INTRODUCTION

The African people are greatly affected by conventions handed over from generation to generation and hold
in high esteem their cultural values. Deep rooted desire to conform to the cultural background of an African
cannot be overemphasized and the whole thought process of an African is hinged on his rich cultural
heritage. The traditional beliefs and practices of the African people are diverse with different ethnic
religions. Despite the variation, Africans generally have a common conception of life, time, development,
freedom and determinism, death and afterlife based on the African Traditional Religion, which have
significant and pervasive influences on their lives and character greatly, and an indicator of their ideas and
conception of the world around them. Opoku avers that religion rounds up the totality of African culture; a
person does not need any special instruction in religions. He picks it up as he grows up and begins to
participate in the communal rituals and ceremonies. 1 While generalizations of African Traditional religions
are difficult, due to the diversity of African cultures, they do have some characteristics in common.
Generally, they are oral rather than scriptural, include belief in a Supreme Being, belief in spirits and other
divinities, veneration of ancestors, use of magic, and traditional medicine. 2 To understand Africans and
enhance relationship with them, it is apt to understand these aforementioned concepts with regards to the
African people. This work will try to x-ray the concepts in the worldview of Africa.
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION
LIFE: Some biologist and philosophers reject the idea of a definition of life as they believe that it is an
irreducible fact about the natural world. Aristotle views it as an animation, a fundamental irreducible
property of nature. Descartes view life as a mechanism and Kant view it as organization. Life is an emergent
property of particular kinds of complex systems3 the meaning of life according to people is determined by
their belief system. The concept of life is concerned with the significance of living or existence. The
religious perspective of which the African is strongly an adherent of explains life in terms of an implicit
purpose not defined by humans.
TIME : Time is an observed phenomenon, by means of which human beings sense and record changes in the
environment and the universe. A literal definition is elusive. Time has been called an illusion, a dimension,
a smooth- flowing continuum, and an expression of separation among events that occur in the same physical
location. Numerous standards have been set up, allowing people to coordinate events and, in general, keep
their lives running smoothly. 4 Aristotle defines time as numerous motus secundum prius et posterius ; time is

1
Opoku, K. A. West African Traditional Religion, (Lagos: F.E.P.) 1978 p. 11
2
‘Traditional African Religion - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.html’
3
Weber, B.H. What is Life? Defining Life in the Context of Emergent Complexity, Origin of Life and Evolution of Biospheres
2010
4
Osita Gregory Nnajiofor , “Justification of the Concept of Time in Africa” in Ogirisi: A New Journal of African Studies vol 12s
(2016) p 255 http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/og.v12i s1.16 retrieved on 24/12/2018
the measure of motion according before and after. 5 The idea of motion central to his definition has to do
with reckoning of the transition of realities. It is for him movement, number and continuum. According to
Plato, time is the moving image of eternity. 6 For Thomas Aquinas, time is an existence in nature like space
and motion, discovered through the process of counting and numbering. Heidegger posit that being becomes
time because we experience time where there is motion of being and only where there is motion of being
we can talk of time. 7
DEVELOPMENT : There is no clear cut definition of what amounts to development; it was Eliot who made an
observation of the disagreement there is as to what development is about. 8 It is often determined by the
facelift in the welfare of a particular people, which largely is relative hence the disagreement. It was an idea
of the developed nations to describe the powerful and powerless nations. Onwuliri opined that there are
various aspects to what constitutes development, and the common indicator is a positive change in human
wellbeing.9 Schumacher avers that development should not start with goods, but with the people, their
education, organization and discipline. It is not all about money, profit and the number of industries. 10 He
mentioned education, organization and discipline as three ingredients of development hereby viewing
development as a total social process including economics, social, political, cultural and moral dimensions
of life. Levi and Havinden defined it as a long-term improvement in the standard of living, felt and judged
to be by most of the people in the country. 11 Kanu has observed that in the past, discussions and
commentaries on development easily tended to be developed by economists who saw it primarily from the
perspective of economic growth. In that context, so long as the monetary value of goods and services (Gross
Domestic Product) increased yearly, there was development. 12 According to Nwajiuba this perspective is
false as there could be an economic growth, but not development, that is, if the majority of the people did
not benefit from it. 13 Development is all encompassing and is a multidimensional process involving the
totality of man in his political, economic, psychological, social relations, among others.
