In my opinion, fundamental to the idea of the "hu-man project in Africa" is the extraordinary role being played and that will have to be played by the African woman – our mothers, sisters, wives, aunts, cousins, children. And their human rights must be respected – their right to an education, including a vocational education is surely a birthright and not negotiable.
Okrika, Yenagoa, Nembe, of course Buguma, my old hideouts…
I have been following the thread that has unfortunately and in my opinion also regrettably and so disrespectfully been entitled "Patience Jonathan is an illiterate"
What is meant by illiterate? For me it's someone who exalts himself excessively although he does not know everything.That's what illiterate means to me. It can also mean some kinda philistine who does not condemn Muslim terrorist violence and therfeore from my point of view lacks the rudimentary cultural and moral qualifications, as a result of which he or she may have been erroneously educated to believe that he or she is omniscient or nearly omniscient or can, by a mere two hundred years of studying e.g. Judaism believe that he is more educated than Moshe Rabbeinu who mind you, was the most humble man who ever walked on this earth.
Because I espouse the notion of equality, I have been a disciple of Paulo Freire, author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Someone who acquires the rudimentary abilities in reading writing and arithmetic is not said to be an illiterate. Unfortunately, at this stage in most African countries national development programmes, the reading and writing in most school curriculums is in non-indigenous languages. Only the Bible has been translated into most of Africa's native tongues. The quranic translations are slowly catching up. As Patrick Wilmot said in that his article which was featured in The Nigerian Guardian, early in 1981, Nigerians will also have to learn Mathematics, the language of science and technology and start dancing more of "mathematical rhythms"
On Friday evening (the Sabbath candle-lighting time for Stockholm was 21.49) and long before that I was chatting with an old friend Marco who was from Ethiopia before there was ever an Eritrea in Downtown Stockholm, Kungsgatan, outside our electronics mega store El Gigante. His Arabic improved as our conversation progressed and at the very end he was giving me his own version of what the prophet of Islam being described as "ummi" really meant.
The prophet of Islam took great pride is describing himself as "the Ummi prophet" – so that doubters would not think that he had been studying with some revered rabbis or some Christian monks in Syria and that that's where he had gained all of his knowledge of unadulterated Islam. It's only some of his later day disciples who believe that "ummi"is an insult. I'm sure that the Boko Haram people don't believe that being ummi is an insult or want to overcompensate,even if the prophet of Islam is reported to have said that they must seek knowledge even if they have to travel to China to do so.
The prophet of Islam in my opinion was an astute politician and not an unintelligent one and that's why I have always thought that "ummi" as applied to Muhammad meant or means that he was not familiar with the Hebrew scriptures - as is evident from certain discrepancies between what he and Islam say and what is written in the Torah. The Islamic explanation of these discrepancies is that the Jewish authorities "changed" the words that the Almighty revealed to Moses. Shah Waliullah of Dehli was of the opinion that the Jews/Jewish authorities did not "change" or falsify our scriptures but instaed set up the rabbis as overlords. My widely traveled friend Marco is of the opinion that when the prophet of Islam ( s.a.w) received the first word of the Quran, "Iqra" – which menus read – or better still recite (after me) – that he ( Muhammad) had replied to the Archangel Gabriel (usually the bringer of not so good news to the people of Israel) , " What shall I read?" - and on the strength of that, Marco concludes that at that point in time Muhammad could indeed read and that proves that he was not " illiterate. "
But back to the one who wrote "Patience Jonathan is illiterate". There is this sort of penchant for derogation and denigration by those who believe themselves to be looking down, from heaven above. like Jesus of Nazareth. But even Jesus - just like Fela, wouldn't say that to his brothers and sisters especially not those of them over forty years of age; after all Jesus of Nazareth has only been reported to have said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" as the Romans, the colonizing power of that nation, set about nailing him on the cross - they thought, for all eternity, for challenging their authority.
In contrast, one of our later day rabbis did say more recently, about something else, "Father, forgive them, for they know nothing!"
I guess that if he had been that certain kind of "Oxford" type of more arrogant Nigerian who has been educated to speak big grammar (the kind of grammar he believes they speak in heaven) he would have saved some breath by merely breathing one word, in disdain of those who "know not what they do " or indeed "know nothing" and that word of disdainful dismissal would have been "illiterate" or illiterates!" (Damn illiterates!)
Concerning this bizziness of the so called "new testament" and all the second and third hand accounts of what Jesus of Nazareth has been reported to have said, I must say that I'm quite impressed by this report on page 215 of Robert St. John's "Ben-Gurion" about David Ben- Gurion, Israel's first Prime minister :
"To one Jerusalem reporter who asked for an interview he sent this written reply:
"I do not give interviews to journalists (a) because I am a journalist myself and whatever I say to the public I do so in my own way and (b) the first reason is sufficient"
Over the years, one has got used to hearing the constant refrain, "My husband and I", from Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II.
When the Iron Lady Baroness Margaret Thatcher was Britain's prime minister, seldom, if at all did we hear any mention of her husband, Sir Denis Thatcher. He was pretty much in the background, almost a recluse from media and public attention and there was never any suggestion of a reverse of the old missionary position, or that it was he that was "the power behind the throne", nor at no time was there any suggestion that he was the kind who could be suffering from what's universally known by oppressed husbands, as battered husband syndrome - those weak, battered specimens of manhood who call their wives "Madame President" and privately confide to their friends that, "she (their personal iron lady) is a dictator" …
Oyibo Learning and big grammar – has a special significance and status in modern day Nigeria – people congregate to hear that kind of talk and to absorb it – as if by osmosis whether it's the preachments of "The Gospel truths" in churches or distinguished lecturesat open or closed venues in the nation's new capital in Abuja. But what would Kwame Anthony Appiah be doing there?
In primitive (pre-technological), illiterate and sub-litearte societies where in terms of western education, every mother-tongue speaker was more or less equal – the distinctions were arrived at according to anyone's professional competence and wealth too, in relation to the contributions being made to his and her community or nation. From that point of view Alagba Baba Falola, here a towering figure in our greater home and international community - apart from other prestigious prizes, awards, and recommendations, would have probably, without any dispute about the matter, been meritoriously accorded the post of Chief Griot – the personal repository and walking encyclopedia of the Yoruba's history and culture. (By Griot – I suppose that I'm transposing him and his historical function, to somewhere in the Sene-Gambia of yester years). In the past, people who would today be defined as illiterate (their modren criteria) have held such exalted positions.
In our part of colonial and post-colonial Africa thanks to educationists like Ajayi Crowther and nationalists like Herbert Macaulay the advancement of the nation's progressive ideals are still being nourished.
There's no denying the First Lady of Nigeria's special status. Of course with the kinds of roles that Michelle Obama and Hilary Clinton have been playing in recent years, our African first ladies would not like to be caught napping in their own role playing abilities at home and in the international arena. Surely, there is no harm in that some of them are being put in charge of philanthropic charities, orphanages, etc. They do not have to be in the political limelight in a way that could be deemed as nepotism, that's all.
For those who refer to other Africans contemptuously as illiterate, as Malcolm X once said, "They taught you little"
(To be continued)
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