History in Africa

[Link]

Additional services for History in Africa:

Email alerts: Click here

Subscriptions: Click here
Commercial reprints: Click here
Terms of use : Click here

The Works of A.E. Agbo on Nigeria: an

Historiographical Essay

Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

History in Africa / Volume 33 / January 2006, pp 155 - 178

DOI: 10.1353/hia.2006.0012, Published online: 09 May 2014

Link to this article: [Link]

abstract_S0361541300004034

How to cite this article:

Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton (2006). The Works of A.E. Agbo on Nigeria:
an Historiographical Essay . History in Africa, 33, pp 155-178 doi:10.1353/
hia.2006.0012

Request Permissions : Click here

Downloaded from [Link] IP address: [Link] on 13 May 2015

 THE WORKS OF A.E. AFIGBO ON NIGERIA:
AN MSTORIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

TOYIN FALOLA
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

MATTHEW HEATON
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

Nigeria in the post-independence years has seen its share of hardship.

Politically dominated by military dictatorships, economically dominated
by the ravages of underdevelopment, and culturally dominated by internal
ethnic tensions and external stereotyping, Nigeria certainly seems to have
suffered from an overabundance of problems and a dearth of solutions in
the last forty plus years. This period, full of scholarly debate on these
issues, also closely parallels the academic career of A.E. Afigbo. Afigbo,
who graduated with a Ph.D. in History from the University of Ibadan in
1964, was the first History doctorate produced on Nigerian soil. He is
both a product and a victim of the Nigerian nation, and his scholarly
writings deeply reflect these contradictions. From that point in 1964—the
era of hope and anguish—to the present day—the era of anguish without
hope—he has been among the vanguard of scholars in Nigerian history
and African studies. He wanted to write about the past, but the present
pressured him severely. Starting as a "Nigerian," he became a "Biafran"
during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-70), and again a "Nigerian" there-
after. These transitions provide some kind of "political charter" to some
of his writings.
It has been a remarkable career. He has authored or co-authored eight
books, edited four more, and published well over a hundred journal arti-
cles. Afigbo has earned numerous prizes for his scholarship, has served on
the editorial board of many acclaimed scholarly journals, including the

History in Africa 33 (2006), 155-178

156 Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

Journal of African History and History in Africa, and has been inducted
into many prestigious societies, including the Nigerian Academy of Let-
ters. Nigeria has also honored him with its highest academic award, the
National Order of Merit.
What is most impressive about Afigbo's writings is not their quantity
but their overall quality. He heavily promotes the study of history, not for
its own sake, but for a purpose. Whether tackling issues of underdevelop-
ment, racism, corruption, or educational standards, all of Afigbo's work
attempts to address the present-day needs of Nigeria with an aim to
improving its prospects for the future. While a broad range of literature
exists attempting to explain Nigeria's present problems, Afigbo consistent-
ly traces them all to one factor in Nigeria's past, the onset of British colo-
nial rule around the turn of the twentieth century. The problem, as Afigbo
sees it, is that colonial rule initiated a social model whereby Nigeria's
indigenous elite—by which we mean those Nigerians educated in the
Western mould and therefore considered qualified to influence and govern
the Western-modeled independent Nigerian state—became culturally dis-
connected from the relatively uneducated masses in a way that had not
existed in the precolonial period. This cultural disconnect has continued to
the present day, 45 years after the creation of an independent Nigerian
government.
The educated elite, Afigbo believes, have come to rely heavily on the
West for political backing, economic models, cultural values, and even
academic inspiration. The problem with this, he argues, is that the models
developed organically in Europe and America over time are fit to meet the
specific needs of European and American circumstances. They are not,
however, necessarily suited to meet the immediate specific needs of the
Nigerian population, which has significantly different historical baggage.
As a result, he tends to imply, Western models of governance and develop-
ment have failed, and will continue to fail, in Nigeria.
Afigbo believes that the first step toward stabilizing the political system
and creating policies of sustainable development in Nigeria lies in making
the Western educated elite understand that they must find unique and
locally appropriate answers to Nigeria's specific problems. He believes
that historians, in particular, have a role to play in bringing this about
through demonstrating to elite Nigerians the value and viability of their
own communities' traditional ways of life, particularly through historical
analysis of the precolonial period, and by helping to improve Nigeria's
image in the international scholarly community through comparative
analyses of their respective traditional worldviews. Through greater
understanding of the precolonial past, which Afigbo argues still affects
how most Nigerian communities function, new Nigeria-centered policies
 The Works ofA.E. Afigbo on Nigeria 157

can be implemented that will capitalize on Nigeria's traditional strengths

rather than attempting to rebuild Nigerian society in the image of the
West. In this way Afigbo hopes that Nigeria will also find something valu-
able to contribute to the global dialogues on politics, economics and cul-
ture, bringing to Africa some of the international respect that it has so
long sought and so long been denied.
The rest of this essay will explain in more detail, and through the use of
Afigbo's own writings, how he sees the history of his country, and how
this history has affected the present attitude of elite, as well as how he
hopes to redirect this historical trajectory towards the better future
described above. By using Afigbo's own works to flesh out these ideas,
which he never fully does in one piece, the overall consistency of his vision
will become apparent, as well as its intrinsic benefits and detriments. It
will also become clear that Afigbo's life's work illuminates more than
Nigeria's past and hopes for the future. It also provides an archetype for
the struggles of Nigerian historians desperately, but vigorously, asserting
the relevance of their field in a country financially hamstrung and current-
ly touting other priorities.

II

As mentioned above, Afigbo sees the main turning point in Nigerian

history as stemming from the onset of colonial rule. In order to explain
colonial rule as a turning point, Afigbo must establish a significant differ-
ence between Nigeria under colonial rule and Nigeria in precolonial times.
Afigbo does this dramatically and effectively in his many articles recon-
structing the precolonial past in his home region of southeastern Nigeria
from archeological, linguistic, written, and oral sources. Afigbo's research
shows that southern Nigeria was mostly composed of largely autonomous
societies in the precolonial era. Despite their relative autonomy, however,
he shows that these societies had developed sophisticated interrelation-
ships. For instance, in one article, Afigbo unpacks the developing scholar-
ship proposing that the Jukun of what is now eastern Nigeria were not, in
fact, the "political and military" overlords of a quasi-imperial system con-
taining multitudinous separate ethnic groups, as had previously been
believed.1 They were, rather, the ritual overlords of the region, holding no
direct political or economic control over surrounding areas. Based on this
evidence, Afigbo concludes that the communities under the Jukun shadow
were all relatively independent, although they recognized their affinity
with each other through a common linkage to the Jukun.