FREEDOM: It is the ability of a person to make choices unimpeded by certain factors. Such factors include
metaphysical constraints, physical constraints, social constraints, and mental constraints. Generally, we
5
Aristotle, The Physics. In R. Mckeon (Ed). The Basic Works of Aristotle (pp. 292-293). (New York: Random House) 1941
6
Plato, The Timaeus. M. J. Adler (Ed.). The Great Books (pp. 442-477) . (Chicago: Britannica) 1993
7
Heidegger, M. Being and Time (London: Basil Blackwell) 1983
8
Eliot, C. The Development Debate (London: SCM) 1971
9
Onwuliri , C. E.C., The Church as an Agent of Progress and Development. In I. Onyeocha (Ed), “The Church as Agent of
Progress and Development,” CIP Jubilee Essays (pp. 70-83). (Owerri: Imo State University Press. ) 2008
10
Schumacher, E. F. Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered. (London: SCM) 1975
11
Havinden and Levi, Economics of African Agriculture (United Kingdom: Longman) 1982
12
Kanu, I. A., “African Philosophy and the Issue of Development,” Paripex: Indian Journal of Research. 3.7. (2014a) 1-5. And
Kanu, I. A. African Traditional Religion and National Development, In E.O. Ezenweke (Ed.), African Traditional Religion,
philosophy and Development 2014b (pp. 104-121), Nigeria: Association of African Traditional Religion and Philosophy Scholars.
13
Nwajiuba, “The Relationship between Material Social Status and Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in
Owerri Educational Zone” (Med Thesis, Department of Educational Foundations and Administration, Imo State University
Owerri 1999)
intuitively hold that we have freewill given our common choices and self-decisions concerning those
choices.
DETERMINISM : It is the philosophical position that for every event, including human action, there exist
conditions that could cause no other event. It posits that all events, including moral choices are completely
determined by previous existing causes or occurrences.14 Those who define freewill as freedom from
determinism are called in-compatibilists. They hold determinism to be incompatible with freewill.
DEATH : Death is a sad and unpleasant cessation of all the biological functions that sustains a living
organism. It is from old English dēaþ which in turn comes from proto Germanic dauþus. This also comes
from the proto indo European stem dheu meaning the process, act, condition of dying.15
AFTERLIFE: Afterlife is a belief derivable from religious, esoteric or metaphysical notion that some part of
a man or the stream of consciousness continues to exist after the death of his physical body16. It is subject to
various ideas while for some it is the continuous existence of the soul or spirit with the maker while others
see it in terms of reincarnation.
AFRICAN CONCEPT OF LIFE
African traditional religion beliefs in a Supreme Being and a multiplicity of divinities, this primary Supreme
Being is believed in many African religions to be the creator of all things, including human life. He is often
referred to as the source and summit of the existence of the African people, and watches over the affairs of
humans and also interacts with humans using other divinities and spirits. The concept of life in Africa is
summarized into four points by Francis S. Njoku where he posits the following; firstly, God is the originator
of life, the creator of man, the universe, and the sustainer of creation, secondly, Ancestors play important
role in communal life, they are not cut off from the living for they reveal themselves in dreams or appear to
their living relatives to guide or correct them. 17 The ancestors are still involved in the communal lives of
their people. Thirdly, that life is meaningless without land. Fourthly, that life is a communal affair which
involves relationships that are based on certain laws for mutual benefits and success. It involves a
relationship and communion between man, God, ancestors, divinities, other men and the land. The
relationship must be based on certain rules and regulations for it to succeed 18.
