MADE IN NIGERIA!

 “Patriotism is your conviction that your country is superior to all others because you were born in it”…George Bernerd Shaw

I love my country

I’d say that many a time have I heard some folks say with much enthusiasm and graceful gait thrust upon their chest and with a healthy smile upon their faces like a mischievous smirk, ‘I love and am proud to be Nigerian’, really that’s a pretty good thing that makes me happy and keeps me going, allowing me beam with hope and anticipation for a greater future, but seriously?

Ironically, every single person that makes the above declaration is probably wearing clothing apparel made in Indonesia, footwear made in Italy, perfume made in France, shades made in China, standing on tiles which was obviously imported, having fun in a Turnkey project model house designed by western Engineers, and of course wait for it, actually saying all these in a bar where they are watching with all interest an English Premiership club soccer match and of course in a pool of die-hard fans in foreign soccer club jerseys. So much for loving Nigeria by word of mouth, yeah right!

“The future is scary, but don’t run back to your past because its familiar”…Ritu Ghatourey

Back to the basics

As usual, do not get me wrong, there is unquestionably so much fun in encouraging trade exchange between nations to promote and appreciate diversity and of course allow bi-lateral relations, adding colour to the economy, creating strong bonds, acceptability and inclusion, but do we really know how far back in time we need to go in order to realize where we apparently got it wrong? Or perhaps the period of the slave trade is far back enough.

In the relatively salient law of direction, a school of thought portends or rather highlights that everyone looks for a path to follow, but the first person to actually succeed in moving towards the right direction apparently becomes the leader while other people follow in his lead, the right path in this context is however comfortably stereotypical just like a town of blind men where a one-eyed person becomes king, thus ‘follow the leader’.

Back in the slave trade era, the western folks were ahead of their game, their eyes opened in time to the reality of the world and they realized the imperatives of maximizing the potentials of mother Earth, developing their instincts for not just survival but adding much more value to life, a dream so big that it apparently required the use of extra hands by use of force.

Their superiority in exposure which birthed advancement in transportation and development of weaponry aided their successful conveyance of a majority of African population against their will to the west.

From that moment on, an enormous psychological impact hit Africans, a negative seed was planted right at the core of their hearts, minds and mentality, that Africans are inferior to the western people, and the repercussion includes a cancer called racism which gradually disintegrates us till this day.

“When NIKE says just do it, it’s a message of empowerment. Why aren’t the rest of us speaking to young people in a voice of inspiration?”…Naomi Klein

Just do it

I am definitely a huge fan of Michael Jackson (Of blessed memory) not just because he was the ‘King of pop’ who sang with his soul and danced with all his might and creativity. He also used his popularity and world wide acceptance to promote peace, love and above all action; this is evident in his hit ‘You gotta be starting something’.

High-end sports apparel maker Nike also inspired millions of people to get up and be active with their ‘Just do it’ phrase, which probably motivated us to witness the dawn of realization of doing whatever we needed to, even if we failed, an absolutely much needed paradigm shift which helps us see failure in a whole new perspective.

It might actually interest you to know that failure is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you didn’t set out to fail in the first place.

A school of thought tells us that there is a lot that we can learn from failure, when we fall short in certain actions and aspirations, we then tend to ascribe high value to them and even chase them with more hunger and tenacity having garnered experience and skills on how not to fail next time.

“People live their lives without ever knowing who they really are”…Chloe Thurlow

Be yourself

One of the greatest regrets I have is the day I rejected a gift from a dear friend because it had the tag ‘Made in Nigeria’, I know better now, but it is probably too late to correct the age-long impression. Is it my fault that I turned down the rare and amazing opportunity to catapult the Nigerian ‘ambassadorialism’ to a whole new level? Well, in as much as I’d say no, I don’t necessarily intend to justify my actions, but I want to explain my honest view.

An average Nigerian grows up not necessarily being proud of who he or she is, there is always this thirst which takes the form of a huge desire to step into the shores of foreign lands at all cost to savour the fabled greener pastures, more like the ‘see Rome and die’ kind of orientation.

This singular compass reading has over the years had an unimaginably colossal psychological impact on us so much that no matter how good we are at whatever we do, we use the western world as a point of reference, thereby making us deliberately owning up to the stereotype that the farthest we can travel is to become second best.

This is evident in our sense of style, music, accent and even sports, making us unconsciously lose our hard built and ripened culture by letting it give way to that of the western world without putting up a fight.

Yes we now dwell in a global village where information moves at the speed of light, where tourism has brought diverse cultures together allowing world economies to rub jointly and virtually letting the whole world to be married together.

The nations that still have integrity are the ones that have successfully preserved their cultures and have boldly internalized their problems and genuinely summoned the courage to solve them. A good example here is China.

“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently”…Friedrich Nietzsche

Corruption

Actually this is undoubtedly a topic for another day due to its intense depth and sensitive nature, but perhaps we can touch its periphery.

What is corruption really? In as much as it seems easy to describe, there has been loads of misconceptions as to what corruption really is, so much that it has either been massively over-flogged or vaguely under-rated.

Adopting the systems approach in understanding what corruption is, we keenly discover that it is imperative to dissect it into strata, for instance money can have many names such as when making a payment it is known as a fee, in the church tithe, for a penalty fine, as a divorce settlement alimony, for scholarship a grant, for a bride it’s called a dowry and so much more like that.

When it comes to corruption it also takes several shades such as; an inducement by improper means to violate duty; the destruction of someone’s honesty or loyalty; moral perversion; lack of integrity; decay of matter and also a state of progressive putrefaction.

By implication, considering the fact that third world countries where majority of the population are grossly deprived of education and are inevitably ravaged by poverty of the mind, there is no denying that there will always be misplaced priorities, lack of professionalism, dishonesty, favoritism and unhealthy scrambling for the crumbs meant for a greater population by a few unmerited ones, thus further diminishing the tendencies of development, vital characteristics of corruption.

“True education does not consist merely in the acquiring of a few facts of science, history, literature, or art, but in the development of character”…David.O. McKay

Models and Mentors

Who are you looking up to…and why? This comes in the nick of time when it is being preached to young lads that it is absolutely important for kids to have in mind a clear picture of who they would want to be like in the future. This way they are convinced that it is possible to achieve fantastic feats set by others, and it is also our duty to inspire them to do much more and even surpass existing records.

Highly placed individuals such as celebrities, entrepreneurs and world leaders have so much influence on people so much that they have automatically become role models and even mentors, with high population following them in whichever direction they choose to go, either positive or negative. In the light of this, the onus rests on these categories of people to set the pace by being ambassadors with positive and pro-active characters that encourage rich local content.

Imagine how it would be like if our celebrities, entrepreneurs and leaders proudly speak like Nigerians, wear made in Nigerian apparels and passionately promote Nigerian cultures and sports especially local football clubs. That way we would believe in ourselves more, and it will reflect in our lifestyles and the multiplier effect will be absolutely amazing.

“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.”…Anais Nin

By the way, remember the poor old little lad that gave me a ‘made in Nigeria’ apparel some years ago? Well, she now has her own designer clothing line. She’s indigenous and proud. She also started small, but with the kind of faith and courage she exudes while believing in herself, one thing is for sure, she is soon getting there. And did I apologize to her? That’s not even a question; I’m a proud stakeholder in her establishment.

Thank you.

Akin Abimbola (akinzogee@yahoo.com)

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