The Igbo Paradox: Why A Tribe That Builds Is Feared, Fought And Yet Flourishes

BY EZEWELE CYRIL ABIONANOJIE

In the heart of Nigeria’s story lies a paradox, a people despised yet indispensable, envied yet imitated, persecuted yet prosperous. The Igbo people of Southeastern Nigeria have, through sheer grit and communal wisdom, risen to dominate the nation’s business landscape. From markets in Lagos to factories in Aba, from motor parts in Nnewi to real estate in Abuja, the Igbo man’s fingerprints are all over Nigeria’s economic pulse. Yet, instead of admiration, what often meets them is resistance, not from the government alone, but from other major tribes who seem uneasy with their relentless success.

From the civil war that sought to erase their existence, to the systemic marginalization that followed, the Igbo have lived under a shadow of suspicion, as if their ambition were a crime and their prosperity a provocation. The Nigerian political structure has long been tilted against them – denied key positions, underrepresented in power, and occasionally scapegoated for national woes. Yet, despite the odds, they rise always.

In Nigeria and in some other African countries, many fear the self-reliant Igbo people who do not wait for permission to succeed. The Igbo man’s success story is not built on government contracts, nepotism, or state favoritism. It is built on the strength of the Igbo Apprenticeship System, which is a centuries-old model of economic mentorship rooted in trust, hard work, and brotherhood. In this system, a young boy, often from a humble background, serves under a master known as Oga for several years, learning the ropes of trade, discipline, and relationship management. When his time is up, the master settles him, not with a salary, but with capital, goods, and the connections needed to start his own business.

Unlike in many other tribes where an apprentice must pay his master to learn, and still pay again to earn his freedom, often spending heavily to host a party and pay for certificate before being released. This practice amounts to exploitation, void of the spirit of brotherhood in its entirety.

The Igbo Apprenticeship System is not just economics for it is communal capitalism. It is nation-building at a micro level. Through this system, one man’s success becomes a seed for another’s prosperity. The servant today becomes a boss tomorrow, and the cycle continues, expanding like ripples in water. This model has created millionaires without formal education, industrialists without political godfathers, and a network of entrepreneurs who owe nothing to government policies but solely to the Igbo spirit of enterprise.

It is this independence that unsettles the system. A man who does not depend on you cannot be controlled by you. The Igbo man’s economic power challenges Nigeria’s political order, which thrives on dependency and patronage. Hence, many who cannot match their industriousness seek to malign it. Markets are sometimes burnt, properties demolished, policies skewed, yet, like the proverbial phoenix, the Igbo rebuild from ashes with their undying spirit of the bone shall always rise again.

To understand the Igbo resilience, one must understand the psychology of a people who have lost everything and rebuilt from nothing. After the civil war, when the Nigerian government declared that every Igbo man would get only £20, regardless of their pre-war wealth, they did not riot, rather, they reinvented. They turned humiliation into hustle, and within a decade, they had re-established their dominance in commerce across the nation. That is not luck; that is the champions’ character worthy of emulating.

The tragedy however, is that instead of studying the Igbo model and replicating its brilliance, other tribes and even the state often choose resentment over reflection. Rather than build partnerships, they build prejudice. But resentment has never stopped progress for it only exposes insecurity.

What the rest of Nigeria must realize is that the success of the Igbo is not a threat; it is a template. The Igbo Apprenticeship System is one of the most powerful wealth distribution models in human history. It takes the poor, trains them, empowers them, and makes them employers of labour. It is an African success story born on African soil that other Africans should emulate in order to secure the conqueror’s marching order known as “the forward ever”. If Nigeria truly wants economic transformation, it must learn from the Igbo, not fight them.

The Igbo spirit is not about tribal dominance; it is about collective upliftment. It is about the dignity of labour, the value of mentorship, and the audacity to dream beyond one’s circumstances. The Igbo believe that no man should die serving another forever, and that every servant should one day become a master. That philosophy, simple yet profound, is what has kept them afloat amid storms of discrimination.

My humble request: #FREENNAMDIKANU

Ambassador Ezewele Cyril Abionanojie is the author of the book ‘The Enemy Called Corruption’ an award winner of Best Columnist of the year 2020, Giant in Security Support, Statesmanship Integrity & Productivity Award Among others. He is the President of Peace Ambassador Global.

