Social work perspective to the Igbo-African Administrative Institution (age grade) and Nigerian Local Government

Abstract

Right from the beginning of civilization to this present globalization epoch, people have been actively engaging one another via the creation of socio-political institutions to enable them mobilize, organize, govern and administer their society better. With the passage of time, some institutions are either restructured or totally discarded. The reason is basically to guarantee suitable leadership/governance geared towards creating sustainable values for societal development. Some Igbo-African institutions of governance survived antiquity and metamorphosed into useful structures in the modern local government and social work system. Therefore, this article interrogates how the Igbo-African age grade institution particularly survived antiquity and metamorphosed into strategic modern institution in local government administration in a secular state-Nigeria, following the roles of the youths in social work and community/rural and national developments. Sankofa African research method was adopted, leveraging contextual-descriptive analysis on data gathered through historical, documentary, and ethnographic approaches. Ujamaa theory (African community theory) that emphasizes citizens working together and looking after one another, which has been in existence among the Igbo people before colonialism was used in the analysis. Findings revealed that the Igbo-African administrative institution of the age grade system has been integrated into the modern local government system with various names and functions.

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Onah, C. C., Eze, F. O., Ejim, E. P. & Obalum, M. (2024). Social work perspective to the Igbo-African Administrative Institution (age grade) and Nigerian Local Government . African Journal of Social Work, 14(1), 31-39. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ajsw.v14i1.4

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