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Social Support as an African Norm: 
A Study of Ikenna Okeh's Deportee

Chioma F. Emelone 
Department of English Language and Literature

Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe
(B.A.Ed., M.Ed., M.A., Ph.D.)

(08063830898)
emelonechioma@gmail.com

Abstract
This study specifically examines social support as a norm in the 
Igbo society of the western Africa using Ikenna Okeh's Deportee. 
With the use of Freud's psychoanalytic theory, this study explores 
the African standard of social support as portrayed in the novel. 
Through the explorations of some characters in the novel, this 
research examines the writer's presentation of African view on 
social support and the effects of its denial on those who need it. It is 
ascertained that despite the fact that social support is an African 
norm, everybody is not readily available to conform to it. It is 
equally discovered that family and friends are the key sources of 
social support, and that emotional pain and anxiety are the major 
effects of the denial of social support on the deprived. This paper is 
a call to Africans to imbibe the attitude of social support for one 
another as that is an antidote to dejection and depression which 
could lead to loss of life and property. 

Keywords: social support, norm, oral tradition, deportee, 
psychoanalysis

Chioma F. Emelone:  Social Support as an African Norm: A Study
 of Ikenna Okeh's Deportee

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Introduction
 In the pre-colonial African society, oral tradition occupied 
a significant status because it was completely acknowledged as 
the embodiment of the philosophy and wisdom of the people. Oral 
tradition, which is the total of all the testimonies about the past 
orally handed down from one generation to another, includes 
knowledge, memories, norms, values, and symbols generally 
created with the words of mouth. These possess a non-literacy 
nature because they are conceived in a non-literate society and are 
also founded on anonymity where no particular individual is said 
to be an originator of any given form of oral tradition which 
include proverbs, riddles, folktales, folk songs, myths and 
legends, folk dance, etc. (Finnegan 2012). Admonitions and 
approvals are given using these principles as stances, and the 
socially accepted behaviours are equally imbued in them. This is 
to say, therefore, that they serve as laws because they control 
human behaviours thereby engendering peaceful and harmonious 
co-existence of citizens. 

 The Igbo philosophies of Ọ nụrụ ube nwanne agbana ọsọ 
and Onye aghana nwanne ya are the bases of this paper. Literally, 
the proverbs are translated as “A sibling's cry should not be 
ignored” and “One should not leave one's sibling behind” 
respectively. It is a norm among the Igbo people of Nigeria in West 
Africa that a person's predicament is a concern of his relatives and 
that no one should be left behind in struggles of life because there 
is strength in unity. Achebe clearly depicts this attitude in Things 
Fall Apart when Okonkwo, in his earlier days borrowed some 
yam seedlings from Nwakibie. Again, when he is exiled from 
Umuofia, Okonkwo is sheltered by his maternal uncles at Mbanta. 
He is given some pieces of land to cultivate and some yam 
seedlings are contributed for him too. These two proverbs, in 
essence, are calls for brotherly support as that is the only way the 
society experiences peace and progress.

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mailto:emelonechioma@gmail.com


 Lack of social support is among the major factors that 
hinder individual and community development inAfrica. When a 
needy is denied of help or rejected by his immediate society, he is 
bound to suffer some psychological pain which may advance into 
deadly actions or cause some security challenges thereby 
derailing the society from the path of progress. This study, 
therefore, is an investigation into the African standard of social 
support, and is carried out using Ikenna Okeh's Deportee. 
Specifically, this study explores the writer's presentation of 
Africans' view of social support as well as the effects of denial and 
rejection on the needy. 
The concepts ofsocial support, norm, oral tradition, deportee, and 
psychoanalysis are reviewed for a better understanding of the 
topic under study. Social support, according to Drageset (138), 
refers to “any process through which social relationships might 
provide health and well-being”. Dean and Lin (qtd. in Song et al. 
5), opine that it is the “functions of primary groups that meet 
instrumental and expressive needs”. It helps in both mental and 
physical health because it reduces psychological distress such as 
depression or apprehension during traumatic times. Social 
support expresses love and care from people, and the fact that the 
recipient is valued or held in a high esteem. This support, 
according to Taylor (192) “may come from a partner, relatives, 
friends, coworkers, social and community ties and even a devoted 
pet”.   

