PHIL103: Moral and Political Philosophy

The Igbo occupy the southeastern part of Nigeria and constitute one of the three dominant ethnic groups in Nigeria, with a population of about twenty-three million. The Igbo fall into two main groups: Riverine and Heartland Igbos. There are more than thirty dialects of the Igbo language, and there is great variance in their mutual intelligibility. However, to enhance communication a central Igbo language has been developed from the various dialects. This is the language taught in schools and used in commerce. Like many other Africans, the Igbo are a deeply spiritual people who believe in "one God, in lesser deities, spirits and in ancestors who are regarded as lesser deities and may be worshipped as such. This traditional religion is non-aggressive or evangelical but involves the use of propitiatory rites designed to appease the deities or to request their aid in times of need and crisis".

Most Igbo societies are described as acephalous, in that they operate through a decentralized government. In this political and administrative arrangement authority is exercised through age grades, lineage heads, and pressure groups. There are also a few Igbo kingdoms, namely the Onitsha, Agbaja, Arochukwu, and Aboh. Despite the hierarchical social and political arrangement in Igbo societies that incorporate a constitutional monarchy, villages in these societies remain autonomous, and leadership is exercised through the Council of Elders. Furthermore, participatory democracy and the egalitarian outlook of the people are not affected. Awa explains that

This political arrangement and process are not peculiar to the Igbo. According to Ayittey, in "virtually all the African tribes, political organization of both types began at the village level. The village was made up of various extended families or lineages. Each has its head [the patriarch], chosen according to its own rules".

It is important to note that, "at certain levels of political discourse, women and children were not allowed full participation". However, women have access to constitutionally enshrined sanctionary powers that can be brought into play to offset the dominance of men. In addition, women have analogous institutions where they adjudicate on conflicts among themselves. Furthermore, women are encouraged to bring their marital problems to the village courts for adjudication. It is also important to note that women do dominate the informal realms of social control (which in a communitarian model of justice hold more weight than the Western professionalized forms of justice), and are gaining more formal authority and rank in Igbo societies.

From the foregoing, I reiterate that the Igbo, like other societies in Africa, had a well-developed, efficient, and effective mechanism for maintaining law and order prior to colonialism. These social control practices and processes were rooted in the traditions, cultures, and customs of Igbo people. Deviance or conflict is a characteristic of any social group, and the method or instrument employed to realign recalcitrant individuals speaks volumes about the civilization of that society. The Igbo indigenous justice system is in the main restorative, transformative, and communitarian: strenuous efforts are made to restore social safety without resorting to punishment. This is because punishment is believed to undermine the goal of justice, which is primarily the restoration of social equilibrium. When punishment is employed in the maintenance of social safety it is as a last resort, used only after all other efforts have failed to achieve conformity, order, and community safety.