X
A.E. Afigbo, "The Benue Valley in Nigerian History" in Toyin Falola, ed., Nigerian
History, Politics, and Affairs: the Collected Essays of Adiele Afigbo (Trenton, 2005),
63-76.
 158 Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

Afigbo makes a similar point about the social organization of the vari-
ous peoples of southeastern Nigeria in the nineteenth century. He
describes the communities in this region as independent from each other.
However, each community had specific attributes for which it was known,
a specific contribution that it made to the overall well-being of the entire
region, whether it be military prowess, maintenance of an oracle, or fine
craftsmanship.2 All of these communities, while independent, contributed
to the survival and success of each other. Thus, Afigbo explains, in nine-
teenth-century southeastern Nigeria there was certainly a sense of local
identity, but this identity was tempered by an understanding of its place
within a larger social, political, and economic unit. While there were cer-
tainly societal differences across space, Afigbo makes the point of noting
that often the extent of inter-reliance was so profound that boundaries
were fluid, and cultural overlap was on such a level that it was impossible
to tell geographically where one group of people ended and another
began.3
Afigbo expands on the ways that the local identities of nineteenth-cen-
tury southeastern Nigeria interacted in other places. He describes the ways
that oracles united peoples across a wide geographic range under a single
cosmic authority. Inter-ethnic marriages and the creation of secret soci-
eties based on occupation or regional prestige also forged ties between
communities and led to increases in breadth and depth of economic rela-
tionships, as well as to increased cultural exchange across groups. Afigbo
explains that, due to such widespread contact and communication, wars
between these communities were infrequent; however, when they did
occur they were conducted on established diplomatic conventions, and
only if war became the only means by which the needs of disputing com-
munities could be safeguarded.4
Afigbo's writings on precolonial southeastern Nigerian societies are
focused primarily on the need to explain that inter-ethnic relations in pre-
colonial southeastern Nigeria were based on fluidity and cultural inter-
play, in which communities actively tried to create ties with each other
that would be beneficial to all parties. Community leadership was based

2
E.g., A.E. Afigbo, "Trade and Trade Routes in 19th Century Nsukka," Journal of the
Historical Society of Nigeria (henceforth JHSN) 7/1(1973), 77-90, explains how certain
areas became recognized for certain trade goods.
3
Afigbo, "Benue Valley." Other pieces with similar themes include A.E. Afigbo, An
Outline of Igbo History (Owerri, 1986); A.E. Afigbo,"Igboland before 1800" in Obaro
Ikime, ed., Groundwork of Nigerian History (Ibadan, 1980), 73-88.
4
A.E. Afigbo,"The Cross River Region in the Precolonial Era: External Contacts and
Relations" in Falola, Nigerian History, 125-44; idem., "Nigeria's Socio-Ecology and
Institutional Performance: The Case of the Public Service" in Falola, Nigerian History,
503-30.
 The Works of A.E. Afigbo on Nigeria 159

on traditional means, and rulers were in tune with the needs of their con-
stituencies.5 This is a direct comment by Afigbo on the seemingly stratified
nature of ethnic identities in contemporary Nigeria, and the current dis-
connect he sees between elite attitudes toward development and the actual
needs of the people. It is an attempt to explain that things were not always
this way and need not be so now. However, in order to explain the differ-
ence between then and now, Afigbo must show the process of change.
Change, for Afigbo, begins with the onset of colonial rule in the early
twentieth century. While a sophisticated and effective set of locally appro-
priate values with origins deep in the African past formed the basis of gov-
ernance in precolonial Nigeria, the policies of the British colonial govern-
ment changed the traditional political and economic structures significant-
ly—and for the worse, according to Afigbo. In the first place, well before
the advent of colonial rule, the British outlawing of the slave trade dis-
rupted traditional economies, while the growing size and forcefulness of
the Christian missionary influence undermined traditional power struc-
tures, paving the way for a relatively effortless colonial conquest by the
late nineteenth century.6 Secondly, once the colonial regime was set in
place, colonial administrators did not take accurate account of the condi-
tions on the ground in Nigeria, and, as such, created a system of adminis-
tration that, while proclaiming to preserve the traditional cultures and
institutions of Nigerian societies, actually transformed them in profound
ways.
Formal British colonialism brought permanent transformations to
Nigerian identity formation by creating arbitrary and illegitimate bound-
aries in the region, partly due to the fact that British knowledge of Niger-
ian societies was not comprehensive or entirely accurate, but partly
because even if their knowledge had been comprehensive and accurate
they would have found it difficult to tell where one significantly distinct
group of people ended and another began.7 Afigbo's own work makes
much of this process in his home region of southeastern Nigeria.8 The
British also permanently transformed traditional political systems. When
the British took over a region, after defining the boundaries of that region,
they had to rebuild the political institutions that they had undermined
through the process of conquest. This renegotiation of power relationships
often caused a transfer of loyalty on the part of the political leader from

5
For instance, A.E. Afigbo, "Igbo Political Leadership: Past, Present and Future," (Okig-
we, 1999), 5, describes Igbo political leaders as primus inter pares.
fA.E. Afigbo, "Southeastern Nigeria in the Nineteenth Century" in J.F.A. Ajayi and
Michael Crowder, eds., History of West Africa II (London, 1988), 429-84.
7
Afigbo, "Benue Valley."
'Afigbo, "Southeastern Nigeria."
160 Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

the indigenous people they governed to the colonial administration that

gave them power.9
Afigbo's work shows how the British colonial system attempted to con-
struct a social order hovering somewhere between traditional African
social structures and modernization of the region along Western lines.
When the British took power in Nigeria, they saw their job to create an
administrative superstructure that would preserve law and order, serve
British economic interests, and ultimately become financially self-support-
ive. However, Afigbo argues that this could not be accomplished as envi-
sioned due to the very policies that the British colonial administration
implemented. The amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Provinces
in 1914 and the extension indirect rule from the Northern Provinces into
the Southern Provinces contributed to ineffective colonial rule in Nigeria
and laid the foundations for many of the problems that Nigeria experi-
ences even today.
Afigbo discusses the effects of indirect rule, particularly in southeastern
Nigeria, in many of his essays.10 In these essays, he explains not only the
establishment of a colonial administration based on unsound intelligence,
but also the transition from a modernizing philosophy of colonial admin-
istration to indirect rule. He explains that the goal of the colonial adminis-
tration of southeastern Nigeria before 1912 was to more or less force
"civilized" European values and philosophies upon the "barbarous" peo-
ples of the region. This meant imposing a European system of law and
order and actively spreading Christianity and Western education, all the
while improving the efficiency of the exploitative infrastructure that vora-
ciously expropriated the natural resources of the area. Early colonial
administrators allowed indigenous rulers leeway over local governance,
but made sure to develop linkages between local governments and the cen-
tral colonial administration. The ideology behind this was that southeast-
ern Nigerians would incorporate the most beneficial aspects of European
culture into their own. This process would presumably allow them to pre-
serve from their own cultures that which was strong enough or useful
enough to exist alongside European culture, while the supposed negative
aspects of southeastern Nigerian cultures would be replaced by superior
European ways. This process of cultural infusion took a heavy-handed
approach at transforming all aspects of Nigerian society.11

relationship between the British colonial administration and local elites is thor-
oughly discussed in A.E. Afigbo, The Warrant Chiefs: Indirect Rule in Southeastern
Nigeria 1891-1929 (London, 1972).
10
Afigbo, "Lugard in Southeastern Nigeria: 1912-1919" in Falola, Nigerian History,
297-318.
11
Ibid.
 The Works of A.E. Afigbo on Nigeria 161