 Norm, another concept under review, is defined by 
Teilanyo (66) as the “guidelines of how we should or should not 
behave that have a basis in morality”. Norms offer certain rules for 
behaviour; they are specific behavioural models, rules and guides. 
Though some norms are culture-bound in the sense that they 
describe attitudes, practices, or behaviours that are morally 
accepted by a particular culture, others are universal because they 
are widely found and accepted in many other parts of the world. In 
other words, some certain behaviours which are considered 
important among Africans may have little or no importance in 

Chioma F. Emelone:  Social Support as an African Norm: A Study
 of Ikenna Okeh's Deportee

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Western societies. Paluck (596) sees norm as a “socially shared 
definitions of the way people do behave or should behave”. This is 
in line with the part toed by Granovetter that norms are shared 
ideas about the proper way to behave. This explains the unique 
feature of norms: they are learnt, established, and utilized when 
there is a contact between persons (35). Teilanyo, drawing a 
difference between norms and values, asserts that “values are the 
beliefs about what is important, while the norms are the behaviour 
and attitudes that support and indicate these values. It can also be 
said that values are manifested through norms” (66 – 7). 

 For a better understanding of the concept of deportee, it is 
pertinent to delineate the concept of deportation. Deportation is “a 
practice of forced removal of unwanted individuals or groups of 
people from a given territory” (Drotbohm 1). From this definition, 
it is deduced that a deportee is one who is deported. As defined by 
The International Civil Aviation Organization, it is “a person who 
had legally been admitted to a State by its authorities or who had 
entered a State illegally, and who at some later time is formally 
ordered by the competent authorities to leave that State” (ICAO 
3). It is indisputable that this group of individuals is thrown into 
some psychological conditions right from the time of arrest – 
because the first step in the process of deportation is the arrest of 
the victim – through the jail or detention centre before he/she is 
eventually let out of the territory.  

 This research is anchored on Sigmund Freud's proposition 
of psychoanalytic theory. In this theory, Freud, an Austrian 
neurologist, opined that the unconscious plays a major role in the 
behaviour, feeling, and words of individuals who are not aware of 
its presence or operations. The tripartite psyche is an important 
aspect of Freud's psychoanalysis because it is here that he 
described the mind as having three operative parts namely; the id, 
the superego, and the ego. McLeod (2016) has it that the id 
engages in primary process thinking which is primitive, illogical, 
irrational, and fantasy oriented. The ego which makes use of 

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reason, on its part, seeks to consider the rules of behaviour. It seeks 
for other means through which the demands of id will be 
realistically achieved without any ugly effect on the society. This it 
does through either compromising or a postponement of id's 
satisfaction. The third which is the superego is an agency that 
seeks to enforce the striving for perfection as it holds out to the 
ideal standards and moralistic goals of the ego. It can as well 
retaliate against the imperfections of the ego by inducing guilt 
(Dobie 2012). The superego deals with the values and norms of the 
society. 

 This theory is considered appropriate for this study 
because there are revelations of the unconscious and the 
manifestation of the Freudian tripartite psyche as seen in writer's 
presentation of the characters. 

Social Support as an African Norm as Portrayed in the Text
In Deportee, one of the novels long-listed for 2022 The Island 
Prize, Okeh presents a story of Anayo, a Northern Cyprus deportee 
who feels stranded and apprehensive on his return to Nigeria 
because he is penniless and disappointed in himself for the reason 
that he has fallen short of his people's expectations. The writer tells 
of his protagonist's predicaments and the social support he gains 
from his family and friends which consequently aids him in 
regaining his pride as he later migrates to Bulgaria. Okeh could be 
said to fall in the category of those novelists described by 
Nwachukwu-Agbada as the “Nigerian debut novelists at the turn 
of the new century … who consciously want to say something 
new, create ferment in the artistic arena and consciously imbue 
their writing with a new vigor” (544). The title of the text alone 
makes an intentional and strident statement; a kind of tag borne by 
a certain group of people in the society. This particular group, in 
essence, only needs the support of people in their immediate 
environment to detach the tag from  themselves.

