POLITICAL THOUGHT

of (i) Nnamdi Azikiwe; (ii) Kenneth Buchizya Kaunda

B. Gumbo
 Background: Who is Nnamdi Azikiwe
• Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, popularly known as Zik, was born
on November 16, 1904 in Zungeru, Niger State, Nigeria
and was the first president of Nigeria at independence.
• He wrote to tackle challenges to the post-colonial
African state such as coloniality of leadership,
directionless governance, absence of pragmatic political
ideology, political instability and underdevelopment.
• His philosophy is a search for an ideological project of
self-affirmation and assertive cultural nationalism in
post-independence Africa.
 Summary of Azikiwe’s work
• His political thought is found in his three major works:
– (i) Nnamdi Azikiwe. (1961). Renascent Africa. New York: Negro
University Press;
– (ii) Nnamdi Azikiwe.(1978). From tribe to Nation. Onigu Otite
(ed.). In Themes in African Social and Political Thought. Malta:
Fourth Dimension Publishers; and
– (iii) Nnamdi Azikiwe. (1981). Ideology for Nigeria: Capitalism,
Socialism or Welfarism. Lagos: Macmillan.
• Clearly, he sought to address three key problems
besetting the African state:
– (i) coloniality;
– (ii) intrastate political instability and;
 Cont.…
• Key themes in Azikiwe’s political philosophy addressed in
this lecture are:
– (i) resolving coloniality through renascence of Africa and
Zikism;
– (ii) Resolving intra-state political instability through Tribal-based
national unity;
– (iii) Neo-welfarism as a panacea to socio-political and economic
underdevelopment challenges.
Resolving coloniality - renascence of Africa and
Zikism
• He is the founder of Zikism, a political philosophy or
ideology aimed at the decolonization of the minds of
young Africans, in preparation for a battle against the old
Africa, brainwashed by their colonial masters.
• He stressed that Africa could only be emancipated by
those who believed in the concept of a renascent Africa.
• He said ideology needs “agitators”, the believers who to
spread it and organized people around it, thus
transforming the ideology into a motivating instrument of
action.
 5 tenets of Zikism
• Zikism has five tenets that are vital to the political
emancipation of Africa:
– (1)Spiritual Balance - cultivation of the spirit of tolerant
scepticism for the views of one’s antagonist.
– (2)Social Regeneration: - Jettisoning of all forms of
prejudice, be they racial, national, tribal, societal, political,
ethical because they impede the realization of political
regeneration.
– (3)Economic determinism: economic self-sufficiency as the
ultimate means to the redemption of Africa because no
matter how educated Africans may be, as long as they lack
economic self-sufficiency, and adaptation to African
environments, they will fail to realise a stable society.
 Cont…
• Azikiwe called for “a state of society where the mind is brought
into harmony with matter... a psychological conception deeply
rooted in a material environment.”
• He further argues that “The usefulness of any concept, idea or
theory, lies in its implications for the practical solutions to the
problems of society. In this sense, pragmatism requires that
man’s efforts and intelligence should be geared towards the
liberation of man and the satisfaction of his needs in society”
• Thus so our education should be aimed at providing means of
livelihood for Africans, to fail in this regard, Azikiwe argues, is to
dent the African social fabric.
Cont..
• (4)Mental Emancipation: to deal with “crisis of self-
confidence”created by colonisation in the African, which has
opened apertures for a lasting barrier to growth and innovation.
– Azikiwe argues that there is no specific proof to sustain the idea of
superiority or inferiority of any race, and for the African to cultivate an
inferiority complex is to sign the death warrant of Africa’s future.
– He calls for emancipation from the crisis of inferiority and assures the
African that he had a glorious past and can design a more glorious
future.
– Azikiwe stresses that the African must follow Socrates’ principle: Gnothi
seauton, (Man know yourself), and like a sleeping giant, Africa must
wake up from his slumber and harness his power for his own good and
that of mankind.
 Cont…
• (5)Political Resurgence: That is, if African cultivates a
spiritual balance, experiences social regeneration,
cultivates and realizes economic self-sufficiency and
mental emancipation, he or she certainly finds himself or
herself in a state of political Risorgimento (renewal or
rebirth).
• To this, Azikiwe says, “Politics is a means to an end which
is more glorious than the means through which this end
must be attained.
• Socially, the end is guarantee of social security, and a
right to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, just
 Resolving intra-state political instability: Tribal-
based national unity
• Azikiwe observes that Tribalism, is a reality, but in the midst of tribalism,
national unity can be a reality.
• Thus, he proposes 5 key on How the reality of tribalism can be adapted
to the unreality of national unity to make national unity a reality:
• 1)The need to discover the circumstances which can be superimposed
on the natural chains of language and culture, which has linked the
human beings who inhabiting a country to enable them develop a feeling
of personal security and group preservation
• 2)Federalism form of government to concede coexistence to all linguistic
groups, on the basis of equality, within a framework of political and
constitutional guarantees. By preserving the linguistic groups of Nigeria