The position of Njoku was recognized and given credence by scholars like, Opoku who agrees that God is
the creator of the world and all that is in it. Next to him are ancestral spirits who also play prominent roles in

14
http://Britannica.com/topic/determinism retrieved on 3/1/2019
15
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/death retrieved on 31 December 2018
16
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/afterlife retrieved on 31 December 2018
17
Opoku ibid. p. 137
18
Njoku F.O.C., Essay in African Philosophy, Thought and Theology. (Owerri: Clacom) 2002. P. 169
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=Njoku%2C+F.O.C.+Essays+In+African+Philosophy%2C+Thought+And+Theology.
+Owerri%3A+Clacom%2C+2002.&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C5&as_sdtp=# retrieved on 20/12/18
African traditional religion.19 The spirits do his biddings and are the intermediaries between God and human
beings. Awolalu and Dopamu added to the first point by opining that in addition to creating man and the
world, God also own the world, man and the society and sustain them. 20 Mbiti also highlight an aspect of life
wherein he sees life as a rhythm or cycle which includes birth, puberty, initiation, marriage, procreation, old
age, death, entry into the community of departed and finally entry into the company of the spirits.21 He
supported the fourth points on communion with God and opined that to be human is to belong to the whole
community and to do so involve participating in the beliefs, ceremonies, rituals and festivals of that
community. 22 Man is in the centre of African universe and everything seems to be related to him. Religion
has then a functional value; it is to help people to acquire earthly goods and to maintain social order.
Everything around man that enhances his life force is desirable and everything that destroys it or diminishes
is to be avoided. The goal of life in ATR is to prepare for the life after by following the dictates or cultural
values of the African people and to become an ancestor after death. This is why every person who dies must
be given a correct funeral, supported by a number of religious ceremonies same ceremonies are carried on at
birth at various times to welcome the child to the earth and making him prepared to confront the challenges
of life. If this is not done, the dead person may become a wandering ghost, unable to live properly after
death and therefore a danger to those who remain alive. 23 In ATR people believed that life was cyclic, hence
a person could be reincarnated in a child through the process of naming and in such a way he continued to
exist. People live good and exemplary life so that at death their children may be named after them.
Depending on how one lived his life, the funeral would be conducted in such a way as to make it easy for
the dead to ‘come back’ or not. The dead are also believed to strengthen the living, hence, special pains are
taking to ensure that the dead are easily able to return to their homes, and some people are even buried
under or next to their homes.
THE AFRICAN CONCEPT OF TIME
In general, the concept of Time in Africa has been subject to research and divergent opinions and
perspectives. The concept of time plays a pivotal role in the way a society derives its values, beliefs and
conceptions. One of the areas where time is of importance is when analyzing people’s perceptions on death
and afterlife.24 African conception of time is the key to understanding the African ontology, their beliefs,
practices, attitude and general way of life. Mmaduachi Dukor observes that the African conception of time

19
Opoku Op. Cit. p. 9
20
Awolalu J.O. and Dopamu, P. A. West African Traditional Religion (Ibadan: Oniborioje , 1979) p. 208
21
Mbiti J.S. African Religion and Philosophy (London: Heinemann) 1980.
22
Mbiti Ibid. 2
23
“African Religions Rituals, World, Burial, Body, Funeral, Life, Customs, Beliefs, time” at http://www.deathreference.com/A-
Bi/African-Religions.html retrieved on 20/12/18.
24
J. Moyounotsva Marava, African Philosophy on the Concept of Time and Its Influence on the View of Death and Afterlife – A
Zimbabwean Perspective; International Journal of Philosophy and Theology, Vol. 3, No. 2, (December 2015) pp. 87-97
is informed by African cosmological framework or worldview, which is geocentric. According to Dukor,
African conception of time is conceived as cyclical and the space is organized in three comportments- the
heaven above, the earth below it and the underworld beneath the earth; all conceived and contiguous and
continuous in a cyclical continuum. 25 For philosophers, the first African thinker to conceive and do a treatise
on the concept of time is St. Augustine. He was cited by Omoregbe26 to have averred that neither the past,
present or future exists, for the past is nothing but the human mind as it remembers, the present is nothing
but the human mind as it considers and the future is the human mind in expectation. He regarded time as an
elusive concept.27
Time in African traditional life is events of the past, present and those which are inevitably or immediately
to occur. Things certain to occur or natural phenomena, is in the category of inevitable or potential time.