Chioma F. Emelone:  Social Support as an African Norm: A Study
 of Ikenna Okeh's Deportee

26

 The African norm of social support is vividly presented in 
this novel. Social support is portrayed as a guideline of how 
Africans should behave, and this has a basis on morality. The 
Glory Land Book Club (2022), in a review of the novel, opined 
that every man, overtly or otherwise, is a deportee needing help, 
adjustment of attitude, and some hope to grip on. This buttresses 
the importance of social support in our society. Okeh, through his 
story, upholds it as a proper way to behave, bringing the writer's 
role as a teacher to the fore. In an interview with Onuoha Chris of 
Vanguard Newspapers, in 2022, the writer succinctly asserts that 
his intention of writing the novel is majorly for entertainment and 
enlightenment. The writer condemns those characters that hear a 
brother's cry and decide not to come to their aid, through the effect 
of their actions on the protagonist. Loneliness is the opposite of 
social support, and “emotional support, belonging in a social 
community, being valued, practical help, and information and 
guidance” are encapsulated in social support (Drageset 137). 
These are offered to Okeh's deportee protagonist by his immediate 
family, extended family, friends, as well as women. These groups 
of people save the protagonist from going totally into depression 
which Bhowmik et al. describe as being “among the leading cause 
of disability worldwide” (42). For emotional support, Anayo's 
family is not found wanting; his parents and siblings throw their 
weight behind him despite the fact that they part with two plots of 
land to enable his migration to Northern Cyprus. Upon hearing of 
his son's deportation, Maazi Oji quickly refurbishes his house so 
that the sight of things will not throw his son into depression. The 
phone call conversation which Anayo has with his family to 
inform them of his arrival into Nigeria is one of the first cooling 
agents for his anxiety. Okeh puts it thus:

The phone call had gone on for longer than he had 
expected and there was no hint of sadness at the other end 
despite his fears. If anything, everyone's excitement for his 
return had rubbed off on him, and he'd felt the urge like 
never before to get home as quickly as he could. His 
mother asked to know what food he missed the most so 

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she'd make it for him. (71)

He is well received at home and everybody ensures that he lacks 
nothing. Although the consequences of deportation can be 
devastating to both the deportee and his loved ones, Anayo's 
family proves Onye aghana nwanne ya ideology to the letter. His 
father, Maazi Oji plays his fatherly role in dropping some pieces of 
advice for his son, guiding him, and rendering some practical help 
to him such as giving him the permission to take his car and go 
wherever he wishes. To Anayo's father, returning from the foreign 
land in good health is paramount.

 The extended family is another source of social support in 
Deportee. This is portrayed in the characters of Ify, the 
protagonist's cousin, and her husband, Uka. The home of this 
couple in Aba is the protagonist's saving abode as he journeys 
from Abuja to Obigbo where his immediate family resides. 
Because his journey to Obigbo continues into the dark hours of the 
day, Anayo, ignorant of what areas are safe to ply at night, decides 
to pass the night in Aba and continue his journey the following 
day. The couple happily welcomes him and tries as much as 
possible to have him lodged in a hotel because they feel that he will 
be more comfortable there. It is when it becomes impossible to get 
a hotel accommodation due to early weekend rush that the couple 
resorts to taking Anayo to spend the night at their home. Despite 
being out of job, Uka finds it important to help Anayo in any 
possible way because he sees his hospitable acts as the proper 
thing to do; that which is expected of him as a relative; a norm. 
Uka, not only provides accommodation for Anayo but gives him 
some words of encouragement as he helps him to unwind in an 
outdoor bar over some bottles of drink. 

