NNAMDI AZIKIWE PAN AFRICANISM AN APPRAISAL

Abstract

The decolonization process in the last century led to the emergence of nationalists in many African states. In Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe emerged as a foremost nationalist, and later became the first indigenous Governor-General, first indigenous President/ head of State and Commander in-Chief of the Armed forces of immediate post-independent Nigeria, and participated in active politics up till the Presidential elections of 1983. Although, NnamdiAzikiwe was a Nigeria by birth, but his contributions during the anti-colonial struggles was beyond Nigeria. He acquired his higher education laurels in the United States, began his journalism career in Ghana, while his intellectual contributions during the anti-colonial struggles positively influenced many people in Africa, especially in the Anglophone states. Against this backdrop, with the use of diverse secondary sources, this research appraises the contributions of Dr. NnamdiAzikiwe to African socio-political and economic growth during the twentieth century.

CHAPTER ONE

• Background of the study

Pan Africanism, Nationalism and Diarchy are theoretical foundations on which NnamdiAzikiwe’s vision of reclaiming of Africa’s freedom and her identity is based. The imperative for African freedom is articulated in these books, namely, My Odyssey, Renascent Africa and Zik: A Selection from the Speeches of NnamdiAzikiwe. He proposes the emergence of a new and free Africa characterized by political autonomy, economic prosperity and a refusal to accept a destiny of subjugation and servitude. His proposal for Nationalism is articulated in Political Blueprint of Nigeria in which he traces the historical background to Nigeria’s nationhood, spells out the basic stages of political development for the Nigerianization and Africanization of the civil service and political administration in the context of African political independence. Given the historic excesses of nationalism, Zik avoids particularistic nationalism, the political program claiming that some ethnonation should have its state, without extending the claim to all ethno-nations, either by omission (unreflective particularistic nationalism), or by explicitly specifying who is excluded (invidious nationalism). Given the fact that this invidious variant plunged Nigeria into a bitter war, Zik’s projection of tribalism as instrument for national unity deserves more than a cursory look. Zik offered a system of government which he called Diarchy. In the wake of Yakubu Gowon’s public request for “The Type of Government that will Succeed the Military” Zik suggested a coalition government between civilians and soldiers in his book Democracy with Military Vigilance, declaring that there should not be an immediate transfer of power to complete civilian rule, rather a modus operandi for a combined civilian cum military government on a democratic basis for five years, after which period the continuation of such regime should be reviewed in the light of experience and reason. This work shows through analytical appraisal that Zik’s call for relentless struggle for political freedom largely led to Nigerian political independence. His nationalism offers the seminal ideas for what the Nigerian civil service, arms of government and constitution have come to be today. But the question is: is his Diarchy (a coalition of civilian and military government) a timely tonic in the nation’s and Africa’s political development or does it concede too much to the situated pressure of the time, the pressure of the military adventures in Africa’s geopolitical terrain? To what extent would Diarchy as a system of government fit into the furniture or superstructure of African communalism, consensus democracy, pre-capitalist socio-economic ethos, one party traditional system of government and finally political stability and economic emancipation in a globalized world order. This work wants to show through critical analysis how his philosophy offer prospects to be built upon.

The manifestations of pan-Africanism in the life of NnamdiAzikiwe came to the fore in 1934, when he dropped the official use of ‘Benjamin’, his Christian baptismal name. The incident that led to this was his disqualification on technical grounds from representing Nigeria by the Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) of Great Britain during the Empire Games in 1934. Thus, his adoption of his first indigenous name, ‘Nnamdi’, no doubt represented a political conversion towards an African identity. Generally, the ideals of pan-Africanism as espoused by NnamdiAzikiwe are highlighted in his book, Renascent Africa, first published in 1937. The central theme of the book is Azikiwe’s philosophy of a new Africa, with emphasis on respect for humanity and dignity of the black man wherever he may be found. NnamdiAzikiwe underpinned his philosophy of New Africa into five major areas; he felt if actualized by Africans could lead to the desired socio-cultural, political and economic emancipation of the continent. Thus the five main focus of his philosophy of a New Africa are