Actual time is therefore what is present and what is past. Time in the African sense evolves. Time moves
backward rather than forward and it is against this background that the concept of life and death becomes
problematic in trying to understand the time frames in which they fit in the African philosophical
perspective of potential time and actual time.28 The notion of time was popularized after the submission of
Mbiti built around his research on the Kikemba and Gikuyu language.29 where he asserted the shortness of
African prevision in what he called the African conception of time, asserting that, for Africans, time is a
composition of events, those that have happened, those that are now happening and those that are about to
happen, longest two years, suggesting that what has not yet happened or is not happening or has no
likelihood of immediate occurrence falls into the category of what he calls “No-time.” But if something will
inevitably happen within the recurrent rhythm of nature, then it belongs to “potential time. ”30 He adds that in
traditional African thought there is no concept of history moving “forward” towards a future climax, or
towards the end of the world. Since the future does not exist beyond a few months, the future cannot be
expected to usher in a golden age…The notion of a messianic hope, or a final destruction of the world, has
no place in the traditional concept of history. So Africans have no ‘‘belief in progress,’’ the idea that the
development of human activities and achievements move from a low to a higher degree. The people neither
plan for a distant future nor ‘‘build castles in the air.’’ 31 This contrasts with the Western concept of time
which is linear, consisting of an indefinite past, the present and infinite future. For the African, the future is

25
in Osita Gregory Nnajiofor . “Justification of the Concept of Time in Africa ” Http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/og.v12is1.16 retrieved
on 21/12/2018
26
Omoregbe, J. A simplified history of western philosophy: Ancient and Medieval philosophy (Lagos: Joja) 1991
27
Chadwich H. trans. Confessions (Oxford University, Press) 1991 p. 11
28
ibid
29
Kanu, I. A. OSA, JS Mbiti’s African Concept of Time and the Problem of Development (Presented at International Conference
on Humanities, Literature and Management (ICHLM’ 15) Jan 9-10, 2015 Dubai UAE,) http://dx.doi.org/10.15242/icehm.edo115034
retrieved on 21/12/2018
30
Mbiti, John S. African Religions and Philosophy, 2nd Edn. (London: Heinemann;) 1990 p. 16
31
Ibid. 23 cited in Kwasi Wiredu Ed. A Companion to African Philosophy (United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing Ltd) 2004
absent since it has not been realized. Maurier had expressed the same view about the African concept of
time when he said that for the pasturing populations of Africa, time is concretized in the various seasons, the
main of which are the rainy and dry seasons. 32 The African concept of time is also concrete and substantive.
It is wrapped around events and activities.
This however has been argued in some quarters to portray Africans as a non-futuristic people. In the
contention of Izu, even the concept of ‘African Time’ as a metaphor is a preposterous concept. He avers that,
it is both an insulting misnomer and a counter value. The metaphorical concept of African time is one in
which tardiness, lousiness and a total disregard for schedules and programs is made out to characterize all
Africans. Tardiness is a universal phenomenon; it should not be made to hang around Africa’s neck like a
millstone meant to drawn a criminal. Traditional Africa as well as conventional Africa, places a high
premium on scheduled activity, punctuality and precision in the performance of activities. Before the arrival
of the mechanical clock, the African scheduled things with the cockcrow, high noon and sundown.