and conceding to them local autonomy of some satisfactory nature, an
atmosphere for respect of their culture and traditions is created.
 Cont…
• 3)Constitutional reform to safeguarding people’s fundamental human
rights; secondly, to provide citizens with basic needs. In this case,
Azikiwe like Cabral emphasises, rulers must discover the material
needs of their people, once there is a failure in this by rulers, citizens
will have grievances over political, economic and social inequalities
which increase loyalty to tribe and disloyalty to the nation.
• 4) Each region must be granted de jure equality in form of legal and
constitutional treatment and de facto inequality meaning the
acceptance of the fact that not all regions, provinces and local
authorities are equal either in area, population, natural resources and
financial means.
• 5)Political parties must cut across the artificial barriers of tribes and
regions.
Neo-welfarism: panacea to socio-political,
economic underdevelopment
• Capitalism is a socio-economic system essentially based on private
ownership of capital goods or means of production. It is profit
oriented and profit motivated.
• Socialism is characterized by public ownership of means of
production, distribution and exchange. It aims at organizing the state
as a fraternal, co-operative commonwealth, with fair and equal
distribution of wealth. It rejects class-division and laissez-faire
philosophy. Azikiwe rejects this system for leading to totalitarianism,
barbarism, clannishness.
• Welfarism is a social system where the state assumes the primary
responsibility for the individual and social welfare of its citizens.
 cont...
• Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe held that the political practice of the
traditional African society was a combination of ‘capitalism’,
‘socialism’ and ‘welfarism’ which worked very well for them,
and thus advocated that we go back to our roots, adopt the
same and update it to suit contemporary African society.
• Azikiwe begins his neo-welfarism philosophy by
identifying credibility and workability loopholes of
capitalism, socialism and welfarism which were dominant in
newly independent African states.
• However, he envisions the possibility of making good out of
the best of these three political systems to forge a new
system for Africa called Neo-welfarism.
 Cont…
• Azikiwe defines neo-welfarism as:
– “an economic system which blends the essential elements of capitalism,
socialism and welfarism in a social economic matrix, influenced by indigenous …
mores, to enable the state and the private sector to own and control the means of
production, distribution and exchange, while simultaneously enabling the state to
assume responsibility for the social services, in order to benefit the citizens
according to their needs and officially-specified minimum standards, without
prejudice to participation in any aspect of the social services by voluntary
agencies.”
• “Neo-welfarism” is thus a political and economic system that
synthesizes the good elements of capitalism, socialism and welfarism in
socio-economic relations, illumined by indigenous African ethics.
• The neo-welfarism philosophy emphasises rule of law, separation of
powers, open door policy in import and exports, human rights and
constitutionalism, adherence to local African experiences in institutional
reforms.
Cont...
• In Neo-welfarism, Azikiwe formulated a pragmatic and humanistic political
ideology that respects the communalistic character of indigenous
communities and simultaneously reckons with contemporary economic
situations.
• “It is the practical application of pragmatic choosing and arranging of best
elements in the universally recognized ideologies of capitalism, socialism
and welfarism” (Ejiofor, 1989:133).
• Neo-welfarism has humanistic point of view as it seeks the establishment
of a humane society where there can be abundance and where the state
would guarantee for every citizen a reasonable minimum standard of living
rooted in “indigenous mores”, which are communalistic and of concerns and
care for fellow man (Azikiwe,1980:4).
• Furthermore, the neo-welfarist state, as envisaged by Azikiwe, ensures that
man’s exploitation and dehumanization by his kind is brought to a minimum
if not totally eradicated.
 Cont...
• Thus Azikiwe asserts:
– Our ancestors had a political ideology and we should go back to it. Politically
they were welfarist, they shared things together. They had land in common;
they were their brother’s keepers. There were no cases of some people
being extremely poor in the same society. It was a blend of capitalism and
socialism and it avoided the evils of capitalism. That is the system we need
in Africa we should adopt it and modernize it as ‘neo-welfarism’(Omoregbe,
2010. p.165-166) .
• Neo-welfarism offers us a revolutionary ideal of human equality,
human dignity, love and respect for one another which is inherent in
the traditional African ethics.
• In a neo-welfarist state, as envisaged by Azikiwe, the government
shall not be above the law, fundamental human rights shall be
respected and guaranteed.
Background to Kaunda’s Zambian Humanism
• Kenneth Buchizya Kaunda popularly known as KK was
born on 28th April 1924 in Lubwa Northern Province of
Northern Rhodesia now Zambia.
• To help the spread of his ideas, he published several
books:
– Zambia shall be Free (1962); A humanist in Africa: Letters to
Colin Morris (1973);
– Humanism in Zambia and a guide to its implementation part I
(1987);
– Humanism in Zambia and a guide to its implementation part II
(1988);
 Key topics covered

