154

Economic Liberation and the Search for Community

10

Wale Olajide

Economic Liberation and theSearch for Community

PreambleCertain bold metaphysical claims by Emmanuel Onyechere OsigweAnyiam–Osigwe could sometimes make an impatient philosopher, particularlyof the positivist school, distance his jottings and assertions from the bracketof acceptable truths. He could conclude that they are merely bold assertionsneither stating nor recording facts as verifiable data and perhaps only tenablewhere matters of truth are regarded as matters of opinion. He could gofurther, despite insightful offers on issues of life and living, to deny the sagea place among existentialist philosophers, more especially, from the companyof atheistic existentialist philosophers.1 Yet, as regards the latter, in particular,there exists in Anyiam–Osigwe’s treatise a compelling existential emphasisand fervent quest for meaning. As he himself so clearly recommended forseekers of understanding, knowledge and truth, “the goal should be nothingless than a complete understanding of the universe we live in, its purposes,its workings and man’s place in the scheme of things.2

With this task accomplished, we shall, according to the sage, be moreconscious of who we are, the scope of our freedom, and our correspondingresponsibilities to another. Only within this collective consciousness, arguesAnyiam-Osigwe, shall we hopefully evolve a lasting order of peace andprosperity for all mankind.

Anyiam-Osigwe’s concern was to understand the full intricacies ofconcrete human existence in all its forms and spheres. Specifically, whatthey are, how best to arrange them as distinct existential modes, and theminimal disposition required of man to make them flourish. Also, he wasconcerned with what ought to constitute the theoretical framework from

155

Wale Olajide

which everything else presumably take their rationality and justification.With this, the path to a meaningful and prosperous life is clear. Now thatwe wish to consider his prescriptions on the prospects of economic liberationfor man and the probable search for a supporting community that promisesprosperity for all, the existential probe most certainly seems quite appropriate.After all, what else is good and pragmatic economics but a genuine humanprocess detailing how best to harness and manage available human andmaterial resources for an improved well being and a better life. The questand initiative which Anyiam-Osigwe canvasses rests on an unconditionaloptimism that every man knowing it seeks that which is good and when hefinds it wills it for the other. This is the birthplace of common brotherhood,as a foundation for a community of prosperous citizens. The sage assumesthis as a universal imperative and seems to ignore with rare stubbornnessthe selfish gene in every man without offering any apology.

This paper will be in three parts. The first shall examine the socio-economic challenge that Anyiam–Osigwe met on ground and his perceptionand interpretation of it. The second shall discuss his prescriptions as solutionsfor the challenge while the third part shall evaluate the prospects and viabilityof these prescriptions particularly in his search for a prosperous supportcommunity. I consider this appraisal most appropriate and necessary giventhe intense stranglehold of Western economics and free markets ondeveloping nations, and the latter’s persistent lethargy, disorientation andpersistent decay. There is the strong suspicion that perhaps the Africansituation is yet a classical case of bankruptcy both of knowledge, moralsand will.

The ChallengeThere is a deep familiarity between Anyiam–Osigwe and his constituency,namely the African community, of which Nigeria is part. His capacity tosee through its existential crust, understand and explain it in distinct andexplicit terms make a robust allowance for those who perhaps would wishto credit Anyiam–Osigwe with something much grand than the sixth sense.

The problem of the African race, according to the Anyiam-Osigwebegan with colonization and as I shall soon suggest, it is one problem that

156

Economic Liberation and the Search for Community

has become disastrously endemic, driving up the level of disorientation,poverty and destitution and registering African communities postindependence as failed human institutions. Anyam-Osigwe observes that

the colonial adventurers fundamentally malformed Africa’sspiritual, cultural, socio-political and economic tapestry; and,in that process, left behind fragramented, distorted ordecimated cultural patterns in Africa.3

