Ezigbo Mmadu: An Exploration of the Igbo Concept of a Good Person

Abstract

The Igbo term for a good person is ezigbo mmadu. It is a term that is descriptive of good character or positive moral conduct in a person or group of persons. Among the Igbo, a person is designated as ezigbo mmadu, who possesses good conduct or moral fibre – qualities that are worthy of emulation by others. But ezigbo mmadu is not merely  descriptive of a person‟s character or conduct; it is also expressive of a person who is equable, unflappable, even-tempered and level-headed. Ezigbo mmadu has as its converse, the phrase ajo mmadu. Ajo mmadu is a term used to describe a bad man or woman, where the word ajo means „bad‟, that is, the opposite of „good‟. A person is ajo mmadu who is flawed or defective in character. With particular focus on ezigbo mmadu, the Igbo identify some special qualities of life a person must possess before he or she can be so described. In the pre-colonial setting, for example, apart from the possession of good moral conduct, a person was considered ezigbo mmadu who respected the customary laws of community and was loyal to the preternatural forces that ruled in the cosmic order. In this paper, however, it is discovered that the challenges of modernity and the harsh social environment in which the modern Igbo have found themselves seem to greatly tint their conceptualisation of who an ezigbo mmadu is. The paper does not only identify reasons for the devaluation of this once venerated concept or positive social attribute; it also proffers possible remedies to overcoming this social dilemma.