Peter Mbam President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Ebonyi State has decried dying Igbo culture and tradition.
The Igbo apex socio-cultural organization, said the Ndigbo no longer respect elders and value hard work and other virtues the Igbo were known for years back.
Mbam observed that Igbo had left their cultures and traditions and embraced foreign ones which had affected their lives, especially the young ones and vowed that they could not sit down and watch things go wrong in the Igbo race.
Mbam, in a chart with journalists, said he led his Executive to visit 13 schools across the 13 Local Government Areas of the State, lamenting that the Igbo language had completely died.
He noted that in some of the schools visited by the organization, students and pupils all failed Igbo subjects in their exams.
He however urged parents to begin to teach their children Igbo culture and tradition to bring back the lost glory of Ndigbo.
Mbam commended Governor Francis Nwifuru for setting out Wednesday as Igbo day and Igbo-speaking day, which he said, would go a long way in reviving Igbo culture and tradition.
“We cannot sit down and watch things go wrong in Igbo land. We have missed our road in terms of Igbo culture and tradition.
“We the Igbo, have left our tradition and we are doing a different thing. We no longer respect elders, we don’t value hard work. There is nothing Ndigbo were known for in the 60s and early 70s that is still happening and more importantly and more critically, Igbo language.
“We went to schools where the children could not speak the Igbo language, we went to schools where all the students failed Igbo language exams.
“So, it is very horrible what is happening in Igbo land. We fear that by the time our own time is over, our children will not know anything about Igbo; our culture, our tradition, our language, the way we dress, the way we do things and others.
We are not answering Igbo names again.
“We the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo in Ebonyi State are happy to hear that Governor Francis Nwifuru recently approved every Wednesday as Igbo speaking day in our state. We are very glad about this and we thank our Governor for passing that resolution”, he said.