Frederick, Lord Lugard, however, believed that the goal of the colonial
administration was to protect and empower traditional social structures,
thereby making the colonial experience as unobtrusive as possible. To
Lugard the system of integrating European and African cultures which
was being developed in southeastern Nigeria posed a clear threat to tradi-
tional modes of governance and, after taking over as Governor-General of
Nigeria in 1912, he dismantled it in favor of his prescribed method of
"indirect" rule, developed and tested in the Northern Provinces, but now
to be instituted in the Southern Provinces as well.
Afigbo criticizes the implementation, administration, and legacy of
indirect rule in southeastern Nigeria in several essays.12 He notes that,
while the attempt to "civilize" Nigerian societies along British lines would
certainly have transformed social structures and eroded traditional cul-
tures and lifestyles, it would have at least allowed the general populations
of indigenous societies more options for development and upward mobili-
ty in the British imperial system with which they were being forced to
cooperate.13 Lugard's indirect rule, on the other hand, was adamantly
opposed to Europeanizing Nigerians, and so did not focus heavily on
development or Western education. Unfortunately, Lugard's system also
failed in its sacrosanct goal to protect the traditional cultures of southern
Nigeria. Lugard had perfected his brand of indirect rule in northern Nige-
ria, forming it around longstanding Islamic institutions of governance. He
believed that this system should be adopted to administer the non-Muslim
societies of southern Nigeria, without considering the significant cultural
differences between these two regions. Lugard's indirect rule also failed to
take into consideration the cultural differences within southern Nigeria,
and made no allowance for local circumstances to influence variations in
the policies of indirect rule.14
In effect, what Lugard did in the south was to substitute a form of alien
governance based on Western ideals with a different form of alien gover-
nance based on Islamic methods imported from the north, but without
providing the means for the general indigenous population to make sense
of it. Under indirect rule, the local indigenous elite still had to do business
with British administrators through an inorganic process, yet no attempt

12
Afigbo, "The Amalgamation: Myths, Howlers, and Heresie," in R.A. Olaniyan, ed.,
The Amalgamation and Its Enemies (Ile-Ife, 2003); idem., "Herbert Richmond Palmer
and Indirect Rule in Eastern Nigeria 1915-1928," JHSN 3/2(1966), 295-312; idem.,
"Local Government in Nigeria in the Era of Indirect Rule: 1900-1950" in Falola, Niger-
ian History, 271-96; idem., "Lugard in Southeastern Nigeria;" idem., "The Native Rev-
enue Ordinance in the Eastern Provinces: the Adventures of a Colonial Legislation" in
B.I. Obiehere, ed., Studies in Southern Nigerian History (London, 1983), 73-102.
13
Aiigbo, "Lugard in Southeastern Nigeria."
14
Ibid.
162 Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

was made to reorganize the indigenous social structures so that the aver-
age person could understand the newly-imposed political process as per
the goals of the original progressive colonial administrations in southeast-
ern Nigeria. In many cases, the elites chosen by the British to rule a given
area had no traditional claim to such authority, a significant transforma-
tion of the political structure.15 This unlinking of the general population
from the local elite resulted in an administrative system almost completely
disengaged from the needs of the populations whose political and cultural
traditions it was supposed to be preserving.16 This became the new politi-
cal tradition of Nigeria, and exists to this day according to Afigbo.
Over time, more and more privileged youths received the benefit of
Western education, but the British regime of indirect rule never intended it
to be available to the entire Nigerian population. Western education was
seen as a necessary evil that created the indigenous middlemen necessary
to maintain the "empire on the cheap" philosophy behind indirect rule.
While Western education allowed the Nigerian elite to gain the skills need-
ed to wage the battle for political independence, which reached its crescen-
do in the years after World War II, Afigbo argues in much of his work
that this increasingly Westernized elite has lost touch with the needs of the
rural majority, which is decidedly not Westernized. The Nigerian elite
continues to rely on Europe and the United States for solutions to Nige-
ria's problems. Afigbo believes that this is a root problem that must be
remedied in order for Nigeria to improve its political and economic
prospects for the future.
Afigbo sees a direct historical link between the political and cultural
transformation of the Nigerian elite created by indirect rule and the crisis
of underdevelopment that plagues Nigeria today. However, Afigbo is not
willing to blame colonialism for all of Nigeria's contemporary problems.
While many scholars have recognized a continuous stream of unequal
power relations between Africa and the West, beginning with the slave
trade in the fifteenth century through to the Western-dominated forces of
neo-colonialism that continue to drain Africa of its resources, Afigbo
believes that these phenomena in and of themselves do not constitute the
reason that Nigeria continues to suffer in comparison to her former colo-
nizer. Afigbo argues that this interpretation places the burden of responsi-
bility on nebulous forces beyond the control of Africa, making the actions
and decisions of Africans largely irrelevant in determining the course of

15
See, e.g., Afigbo, "Chief Igwegbe Odum: Oraenukor of History," Nigerian Magazine
90(1966), 222-31; idem., Warrant Chiefs.
16
E.g., Afigbo, "Native Revenue Ordinance in the Eastern Provinces: The Adventures of
a Colonial Legislation" in Falola, Nigerian History, 319-41.
 The Works of A.E. Afigbo on Nigeria 163

African events. The ideology of oppression itself perpetuates the view of

Africa as incapable of combating its problems. This conception of Africa's
history blames Europe for all of Africa's woes, suggesting that Africans
had no voice in the relationships developed between themselves and white
men over the course of the last six centuries. Afigbo argues that this expla-
nation is not true and does nothing to help the situation in which many
African countries, including Nigeria, currently find themselves.17
Afigbo argues that for Nigerian governance to improve and sustainable
development to occur, Nigerians must believe that they can take action
themselves to bring about a better future. Nigerians need to take responsi-
bility for their past, present and future and must become active partici-
pants in creating change.18 The main problem, however, is that Nigeria,
while continuing to blame many of its problems on its historical relation-
ship of dependence on the West, continues to seek answers to its problems
from the very places that it claims caused those problems in the first place.
Afigbo discusses in many essays the specific ways in which the Nigerian
elite has maintained a Western focus in terms of governmental and acade-
mic inspiration. In government, this reliance on Western methods has
resulted in failed policy after failed policy. In academics, it has resulted in
an inaccurate narrative of Nigerian history that has tended to recreate
Nigeria's past in a way that conforms to European models of state devel-
opment and empire-making, while focusing too heavily on the role of
large kingdoms in the development of precolonial societies.
Afigbo critiques the tendencies of the Nigerian government always to
borrow ideas from Western countries rather than develop locally appro-
priate methods of governance. This occurs for several reasons. In the first
place, he argues that government institutions tend towards a quick fix
mentality, preferring to address a problem by making the easiest change
available as quickly as possible rather than spend time and resources to
figure out exactly what the problem is and develop an appropriate
response.19 This usually means borrowing an idea already tested else-
where. Secondly, Afigbo suggests the government justifies such modes of
action on the premise that since Western ideas are well established and