Since the whiteman’s exit, Africans have simply failed to put HumptyDumpty back together again – a tragedy that has left the continentimpoverished and irredeemably lost. He, therefore, concludes that

this grand failure with its attending chaos and contradictionsin every sphere of the African life seeks perhaps a homegrownsolution since according to Anyiam-Osigwe, neither theWestern model of democracy, driven by capitalist economicsnor the socialist concept of a workers state effectivelyprovides the impetus of sociological and psychologicalconformity with the primordial disposition of the African.4

This fundamental disconnect and disharmony heralded alienation inevery sphere including aesthetics, religion, institutional structures languageand even psychological dispositions with attending negative attitudes. Therewere, as consequences of colonialism, necessary trade offs on issues oflanguage, identity and culture. The francophone countries with the Belgianexperience stand as good examples. The erosion and, sometimes, totaljettisoning of pristine African values in exchange for alien dictates onlymeant that exploitation and deprivation became systematised and formalized.The administrative regime could wantonly decree and with the help of thenatives through a system of indirect rule as was the case in Nigeria brutallyenforce its wishes. When the colonizers eventually left, the natives thattook over as surrogates were invariably more white than Europeans. Bereftand totally blind on how the colonizers did what they did and in fact why,African leaders turned on their own citizens making them yet victims andforcing them again by decrees to satisfy their greed, avarice and rabid lustfor power. As Meredith so aptly observed,

157

Wale Olajide

in one country after another, African leaders acted incontempt of constitutional rules and agreements they hadsworn to uphold to enhance their own power. Constitutionswere either amended or rewritten or simply ignored. Checksand balances were removed.5

The attending existential gap invariably meant socio-political instability,economic stagnation and general strife. Anyiam–Osigwe in fact saw muchmore since for him everything is connected and explainable by the DivineIntelligence or the Absolute Mind. There is always for him a spiritualdimension and it is majorly for this reason that he canvasses for a holisticapproach to human existence and development. As he postulates,

all nature is an ordered whole from a single source and insustained motion to a single end, living and expressing thefecundity of a single life.6

What Anyiam–Osigwe saw was a derailed race both in thought andaction clearly and most certainly moving in the wrong direction. The resultwas lack of spiritual strength, poverty and stagnation that is manifesting aslack of meaningful income and productive resources sufficient to ensure asustainable livelihood that would prevent hunger, malnutrition, ill health, limitedaccess to good education and basic services, increased morbidity andmortality.

What was equally most clear to Anyiam–Osigwe was the individual’sloss of economic power and his seeming cognitive inability to reverse thesituation. The loss of spiritual integrity particularly meant total and utterdisrespect for moral soundness. Not only will man be guided by only thosedictates that promote self centeredness and crass individualism, he will beat variance with the natural laws of existence. This state of classicaldisorientation could only mean backwardness, stagnation and low life.

To fact that Africa, despite its abundant resources and availability ofmanpower remains a consumer race that is continually being ravaged andexploited by the West, means still that she will be dangling on the apronstrings of the latter. The limitation of any dependent economy always hingesveritably on the weaknesses and incapabilities of the prostrate nation to be

158

Economic Liberation and the Search for Community

self reliant and self sufficient. It speaks volumes of that nation’s inability toappreciate what she has and how best to optimize her God-given resources.In the case of Africa, the story is pathetic, breeding always disorientationand mediocrity.

Until very recently, particularly with the advent of Asian interests, thefrenzied techno-development initiatives of China and the general post coldwar rearrangement and realignment of socio-economic interests, Africa asa continent made less than two per cent of global Gross Domestic Product.In terms of World trade, the decline is most vivid as it is measured in singledigit items. Where there are varieties in terms of raw materials, the quantityis grossly insufficient and the quality when found is unsatisfactory. Somecountries have now suddenly realized that having oil is after all no seriousgateway to economic buoyancy, global recognition and respect. That theAfrican continent is still marred by avid poverty, neglect and gross inequalitiesdespite the benevolent spread of mineral resources underscore the scourgeof capacity inadequacy both mentally and physically. Going forward,

overwhelmed by the huge burden of an import dependentconsumerist economy, the value of the currencies of mostof (African) countries has collapsed, leaving the continentas a dumping ground, not just for foreign productsparticularly from Europe and Asia, but for products that forthe most part no longer represent any economic value in theexporting countries.7