Sometimes things were scheduled with human activities like commencement or end of market session, the
morning, the midday, or evening harvesting of palm wine. Though this type of scheduling lacked the
mathematical precision of the mechanical clock, everyone understood what was meant and complied. Those
who failed to adhere to the schedule were negatively sanctioned through fines and other types of penalty.33
It failed to examine Africa as the cradle of civilization and where empires and long lasting structures where
put in place, how possible will it be that a people whose foresight is restricted by two years can think of
such edifice that still stand the test of time and are currently the monuments and a centre for tourist
attraction. His view on the African ideology of time at a surface level, debase Africans and their worldview
and subsequently resulted in the hasty conclusion that Africans as a people are not futuristic planners. While
his view is partly true to the extent that Africans mostly like to consider the past in analyzing present
occurrences it is great disservice to term as anachronistic a people who take the pride of place as the cradle
of civilization. It is a misunderstanding and a perplexity beclouded notion of the African worldview of time
to scale Africans with just mathematical bases of calculating time and to accuse Africans of not keeping to
schedule. This is purely due to lack adequate and sufficient knowledge of the customs and tradition of the
people, it goes without saying that much of the western world who are slaves to time are actually behind on
the idea of time because for an African, time is calculated based on the occurrences of certain events and
what is regarded as mathematical was hitherto referred to differently by the Africans. While it shows the
African for been so uncertain of actual time, it does not presuppose that Africans have no idea of time. They
are just a people who have decided to explain time using the events that naturally happen around.

32
Maurier, H. Philosophie de L’Afrique (Noire: St Augustine Anthropos Institute.) 1984
33
Izu, M. O. “The Problem of African time ” Journal of the Department of Philosophy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. 16. (2010)
19-38.
Hence, according to Mbiti, Africans reckon time for a concrete and specific purpose and not just for the sake
of mathematics or in a vacuum. The African time is either time-for or time-to or time-of; whether designated,
opportunistic or emergency. Numerical calendars stretching into the future and in a vacuum are not African.
He argues that what exists for the African are Phenomenon calendars, in which events which constitute time
are reckoned. 34 For instance, an expectant mother counts the lunar months of her pregnancy. The significant
thing here is the pregnancy and not the months, and the months make meaning only because of the
pregnancy. Thus time is meaningful at the point of the event and not at the mathematical time. It is in this
regard that Mbiti says that in Africa, man is not a slave to time but makes as much time as he wants. Time
draws meaning from the event happening and not the event from the time. In Africa, human beings control
and manipulate time. Following Mbiti’s concept of time, the idea that Africans are terrible time keepers is
rather based on the misunderstanding of the African concept of time by the whites. What is more important
to the African is not the time when the event would take place but the event itself. Time is always a time for
doing something or something happening. 35
THE AFRICAN’S CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT
There has been lingering debate on the African idea of development. Its conception is crucial to attaining
knowledge of the development of Africa. Africans seem to view development from the angle of meeting up
with practices of the western world, or being able to access the host of inventions of the western world, and
this in most cases run contrary to the African culture and traditions. By this Egbunu posits “that the present
is held to be discontinuous with the past, so much so that through a process of social, structural or cultural
change, either by way of improvement or decline, life in the present is altered from past life.”36 Instead of
repeating some past practices, there is a break off from the past. Egbunu went further to say that the
challenges of modernity are occasioned by the singular issues of attempting to replace traditional values
with uncontrollable change and unmanageable alternative.”37 The typical African society is one known for
strong brotherhood and communalism, but the tilt towards what they now see as development or modernity
has created a strong individualistic community where the interest of the people rather than been harmonious
is now a case of all man to himself which is very typical of the western world which Africans now look up
to as a radar for development and disregarding much of the strong cultural values and rich heritage. Hence
making Africa rather underdeveloped than developed.