17
Afigbo, "The Blackman, History and Responsibility" in Toyin Falola, ed. Myth, His-
tory and Society: the Collected Works of Adiele Afigbo (Trenton, 2005), 551-74.
18
Afigbo, "Blackman."
19
Afigbo, "History and the Nigerian Polity: the Case of the 1979 Federal Constitution"
in Falola, Nigerian History, 437-52. Afigbo discusses the merits and demerits of Niger-
ian federalism in other essays as well, including "Background to Nigerian Federalism:
Federal Features in the Colonial State," Publius 21/4(1991), 13-30; "The Nationality
Question and the Federal System in Nigeria" in R. Olaniyan, ed., Federalism in a
Changing World (Ile-Ife, 1989).
164 Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

effective in Western countries, the Nigerian government should be able to

copy Western models of success to receive similar results.20
One example of this process of borrowing from the West can be seen in
Nigeria's first two constitutions. Afigbo argues that Nigeria's first consti-
tution, under which the country gained independence from Britain, was
based closely upon the Westminster parliamentary system. This constitu-
tion failed within six years, ushering in 'over a decade of military rule.
When another attempt at republicanism was attempted in 1979, the
framers of the new constitution again chose to base their model on a for-
eign source, this time the constitution of the United States. This return to
democratic rule lasted less than three years, ending once again in military
coup. 21
Afigbo argues that these attempts to create a constitutional republic
failed primarily because the Nigerian government has never challenged the
concept that its method of governance should resemble the representation-
al models of Western countries. Since demographic makeup and tradition-
al modes of governance in Nigeria at the time of independence and after
were significantly different than in Europe or the United States, adopting
wholesale their modes of governance was not an appropriate way to meet
Nigeria's needs. Afigbo argues that until the Nigerian elite takes into
account the basic ways in which the political realities of Nigerian society
differ from those of Western societies, the political and economic situation
in Nigeria will not improve.22

Ill

Part of the reason that the elite continue to think along Western lines is
because they have been raised in an educational system that teaches them
to think along Western lines. Afigbo has also written many essays explain-
ing the ways that Nigerian historians have themselves borrowed heavily
from European models. In doing so, Nigerian historians have developed a
framework for the study of Nigeria that both underemphasizes and mis-
represents the traditional political, economic, and social structures to
which average Nigerians in their local settings still have a strong connec-
tion.
Afigbo argues that Nigerian historians have depended on European
models for theories of social development in Nigeria. He explains that
2
"E.g., A.E. Afigbo, "Black Africa's Intellectual Elite and the Challenge of Globaliza-
tion" (unpublished paper presented at an international conference on Africa and Global-
ization organized by CBAAC, Lagos, August 2001).
21
Afigbo, "History and the Nigerian Polity."
22
Afigbo, "Black Africa's Intellectual Elite and the Challenge of Globalization" in Falo-
la, Myth, History, and Society, 533-50.
 The Works of A.E. Afigbo on Nigeria 165

when scholars began to delve into the precolonial history of Nigeria begin-
ning in the 1940s and 1950s, it was assumed that the findings would paint
a picture of historical development very similar to the one undergone by
Europe in its formative stages. Since the development of European nations
was explained as the result of the rise and fall of great kingdoms, special
attention was paid to Nigerian traditions that indicated the same
process.23 As a result, histories of Nigeria have tended to focus heavily on
large centralized states and empires such as Benin, Oyo, and Sokoto as the
great civilizing forces in Nigerian history, the states that supposedly
birthed and influenced the development of all smaller surrounding com-
munities.24
Afigbo invokes much recent research indicating that these long-held
theories on the historical development of Nigeria are inaccurate. Particu-
larly for southeastern Nigeria, Afigbo consolidates the evidence and makes
strong points that the large kingdoms were not responsible for the peo-
pling of the surrounding areas in an attempt [Link] their imperial hold-
ings. Rather, through an analysis of oral traditions, archeological findings,
and recent secondary materials, he shows that a new theory indicating
that the great kingdoms actually grew out of pre-existing smaller commu-
nities is gaining legitimacy.25
Afigbo explains these misconceptions of the trajectory of precolonial
Nigerian history as developing not only from historians' a priori concep-
tions about what they should find when researching their country's past,
but also because of heavy reliance on European written sources, which in
the early days of Nigerian history constituted the only widely-accepted
sources for historical research.26 This has had multiple effects on the study
of Nigerian history. Reliance on European sources has reduced the scope
of study to the period after European contact and tends to present Euro-
pean actions in the region as the most important events affecting the
indigenous peoples.27 Written European sources also focused heavily on

23
Afigbo, "War and Historical Explanation in Eastern Nigeria" in Falola, Myth, Histo-
ry and Society, 143-60.
24
Afigbo, "The 'Bini Mirage' and the History of South-Central Nigeria," Nigeria Maga-
zine 137(1981), 17-24; idem., "Oral Tradition and Historical Explanation: A Case
Study from Central-Southern Nigeria" in N.C. Ejituwu, ed., The Multi-Disciplinary
Approach to African History (Port Harcourt, 1998).
25
Afigbo, '"Bini Mirage':" idem., "Oral Tradition;" idem., "The Anthropology and His-
toriography of Central-Southern Nigeria before and since Igbo-Ukwu," HA 23(1996),
1-15.
26
Ibid.; idem., "Colonial Historiography," in Toyin Falola, ed., African Historiography:
Essays in Honor of Jacob Ade Ajayi (London, 1993), 39-51.
27
A.E. Afigbo, "Monocausality and African Historiography: the Case of Efik society
and International Commerce," Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana
14/1(1974), 117-27.
 166 Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

large-scale political units because it was with these familiarly-ordered soci-

eties that Europeans could most easily relate and through which the
British hoped to rule the region indirectly.28 The result has been that the
concerns of colonial-era anthropologists and administrators became the
concerns of early Nigerian historians, who, forced to draw heavily from
the available writings, tended also to focus on political history and the
role of kingdoms and empires in the shaping of precolonial Nigerian soci-
ety.29
This kind of reliance on Europe for governmental and academic inspi-
ration has led to a closed-minded approach to problem solving at the poli-
cy level and has prevented Nigerian scholars from contributing creatively
to the global dialogue on any particular issue.30 Afigbo notes that even
when Nigerian academics invoke the demons of underdevelopment and
neo-colonialism to explain the travails of their country, they are them-
selves relying on another imported Western idea, part of the broad schol-
arship of social history in the West based on the need to study the condi-
tion of the underprivileged, with historiographical antecedents in classical
Marxism, among other European-invented academic movements.31
Afigbo believes that in order for Nigeria to break its pattern of bad
governance and underdevelopment, it must break its reliance on the West-
ern models that have so far failed to live up to expectations. The Nigerian
elite must recognize the need to turn its gaze back towards its local,
indigenous roots in order to combat underdevelopment and political tur-
moil at the levels where they have the greatest impact—among the rela-
tively uneducated rural majority. Historians, Afigbo believes, can help to
bring about this realization by writing histories that address the problems
that Nigeria faces today and re-establish the link between Nigeria's elite
and the masses of people whose needs they are supposed to represent.
Afigbo proposes dozens of specific ways that the study of Nigeria must be
refocused in order to bring about the goals of economic development,
political stability, and international respect for the country, but mainly he
is arguing for a paradigmatic shift in the way that Nigerian historians
think about Nigeria's history. Rather than an outward-based history that
focuses on European dominance, Western ideas, and the large kingdoms