Against the backdrop of the romantic notion of globalization, liberalizationand borderless nations and assuming that arguments for liberal market areby themselves valid, and therefore irrefutable, the reality however remainswobbling. As David Jenkins noted in his revolutionary, iconoclastic text,Market Whys and Human Wherefores,

the hopes and promises of the Free Market as currentlyoperated look more and more like an illusion … The basicdetermining and vital problem for the twenty-first centurylies in the will we can muster to dispel the collusive delusionof the current Free Market Faith. Sufficient people have to

159

Wale Olajide

find the shared courage to set out on a renewed set of politicalactivities, informed by political realism, driven by moral andresponsible human concern and designed to make thingsbetter for as many as possible.8

Anyiam-Osigwe is indeed one of the “sufficient people” that Jenkinsrefers to. As I shall soon show, the antidote that he offers is just as bold asit is incisive. But more importantly, it is as close to us Africans as natureitself. For Anyiam-Osigwe, the problem at hand may in several respects beself inflicted and somewhat malignant, yet he believes firmly that it can beexcised with some finality for the general good and economic prosperity.This optimism, notwithstanding, Anyiam-Osigwe’s position remains for meessentially normative and prescriptive.

It is certainly not the case for example particularly with the global spreadof economic inequalities and neo-exploitative schemes that there is somethingessentially inherent in adopted market economies that neutralizes power,avarice and greed, the trademark of African governments, and guaranteesbeneficence and sharing. Not at least in Africa and definitely not in today’sNigeria. In fact, not in any third world economy where the recurring sordidstory is that of brazen marginalization of the majority, downright exploitationin some cases of the minority and inordinate acquisition of wealth by amindless cabal and their cronies. The questions is, are we psychologicallyattuned to accept Anyiam-Osigwe’s insightful prescriptions and attend themwith appropriate attitudes and mindset or is the dye cast?

Anyiam-Osigwe’s careful analysis of African economic problems beyondthe vivid images of exploitation, decapitation and subjugation is consideredessentially a human problem, first, at the cognitive level and second, at themoral level. Is it the case, for example, that the African did not know thathe was being exploited and, therefore, that he ought to have consciouslyresisted or was it simply a case of acquiescence on the part of those whostood then as leaders. The former, some scholars have argued, is pardonableeven if it forms an integral part of the African socio-political and economicproblem. It is significant to mention here that Anyiam–Osigwe rejects thisview. The latter is, however, worse since in acquiescing, these leaders

160

Economic Liberation and the Search for Community

literarily committed economic hara-kiri caring less about the fate of theirown people. History is in fact replete with accounts of how this mentalweakness was exploited to the fullest. Scholars have continued to arguethat the sordid game plan is alive and well in every African nation:

the ruling clique in the land has made deprivation and wantcommon denominators and because of this, we play politicsof poverty in which issues are buried under which ethnic(or tribal) group is in and which is out without fundamentallytackling the issue of development.9

Prescriptions as AntidoteThe central theme of the prescriptions offered by Anyiam-Osigwe is liberationessentially from the economic limitations which were clearly imposed firstby the West and that which Africans with the help of their leaders imposedon themselves as a people either through apathies, mental laziness, greedand self centeredness. I have taken the liberty to label Anyiam-Osigwe’ssubmissions as prescriptions because beyond appearing as such essentially,there is little evidence, if any, particularly in the case of Nigeria, wherethese recommendations have in anyway been adopted and or implemented.Quite on the contrary, the reverse has been the case with correspondinghigh rise of economic decay and no benefit to the citizenry.

What is true of Nigeria is perhaps true of several other African countries.Those nations that are today showing some economic promise credit theireffort to the conscious and deliberate move to redefine themselves as apeople with a clear identity and distinct needs. The problems thus becametheir problems and the solutions became their burden and theirs alone.