THE AFRICAN CONCEPT OF FREEDOM AND DETERMINISM
It is an agreed fact that the existence from birth to death of an African child is controlled or influenced by
certain factors which could either be natural or human. The African child is a child of everyone. African

34
Kanu I.A Op. cit. p. 129
35
Ibid 130
36
Fidelis Egbunu Igala Traditional Values Versus Modernity (Enugu: Afro-Orbis Publishing Co. Ltd.) 2009 p. 84
37
Ibid
society typifies one where religion, cultural idiosyncrasies play significant role in the life of people. It is a
society that practices purely communalism; hence it becomes a puzzle whether a person born into such
community can exercise any degree of freedom. This is where the concept of African freedom and
determinism comes to play. The idea of freedom in the African context can be liken to the saying of Jean-
Jacques Rousseau that man is born free, but all round in chains. Hence the issue of freedom can be gleaned
from the societal, religious, and personal belief. An African society being communal does not in any way
preclude the individual from exercising his rights but like every human society rules are made and must be
obeyed, hence in the African context the individual has his freedom subject to the maintenance of the
communal tenets and the fact that it does not encroach into the freedom of the larger community or that of
other individuals. That is whether the issue of determinism comes to play because total freedom would
result in anarchy and chaos and vices that are un-African. Due to strong religious belief, the freedom of an
African is guaranteed in so far as the sacredness of religion is not affected, and the belief in after life makes
them believe that for such act contrary to religion or in promotion of it, there is karmic credit or discredit
hence it is not within human capacity to deny such freedom.
THE AFRICAN CONCEPTION OF DEATH
Death is an issue of great concern to the community and its occurrence ushers in various rituals to express
the concern. It is an inevitable end for all human beings, the time of death is when a person leaves this world
packs his/her belonging and joins the world of the ancestors. That is why Africans also call the world a
market where we have all come to and must return to our maker at the appointed time. Opoku posits that it
is a transition from this present earthly life to another life in the land of the spirits.38 Death comes to man at
any time, that is why all must be prepared because it will come when it will come. Mbiti says it is one of the
most universal and mysterious experiences. 39 It is its monstrosity that makes the Igala people of Kogi State
(my tribe) to refer to it as ukwu edumogo meaning death as the enemy with gnawing pangs. Opoku call it
wicked destroyer, a killer and a curse which frustrates human efforts. It is an enemy of the human race.
Reamela said “we are like water split on the ground which cannot be gathered again. Man will perish
forever like his own dung. He is dust and shall return to dust. In the grave he will rot away ‘with maggots
beneath and worms on top.”40 In African tradition, the death of an elderly individual is a great loss to the
community and the funeral rites expresses the sorrow and also goes to show that demise or physical death
was not the end of a person’s existence because of the believe that the dead continues to influence his/her
relatives. Those alive are thus cautioned to maintain good relationship with one another and the departed
especially by maintaining strictly the established customs of the community, offering libation in

38
Opoku, K.A. West African Traditional Religion (Singapore: FEP International) 1978
39
Mbiti J.S. Introduction to African Religion (Ibadan: Heinemann) 1975
40
Riamela D.D. The Concept of Life After Death: African Tradition and Christianity in Dialogue (with special emphasis on the
Urhobo culture) (Ibadan: Claverianum Press) 1994
remembrance of the departed, singing praises to and naming people after them. The departed are often
consulted through diviner and elders to find their will for the living. An offence to them will bring suffering
and misfortune to relations or the whole community. 41 Death of an unmarried person was not regarded as a
great loss. 42
Africans doubt all death no matter how it occurs; they always try to find the cause of every death not
minding the remote or proximate cause or the age of the deceased. Witchcraft, sorcery, poisoning or evil
magic are seen as causes of death and suspects are threatened, fined and or ostracized or kola-nuts, food or
drink is offered to such suspects on deceased ’s grave or corpse and the innocent is often exonerated. In
some cases knife, razor or any weapon is tied in the hand of the corpse to revenge for the land of the dead.
