People go to Africa and confirm what they already have in their heads and so they fail to see what is in front of them. This is what people have come to expect. It’s (Africa) not viewed as a serious continent. It’s a place of strange, bizarre and illogical things, where people don’t do what common sense demands.” - Chinua Achebe
In Nigeria, almost everything from foreign lands, especially those things from the Western nations, is permissible and embraced with open arms without thinking about how it would affect us negatively - economically, socially, culturally or intellectually. And that is because we do not have a structure or a system in place that we can call our own and be boastfully proud of. We, Nigerians, have lost our sense of dignity and self-worth so much that we accept as normal and in vogue, whatever cultural norm comes out of Europe and America. The internet age, with its huge amount of information (in graphic details - of words, pictures, sound and videos) being processed by the brain within a short space of time has not helped either. What we do know is that there are deliberate and calculated efforts by the “rulers of the world” to corner us, by all means possible, in order that we accept their norms as normal everyday way of living but we also know that how they achieve their objective on us, is absolutely left in our own hands. We, as sane human beings and leaders, need to be able to decode messages or actions that are not right for us, needn’t we?
My outrage in this write-up is to one of Nigeria’s most successful present leader’s choice of the object to celebrate his 50th birthday on 28th June 2013. Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (BRF as he is commonly called by his admirers) of Lagos State in his “private” birthday picture poses with his wife, Mrs Abimbola Fashola together with former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and the Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, all of them giggling exultantly behind three separate cakes meant for the birthday celebration. But there was another celebration by the Chief Executive Officer of Lagos State, Nigeria - the celebration of far away Manchester United F. C. of the English Premier League, 6,500 kilometres from Lagos. And that is where BRT’s low-key birthday celebration took an unwelcome twist for me. How come? I retorted in the most revolting manner and here is the reason why.
At pedestals as high as the Office of the Governor of Lagos State, no public officer in that capacity should subscribe to supporting the interest of foreign football club(s) openly outside their jurisdiction to the detriment of their own interest, however much they’ve loved or followed the football club all their life. And that is the rule when you occupy a political office or a sensitive leadership role such as BRT occupies today. Maybe if that picture had not been released to the public via the internet, nobody would have made a fuss about it but for a sitting governor to publicly display such repulsive insensitivity to his teeming Lagos tax payers and supporters leaves much to be desired.
What purpose do these symbols of "bitter" cakes, with the full insignia (logo, if you like) of the people of Lagos State superimposed side by side that of Manchester United, serve the interests of Lagosians, except to continually get investments, recognition, etc., out of the state in favour of Manchester, UK which sadly still, did not solicit for the advert in any way? What about the effect this picture will have on unsuspecting, young, impressionable and naive minds in many years to come?
Needless to say, as long as BRF is still the governor of Lagos State, he is unequivocally the symbol of hope and prosperity for the teeming Lagos population. He is magnet that should pull investments to the state not push it away. He should be the purveyor of every positive thing that streams into the state and the defender of every negative public image that is set to curtail the state’s growth. For now BRT should be the sky, the air, the land and the defensive shield that shatters any invading intrusion from foreign “aggression” upon Lagos State and its people. This is what should obtain in Lagos State and indeed elsewhere in Nigeria because that is what obtains in the Western world, which we try to copy to the hilt.
The flagrant, insensitive display of personal interests by our leaders over the corporate interest of the people they lead is legendary and alarming. Knowing full well that the masses of Nigeria are laid back or even, in most circumstances, are not knowledgeable enough about the workings of governance, these ones take full advantage of them and do what they like. As a leader of any political office or of any huge corporate body, whose actions or inactions affect a multitude of individuals, it is your civic duty and responsibility to protect and defend the interest of the people until death but that is not so in Nigeria.
This is the article of faith that all purposeful leaders in that capacity or position pledge or swear to. One example of how Nigerian dealers (not leaders) abandon their civic duty and responsibility, chasing foreign interests that have to direct bearing to the empowerment of their own people is the Ken Saro Wiwa saga of 1995. Ken Saro Wiwa of blessed memory was gruesomely murdered for the Shell Petroleum Corporation’s because he was vocal against the degradation of his country’s environment and the depravation of the people of Ogoni land. Today, that section of Nigeria has not known peace because of the selfish interest and insensitivity of the very people we trust to lead us.