• Spiritual balance
• Social Regeneration
• Economic determinism,
• Mental emancipation; and
• Political Risorgimento or resurgence (Azikiwe, 1968:120-140). With particular emphasis on mental emancipation, Azikiwe criticized the curriculum of colonial education which he believed undermined the African personality. This is against the backdrop of the Euro-centric view of Africa as barbaric, uncivilized, and undeveloped; among others; as such the colonial governments in Africa used the machinery of colonial education to impress these sentiments. Based on this, Ofoegbu (1980:60-69) argues that Azikiwe insisted on the need to respect human dignity, which invariably guarantees basic human freedom, including full emancipation. Azikiwe , while harping on mental emancipation, also emphasized the African personality, in which he demanded the preservation of African cultural heritage. Zik also argued that the colonial situation in Africa, by its denial of political, economic and cultural freedom negated human dignity. Consequently, the liberation of the African politically, economically and mentally was the only way of restoring the dignity of man in the African continent. It is also not in doubt that Zik was a foremost pan-Africanist, whose influence impacted positively on many people in different parts of Africa during the anti-colonial struggles across Africa. It is believed that the intellectual works of Zik influenced some other pan-Africanists such as Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana; among many others. With particular emphasis on Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (first President and father of Ghanaian independence), he was a student while Zik was the editor of the African Morning Post in Accra, Ghana during the 1930s. Nkrumah was believed to have met Zik during that period; a meeting it was argued might have inspired Nkrumah to travel to the United States to pursue his studies at Lincoln University, the same place Zik had his first degree. AmaBiney (2011:13) stresses that Nkrumah acknowledged that other significant influences on his nationalist thinking were the ideas expressed in the African Morning Post edited by NnamdiAzikiwe.
  • RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter focuses on the methodology that is adopted in the study. It includes: the research design, population size, sample size, sampling technique, model specification, nature and sources of data and the analytical techniques that will be applied.

RESEARCH DESIGN

This study employs both the survey and comparative research designs. These are suitable and advantageous for assessing large and small populations especially where a small population is to be derived from a large one.

• OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The objective of this study is to appraise Dr. NnamdiAzikiwe pan Africanism. This research specifically seek to ascertain the following:

1. The benefit of pen Africanism in Nigeria modern democracy
2. Evaluate the role of pan Africanism in the postcolonial era

• The role of Africanism and pan Africanism in African democracy

1. How has pan Africanism affect the political and social well-being of the blacks

• SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this studies covers an appraisal of NnamdiAzikiwe pan Africanism. However, the research has some constrain which does not allow the scope of the study to be broaden than what it is. Some of this constrain are:

AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study

TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher have to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.

1.5 CONCEPTUAL CLEARIFICATION

Pan Africanism arose as a philosophy to restore the humanity and dignity of the African person and indeed all humans. The concept of dignity and humanity has gone through many iterations from the period of enslavement to the period of colonialism, segregation and Jim Crow, the periods of apartheid and neo-colonialism to the current period of the HIV-AIDS pandemic when corporations have given themselves the right to patent life forms. There are two very basic and simple propositions.