Death of an aged can be considered a good death. Okwoli puts it well when he said “the death of old persons
are occasions of joy by the grand children of the deceased.”43 Whereas certain deaths are considered as “bad
deaths” for example death of children, death by leprosy, small pox, epilepsy, by accidents fully from a palm
tree or any tree drowning, bury etc. such victims are not fully given burial rites - purifying rites are made to
appease the gods and such people are not buried near homes but in the bushes.”44 It is believed that death is
not the total annihilation of the individual because there is a general understanding that life goes beyond the
grave. Mbiti described “life is like pilgrimage the real home is the hereafter”.45 It is never a complete
destruction of the individual, life goes on beyond the grave. 46 Once death is announced a typical African
society suspend all routine activities because everyone is hit and it is not a thing of isolation for only the
immediate family thus Mbiti explained that it is to avoid causing any offences to the departed.47 The funeral
rites and ceremonies are in such a way as to draw attention to that permanent separation of the individual
physically from other human beings and it is believed that if the rites are not performed the spirit of the dead
may not be able to join the ancestral spirits,48 the rituals vary and often determined by the circumstances of
death. A child does not deserve elaborate funeral rite and the rites are very brief, light and precise.
AFTER LIFE
The respect accorded to the dead in Africa custom is suggestive of the fact that they hold strongly a belief
that there is a part of human person that survives death and one that is interred. It is believed that the spirit
of the dead survives the person. Africans believe that the here-after is an invisible world but much less the
same with the present life, for many it is situated here on earth or under the earth and has similar features,

41
Mbiti J.S. African Religion and Philosophy (London: Heinemann) p. 75-91, 162
42
Ogbu, U. Kanu Ed. African Christianity- An African Story, (Eritrea: African World Press Inc.) 2007 p. 465 -466
43
Okwoli P.E. Introduction to Igala Traditional Religion (Anyigba: Pastoral Center) 1996
44
Okwoli Ibid
45
Mbiti 1996
46
Mbiti 1975.
47
Ibid
48
Ibid
arrangement, materials and animals and as for the location some point to the sky. It is believed that the spirit
of the departed hovers around the homestead after burial until the second burial when he/she joins the
ancestors. The spirit pays visit to their kits and kin. Opoku rightly stated that “even in the afterlife the dead
were not cut off from their living relatives to give instruction, warnings or information which are normally
taken seriously by those who believe them.”49 It is possible to notice some of their characteristic features in a
new born baby in their family. This is the belief in reincarnation. Reincarnation has a different feature
because according to Opoku “it is only the dominant characteristic and the spirit of the ancestor that are
believed to be reincarnated in his descendants and not his soul”. They remain distinct and each birth
represent a new soul, the ancestor is reincarnated but continues his own life in the afterlife and the names of
the children are normally to remember the dead. The reincarnated ancestor becomes the guardian spirit of
the children. In the words of Boston “it refers to the relation between an individual and a particular ancestor
who is believed to control or predispose the person’s destiny, and who is in some respect reincarnated in the
individual concerned. Even in situations where there is no indication, the guardian spirit is known through
divining and through oracle on the fourteenth day”.50
CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION
The whole of the life of an African is well knitted to the rich heritage and culture of the people, a very
unique breed of humanity with admirable lifestyle even though this is flitting away in recent times. Bulk of
the practices of the African is based on religious influence. That is the African traditional religion and hence
religious thoughts becloud the African conception of things and understanding of the world around him. The
idea of life is believed to be lived for the benefit of a good life in the hereafter, the idea of time is believed
to be subject to certain acts of God, the idea of development is determined by the influence of more
developed countries rather than an appreciation of Africans surrounding and creating development in the
African style. The idea of freedom and determinism was more tied to the communal way of life of African
which though grew largely individualistic due to the fact that the Africans underestimate their own
development through their rich heritage. The idea of death and afterlife is clouded in religion and the bane
currently is that it is largely influenced by the borrowed religion and makes the Africans lost their rich moral
values and traditional heritage.

49
Opoku (1978) Op. Cit
50
Boston J.S., The Igala Kingdom. The History of the 9th Largest Tribe in Nigeria, (London: Oxford University Press) 1968 p. 39
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