28
Afigbo, "Anthropology and Historiography."
29
E.g., A.E. Afigbo, "The Aro Expedition of 1901-2: an Episode in the British Occupa-
tion of Ibo Land," Odu ns 7(April 1972), 3-27, in which Afigbo explains that percep-
tions of the dominance of the Aro in late nineteenth century were largely overempha-
sized in British colonial sources and have been perpetuated to the present.
30
Afigbo, "The Blackman in the Context of Global Civilization," Nsukka Journal of
Humanities 11(2000/01), 15-29; Afigbo, "Black Africa's Intellectual Elite."
Afigbo, "Of Men and War, Women and History" (valedictory lecture to the Universi-
ty of Nigeria at Nsukka, 1992).
 The Works ofA.E. Afigbo on Nigeria 167

that became the focus of the Europeanized history of Nigeria, Afigbo

wants historians to focus their attention on smaller local areas in order to
develop a democratized history of Nigeria in which all Nigerians have a
stake and through which all Nigerians can hope to prosper. He also hopes
to draw greater attention to the precolonial history of Nigeria in an effort
to reestablish the link between Nigeria's Westernized elite and the more
traditional lifestyles of the majority of Nigeria's citizens.32 Afigbo under-
takes this project of localizing Nigerian history through his own substan-
tial work on the Igbo-speaking peoples of southeastern Nigeria.

IV

Afigbo's work on the Igbo often illustrates the local consequences of the
cultural disconnect between the elite and the masses, illustrating quite
effectively one of the major reasons why political instability and economic
underdevelopment continue to plague the region. He notes in multiple
places how the Igbo elite tried to reorganize rural areas in Igboland to fol-
low more closely Western development plans by building hospitals, roads,
and other services that all modern cities provide their inhabitants, but
which had little use to these rural communities who could not or did not
use them.33 Development projects based on Western models of progress,
he argues, have not been appropriate in much of rural Igboland. Part of
this is because the populations of the towns that were to receive a hospital
or paved road were not included in deciding how to spend development
funds. Since their most immediate needs were not internally assessed, Afig-
bo believes that the funding for development projects has largely been mis-
spent.
Afigbo goes on to proclaim that this misappropriation of funds by the
elite has had severe political consequences in the region, as it has deepened
the gulf between the masses, who do not feel they can trust their elite rep-
resentatives to address their needs, and the elite, who think the masses do
not know what is in their own best interests.34 The result has been an
inability of Igbo politicians to mobilize their political bases to achieve any-
thing like pan-Igbo consciousness and, subsequently, to obtain their repre-
sentative share of power in the larger Nigerian state.35 According to him,
in order for the Igbo to congeal to the level of cooperation needed to

32
This agenda comes through clearly in Afigbo, "Some Thoughts on the Teaching of
History in Nigeria," Ikenga 2/2(1975), 1-13.
33
Afigbo, "Some Aspects of Rural Development in Igboland" (paper presented at con-
ference on rural development sponsored by NTA Aba, 1987).
34
Ibid.
35
Afigbo, "Igbo Political Leadership."
168 Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

develop a political and economic voice, the decentralized authority struc-

ture in Igboland, which has been the basis of Igbo political culture
throughout its history, must be recognized, and political reorganization
must occur with a mind to these traditions.36
Unfortunately, Afigbo argues, this is unlikely to happen in the current
political climate because the reliance on European sources to reconstruct
the precolonial Igbo past has resulted in interpretations of traditional Igbo
society that unfairly label the Igbo as politically unstable and belligerent.37
Afigbo claims that this is a skewed interpretation constructed by outsiders
who lacked an understanding of the depth of cultural meaning attached to
Igbo practices. Furthermore, while the Igbo were seen as responsible for
all the vices that European observers could pin to them, evidence of more
"civilized" Igbo traditions was compiled in pseudohistories claiming these
beneficial traits as substantiation that the Igbo were descended from or
influenced by one of the lost tribes of Israel.38 Indications of political
organization were often interpreted as proof of the influence of large king-
doms like Benin, which were of course considered more "civilized" than
acephalous communities.39
Afigbo believes that in order for traditional Igbo political and economic
methods to attain the respect they deserve, a reevaluation of this interpre-
tation must be undertaken. Through a synthesis of the up-to-date scholar-
ship on the subject, including works based on archeological, linguistic,
and oral evidence, he attempts to flesh out precolonial Igbo history by
providing some of the Igbo side of things. The more balanced view of Igbo
civilization in the precolonial era that he promotes in his writings helps to
redress some of the negative imaging perpetrated by previous scholarship,
situates local histories more centrally in the narrative of Nigerian history,
and promotes research into the traditional ways of life as a viable alterna-
tive to appropriating Western models that fit the political and economic
realities of Europe and America far better than the political and economic
realities of Nigeria.

36
Afigbo, "Some Aspects." Afigbo's respect for tradition carries beyond political and
economic considerations. In "Religion in Nsukka: A Historical Prolegomena" in Toyin
Falola, ed., Igbo History and Society: the Collected Essays of Adiele Afigbo (Trenton,
2005), 549-58, he urges Christians not to derogate traditional religious beliefs, but to
try and understand the cultural basis and value of traditional Igbo religion.
37
For instance, Afigbo argues against the idea that the Igbo do not constitute a nation,
using historical analysis, in "The Idea of Igbo Nationality and its Enemies" in Falola,
Igbo History and Society, 425-46.
38
Afigbo, "Traditions of Igbo Origins: a Comment," HA 10(1983), 1-11; Other essays
on Igbo origins include "The Place of Amaigbo in Igbo Traditions of Origin and Migra-
tion" in Falola, Igbo History and Society, 585-90.
39
Afigbo,"Our Essential History and Us," Toyin Falola, ed., Igbo History and Society,
91-106.
 The Works ofA.E. Afigbo on Nigeria 169

Afigbo takes issue with the assumptions that the Igbo are a society
lacking any recognizable political organization, remarking that this irre-
sponsible interpretation of the evidence has branded the Igbo as a nation
of anarchists incapable of consolidating resources for the benefit of the
greater Nigerian good.40 In several different essays, Afigbo discusses the
nature of Igbo political organization in order to explain how political
decentralization did not imply political disintegration.41 While he recog-
nizes that all Igbo-speaking peoples were never integrated into anything
like a single state structure, he does not believe that this means that Igbo
communities did not have any sort of political coherence. While some
Igbo groups incorporated political aspects of nearby monarchical systems
like the Benin, most Igbo groups, particularly those farther removed from
centralized kingdoms, tended to have independent governing councils, but
with underlying similarities. In form, he notes that Igbo village-groups
tended to be age-based hierarchies at the village level, with multiple vil-
lages centered around a market that also served as a center for political
gatherings. Politics in the village-group were more or less democratic, with
variance between direct democracy at the village level and representative
democracy at the village-group level. In this way Afigbo describes a system
of political organization at the local level that respected the autonomy and
individuality of the population and adequately governed the area mainly
by keeping lines of communication open.42
Afigbo also describes the various political forms of Igbo communities
as sharing an underlying spiritual philosophy. In this philosophy all Igbo
persons are linked through their ancestry and, as such, have a responsibili-
ty to partake in maintaining the community that those ancestors created.
Those who worked to conserve the traditional values and institutions of
the ancestors would reap the benefits of upright citizenship, while those
who refused to abide by the traditional rules were not only breaking the
law, but committing sacrilege. This served as a major deterrent against
anti-social conduct and helps to explain the relative unimportance placed
by the Igbo on the centralization of political power in the hands of one or
a few people. With this as the undercurrent to the decentralized political
system of the Igbo, social cohesion was established and preserved genera-
tion after generation. Through his analysis from the Igbo perspective,
Afigbo is able to revise the understanding of Igbo political history. In this
way, he balances the view of the Igbo as anarchic with a view of the Igbo
as intensely individualistic and democratic.

