Initiation into the
aristocratic Nze na Ozo society marks the person as nobility. To become
Ozo implies that the title holder is now an
Nze, implying a living spirit and an ancestor. One then becomes the moral conscience of the community and is seen to be a fair adjudicator in cases of disputes within the community. In times of crisis, most Igbo communities will rely on Ozo members for leadership. Generally, in most Igbo communities, only holders of
Ichi title may become candidates for
Ozo title. Anthropologists have seen cases of women with Ichi scarification, although only men are amongst the
Ozo, a title which accords the individual extreme prestige, power, and influence in the community. Taking
Ozo title is extremely expensive with the lower grades costing in excess of US$25,000 in initiation cost and up to another US$2000 in annual subscriptions. Although there is hegemony across
Igboland on the notion of
Ozo, categorisation and grades of Ozo titles are different across Igbo communities. For example, with the exception of the
Onitsha and
Delta Igbo, certain titles of the
Ozo such as ‘
Ezeana’ may not be taken until the candidate was seen to have been ‘a man’. Being that Igbo's are
gerontologic in outlook, the basic pre-condition for such an assessment was to ascertain whether the father of a candidate was still alive. If a candidate's father was still alive, the title could not be taken. This rule however does not apply to
Onitsha Igbo's who can take
Ozo title while a candidate's father is alive. In other Igbo communities, especially those in the
Awka-
Nri axis, some exceptions are made where the candidate completes the initiation rites into
Ozo, but is referred to as ‘
Nze-agbala’ until the father dies. Such a person may however not be allowed to dance to
Ufie music which is a sacred music danced by
Ozo holders on special Igbo religious festivals such as the
New Yam Festival. Another major difference in taking of
Ozo title in Igboland relates to the pre-requisite for the candidate to have earlier taken
Ichi title (). While taking Ozo title in most Igbo communities in the
Awka-
Nri axis requires the candidate to have taken
Ichi title, in
Onitsha,
Ichi is not a recognised institution and is therefore not undertaken by the
Onitsha Igbo and some of the Delta Igbo. The Nze na Ozo society does not exist in most southern Igbo communities such as the
Aro. Instead, these communities have masquerade societies such as Okonko and
Ekpe. In most parts of Igboland, there are generally two major classes of
Ozo. The first is
nnukwu Ozo (big
Ozo). Within
nnukwu Ozo, there are three grades consisting of
Dunu,
Dim and
Ezeana. In the second class of Ozo referred to as
obele Ozo (small
Ozo), again there are generally three grades consisting of
Eyisi,
Ezuzo and
Okpala. It must however be recognised that until about 1930,
nnukwu Ozo had a fourth (and highest) grade of
Ozo referred to as
Igwe (Sky) which only the
Eze Nri, the spiritual leader of the Ozo system held. This has however changed with most Igbo communities being led by a senior
Ozo holder referred to as
Igwe or
Eze. The different grades of
Ozo are not necessarily distinct based on nomenclature alone. For example, while
Ozo Okpala is regarded as obele
Ozo, the position is usually taken by the first son in a lineage who by taking the title becomes responsible for arbitrating internal family disputes. ==See also==