The Weight Of Traditions

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My Pan-Africanist friends are of the opinion that if most countries in Africa weren't colonized, they would have fared better. You see, such arguments make me laugh because the evidence is there for all with sincerity to see.

Often times they would want to argue about how we had our own method of civilization before colonialism and how that method would have developed into something far more innovative if the whole process wasn't altered by the colonists.

Again, according to them, they are strongly of the opinion that the colonists met Africans in a developed state. Not only that, but they went further to claim that some of our practices, like the street lamps of lit hung rags soaked in oil were later adopted and improved upon by the colonists to give us the streetlights.

Indeed, it is true that Africans already had their own methods of civilization, some of which included the lighting system mentioned and our use of herbs later converted to modern medicine, but these were baby steps compared to how far the colonists had gone and were willing to go upon contact.

Furthermore, seeing how much we argue, one thing I always use to buttress my point and wrap things up is to point out islands and bush settlements like the Khoisan people in African countries and other continents in the world that are still lagging behind because they shut their world to the colonists.

Basically, these people believed that the colonists would influence their way of life and turn them against a lifestyle that they had always known. Lifestyles that include traditions that they held sacred. The consequence of such decision was that they couldn't keep up with the trend of growth and development. Thus, they were left behind by the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, I'm aware that colonialism did come with a lot of bitter experiences for Africans, and some might even say that it stripped us of our identities, but I say this from a personal experience: the benefits of colonialism lingered far longer than the disadvantages.

You know there were some traditions in my locality that I was shocked were still practiced in recent times. Some of which included:

• human sacrifices in appeasing deities.

• Women going unclad in supposed ceremonial events and rites of passage.

• Female circumcision

I used to hear about these traditional practices, but never did I believed them to still be a thing till I saw live documentaries and heard people's experiences.

It is worth noting that amongst all these heart-wrenching traditions mentioned above, the one with the most damaging effect is the human sacrifice.

I first heard about this practice from my mom, but I didn't believe her till I and some dignitaries in my religion paid the recently crowned Agbasa king a courtesy visit.

The well-learned man who identified as a Christian shared a lot of stories with us, amongst which was his stance against the barbaric practice of his people. He made mention of how the practice has kept his people underdeveloped for decades.

I was close to tears, especially knowing how wealthy the community ought to be with the oil well and cluster of oil companies that used to be in its locality. Unfortunately, instead of growth, they've experienced one form of crisis to another, which has turned the place to a ghost town since most of the oil companies left.

In recent times, the king mandated them to stop the human sacrifices and use a ram instead. While the community has witnessed significant growth since the switch, the damaging effects are still evident, and knowing how human sacrifice is a taboo in the grand scheme of things, I doubt they will ever finish serving the punishment life has meted out to them due to their past actions all in the name of tradition.