• Zambian Humanism
• Christian Humanism
• Oppression and non-violent approach
• Cooperative development
Zambian Humanism Philosophy
• Zambian humanism was a form of African Socialism, which combined traditional
African values, Western socialist and Christian values.
• It offered new nations a way forward that claimed to draw upon the values and
norms of precolonial societies, emphasizing communalism, egalitarianism, and
mutual aid.
• Kaunda noted that,
– ‘Our African personality contains elements of simplicity, of service, of community which all
the world needs. . . . This is the African substitute for the capitalism, socialism and
communism of the East and West.’
• Kaunda argued that Zambian humanism was based on the fact that Africa had
always contained indigenous socialism which the colonialists had tried to destroy,
and so the Zambian humanism was an attempt to rescue pre-colonial values and
traditions and to use these as the basis on which to build the modern state.
• It places the human person at the centre of all activity, social, economic and
political.
 Cont…
• Kaunda (2007) wrote:
– “Zambian Humanism came from our own appreciation and understanding of our society.
Zambian Humanism believes in God the Supreme Being. It believes that loving God with
all our soul, all our heart, and with all our mind and strength, will make us appreciate the
human being created in God’s image. If we love our neighbour as we love ourselves, we
will not exploit them but work together with them for the common good” (p. iv).
• Zambian humanism was also a Christian humanism because of the places more
emphasis of fear of God.
• Kaunda (1966, p. 39) wrote, “By Christian humanism, I mean that we discover
all that is worth knowing about God through our fellow men (sic) and
unconditional service of our fellow men is the purest form of service of God.
• He further noted that “I believe that Man must be the servant of a vision which is
bigger than himself; that his path is illuminated by God’s revelation and that
when he shows love towards his fellow men, he is sharing the very life of God,
who is Love” (p.39).
 Eight (8) basic principles of Zambian humanism
• 1).The human person at the centre – the human person is not defined according to
his colour, nation, religion, creed, political leanings, material contribution or any matter.
• 2). The dignity of the human person - Humanism teaches us to be considerate to
our fellow human beings in all we say and do.
• 3). Non-exploitation of Man by Man - Humanism abhors every form of exploitation of
human beings.
• 4). Equal opportunities for all - Humanism seeks to create an egalitarian society--
that is, a society in which there is equal opportunity for self-development for all.
• 5). Hard work and Self-reliance - Humanism declares that a willingness to work hard
is of prime importance; without it nothing can be done anywhere.
• 6). Working together - The national productivity drive must involve a communal
approach to all development programs. This calls for a community and team-spirit.
• 7). The extended family - under the extended family system no old person is thrown
to the dogs or to the institutions like old people’s homes.
• 8). Loyalty and patriotism - only in dedication and loyalty can unity subsist.
 Cont…

• Kaunda argued that for these principles to work, they

have to be taught in schools, universities, covered in the
media and government must create a ministry responsible
for implementing the philosophy.
• He stressed the central role that education must play in
the liberation of the African people.
On Oppression and Non-violent resistance
• Kaunda (1980) noted that, in every situation of violence,
the oppressed have three options to choose from: (i)
passive resistance, (ii) succumb to oppression or (iii) to
come out in open and revolt against it.
• He argued that succumbing to oppression is undignified
and unworthy of any self-respecting man.
• On the other hand, open revolt often leads to killing of
countless people, those very people for whom freedom is
sort. So he decided to resort to the third method- the
method of passive resistance or non-violence or positive
action.
Cont...
• In support of the non-violent action, Kaunda stated that
– “Our main armament was not guns but words--thousands and
thousands of words, written and spoken to rally our people, to
lay our claims before the British Government and the world, to
express our anger and frustration at the denial of our birthright
to rule our own country.”
• And after independence he wrote,
– “Had we acted on the basis of a blow for a blow, the history of
the last days of Northern Rhodesia and the first days of Zambia
would have been written in blood.”
Cooperative Development
• In accordance with principles of mutual support,
communalism, and egalitarianism, Kaunda promoted
cooperatives as a ‘milestone of rural development’ and
rolled out government-sponsored cooperatives.

• THE END.