Igbo Art Exhibition

BY SANTIAGO LEON TORRES

Presently, the walls in the Lewis stairway are blank. They remain the same sterile shade of white they were the last time they were repainted. Despite their current dull state, they were host to paintings belonging to the Igbo (Ihe Ncheta) art exhibition over the summer. These walls were adorned with dynamic and colorful paint strokes on frayed canvases. Each piece was unique in its style, from realism to surrealism, and even abstraction.

On September 17, 2025, a reception was held in the Reflection Room to commemorate the creation, display, and eventual transfer of these pieces of art. This exhibition was brought to fruition through various Dominican University departments, including the Black World Studies program, and featured selected works from contemporary Igbo artists.

The reception was opened by Dr. Nkuzi Nnam, Director of Black World Studies, who quickly introduced Provost Mia Hardy. During her speech, she expressed her gratitude in regard to the impact of this exhibition, “It speaks to the dedication of the Black World Studies Program, and it speaks to the contributions of the [African] continent to this continent.”

In the corner of the room, there was a brightly colored masquerade. It stood tall, and it nearly draped to the ground. The top portion was embellished with dolls and national flags. Despite its beauty and significance in Igbo tradition, Dr. Chad Rhoman, Dean of Rosary College of Arts, Education, and Sciences, says it is a symbol of unity. “It is a moving city of symbols. It’s a political actor, a spirit, a God,” he said. “It is not only the performer who moves. It is the whole community, fast and present in motion.”

The reception closed with the presentation of various paintings to Dr. Glenna Temple, President of Dominican University. The paintings all mimicked one of the paintings from the exhibition and were presented by students majoring in Black World Studies.

Igbo Apprenticeship System As A Boost To The Economy

BY ANDREA OKOYE

The Igbo Apprenticeship System (IAS) is a business model also known as “Igba Boi” in Igbo language. It has a long history across the Igbo nation. IAS cuts across different businesses from buying and selling to practical skills like mechanic, tailoring and so on.

To be candid, it has helped the Igbo tribe to survive the aftermaths of the Nigerian-Biafrian war tremendously. After the Brafran war, the South Eastern Nigerians were left in abject poverty and so impoverished with hunger as they lost all they laboured for as a result of the war. Gradually, a considerable number of people, through IAS scheme, were helped, relieved and removed from the incessant high poverty rate in Igboland by producing wealthy Igbo entrepreneurs and businessmen.

The Igbo Apprenticeship System being a business between two parties, the boss and the master (Oga) and the Trainee (boi). The boss takes the Trainee under his tutelage so as to teach him business skills for an agreed number of years. It may be 5, 6 or 7 years of training. The trainees are often much younger and expected to be, at least, say 10, 12 to 14 years before embarking on this informal business.

As the years go by, the trainee (boi) acquires the skill and is settled by his boss. The journey of IAS is not always a sweet one. It’s quite challenging but the success of the business determines the amount of money with which the boss settles the boi at the expiration of the agreed number of years. After a period of time, when these trainees may have been financially set them up in their own businesses, their masters are expected to guide them until they can stand on their own thereafter.

For instance, let’s say the boss’ business is worth 5 million naira, then at the end of the agreed years of settlement, the boi is expected to be settled with #500.000 thousand naira. After the settlement, the newly freed Boi becomes an Oga and will with time become an oga to another boi. The cycle keeps going on and on. More often these trainees become richer than their masters in that the customers or clients sometimes shift to the boi, reason being that he brings down the prices of his goods and services and cannot be in competition with his master thereafter.

It’s no more news that Harvard Business Review has approved and adopted the ‘Igba boi’ System as a training model in the Ivy League Institution. According to Professor Ekekwe, the founder and president of the African Institute of Technology said that the Igbo Apprenticeship System is the best business framework in the world”. He further explained that “under the Igbo Apprenticeship System, one can attain easily an efficient economic equilibrium where inequality is severely mitigated.” This in simple terms means that there are global concerns on the saying that ‘the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer’ and considering the margin of economic inequality, it gets wider every other day.

IAS is the most successful informal business model in the world as well as the most prolific venture capitalist scheme ever. It produces more multi millionaires. This is seen among the Igbo traders and merchants whose wealths were recreated as a result of their resilient efforts in acquiring apprenticeship skills first. Even though it’s an unpaid interns or venture whereby they study their masters’ day-to-day business techniques, they help them run their shops, markets and businesses. Oftentimes, these masters are relatives who are either maternal or paternal uncles.

