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Our forefathers succeeded in building a society of justice and equity; a society where political leaders were not paid and yet they were dedicated, sincere and conscientious; a society where doors were never locked and high fences were never built and yet goods and property were not tampered with.
Our forebears established a society where the supremacy and immanence of God was felt; a society that had no police, prisons, soldiers because there was no need for them; a society without “formal education” and yet they recorded steady growth in science and technology.
They built a society where people understood the importance of teamwork; a society where there were no beggars because everyone worked hard; a society where priests or men and women of God were comprised of people of character and integrity.
A society where people did not rely on any other apart from God and themselves for protection; a society where sexual crimes were almost unknown; a society where human life was respected: abortion and capital punishment were unknown. The list is endless. Interestingly, these were majorly powered by the Igbo religious consciousness.
If St. Paul had been a missionary in such a society, he would have told them what he told the Athenians: “People of Athens *(Ndigbo)*! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.” Acts 17: 22-23.
He would have also drawn their attention to the vices of the time like human sacrifice, osu caste system, killing of twins and tabooed children, and so on.
Yes, anyone who understands the task of building a society would have done everything possible to retain those rare societal qualities. Even in sports, common sense tells us never to change a winning team. That is the law of success.
