Author: admin

Nigerians are unique in every sense but if we pretend that we operate a normal society, then the truth is not in us. Nigeria was great and can be great again, only that the long journey to greatness would require some internal cleansing by all of us. The first time I began to query the ‘Nigerianness’ in Nigerians was way back in 2007. I was on a return journey from Dallas, USA to Lagos after the summer holidays with my family. The journey was enroute London and the transit from Dallas to London was peaceful and orderly. The journey from London to Lagos was different. All hell was let loose when it was time to board, as passengers scrambled for space from the lounge to the aircraft. In awe, my younger son who was barely three years old then asked me why the rush, after all we all had our seats already allocated to us. As much as I would have loved to tell my son the truth, the deep-seated love in my heart wouldn’t let me denigrate my country that I hold so dearly. I parried the question and distracted my son so I wouldn’t have to lie. The answer to his question was that we had more Nigerians onboard and we were getting closer to Nigeria, where orderliness is such a big deal.

You may think it is one of those things but I can tell you that an average human being feels more accepted wherever he can communicate effectively. Communication is two way, it involves not only hearing, but being heard. I used to attend a particular church when I arrived Lagos after my service year. The church had a considerable balance of the major ethnic nationalities, at least in the southern part of the country. I really can’t tell if it was by coincidence but it happened that the choir was predominantly populated by a particular ethnic nationality, even though the presiding pastor is of another ethnic nationality. Gradually but consistently, praise and worship sessions became so skewed to a particular native tongue that the rest of us who don’t speak the language were left to enjoy only the rhythm of the melodious music coming from the choir, even when we didn’t understand the message.