soon to plant a storeyed building where that mud house stood.
There could also be a lot of direct and indirect pressure from relatives, for one to go out there to face life or to make oneself. In that case, one is told not to hope for better life where one was born. One, therefore, has to head for the wallcrack to re-write one's story and to be active in it as a protagonist.
But is it the wallcrack only that should excite us? No. There are other things. For instance, opportunities that other people cannot see, that fellow sees easily! So that this magic inhabitant of the wallcrack can scoop up a handful of sand and it would turn to a handful of gold!
Now, I am exaggerating like my friend in that conversation mentioned earlier. But don't mind me. The issue is that that occupant of the wallcrack teaches us that we can be wealthy from little resources and should not be noisy about it. We need to get serious, like what we are doing and not look around to get approval from others before putting our lives in it.
There is one worrisome aspect of that assertion that Igbo people are in every wallcrack. Is it not possible that it could be uttered with a spittle shot by someone who hates the Igbo and who thinks they are spreading and dominating space? That is very possible and we should not take it just as an innocuous utterance.
In that case, there could be some dark security issues enveloping the utterance. One is specifically concerned about the safety of members of an ethnic group stereotyped as being in every wallcrack and making it a home. What if that group is attacked, or investments by members of that group? Let me not frighten us with ethnic cleansing crimes in a changing world. But those crimes are real!
There could also be an element of envy against the progress made by the ethnic group. This is highly possible but is laughable. There are some people who spend their days promoting ethnocentrism and burning themselves out, instead of advancing their own group. When others are making progress, occupying wallcracks in cities out there, how can you be advocating a return to the old retrogressive ways and retreat into the jungle, hating?
But one should have a word of praise or two for the occupant of the wallcrack. In many cases, the occupant does not even have a primary six certificate, if any certificate at all. But the occupant has a heart and a head. So, the occupant seeks out the wallcrack and is gradually in charge. It's simply amazing!
Yet, at some moment, that school education that the occupant of the wallcrack does not have becomes a problem. In the first place, the occupant has courage, which is good. But it would have been better if he had courage plus education. That would have meant his eyes being open to certain things, knowing what to do about certain things, etc. That would have meant owning the wall legitimately and its cracks!
It also very important to note that this ethnic presence in every wall crack is networked, aided and invigorated by modern media. Many of such ethnic presences are also virtually present. They have websites, conduct part of their business online, hold seminars and other meetings to promote their aspirations regularly, etc. In other words, they constitute new forces of globalization, not just that they benefit from it.
Not that this networking started newly. There has always been the Igbo Town Union invigorating kinship, linking home and abroad, connecting Igbo-China and Igbo-USA, reminding each person that we cannot escape from that social identity. With the coming of the Internet, won't Igbo occupation of every wallcrack become stronger?
What this means is that the Igbo developed a long and enduring tradition of living and occupying the earth, knowing that linking up with the kinsperson could be an asset. "Onye aghala nwanne ya" (Let no one abandon their kinsfolk) they would say. That ideology, just like its relative, "akụ rue ụlọ" (when wealth gets home) has been driving Igbo occupation of every wallcrack, achieving marvelous things.
Oh, I am headed for the wallcrack, too, only waiting for my boarding pass.
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