Yes, it may be true for example that no developing country or nation nomatter the resistance can effectively totally block the impact of Westerninterference or of globalization particularly on its economic growth and socialvalue system. What is also true, however, is that any serious nation canreflectively sift what is useful to adopt while shutting its doors against whatit considers mere distractions or simply exploitative. This indeed is theemphasis of Anyiam-Osigwe as he clamours for true self knowledge,dispositional integrity, a collective reconciliatory authentication to that which

161

Wale Olajide

is pristine African society and a genuine concern for human wellbeing. In anutshell, he adopts the Socratic cautionary mandate, “Africa, know thyself!”A classical case of going backwards in order to make progress and moveforward or better still that of sheer acceptance of the foolishness of economicprodigality seeking liberation and atonement back at home.

Anyiam–Osigwe’s panacea for economic liberation relates and affectstwo distinct spheres, namely the physical and the mental. Both representareas of untold damage to the African as a result of which his situationremains abjectly pathetic. The existential state of affairs of the Africanreflects still a lingering crisis of acute spiritual poverty and underdevelopment.A case of huge disparity in comfort, good health and general wellbeingbetween the opportunistic selected cabal honorifically referred to as leadersand the masses with a hopeless future as a result of the rudderless andreckless drift in governance. And yet, it is this human mass that constitutesthe asset and productive resource of any nation if properly harnessed. AsAnyiam–Osigwe submits, these severely economically challenged membersas a result of their desperate need to survive and have a good life

are usually driven to work, perhaps much more vigorouslythan the rich. They are thus dogged, more adaptable andbaring ill health, physically often stronger, more resilient andquite industrious and innovative in the face of dauntingchallenges.10

It is unfortunately this group, which Anyiam–Osigwe refers to as thisAfrica’s Capital that has been exploited, oppressed, marginalized and left toscatter and wander thus adding nothing to economic development andremaining permanently on the fringes of a meaningful life. To Anyiam–Osigwe this is a lamentable huge waste since without a doubt in his mind.

Africans are an intelligent, talented, creative and resilient racethat can indeed, offer the world the very best there is in allspheres of human endeavour. Africans are quite capable ofharnessing their innate know–how and latent talent ….. andconvert their arid land to crop-yielding fields, their waste towealth and their teaming population to a viable asset.11

162

Economic Liberation and the Search for Community

This truth, we indeed hold to be self evident particularly against thehistorical detail of the horrors and hardships of the slave trade and what thevictimized and brutalized Africans contributed to what is today the FirstWorld, the United States of America. That land was built by immigrants,the huge proportion of which was black Africans. Thankfully, today afterdecades of struggles that were richly laced with shades of inhumanities,brutalities and assassinations, there is at last a transparent collectiveendorsement of African’s ingenuity, dexterity and doggedness in theleadership of that nation. The question is why then have Africans succeededoutside and failed so woefully at home? Why has the African continentremained economically retarded as it continues to parade itself as a continentwith a begging bowl strapped around its waist?

Anyiam-Osigwe names the second sphere of deprivation as mental,thus, underscoring the total damage that was done to the collective psycheof the African. Sequel to the inhumanities and atrocities of the ignobleslave trade came colonization and the cannibalization of the finest of Africanvalues. Colonisation, Anyiam-Osigwe sees as the

subversion and destruction of the cultural myth of pristineAfrican society, which translated into the imposition of acounter–culture on her societies and which largely accountsfor the chronic … economic failures among others.12

Colonisation was essentially a careful process of coordinatedreplacement. Physical subjugation very soon led to mental discoloration,estrangement and alienation, inferiority complex and, in some cases, totalloss of identity. Mental inferiority very soon led to a fervent desire to apeeverything that is European in thought, words and action. The Europeanworld is considered pure while the African world is dark, corrupt and polluted.Lacking motive and not understanding fully why the white masters did whatthey did, the African situation remained odious. With this mindset, the doorsto Africa’s riches and resources, both human and material were flung open,some totally off their hinges, thus, allowing for wanton plundering. Sadlywith the benefit of historical hindsight, charges of acquiescence, moral and

