By Okey Maduforo Awka
The apex Igbo organization Ohaneze Ndigbo has lamented the numerous crash of marriages within the Igbo communities abroad expressing fears that the crave to travel abroad has derailed the Igbo culture and traditional marriages in several homes.
In the same vein clerics have also joined in the insistence that Igbo families abroad should not allow the western culture to rubbish those morals and values of Ndigbo positing that should that continue the heritage of the Igbo people would soon be a thing of history.
This is coming as the Late Simon Okeke Ezeajughi Foundation has announce a scholarship scheme for two hundred Primary school children studying at five Mission Schools in Awgbu Community of Orumba North local government area of Anambra state.
Speaking at the ninety two birthday celebration of Lady Christiana Mgboye Ezeajughi at Awgbu the Vice President of Ohaneze Ndigbo Chief Damian Okeke Ogene noted that ;
“What the officiating Priest said is true and several marriages of Igbo extraction have crashed due to the influence of the Western culture and this has greatly affected our culture, tradition and custom which we hold dear and sacred”
“It has also affected our children who were born abroad because you cannot discipline your children when they err and most of them cannot even speak our language and should you apply our brand of child training abroad you will run into problems and at the end you lose your child ” he said.
Speaking at the thanks giving service the the Parish Priest of SS Peter And Paul Catholic Parish Noise Fr Bona Nwankiti stated that ;
“Let us thank God for the Igbo or African culture that we have today because that is the system that we train and groom our children and that accounts for the celebration of our mother at the age of ninety two because if we didn’t apply it we all will not be here today ”
“The worst of it all is the crashing of marriages among the Igbo couple because when you take a well trained Igbo daughter abroad she will be made to adopt the ways of the people abroad and if she becomes richer than her husband she will start finding a way to be on her own and that is ultimately divorce ”
“If the husband tries to apply it there he becomes a guest to the Police and soon he is detached from his wife and children and the marriage crashes so we must have at the back of our minds while traveling abroad not to forget our culture for the sake of posterity ” he said.
The Chief Of Staff to Gov Charles Soludo Chief Earnest Ezeajughi who is the last male child to late Chief Simon Ezeajughi out of the nine children announced that in memory of their late father who had a modest Educational Foundation the family is to train two hundred Primary school children in their community Awgbu.
“We have a Foundation that my father started before his demise and we have continued this though quietly but we now want to make it open for two hundred Primary school children in Mission Schools because the Anambra state government has a scholarship scheme for those in Public Public schools from basics to Senior Secondary School 3 ”
“This is part of the birthday package for our dear mother who is ninety two years today and we shall continue in that manner to reach out to more pupils and we have five Mission Schools in Awgbu and this Foundation is for those children ” he said.
Speaking on behalf of Gov Charles Soludo the Deputy Chief Of Staff to the governor and head of protocol Chief Chinedu Nwoye described the function as one that goes to show that late Simeon Ezeayand his wife provided good home training for their children adding that it is made manifest in the occasion that took place in the town .
“This is what one gets when you train your children on the culture and tradition of our people because when you are old your children would in turn take care of you and we urge our parents to be very particular and deliberate in giving their children good home training and I line with the culture and tradition of our people in Igbo land to secure the future of our society” he noted .
