Odimegwu Onwumere
For more than 20 years, Globacom has been a common name in every market, street and village across Igbo land.
If you look closely, Glo has also been doing something quietly and just as important. The company has been putting Igbo culture in front of people, again and again.
When Glo entered Nigeria in 2003, it came with big concerts in Enugu, Owerri, Aba and Onitsha. Free shows where highlife legends stood on the same stage with new Igbo rappers and gospel singers.
For many young people that was the first time they saw their own music treated like big music. Sound was loud, lights were bright, and the crowd was full.
Those nights gave money to DJs, dancers, vendors and stage boys. More than that, they gave pride to a generation that was beginning to think only foreign music mattered.
Glo also put Igbo faces on billboards across the country. Flavour with his guitar. P-Square with their dance. Mama Patience Ozokwor with her strong voice. When a company spends money to put an Igbo artiste in Lagos, Abuja and even London, it sends a message. It says Igbo talent is valuable. It says speaking Igbo and singing in Igbo can pay. Many of those artistes used that first big endorsement money to record more songs, shoot more videos, and employ more people. That is how an industry grows.
Another thing Glo did was make it easy to share our culture. Data became cheaper. Calls became cheaper. A boy in a village could now upload a video of Mmanwu during a festival and someone in Houston would see it the same evening.
A woman could do Facebook live from her New Yam celebration and her sister in Italy would watch it. Before, our festivals ended in our town. Now they travel. Without affordable network, that would not have happened. Glo gave us the road and we used it to carry our music, our dance, and our stories.
The company also showed up for our festivals. Ofala in Onitsha. New Yam in different communities across Abia, Anambra, Imo and Ebonyi. Igbo Day in schools. Glo brought tents, branding, and media attention.
When there is money and organisation, more young people come. And when young people come, tradition does not die in the hands of old men alone. It stays alive because the youth see it as something lively, not something dusty.
All of this matters because culture needs three things to survive: money, platform, and audience. Glo provided all three in Igbo land for years. It did not have to. A telecom company can just sell airtime and go home. But Glo chose to stand with our musicians, our actors, our festivals. That is why the conversation deserves to be had.
Now we must ask ourselves a hard question. What have we done with that help?
Look around today and you will see Isiagu everywhere. You will see George wrappers, red caps, beads, and staffs. That is good. Costume connects us. It makes us proud. But costume alone is not culture. Odinala is not cloth. Odinala is the Igbo way of life. It is how we relate to “Chukwu” within us. It is how we respect Ala – which the Igbo Supreme God. It is how we pour libation, how we settle matters in the village square, how we honor our ancestors, how we speak truth, and how we keep community.
We are in danger of wearing our culture while forgetting its soul. A young man can wear Isiagu to a party and still not know why we break kola. A young woman can dance at New Yam and still not know the meaning of the four market days. A child can sing English songs perfectly and cannot say a simple prayer in Igbo to his Creator. If we continue like this, what will we hand to the next generation? Pictures without meaning?
Other people are watching us. Because Glo and other platforms made Igbo music and movies global, people outside are now studying our symbols, our stories, our dances. If we only promote the outside of our culture, others will begin to define the inside for us. They will tell our children what Ofo means. They will explain our proverbs wrongly. We cannot allow that. We must be the ones to teach our own.
Some people say Odinala is backward. That is not true. Our fathers built big markets using Odinala principles. They traded across rivers and countries using trust and truth. They governed towns using dialogue and respect for elders. They protected the land because they believed Ala watches. Honesty, hard work, communal support, respect for life. These are Odinala values. A people who remember them will build better schools, better markets, and better homes.
Glo has done its part. It gave our artistes microphones. It gave our festivals sponsors. It gave our youth data to share our stories. The stage is set. The lights are on. Now the responsibility has returned to Ndigbo.
We must move from costume to content. From dancing for cameras to teaching our children at home. From posting pictures once a year to practicing the values every day. Let us teach our children the names of the days. Let us teach them how to break kola with prayer. Let us teach them why we greet the earth before we farm. Let us teach them that Chi is personal, that community is strength, that truth is wealth.
This is not about going back to the village and rejecting the modern world. We can use phones and still speak Igbo. We can do business and still respect our elders. We can live in Lagos, London or Texas and still pour libation on Sunday morning. Odinala and progress are not enemies. They are partners.
The truth is simple. Culture that is only worn will be taken off when fashion changes. Culture that is lived will be passed on, even in hard times.
Ndigbo have the numbers. We have the talent. We now have the platforms because companies like Glo helped amplify our voice. There is no excuse to let the soul of our culture die while the body is well dressed.
Let this be the time we return to Odinala. Not just during festivals. Not just for photos. But in how we pray, how we treat neighbours, how we raise children, and how we run our communities.
When we do that, then the support Glo and others have given will make full sense. Because what is the point of a big stage if the song has no meaning? What is the point of a loud speaker if the message is empty?