163

Wale Olajide

spiritual bankruptcy and ignorance have been laid equally at the doorstep ofthe African. As Ned Douglass succinctly observed,

the white man didn’t have to go in Africa with guns to getus. The white man came with rum and beads. And why?Because we was already waiting for him when he camethere in his ships. Our own black people had put us up inpens like hogs, waiting to sell us into slavery.13

The list is endless. Nkrumah in Ghana, Nasser in Egypt, Houphovet inCoted ‘Ivorie, Mobotu in Central Republic of Congo, Youlou in CongoBrazaville, Bokassa in Central African Republic, Amin in Uganda, Babangida,Abacha and Obasanjo in Nigeria, Nguema in Equitorial Guinea to mentionjust a few. Put in perspective, Anyiam-Osigwe labeled this a spiritual lack,the major cause of the limited productive application of human potentials.

If the economy of the African nation is in shambles, if so suddenly allNigerian cash crops for example took flight leaving no trace such that herpeople could no longer feed themselves, then it is because its leaders and toa large extent, the entire citizenry lack the spiritual and moral propriety: theintegral part of the metaphysical capital of any given society that encouragesthe right values and commitment and guarantees economic prosperity andlife more abundant.

In summary what Africa needs to reverse her misfortune, replenishesher economic basket, effect a positive turn-around and embark on asustainable road to economic prosperity, independence and liberation is totap into available technology, make maximum use of what today’s economicmarket offers in terms of incentives, support initiatives and fiscal discipline.What this means in effect is that first, at the primary level, there must be anappropriate mental disposition, a mindset that is fully aware of what theprecarious situation is, and without blaming any external factor, accept fullresponsibility.

What Anyiam-Osigwe canvasses therefore is a national rebirth? Incollectivity, Africans must literarily be mentally ‘born again’ with the aim ofreinventing tested canons of progress and prosperity in business communityand that of moral probity and accountability in social life. The rationale and

164

Economic Liberation and the Search for Community

justification for this rebirth, Anyiam-Osigwe places firmly in the vortex ofthe African community with the strongest emphasis on the family, identifiedas a pure crucible that embodies the pristine African society and its soul. Itis the primordial base from which the spiritual, economic and socialconstituents of existence are initially generated as thoughts, ideas, wordsand actions.

The Search for CommunityOne major consequence that followed the social-political and economicexuberance of post-independence among all African states was the loss ofthe community ethos which hitherto was the unique mark of solidarity,commonality of interests, common brotherhood and an unflinching unity ofpurpose and intention. Through kinship, for example, the social relationshipbetween people in a given African community is controlled. It is whatdetermines the behaviour of the individual towards another and the behaviourof all towards and with the gods. John Mbiti submits that

this sense of kinship binds together the entire life of the tribeand is even extended to cover animals, plants and non-livingobjects through the totemic system. Almost all the conceptsconnected with human relationship can be understood andinterpreted through the kingship system. Thus, it is thatwhich largely governs the behaviour, thinking and whole lifeof the individual in the society of which he is a member.14

Within the kinship arrangement, each individual is a brother or sister,father, mother, grandparent, cousin, or in-law. Every individual is rootedand belongs. Like the community of ants, every cell is interwoven withother cells so seamlessly that what one sees at a glance is a cohesiveintricate whole of a breathing college of human beings. What is more, thekinship system also extends vertically to include the departed and those yetunborn, the buds of hope and expectation.

Within the African commune is the clan which is yet a major subdivisionof the tribe. Some clans have historical heads as their founders while someare thrown up by historical happenings. Membership of specific clans can

165

Wale Olajide

run into hundreds and sometimes thousands though some may be as little astens or twenties. Cases like these could be attributed to war, localizedpestilence or ostracisation as a result of unacceptable behavior. Essentially,clans remain totemic underscoring still its significance as symbol of unity,kingship, belongingness, togetherness and shared affinity. Besides

clan systems provide closer human co-operation especiallyin times of need. In case of internal conflicts, clan membersjoined one another to fight their aggressive neighours. If aperson finds himself in difficulties, it is not unusual for himto call for help from his clan members and other relatives,e.g., in paying fines caused by an accident, in finding enoughgoods to exchange for a wife, or today, in giving financialsupport to students studying in institutes of higher educationboth at home and abroad.15

