The passing of Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani, chairman of the Nigerian Railway Corporation and president of Nigeria Medical Association in the 60s, at the age of 90 was yet another reminder that the Igbo generation that saw Igbo land before the white men came and Igbo land after the white men left are daily joining our ancestors. Members of this unique generation possess a perspective that none before them had and none after them would ever have.

In the next twenty years, virtually all members of this generation would have gone. The question then would be how much of what they know did we preserve? If we are called to recount the way things used to be, would we be able to do so? When there is nobody to run to and ask questions, would we be able to have a reference material - a reference source?

I am currently interviewing a prominent member of this generation. Each day I sit down with him, with my tape rolling, I hear things I never heard before. I saw myself introduced to a world I never knew existed. And I wonder painfully how much of this world we have already lost to vacuum.

In talking to this generation, I also hear a faint sense of disappointment and sadness in them. Sadness for the work they could not finish. Disappointment that very few of the generation after them have any interest in knowing what happened in the past and how to use the knowledge to build a better future.

The generation of men and women, who made up the Igbo, when Igbo bu Igbo are hurting. They are going over to the great beyond in sadness and pain. They will not be able to report that the state of the Igbo is strong. But most painfully to them, they will not be able to report that there is hope.

One of them used this analogy to explain the dilemma that faces the Igbo in years to come. He said to me that if my children cannot speak Igbo, yet I pound my chest because they can understand Igbo, what hope is there that their own children will speak Igbo? Nadir.

In effect, if we do not know who we were, how do we begin to understand who we have become or who we have the potential to become? And what happens when that link is lost forever, like a language lost? If do not know where the rain started to beat us, what hope do we have of knowing where it stopped?

The greatest generation is that transitional pioneer group who first encountered the white man, encountered Nigeria , embraced Nigeria , rejected Nigeria , fought Nigeria , and rejoined Nigeria . No other generation could make that claim. No other generation is in a position to use that knowledge to help resolve the crises of identity, heritage and history that the Igbo face in today’s world.

Whatever their flaw maybe, this generation handled themselves honorably in the face of unprecedented changes. For an Igbo society that had never been conquered they did not have any precedence to work with when all of a sudden their society was overrun by external forces. In one generation, they moved from heathens who never heard about formal education to PhD holders. They found themselves in Nigeria and through hard work and dedication proved themselves formidable.

As descendants of that generation and the generation after that, we owe it to our children and our children’s children to document for posterity what is left of our history as witnessed by our greatest generation. We cannot wait for the Ade Ajayis of Nigeria to do it for us. We must, as a matter of urgency, embark on a mass documentation of our history, oral or written. We must make every sacrifice needed to preserve that most important essence of our being.

For a long time, we have screwed our priorities up. We have allowed the pursuit of vanity, trifles and illusions to blind us. Looking around Nigeria , those who can see are aware that we have not faired well as a result. Instead, we have found ourselves relegated to a place where our forefathers would be ashamed to see us.

The Igbo have little time to regain their composure and avoid a complete slip into abyss. The window of opportunity is open for a very short while. The question is will the Igbo take the opportunity? Have the Igbo been sufficiently humiliated to understand how dire their situation is?

I have amply been involved in Igbo grand plans and white elephant projects to know that the conditions on the ground and in the hearts of the Igbo are not ripe for such. I have since scaled down to the minimalist level where few individuals working in consonant for a greater good have better chance of spurring change and inspiring others.

The best tribute each and everyone reading this can pay to Dr. Ikejiani and his greatest generation of Igbo is to pick up a tape recorder and interview one or more members of that generation alive. Let them talk. Let them tell us how it used to be when Igbo bu Igbo. Do that and you must have done your duty to history. It may be a small step, but in our collective history, it counts as something large.

Fifty years from now, when our generation will be in a fast track to join our ancestors, you will look back and count this act as one of your finest contribution to Igbo life. Trust me on that.