The system has become so popular globally that Harvard Business Review has defined Igbo Apprenticeship System as a ‘stakeholder capitalism.’ This system has produced many billionaires in the Southeast, Igbo billionaires to be precise. I am proud to mention Innocent Chukwuma, the Chairman of Innoson Motors, Cosmas Maduka, the CEO of Coscharis , Cletus Madubugwu Ibeto, the CEO of Ibeto Group of Company , Chief Okafor the CEO of Chikason Group, Chief Alexander Chika Okafor, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, Chairman of Capital Oil and others. I will take on Cosmas Maduka, the CEO of Coscharis Group whom Igbo boi or apprenticeship helped make a billionaire.

Cosmas Maduka is a product of Igbo Apprenticeship System. He was born in 1958, in Jos, Nigeria to Mr and Mrs Peter and Rose Maduka. In 1962, at the tender age of four (4). He lost his father and was left with his poor mother and other siblings. Life became so difficult that the family could hardly feed. At the age of seven (7), the mother could not pay his primary tuition. As a result, he was withdrawn from primary school at elementary 3 and he had no option but to assist his poor mother in hawking bean cakes, locally called ‘akara’ on the streets of Jos in Plateau State.

In 1970, when Cosmas Maduka was just twelve years old, his uncle who lived in Lagos took him to Lagos to serve as an automobile apprentice in a shop he owned alongside with a business partner of his. Even his uncle had no apartment of his own but slept at his friend’s house. Cosmas had no option but to sleep in the shop every other day.

Young Cosmas’ dedication to work and, most importantly, his honest nature earned him trust and endeared more love from his uncle who now made him in charge of some of the sensitive parts of the business like traveling alone to purchase goods from Nnewi and also to oversee his other branches at Sokoto and Nnewi respectively.

As we all know, Igbo business men do not joke with their business and time to them is very precious. They value it a lot. One fateful day, during his informal interns as a apprentice, young Cosmas absented himself from work for a church camp programme without his uncle’s permission. That singular incident act almost cost him his opportunity. It made him have an ugly issue with his uncle which resulted in his untimely settlement. His uncle settled him before the agreed time. He was given the sum of 200 naira. Of course, its value then was worth a lot of money to its today’s equivalent.

With his settlement, he founded an auto spare parts business called ‘Maduka Brothers’ with his brother which eventually shut down and parted ways thereafter due to some irreconcilable and ideological differences. This separation left Cosmas with an additional 100 naira and a total of 300 Naira as working capital.

Here comes his highs and lows in business and with the resilience IAS inculcated inside him, he was able excel and overcome challenges and hurdles in business.

Recall he had a total sum of 300 naira after he parted ways with his brothers. With that 300 naira, he ventured into another business as a sole proprietor. He began by buying and selling motorcycle spare parts from Boulos Industries, which was the major product that was a new innovation motorcycle business then. Cosmas would buy many and remove the address of the Boulos from the carton so that people would not find out where he bought them from. What a marketing! This semi-business monopoly skyrocketed his capital to 3000 naira within a short period of one week. Obviously, a business man with this whooping capital must be a wealthy man then.

Gradually, success started smiling at Cosmos Maduka and this propelled him to get married at the age of 19. He married Charity, a beautiful and industrious woman who later joined him in the business. No wonder there’s a saying that ‘behind every successful man, there’s a woman.’

Shortly after he got married, he started importing products, but was struck with a great misfortune when he received the wrong consignment which incurred him several debts. To make matters worse, his landlord nearly ejected him out because he was unable to renew his rent. The ugly situation left him with nothing. At this juncture, Cosmas Maduka started all over again. With nothing in hand, Cosmas had to start all over again.

IAS again came to his rescue. How? He went into another business. This one was checking of people’s weight for just 10k charges. Gradually, it became a life of grass to grace. From this another phase of humble beginning, many doors of bigger and mightier business opened.

The initiative now is going down the drain in that the Igbo youths these days want to be well educated and search for greener pastures either here or abroad. “After a period of time, their masters are required to financially set them up in their own businesses and guide them until they can stand on their own two feet”. Yemi Osinbajo, former Vice President of Nigeria, spoke virtually to participants of a National Summit organized in Awka. A programme convened to understudy the Igbo Apprenticeship model which is said to have produced several multi millionaires in the South Eastern region.

He made some salient points while speaking on the model popularly known as ‘Igba boi’ in Igbo language, Osinbajo stressed on the need to encourage the system for a better wealth creation. IAS has become the most popular indigenous informal economic institution recognised globally.

The Former Vice President gave more meaningful appraisal on the scheme’s full potential and its benefit for the Nigerian economy. The IAS has what similar apprenticeship schemes in many parts of the world like Germany and India have.