Nowhere, however, are these values that are inherent and promoted byclanship more germane, sublime and instructive as in the family which is;the melting pot of the values that generally dominate our lives and ultimatelydefine our society. For Anyiam-Osigwe, the family

represents both a microcosm and primordial base fromwhich the spiritual, economic and socio-political constituentsof existence are initially generated either as thought forms,ideas, spoken words or actions emanating there from. …the family is the primary source of all human related dynamicsoperative in the society.16

The health and wealth of the family, therefore, ultimately define thewellbeing or otherwise of the society since we are all, first, members of afamily before becoming engaged as members of a society. It is in thefamily that minds are moulded, that characters are formed and that attitudesare defined. It will, in fact, be correct to say that what is today paraded associeties with their biases, high points and failures are in the final analysisaggregates of family influences or nurture. And, hence, as Anyiam–Osigweaffirms most unequivocally and optimistically that:

166

Economic Liberation and the Search for Community

if we get it right at the family level, it will translate to a bettercommunity which in turn would impact on the larger societythereby contributing to a better world order.17

After all, the family is the basic economic unit, the unit of productionand consumption where both material and basic needs are met. Each memberassimilates his duties and expectations which are considered sacrosanct.

The attending neglect of the family, however, and total disregard for itas the cradle of humanity have led to moral degeneracy in every facet ofhuman endeavour. Laziness, crude materialism, drug trade, prostitution, easyliving divorced of commitment, passion and good judgment are some of theconsequences of our getting it wrong at the family level. The damage isparticularly colossal as Anyiam–Osigwe noted for Africa; a continent, markedcontinuously by discontent, strife, wars, famine, endemic abject poverty,disease and poor governance. Far from being the problem of lack of humanand material resources, the malady or better still, the African tragedy, is thatof a people totally estranged, alienated and decommunitised. A peopleinfested by wanton greed, avarice and self centeredness.

In terms of economic benefits, and in particular with the loss ofeverything that is community, most African states, if not all, equally havelost the capacity to mobilize resources of society towards ensuring theappropriate productivity, which would effectively guarantee the needs ofevery member of society as characteristic of values inherent in kingship,clan, family and community.

Anyiam–Osigwe’s clamour for re-enculturation of indigenous pristineknowledge systems, values and perspectives and his fervent advocacy thatAfrica must return to its viable beginnings when she was untainted by thebarbarism of the West, underscores still his conviction that economicliberation of the African should not necessarily be tied to the apron string ofWestern market modalities, which at best has remained morally insensitive,thus allowing unrestrained competitive individualism to run out of control.Not only is the Open Market ideological process alien to the African culture,it has failed to deliver on its promises of beneficence and better life. Nowherein sight is Africa’s adoption of the free market initiative and capitalist ideologyyielding dividend. Instead,

167

Wale Olajide

Capitalism is increasingly promoting forms of economicgrowth which sideline the needs of the majority of theinhabitants of the world, and ignore the limits of theadoptability of both the natural earth and of a stable, cohesivehuman communities.18

And short of a grand design and deceit to rob Africa blind,

a theory or story about the world and human activity whichtreats the human disposition which sets people against oneanother, as the very means by which we shall all prosperand serve one another, would seem to be too clever by half.19

After all, there is nothing inherent in either history or humanity itselfwhich ensures that progressive good comes out of competition. Hence, thetruth of en-culturation, rediscovery and rebirth of African noble ideals andvalues for prosperity and economic liberation.

The African community of old comprises of human beings that weremost alert and empathetic, always readily lending supporting role and upliftingthe dictum of all for one and one for all. A common brotherhood that isunbroken by tribe, clan or kindship. Paradoxically, these boundaries andclassification remained mere categories descriptive of a bonded people averseto crass individualism.