The first is the idea that the African person is respected as a human being. “Dignity in humans involves the earning or the expectation of personal respect or of esteem.” The second proposition is that Africans are human beings who think and have a right to live on the planet earth. In the twenty first century, a human being is one who is defined in biological and spiritual terms and is different from cyborgs and robots (mechanical objects).
African peoples, especially those in the West, are particularly sensitive to the mechanical conceptions of humans from the period of the transatlantic Slave Trade to the present. In the era of clones, cyborgs, robotics, artificial intelligence and genetic engineering the question of what or who is a human and the dignity of the human person has been reopened.Pan Africanists in the twenty first century continue to confront old questions of the hierarchy of humans that became embedded in the Anglo American thought through the period of the slave trade as well as the new theories dealing with potential trans-humans.The bio-political questions that are arising in this century of revolutionary technologies challenges all of humanity, but more so the African and Indigenous persons who have been threatened with genocidal violence in past periods of ‘scientific’ advancements in capitalist societies. In this century, the conceptual skills along with the creative spirit and cultures of African peoples remain one of the frontline weapons against the attempts of capitalism to dehumanize and to turn certain humans into mere body parts providing needed tissues and organs for the rich. As some scientists eagerly work towards the era of singularity (merging humans with artificial intelligence) the old questions of access to health care for all is now joined with the burning question of saving the planet earth and reversing the global warming that threatens to envelop life as we know it now.It is the proposition of this presentation that we are living in a revolutionary period where the objective conditions are ripe for serious transformation. The challenge lay in the ideas and organization necessary to mobilize human beings to intervene politically to change the mode of human economic organization. In the absence of a clear ideology and organization the neo-conservatives at the helm of the world economy are pushing humanity deeper into the era of counter revolution. This counter revolution is being driven by ideas of neo-liberalism. However, the challenges of global warming, warfare and destruction expose the reality that the era of counter revolution is sharpening the need for an alternative to the old ideas of revolution.Hurricanes, floods, and the pollution of the natural environment reinforce institutionalized racism and the social organization of society. New eugenic theories on right breed of humans are trumpeted while the World Trade Organization proclaims notions of intellectual property rights. At the same time a new brand of piracy labeled biopiracy- is unleashed in order to seize the last genetic materials of the planet. All these forms of oppression and exploitation are legitimized with ideas of liberalization and freedom as the US capitalists jostle to dominate the planet from space. These challenges in the era of new potentialities for breaking the old backbreaking toiling of humans are linked to the old challenges of exploitation, sexism, patriarchy and heterosexism. Genocidal violence, warfare, economic terrorism, obscene fundamentalism and the challenges of the racialized planet have given new significance to the philosophy of Pan Africanism moving the concerns from the era of the Civil Rights movement and unity of states to the question of the emancipation of human beings.Emancipation and emancipatory ideas have to be redefined at every stage of the Pan African movement in so far as the politics of Pan Africanism has undergone changes over time. It was poignant that at the very moment when Pan Africanists should have been celebrating the victory over apartheid in April 1994, the fastest genocide in history unfolded in Rwanda challenging the basic Pan African creed: ‘that the African in one part of the world is responsible for the condition of his brother and sister in other parts of the world.’ This genocide in Rwanda, violent contestations for power all across the continent (the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Chad,) and crimes against humanity in Sudan along with the crude materialism of neo-liberal globalization has awakened new interest in the ideas and philosophies of the revolutionary traditions of the black liberation struggles. From the period of the Haitian Revolution through to the Bolivarian revolution of the 21st century, the Pan African movement has been linked to the ideas and practices of revolutionary thought and practice.The ideas and philosophies of Pan Africanism are sometimes considered a unitary phenomenon but Africans in various parts of the world reflect and write about Pan Africanism in many different ways. In short, there is no one definition of what constitutes revolutionary Pan Africanism. What is, however, important is for us to grasp the emancipatory traditions within the Pan African movement and those thinkers who have developed a level of theoretical clarification of what it means to be a free human, that is a human being freed from all forms of oppression.Philosophically a new cadre of intellectuals have been interrogating the philosophy of Pan Africanism and its importance to the working peoples. Most importantly, the progressive men and women of the continent have exposed the neo-colonial leaders at home and abroad. Thus far, in the written versions of African liberation, the centrality of African women have been in the main unrecorded in the dominant discourses on Pan Africanism. In the words of one activist, ‘women did not write books, but wrote history.’ Radical African feminists are not only calling for liberation and revolution but a redefinition of the past in order to prepare for a different future. These Pan African feminists draw inspiration from not simply the struggles of great women, but from the day to day struggles for life itself. It is from these struggles where the new theories of Pan Africanism emanate. In the words of Barbara Christian, ‘people of color have always theorized—but in forms quite different from the Western form of abstract logic.’ Harriet Tubman was one of those ancestors who wrote their theory by their political practice. This was the theory of self organization, self-liberation and self emancipation. In the twenty first century there are new scholars and thinkers who are not shy to retreat from the abstract positivism of ‘the scientific method’ but to link to the spiritual essence of African men and women.At the end of the 20th Century, Phillipe Wamba’s book on Kinship moved the discussion from the level of politics of movements, governments and great individuals to the question of the lived experiences of Africans at home and abroad. In this way, Philippe Wamba was able to represent Pan Africanism both at the theoretical and intellectual discourses and at the level of struggles of African peoples.Drawing inspiration from his own transnational family from the USA and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the experiences of young African immigrants such as Amadou Diallo and the struggles against police brutality. Wamba was using an idea of Kinship which goes beyond the traditional biological kinship to a cultural concept of Kinship which echoed from Cheikh Anta Diop’s view of the Cultural Unity of Africa.Diop’s conception of the cultural unity of Africa provided a profound starting point for the analysis of Pan Africanism in the 21st century. This is for a number of reasons.Firstly, Diop refused to accept the division s in Africa that has arisen from centuries of invasions. Hence, for Diop the idea of unity does not accept the divisions between sub-Saharan and North Africa.Secondly, for Diop, the cultural unity of Africa was based on the importance of the historical unity, the psychological and linguistic unity of Africa.Thirdly, this cultural unity transcended the artificial construction of states and nations that arose as a result of the imperialist partitioning of Africa at the Berlin Conference.Hence, the goals of Pan Africanism were to be based on a federated state that returned to the principles of matriarchy and the centrality of the woman in the public life of Africa. This centrality was to be addressed through a new and novel form of bicameralism in Africa.

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