40
See, for instance, Afigbo, "The Igboness of Asaba, or a Matter of Identity" in Falola,
Igbo History and Society, 605-12.
41
Afigbo, "The Indigenous Political Systems of the Igbo," Tarikh 2(1973), 13-23.
42
Ibid.
 170 Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

Afigbo also uses this logic to address what he considers the myth of
universal Igbo belligerence. He notes in more than one place that warfare
among the Igbo was far less common in the precolonial period than popu-
larly perceived.43 Furthermore, he argues that the Igbo resistance to the
British colonial advance should be recognized as less universal than once
thought because different Igbo groups fought the British at different times
and for different reasons, with or without strong alliances from other Igbo
groups. While some went to war to maintain their independence and eco-
nomic control, others engaged in negotiations. Because there was no single
Igbo political authority, each community undertook its own relations with
the British based on its own needs and capabilities.44
This deeper understanding of Igbo political traditions and traditional
warfare habits, Afigbo would argue, could serve as a basis upon which to
reformulate political policies in Nigeria by looking at the circumstances
under which Nigerians themselves live and the traditions that they respect,
rather than importing yet another alien concept from the West. The same
could be said for Afigbo's ideas about economic development in Igboland.
Afigbo believes that just as research into traditional political structures
may hold the key to developing a more stable and legitimate political sys-
tem in Igboland, research into traditional economic activities may hold the
key to sustainable economic development.45 Afigbo believes that the
neglect of traditional industries on the part of development planners has
been a major impediment to improving economic conditions in southeast-
ern Nigeria. New, "modern" industries fail to flourish in the region
because the people have no historical connection with them. At the same
time, traditional industries that have much stronger historical connection
to the communities do not realize their full potential due to lack of gov-
ernment support.
An example of a traditional industry with significant ties to the com-
munities of Igboland is the textile industry. Afigbo has written several
essays explaining the historical importance of this industry; its possibilities
for growth, strength and stability in the current economic climate; and the

43
Afigbo, "The Age of Innocence: the Igbo and Their Neighbours in Precolonial Times,"
Ahiajoku Lectures (1981), 6-27; idem., "Towards a Study of Weaponry in Precolonial
Igboland" in Nigerian Warfare through the Ages (Kaduna, forthcoming), explains that
warfare technology among the precolonial Igbo was undeveloped, indicating that war
was not common enough to stimulate innovation in weaponry or the creation of an
industry specifically to produce weapons.
44
E.g., Afigbo, "Patterns of Igbo Resistance to British Conquest," Tarikh 4/3(1973), 14-
23.
45
The role of historians to the economic development of Nigeria is outlined particularly
strongly in Afigbo, "History and National Development: the Example of Nigeria,"
Nigerian Defense Academy Journal 1/2(1980), 43-59.
 The Works ofA.E. Afigbo on Nigeria 171

ways that historians can research this industry to express its vitality and
viability.46 Other traditional industries that Afigbo believes have promise
include pottery, smithing, palm oil processing, soap manufacture, and
carving.47 However, Afigbo realizes that currently the cultural rift between
the elite and the masses has prevented meaningful communication on the
development of the region from occurring.48 Through greater research
into the economic importance and cultural significance of these industries
to the traditional fabric of Igbo life, Afigbo hopes to raise awareness of
unique, locally appropriate means of sustainable economic development
for Nigeria.49

Afigbo also indicates in his writings that a shift in focus towards pre-
colonial local histories could help to inculcate a sense of national unity
among Nigerians. He believes that the stratified ethnic identities
entrenched by colonial rule have stunted political discourse in Nigeria and
have caused many Nigerians to believe that they have clear, present, and
longstanding enemies within Nigeria's borders, and therefore more
responsibility to the survival of their lineage than of their country. He
blames this attitude in part for poor service extension in the public sector,
and hints that it also contributes to the generally slow pace of develop-
ment in Nigeria.50 Furthermore, since many believe that the country does
not work in their best interests, they feel they have no stake in the success
of the country as a whole.51 Afigbo does not believe that this ethnic ten-
sion and lack of cooperative spirit are historical characteristics of the
groups that currently make up Nigeria, however. His own work stresses
the commonalities between groups, and urges historians and other schol-
ars to follow up on his findings.52

46
Afigbo, Weaving Tradition in Igbo Culture (Lagos, 1985); Afigbo also discusses the
textile industry in idem., "Oral Tradition."
47
Afigbo, "Some Aspects."
48Ibid.
49
Afigbo, "Nsukka Zone: Culture, History and Development" in Falola, Igbo History
and Society, 559-68; idem., "Development in Okigwe: an Ethno-Historical Perspective"
in Falola, Igbo History and Society, 569-76; idem., "Culture and Development in Okig-
we Senatorial District: From 'Need' to 'How'" in Falola, Igbo History and Society, 577-
84.
5
"Afigbo. "Nigeria's Socio-Ecology;" idem., "Developing a New Civil Society and/or
Order for Nigeria: the Problems and the Prospects" (lecture given to University of
Ibadan Alumni Association, Owerri Chapter, 2000).
5
^'Nigeria's Socio-Ecology."
52
Afigbo, "History and National Development," probably paints the clearest picture of
the way that Afigbo hopes the study of history can contribute to national unity and the
role of national unity in economic development.
 172 Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

Afigbo believes that Nigerians have much ground on which to recog-

nize their historical similarities and base policies that stress a unity of pur-
pose. However, these have not been the focus of the education system in
Nigeria, which has fallen victim to ethnic politics and economic crisis.53
He argues that Nigerians have many historical linkages that can be used to
define them as a single people. These include common humanity, racial
identity, trans-ethnic economic interaction, complementary geographies
that facilitate interdependence, and a similar history of interaction with
the Western world, and even oral traditions indicating common ances-
try.54 Afigbo also stresses in his work on precolonial Nigeria that local
fieldwork into Nigeria's distant past helps develop this sense of common
background and historical trajectory. He believes that the study of arche-
ology and Nigeria's distant past could help develop a sense of national
unity by focusing on remote time periods when neighboring societies func-
tioned in much the same way to achieve much the same goals. Afigbo
believes that through the comparative study of precolonial Nigerian soci-
eties' technological, economic, and social systems, historians and archeol-
ogists can stress the essential oneness of human endeavor.55
While Afigbo believes that the study of Nigeria's precolonial history
can help to develop something of a sense of common identity between dif-
ferent groups, his work also aims to prove the historical interdependence
and cooperation of those groups. He does this particularly strongly in his
local histories on Igbo groups, in which he explains in depth the extent to
which social, political and economic ties had formed between different
communities, creating a large-scale system of interactions in southeastern
Nigeria long before the imposition of European dominance.56 Although
these works deal specifically with inter-Igbo relations, Afigbo makes clear
that the same kind of history could and should be applied across larger
areas and that the Igbo should always recognize themselves as part of a
wider historical context in which goods and people moved across bound-
aries on a regular basis for the greater benefit of all peoples.57