Synergising social relationships, therefore, better promotes individualinterest. Here, the individual enjoys full participation in the running of thecommunity and he is listened to. There is a concrete and tangible existentialbelongingness which not only engenders self worth but also promotes mutualself respect and commitment to the common good. The individual isconvinced and self assured that his interests will not be compromised butrather preserved within the consummate interest of the community. Thiswas what the African state was before slave trade. It was what it wasbefore colonization, globalization and liberal free market economy. The

community was not (then) an entity governed and directedby a dictum of collectivism that was in reality animperceptible abstraction but one in which every membercould tangibly apprehend his identity as an absolute integral

168

Economic Liberation and the Search for Community

of a collective that conveyed the identity of every othermember on the same degree without negating the whole.20

Right in here for Anyiam-Osigwe lies the secret of empowerment andeconomic liberation. It is certainly not in the abstract disinterestedness ofthe West nor in its hypocrisy. Most fortunately, the key to economic liberationlies within us, as a community that originally was humane, cohesive, wellmeaning, progressive and resourceful. Whether we still possess the willand whether we are capable of tapping once more into this reservoir ofstrength however remains the urgent question. One thing is clear thoughand, here I think lies both the challenge and optimism of Anyiam–Osigwe, itis up to us.

Notes and References1. There is clearly this suspicion particularly when we read through what the

sage considers the thrust of his philosophy. In his own words, “in servingGod, as an instrument of His Divine Will, my purpose is to set forth thosewho wish to follow in the footsteps of the great masters the wisdom of God….” Nonetheless, Anyiam–Osigwe stands shoulder to shoulder, andcomfortably so, with the group of theistic existentialist philosophers in thethemes on concrete human existence to which he directed his thoughts andthe sophistication, candour and lucidity that he brought to bear.

2. Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam–Osigwe, Cited by Joseph Dozie in Towards ABetter World Order: The Family as its Basic Building Block, Proceedingsof the Second Session of the Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam–OsigweMemorial Lecture Series, 2000, p 20.

3. Anyiam Osigwe, The Mindset Factor in Creative Transformation: APhilosophical Underpinning for Human Development, Lagos, Osigwe,Anyiam–Osigwe Foundation, 2005, p. 30.

4. Anyiam–Osigwe, As it was in the Beginning: Synthesis For Africa’s Socio-Political and Economic Transformation, Lagos, Osigwe, Anyiam–OsigweFoundation, 2006, p. 5.

5. Martin Moredity, The State of Africa, London, Free Press, 2006, p. 165.

169

Wale Olajide

6. Anyiam–Osigwe, Unity of the Manifold in Advancing the Cause for A HolisticApproach to Human Existence and Development, Lagos, Osigwe, Anyiam–Osigwe Foundation 2000, p. 70.

7. Anyiam–Osigwe, Harnessing African’s Capital That the People May HaveLife and Live it More abundantly, Lagos, Osigwe, Anyiam–OsigweFoundation, 2007, p. 3.

8. David Jenkins, Market Whys and Human Wherefores, London, Continuum,2004, p. 240.

9. Akinjide Oshuntokun, “The Nigerian Universities System within GlobalUniversity Development: Its Relevance to National Development and theNigerian Project” in Locating the Local in the Global, eds, Sola Akinrinade,Modupe Kolawole, Ibiyemi Mojola David O. Ogungbile, Ife, Faculty of Arts,O.A. U., 2004 p. 32.

10. Anyiam–Osigwe, opus cit, p. 7.

11. Ibid, p. 8.

12. Anyiam– Osigwe, opus cit, p. 15.

13. Ernest, J. Gaines, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, United States ofAmerica, Bantam Books, 1971, p. 108.

14. J. S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, London, Hienemann, 1969, p.102.

15. Ibid. p. 104

16. Anyiam–Osigwe, Towards A Better World Order, p. 54.

17. Ibid, p. 16

18. David Jenkins, opus cit, p. 260. Also see Roger Scruton, The West and theRest, London, Continuum, 2002, particularly Chapter Four.

19. Ibid, p. 261.

20. Anyiam–Osigwe, As It Was In the Beginning, p. 34.