The consequences of abandoning your own interest or of not fully pursuing it, in a competitive global environment, are too many to enumerate. The unsolicited advertisement that was (is) freely given to Manchester United F.C. by Governor Fashola (because of his own personal interest of loving Manchester United from tender age) against a home grown football club, Stationery Stores F.C. or even an upcoming football club Lagos State that BRF is the C.E.O. of, is incalculable. That action strips off, football clubs like the Stationery Stores in the state, of global recognition in favour of Manchester United F.C., for instance. Talented youths who are looking up to the government in the state to support their aspiration in football are kicked in the face by their governor because of his insensitivity to his duty and responsibly by supporting a foreign club that they do not have any investment interest in. The youths become frustrated and take to all kinds of menial jobs or even in some cases, turn to crime. The youths lose. Their families lose. The society loses. We all lose. Meanwhile, Manchester United F.C. in far away England, that does not know whether the Governor or its citizens exist, continues to sit comfortably in hallowed places among enviable football clubs while Governor Fashola’s local club, Stationery Stores continues to gasp to breath and is no-where to be found on the world map of viable football clubs.
When one becomes the overseer of a political entity like Lagos State, all, and I unequivocally repeat, all personal interests, should take the back seat in favour of safeguarding the success and interest of one’s political entity against any external “aggression,” be it financial, military, socio-cultural or political, from any quarters except you have a common or a shared interest with the external body.
Many have argued that it is in order for BRT to use whatever interest he likes to express his joy on his birthday but how does one explain the conflicting interests inherent in his use of the coat of arms of Lagos State on the wall and the one lying side by side Manchester United logo on the cake? Simply put, how does one reconcile BRT’s business interest for Lagosians in Manchester United? OK! let me rephrase it another way to make it clearer, which interest supersedes the other, the personal interest of BRT’s for Manchester United that Lagosians don’t have any business interest in or the corporate interest of the people of Lagos State who freely, lovingly and kindly elected him into office for him to help them develop their own local football business to make it a global brand? Your guess is as good as mine.
In years by, Nigeria used to be a country where its football clubs and administration were embraced and respected by its people and many other nations - not any more. Nigerians willingly bought tickets in their tens of thousands to watch home grown footballs clubs like the Rangers International F.C. of Enugu, the IICC Shooting Stars F.C. of Ibadan, the Stationery Stores F.C. of Lagos (also called Flaming Flamingos), Iwuanyanwu F.C. of Owerri, BCC Lions F.C. of Gboko, Bendel Insurance F.C. of Benin City, Migty Jets F.C. of Jos, etc until our dealers (not leaders) killed the fun and turn it to a lacklustre affair with inadequate funding, corruption and unqualified football administrators. Today, football lovers in Nigeria no longer embrace these clubs, with the pride and dignity with which they once gave them because it has lost its shine and rather than finding a steady incremental solution to the problem by new leaders, who should make a difference, they prefer to look the other way and take the easy way out by supporting established foreign clubs to detriment of their own and people.
These Nigerian leaders refuse to emancipate from mental slavery and attachment to what is not their own, confusing their freedom of choice when they were “ordinary” citizens as the same when they become distinguished person, accountable only to the public they pledge to serve.
The leaders are guilty, who are not modest in their judgement and decorum and who have mislead unsuspecting, impressionable minds astray by not showing them good examples. Nigerians continue to paint cows, chickens, cars, houses, you name it, in the colours of Arsenal F.C., Chelsea F.C., Manchester F.C., Barcelona F.C., Real Madrid F.C., etc., they continue to find cheap escape from a nonperforming, comatose, structure-hungry system to fill their frustration, they spend billions of naira jetting out to buy souvenirs and memorabilia of what do not belong to them because the Governors, who are suppose to give them direction, endorse it or sometimes, even fund trips to “worship” and to do “obeisance” at the feet of their foreign “demigods.” Rather than turn their anger at government for not holding their own and making the necessary social change possible, in all departments of social cum infrastructural development, Nigerians continue to embraced the foreign football wholesale, with the passion never recorded in history in their own country, while their leaders cleverly uses their ignorance as a way of getting the very people who should revolt against them, off their backs.
In all this, one could spot a socio-cultural anomaly and defect in the way Nigeria (the leaders) and Nigerians (the followers) carry on about accepting everything foreign because their leaders openly support and allow it, otherwise, how does one explain a cultural norm that fortifies foreign people who do not support you or a cultural ethos that supports foreign people who do not factor you into their lives or even know you exist? Nigerians must reverse the trend now and begin to ask tough questions from their leaders and demand the right kind of administration and development, demand the right kind of mentality and the right kind of attitude and values from their leaders such as have made the above mentioned foreign clubs global brands.
Using the above logic and juxtaposing the issue of Ken Saro Wiwa with Manchester United free cake advert by BRT, it is obvious that our leaders are missing the point in utter disservice to us and credible social development. Foreign interests get all the exposure, exposure brings in money and more money for them; we are left napping and are the loser for it. Time to stop them abusing our dignity is now.
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