In 1979, the government of Imo State under Sam Mbakwe launched the Ahiajoku Lecture Series, named for the yam deity Ahiajoku (Ifejioku). It is a yearly pan-Igbo colloquium where scholars such as Chinua Achebe, Adiele Afigbo, Bede Okigbo, Donatus Nwoga and M. J. C. Echeruo have explored Igbo philosophy, economy, linguistics and cosmology — a kind of living databank for Igbo thought.