Ego

By

Obododimma Oha

"Ego" (money) is from the Igbo "igo" (to buy). It is a means of exchange for something, that means taking over the value or replacing what is purchased. 

But before its introduction in Igboland, there was trade-by-barter, which involved cumbersome exchange in determining the worth of things. Cowrie shells (ego ayọrọ) came next, followed by the manilla (ego Ikpechi). Paper money (ego oyibo) was introduced to Africa later by European traders. It took time before Africans accepted it as money and used it for exchange.

"Ego" is one of the major means of measuring someone's wealth today in many cultures, but what we have, especially in driving other measures of wealth, is something to think about.

Money could be used in marrying many wives, to buy many cows. That means, it is money of monies!

"Ego" is alternatively called the following in the culture:

(1) Okpogho

(2) Ikpeghu

(3) Ike

(4) Sịsị

Money is called "Okpogho" or "ikpeghu" in some Igbo parts, making the name partly dialectal. Other Igbo people who know it as "ego," may, for stylistic reasons, choose to call it "Okpogho." They may have some other reasons for their preference.

Money has become central in Igbo life and is even glorified in some Igbo songs. Money is sometimes represented as a man's beauty ("Ego bụ mma nwoke."). Or it is represented as something extremely difficult to obtain. ("Ego dị n'ogwu." ("Money is in thorns."). Part of this centrality is the assumed Igbo liking of money (especially if there are instances of boasting about having a lot of money) which clearly exposes cultural stereotyping. What is the logicality of the following expressions, for instance?

(1) Igbo people like money more than they like human beings.

(2) Igbo people can betray their relatives if they are offered money.

There are other means of expressing the stereotype, such as stand up comedy, films, etc.

That Igbo people like money is not strange, but they are not the only group that does so. Unless we want them to be disliked for this. Then, one can raise an objection.

All human beings like and use money. Only envy can cause us to attach liking for money to any ethnic group; that is, envying the group's monetary wealth. In that case, it is a technique for expressing dislike and asking the addressee to dislike the group in question.

In other words, it is a means of running the other down. Interestingly, it can be done in a seemingly harmless way through comic shows. In these shows, we laugh at the ways of the other or laugh at the expense of the other.

Although one cannot endorse the assertion that Igbo people like money, we address the risky practice of asking young Igbo people to go overseas to make money by any means!

These days, people do all kinds of terrible things to get money. Is it killing other people? Is it fraud? Is it lying? All kinds of atrocities!

These pursuits damage the essence of monetary wealth. Anyone who gets money through evil means is very poor. Transacting with evil to get money is not a healthy transaction.

But we also convert monetary wealth into evil when we respect those who have a lot of money only because they have money or think that they are right because they have money. They are to be respected only when they deserve it and are right when right. We need to separate thinking or opinions of people from the money or wealth they have.

Money is not everything! It is wrong to value it above human life!

Another interesting thing is that money is sometimes seen as a language. In what sense? It only becomes a language if taken to represent something else and understood to mean that thing by the addresser. This idea of becoming a language tells about the context presented: that context is applying "ego" in other senses that need to be investigated.

The simple translation of "ego" as "money" is not very helpful. Money is not always put as "ego" in Igbo discourses. The clever or stylistic rendering of money as "okpogho" would not be translated as "money" by a machine in machine translation. Reason: its store of words may only have "ego" as "money"and not the stylistic or clever forms.

This means that machine translation is not always useful. Human intervention is still needed if we want deeper meanings.