 Song et al. assert that social support “is accessible to an 
individual through the social ties to other individuals …” and “the 
content of social ties” (5). This social tie is manifested in the novel 
under study through some characters who prove their friendship 

Chioma F. Emelone:  Social Support as an African Norm: A Study
 of Ikenna Okeh's Deportee

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with the protagonist. Friends such as Chike, Zion, Dede, and Ozo 
are used to exemplify the principle of Ọ nụrụ ube nwanne agbana 
ọsọ. Despite the fact that there are the likes of Blondie, Abuchi and 
Jonas who despise him because of his predicament, these four 
prove themselves as friends in need who, definitely, are friends 
indeed. Chike provides him with emotional support, renders some 
practical help to him, as well as ensuring that he does the right 
thing despite his fears and apprehensions. He ensures Anayo's 
peace and safety when he first arrives in Nigeria and lodges in an 
Abuja hotel, and visits him as often as possible in his hotel room. 
Dede, on his own part, is his advisor and confidant while he is at 
Obigbo. The moral support which he provides for Anayo is 
estimable as he takes him for evening strolls round their 
neighbourhood and encourages him in his escapades with women 
as well as the necessity of facing his life and ambitions not 
minding the gossips that fly around the town. Dede advises Anayo 
that his condition as a deportee is the best time for him to get a 
woman who will take him for who he is and not what he can offer. 
Anayo then goes in search of Chikaodi who, at the end, is 
disappointed in his lack of sexual prowess and the fact that he 
returns with nothing. It is Dede who convinces Anayo to seek 
financial help from his friends who reside abroad. Zion is one of 
them, a good friend of his whom he always runs to whenever he 
needs a financial assistance.

 The social support given to Okeh's protagonist offers him 
the courage to join his family to celebrate the Christmas in his 
home town. There, he attends a wedding ceremony where he 
courageously joins Ozo and some other young men of his town to 
relax and have some good time. Ozo commends Anayo's courage 
in handling the ugly incident and condemns his own brother who 
“is too ashamed to return to the neighbourhood” (Okeh 119). 
While he is with Ozo and other friends, Anayo realizes that he has 
surmounted the stigma of deportation, and the worries about what 
people think of him. Instead, he feels delighted that he is being 
used as a model of resilience to others. 

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 Lastly, women also provide a form of succour to Anayo. 
The Glory Land Book Club Book Review (n.p.) has it that Anayo 
engages in them – as many as will not see him as a failure – while 
not wanting to commit to any. The women in Nigeria, unlike those 
he meets abroad, are good enough for the release of sexual tension, 
and so he jumps from Fiona to Chikaodili, and then Oma, Anne, 
and the prostitutes, including Mercy who offers herself even while 
she is in her monthly period. Okeh puts it that “women had 
become for him a perfect grace from the despair that deportation 
offered” (Okeh 135).  

 Additionally, this study investigates the effects of denial 
and rejection on the needy as portrayed in the novel. Taking 
Anayo, the novel's protagonist as a paradigm, one deduces 
emotional pain and anxiety as major effects of denial and rejection 
on the needy. It starts with Angelina's polite rejection of him when 
he arrives Abuja. That sustains his anxiety as he wonders what the 
situation will be at home with people who “are not so cultured and 
are known to throw their sentiments and feelings at people's faces” 
(Okeh 41). He feels disappointed when Abuchi, his childhood 
friend apparently ignores his company while he is at his home 
town for Christmas; and he feels ostracized when Jonas, his cousin 
denies him of financial help. The pain worsens when Jonas's 
mother and siblings begin to avoid him. Moreover, the entire 
Obigbo has him as the major topic of their gossip and all of those 
cause him some degrees of emotional pain. The social support he 
receives from family and friends together with his desire to prove 
his mockers wrong pushes him to try and achieve leaving Nigeria 
the second time.

Conclusion
 This study borders on the presentation of African view on 
social support and the effects of its denial on those who need it. It 
is discovered in this research that notwithstanding the truth that 
social support is an African norm, everybody is not 
enthusiastically and willingly available to measure up to it. It is 

Chioma F. Emelone:  Social Support as an African Norm: A Study
 of Ikenna Okeh's Deportee

30

equally discerned that family and friends are the foremost sources 
of social support, and that emotional pain and anxiety are the 
major effects of the denial of social support on the deprived. This 
paper is a call for Africans to see the necessity of imbibing the 
attitude of social support for one another. This behaviour will help 
bring remedies to some emotional breakdown such as dejection 
and depression, and that can forestall loss of life and property. 

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