My take:

The IAS model is now slowly going down the drain in that the Igbo youths these days wants to be well educated and to search for greener pastures either here or abroad. Some have taken the dreaded path of social vices making quick money through fraud, cybercrime and others. They no longer want to emulate their founding masters who have become billionaires.

With Igbo apprenticeship system, you can agree with me that efficient economic equilibrium where inequalities are severely mitigated. Everything the world is complaining about inequality and the rich getting richer, the Igbo apprenticeship system handles it well. Whatever an Igbo man sells, be it water, sand or faeces, he makes money out of it diligently.

Take it or argue it. The Igbo man’s native land remains the best place to be. Aku ha kpatara na-eru uno (Whatever they make in the city gets home). That’s why every other festive period, Christmas precisely, they all travel to their native lands to celebrate with their loved ones and relatives, do some catch-ups for business come the following new year. As the cycle goes for igba boi, they as well look for the next person to take to the city and train.

Hospitality business booms and most times the owners are product of IAS. Except these days of insecurity in the southeastern States, most people seldom travel to their native homes for fear of being kidnapped. Kidnapping recently has been the social bug biting everybody badly including businesses.

I ask? What’s the cause of this incessant societal vice?

Could it be traced to bad economy or unemployment of youths? Greed or tough times and hunger?

IAS contributes largely to the economy. Igbos are only in strange land referred to as “abroad.” Anywhere outside their native lands is tagged abroad by an Igbo man in the village. They are only there for greener pastures and to boost economy. For real, Igbo man is not selective of what job to do inasmuch as it puts food on the table, he is healthy and sane to do it. He makes money from whatever legitimate business he does.

I just like the Igbo saying “Onye ndidi na-eri azu okpo” meaning a patient man eats the fastest fish “. This describes how patient and strong-willed an Igbo man is. When it comes to being industrious, you can’t take it from them throughout their years as apprentices. In the long run, they strive to become great and with the virtue, patience and perseverance, they succeed.

Give an Igbo man ten thousand naira for a startup in business, in ten years he will turn that money to ten million naira.

An Igbo man is simply described as ” Egbe belu , Ugo belu, Onye si ibe ya ebela nku kwa ya” literally means ” Live and let live. This propels peace amongst them.

For me I strongly believe that the Igbo Apprenticeship System is the best business framework in the world at large and Nigeria particular. If only the trainee can get some formal education so as to be able to tackle the bookkeeping aspect of it. It takes intelligence to acquire informal business interns. If it’s been implemented by all, it will definitely reduce unemployment among the teeming youths. A model that gives fund at the end of the training is a very good one.

I will forever say that IAS is a gain to the economy in that the Igbo Apprenticeship System has had significant positive impact on the economic, social and environmental development of South Eastern Nigeria. When it comes to individual infrastructural development, I give it to Igbo multi billionaires whom IAS has given solace to attain enviable economic heights. How about their conglomerate businesses clustered all over the globe ranging from manufacturing, services and imports?

All kudos to Igbo Apprenticeship system.

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Chimamanda’s Chieftaincy Title Signifies Cultural Revolution

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

BY CHIEDU OKOYE

The chieftaincy title conferred on Chimamanda Adichie by the traditional ruler of her hometown, Abba, is significant because women are rarely given chieftaincy titles by traditional rulers in our society. The conferring of the revered chieftaincy title on her is, therefore, akin to an execution of a cultural revolution in her town.

But what is culture? Culture is defined as the totality of a people’s way of life. Our mode of dressing, religious beliefs, marriage ceremonies, funeral rites, music, proverbs, folklores, dances, artworks, and others are parts of culture. And it is broadly divided into two; material aspect of culture and the non-material aspect of culture.

While food, artworks, mode of dressing, and others make up the material aspect of culture, the non-material aspect of culture includes but is not limited to, songs, folklores, proverbs, religious beliefs, marriage rites, and others. Culture, which is the identity of a people, ought to be dynamic, and not static. That is why culture is said to be in a constant state of flux. So, progressive-minded people, who are living in a cultural milieu, ought to tweak some outlandish, outdated, and obnoxious cultural practices to suit modern trends. We should not be slaves to egregious and antediluvian cultural practices that rob us of our humanity and demean us as human beings.

If we keep on upholding bad cultural practices on the grounds that they are passed down to us by our ancestors, and if we feel that obliterating them will amount to committing sacrilegious acts, then we will remain trapped in a time warp. For example, in the time past, the killing of newborn twins was normative in Igbo land, the South-East region of the country. That detestable practice of killing twins was rooted in the religious superstition that newborns who were twins were portents of doom for their families. Then, the custodians of our culture stoutly resisted moves and efforts made by other people for the abolition of that cultural practice.