53
Afigbo, "Towards a Culture of Peace in Nigeria" in Falola, Nigerian History, 559-70;
idem., "Myth, History and National Orientation in Nigeria" in A. Banjo, ed., Humanity
in Context (Ibadan, 2001), 79-127, pushes for a pan-Nigerian history curriculum,
among other things.
54
Afigbo, "Myth, Society, and History," Tarikh 9(1991), 8-18.
55
Afigbo, "History, Archaeology and the Schools in Nigeria," West African Journal of
Education 20/3(1976), 401-15.
56
Afigbo, "Southeastern Nigeria, the Niger-Benue Confluence and the Benue in the Pre-
colonial Period: Some Issues of Historiography," HA 25(1998), 1-8; idem., "Prolegome-
na to the Study of the Culture History of the Igbo Speaking Peoples" in F.C. Ogbalu and
E.N. Emenanjo, eds., Igbo Language and Culture (Oxford, 1975).
57
Afigbo, "Of Men and War; " idem., "Igbo Interest in Nigeria: the Prelude" in Falola,
Igbo History, 469-76, argues that precolonial Igbo communities had strong economic
ties with non-Igbo communities well before the amalgamation of Nigeria.
 The Works ofA.E. Afigbo on Nigeria 173

Afigbo's emphasis on precolonial local histories is not meant only to

address the internal problems of contemporary Nigeria. Many of these
pieces also attempt to improve the image of Nigeria in the wider world by
bringing the traditional practices and beliefs of local Nigerian communi-
ties into comparison with similar practices that continue to thrive in other
areas of the globe. Just as Afigbo hopes to prove to Nigerians the com-
monalities they have with each other, he also hopes to prove to the inter-
national community that "backwards" African traditions actually have
much in common with "civilized" belief systems. For instance, Afigbo
laments the fact that none of the literature on religious studies lists a single
African religion as a recognized "world" religion. He goes on to show
how the Igbo traditional religion, with its emphasis on explaining the laws
and functions of the cosmos, holds more in common with established
world religions like Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism than has ever been
recognized by the Western definers of what constitutes a world religion.58
In different pieces, Afigbo conducts analyses of the Igbo conceptions of
time and the structure of Igbo origin myths, explaining the similarities of
both of these aspects of Igbo worldview to ancient Greek and Judeo-
Christian tradition, among others.59 Through comparisons between Niger-
ian traditions and Western traditions, Afigbo hopes that greater apprecia-
tion of traditional Nigerian beliefs and practices can be achieved not only
amongst the Westernized Nigerian elite, but also within the global com-
munity.
The methodology that Afigbo sees as contributing to these new pre-
colonial local histories must also be conducted on a local level. Afigbo
believes that the responsibility of reorienting history lies with the masses
of people whom the new history is meant to benefit. Afigbo argues that
the masses must take part in re-establishing the cultural link with the elite
by helping to compile the sources on which the reoriented history must be
based.60 Afigbo calls on scholars and non-scholars alike to aid in the
process of developing stronger local histories. His ideas are directed specif-
ically at Igbo-speaking peoples, but could easily be applied to members of
any of Nigeria's hundreds of distinctly categorized ethnicities. Students of
history, says Afigbo, should be encouraged to focus their BA and MA
reports on topics in the precolonial histories of their communities.61 He

58
Afigbo, "Ancestral Igbo Religion and Cosmos and the Idea of World Religion,"
(paper presented at an International Conference on Religion organized by the Whelan
Research Academy, Owerri, Imo State, October 2002).
59
Afigbo, "Time and Its Measurement in Igbo Culture," Nigerian Heritage 10(2001);
idem., "The Dialogue of Civilizations: Aspects of Igbo Wisdom Knowledge," Bulletin of
Ecumenical Theology 13(2001).
60
Afigbo,"Towards a History;" idem., Obi Ikenga: The Case for a Pan-Igbo Center for
Igbo Studies (Uturu, 2000).
61
Afigbo, "Our Essential History and Us."
 174 Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

urges students to use their break periods to collect oral interviews, which
can then be preserved for the use of future scholars.62 He also suggests
that secondary schools establish programs to collect information about
precolonial Nigeria to increase the amount and availability of source
material available to scholars.
Afigbo argues that this would also serve to inculcate in youngsters
some pride in their heritage.63 He urges people to contribute to preserving
history and tradition by recording words that are falling out of the indige-
nous languages and writing biographies of family members in order to
record their remembrances on Nigeria's past, generally collecting more
oral sources.64 Ultimately, Afigbo sees such historical activism at the
grassroots level as the gift that the Nigerian masses can give themselves.
This work, Afigbo argues, will help the Nigerian elite to see the relevance
of their local experiences to the overall success of the Nigerian state. It
will also help Nigerians to develop a sense of unity of purpose, help to
preserve Nigerian tradition, and help to prove to the Western world that
Nigerian traditions and values are as relevant to contemporary Nigeria as
British or American traditions and values are to their own societies.

VI

Afigbo's history is certainly a history with an agenda. Ultimately, he wants

historical research to contribute to finding solutions to Nigeria's contem-
porary problems of underdevelopment, political instability, and interna-
tional under-appreciation. Afigbo never doubts for a second that deeper
research into Nigeria's precolonial past from the local perspective will do
exactly that. It is easy to criticize history with an agenda, however, and
Afigbo does so himself repeatedly in his work. He argues on more than
one occasion that the histories written by earlier generations of Nigerian
historians failed to present an accurate rendering of Nigerian history
because of the agenda they were promoting through their writings. For
instance, nationalist historians of the 1950s and 1960s all wrote ground-
breaking histories of Nigeria at a time when the nationalist push for inde-
pendence from British rule was the most important political concern in the
country. As a result, Afigbo argues, the early works of these pioneering
historians dealt mainly with the ills of colonialism, to prove its illegitimacy
as a system of governance, or with great kingdoms of the past, in order to
show the capacity of Nigerians to govern themselves powerfully and effec-