However, the white people who came to Nigeria for imperialistic reasons uprooted the inhuman cultural practice of killing newborn twins. Until then, our ancestors felt that twins, triplets, and quadruplets, who were born to people in our land were bringers and harbingers of evil happenings to their respective families. But are twin children truly the forerunner and bringer of evil happenings to their immediate families, as they believed, then? The answer to the above question is a categorical no. Contrary to the beliefs of our ancestors that twins brought ill luck to their parents, most children, who are twins, are the pride of their parents. Peter and Paul Okoye, who are ace musicians, offer us a good example of twin children who have excelled in their chosen musical career.

Peter and Paul used to have a musical group called P-Square. The twin brothers are renowned musicians, who sing soulfully and dance beautifully, treating us to lyrical songs and acrobatic dances. More so, the Aneke sisters, Chidimma and Chidiebere, who are renowned actresses, are twins, too. They have achieved renown through their acting prowess, which fascinates us to no end. There are other instances of twins who have pushed back the frontiers of their endeavours and careers.

But had we clung to the obnoxious cultural practice of killing twins, the Aneke twin sisters, and the P-Square musical duo would have died in their infancy, not to talk of them becoming musical superstars and ace actresses. So, as the killing of newborns who’re twins was abolished in Nigeria so shall we stamp out other cultural practices, which are obnoxious, inhuman, weird, wicked, and retrogressive. We should not forget that the bad aspects of our culture portray us as backward people and hinder our march to join the civilised world.

Regarding some of our egregious cultural practices which are in existence now, patriarchy readily comes to my mind. For example, in our traditional Igbo society, men and women are not considered equals. So marriage is not perceived as a partnership of equals in Nigeria. Here, women are seen, and not heard. Our African traditional culture and Christianity to which we proselytised give oxygen and leverage to the existence of patriarchy in Nigeria.

But nowadays, things are changing for the better for our women, culturally and otherwise. They are making their voices heard in many areas of human endeavours, being educated females. Nigerian women have broken the glass ceiling in diverse areas of human endeavours. Nowadays, we have female pilots, female vice-chancellors, and others in Nigeria. We have female lawmakers who can hold their own in the art and act of lawmaking. And have we forgotten that the Tolulope Arotile was the first female combat helicopter pilot in Nigeria? She died in 2020 at the age of 24.

And Nigerian female writers like Abimbola Adelakun, Nnedi Okoroafor, Akachi Adimora Ezigbo, Chimamanda, and others are reshaping our literary traditions and landscape through their qualitative, inspiring, and innovative creative works. They are using their art to fight for the obliteration of such bad cultural practices as inhuman widowhood rites, child marriages, female circumcision, and sexism. The aforementioned cultural practices harm and demean women.

Thankfully, today, Nigerian women have recorded tremendous success in bringing women problems to the front burner and addressing them. Those female champions of women rights, who assert that women rights are human rights, are being accorded honours in Nigeria and beyond. For example, the conferment of a chieftaincy title on Chimamanda by the traditional ruler of her hometown, Igwe L.N Ezeh, is the icing on the cake of feminists who want gender equality for women. The name of the chieftaincy title given to her is ‘Odeluwa Abba,’ which when translated to English means the writer of the world from Abba.

Chimamanda, a highly acclaimed global writer, said this about the award, “Custodians should honour men and women equally. I am the first woman in my town to be made a chief, and it makes me happy to know that more women will follow. Culture does not make people, people make culture. Cultures thrive when they reflect the people. Ours must be a culture that celebrates achievements, whether it comes from a man or woman.”

The conferment of the chieftaincy title on Chimamanda marks a significant milestone in the battle to dethrone patriarchy and achieve gender equality in our society. She is the first woman in her hometown, Abba, to be so honoured. And she believes that the conferment of the chieftaincy title, ‘Odeluwa Abba,’ on her will open the floodgates for the conferment of chieftaincy titles on other deserving women.

Our culture, no doubt, is undergoing positive transformation to reflect modern realities and transport us to the league of the civilised people of the world. Our abiding by obnoxious and retrogressive cultural practices demeans and portrays us as troglodytes, who are stuck in a time warp. So it is imperative for us to abide by Chimamanda’s timely and judicious admonition which states that “culture does not make people, people make culture.”

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