62
Ibid.
63
Afigbo, "Myth, History and National Orientation in Nigeria."
64
Afigbo, "Towards a History;" idem., "Our Essential History and Us."
 The Works ofA.E. Afigbo on Nigeria 175

tively. Partially because of their source base, but also partially because of
their nationalist agenda, Afigbo believes that these historians overstated
the importance of large kingdoms and centralized political systems in their
reconstructions of the Nigerian past.65
Afigbo now calls for a pendulum shift in the opposite direction,
towards local histories of smaller groups, but with an agenda to merge
local traditions with the political and economic needs of contemporary
Nigeria. The question that must be asked is, will research based on this
agenda necessarily provide a more accurate interpretation of Nigeria's
past than the previous interpretation that Afigbo criticizes? In searching
for a specific kind of evidence, might Afigbo and any other historians who
choose to aid in his mission blind themselves to evidence that does not fit
their model? The possibility certainly exists, and as Afigbo indicates in his
own work, has occurred before in the historiography of Nigeria.
The possibility that Afigbo's agenda could paint a distorted picture of
Nigerian history can be seen in his own tendency to ignore issues in Nige-
ria's recent past in favor of in-depth research into Nigeria's more distant
past. For instance, one must wonder to what extent knowledge of the pre-
colonial history of ethnic fluidity in Nigeria can really trump more recent
instances of ethnic violence in Nigeria. Afigbo's work seems to skirt this
issue for the most part. While it is one thing to prove that the colonial
government arbitrarily drew boundaries that divided previously non-dif-
ferentiable zones of contact, it is another to suggest that this knowledge
would in any way override sentiments that have developed as a result of
problems that have occurred since the drawing of those boundaries. As an
example, it is well known that Nigeria underwent a bloody civil war in the
1960s, the causes of which have often been attributed to ethnic strife, and
which itself has been fuel to the ethnic firestorm in the years since its con-
clusion.
Afigbo admits that the Biafran war has been one of the major factors
contributing to negative perception of the Igbo people. However, his
response is to focus more heavily on precolonial Igbo society to redress the

g., Afigbo, "Fact and Myth in Nigerian Historiography," Nigeria Magazine 122/23
(1976), 81-98. This article also criticizes earlier trends in the historiography for their
"irrationalities," including the racist ideology of colonial historiography and the need of
Islamic historians to link their societies to Mecca causing misinterpretations of Nigeria's
past. Also, idem., "Monocausal Explanations in African History: a Prevalent Distor-
tion," Tarikh 6/1(1978), 31-38. However, in "History as Statecraft" (Nigerian National
Merit Award: Award Winners' Lecture" in Falola, Myth, History, and Society, 357-80,
Afigbo recognizes the tendency of history to support an agenda, and finds no fault with
this per se. It is simply a matter of what that agenda is and if it meets the needs of the
time.
 176 Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

issue. He does not at any time suggest or attempt a reevaluation of this

conflict and its contribution to ethnic discord throughout the country. To
do so would in itself reopen old wounds; however, Afigbo tends to treat
the distant past as if it should have a greater influence on people than the
recent past. This suggestion seems unlikely unless an active attempt is
made to incorporate events of the recent past more fully into the new nar-
rative of Nigerian history that Afigbo horjes will grow out of his writings.
As of this point, however, Afigbo's work has not addressed the history of
post-colonial Nigeria to any significant extent.
When criticizing Afigbo for developing an agenda for his discipline, we
must take into account that many Nigerian historians do not necessarily
have the luxury of searching for "Truth" with a capital "T." While some
Western scholars might consider this impossible in any case, in Nigeria the
prospect is worse than impossible: it is impractical. Afigbo is fighting for
much more than a historiography that can contribute to the needs of
Nigeria today. He is also fighting for the very survival of History as an
academic discipline in Nigeria. In a country that cannot produce enough
doctors and engineers to meet the needs of the population, let alone retain
them in Nigeria once they earn their degrees, it is difficult to justify spend-
ing financial and intellectual capital on developing professional
historians.66 Afigbo notes that diminishing resources have meant the loss
of History as required curriculum for secondary schools, and therefore a
reduced interest in History at the university level.67 Therefore, when Afig-
bo argues for history with an agenda to address the needs of Nigeria and
help build a stronger, more stable, developed and prosperous country for
the future, he is preaching to the unconverted. In effect, he is arguing that
historians can be just as valuable to Nigeria's interests as doctors or engi-
neers.
Afigbo's work, therefore, allows readers to comprehend not only the
historical thread of Nigeria's past, but also how Nigeria's history relates
to the problems of contemporary Nigeria. While the colonial era was
short, Afigbo believes that it brought about a significant transformation of
the political and cultural link between the elites and the masses, particu-
larly in southeastern Nigeria, the area in which he focuses his gaze most
intensely. Whereas in precolonial southeastern Nigeria, political leaders
were more or less democratically sanctioned, the colonial system of "indi-
rect" rule caused local rulers to turn away from their indigenous roots,
both in terms of representation and inspiration. Nigeria's rulers instead

66
Afigbo harps against the "brain drain" in "Blackman in the Context of Global Civi-
lization."
67
Afigbo, "Towards a Culture of Peace."
 The Works ofA.E. Afigbo on Nigeria 177

began to look to the West for quick, but inappropriate, solutions to Nige-
ria's problems. The same can be said for the broad swath of educated
Nigerian historians, who Afigbo believes have misrepresented the history
of Nigeria due to Western influences in sources and methods of historical
reconstruction. This focus on the West to solve Nigeria's problems has
been one of the main reasons that Nigeria has failed to meet the high
expectations set for it at the time of independence.
In order for Nigeria to make strides towards a better future, Afigbo
believes that two things must happen. First, Nigerians must recognize that
their problems cannot be solved by quick-fix models imported from the
West. Nigerians must accept that they must develop appropriate answers
to their own problems, based on a researched assessment of Nigeria's cur-
rent circumstances. Afigbo believes that historians have a lot to offer in
this process. Through greater research into Nigeria's past, a strong under-
standing of the traditional politics and economies of local Nigerian com-
munities can emerge, one that respects and cultivates the diversity of Nige-
ria's peoples in order to achieve policies that will help to reconcile the
development needs of the masses with the development ideals of the elites.
By focusing attention on precolonial local histories of traditional ways
of life, Afigbo also hopes that a greater sense of nationalism might devel-
op, as more and more people could begin to see their historical connec-
tions with other Nigerian groups, and through greater incorporation into
the national history begin to see a greater place for themselves in the
national future. Afigbo also believes that work on the precolonial history
of Nigeria will help to improve the reputation of Nigerians, and sub-Saha-
ran Africans in general, in the global arena. Just as Nigerian nationalism
can be built through common understanding of the basic similarities of
Nigerian peoples, Afigbo believes that the same understanding of basic
similarities can be achieved with the Western world through comparative
work on their respective worldviews and traditional ways of life. This is
certainly a long-term goal, but one that Afigbo argues stands a much
greater chance of success than the continued reliance on Western models
that have a track record of consistent failure.
Although Afigbo's agenda for Nigerian historians can be undercut in
the academic sense by the credo that historical research should be unbi-
ased and without preconceived conclusions, this does not make Afigbo's
work less valuable to historians of Nigeria. Through his work, one can
grasp not only a comprehensive interpretation of Nigeria's precolonial and
colonial periods, but also an in-depth understanding of the historical
debates in the study of Nigeria. One also catches a glimpse of the trials of
conducting historical research in contemporary Nigeria, where the desire
for science and technology currently outstrips the want for historical reori-
178 Toyin Falola and Matthew Heaton

entation. In the end, even though the subject matter of Afigbo's life work
is focused on the past and its role in Nigeria's future, he is equally
absorbed with the struggles of the present, making his work recognizable
as a product of its time. It is the uncanny capacity of Afigbo to be both
timeless and timely that will ensure that scholars continue to return to his
works for many years to come, not only for secondary reference of the
past, but also for a primary account of the current epoch and inspiration
for the future. In this sense, A.E. Afigbo has earned his place amongst the
great scholars of Nigerian history.