Opinion: Nigerians, have we all lost our minds altogether?

by Ifeanyi J. Igbokwe

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It has become normal that men should be more of dogs than men, allowing even dogs to behave better when it comes to certain tendencies.

We used to be Africans, not just any African but Nigerians. Back in the days when we were all still Nigerians, we were real people: our men were real men and our women were untamed beauties, albeit without the unwarranted addition of layers upon layers of mascara that leaves the unpleasant suggestion of mummified cadavers when we behold their faces.

We all went to churches and mosques and jealously guarded our decency as the pride it was. We didn’t have multiple personalities for different spheres of our lives, it wasn’t necessary for we held morality in high esteem and life was good.

Music was good and came with messages; call it reggae, high life, jazz, oriental religious or whatever name you prefer but the music we had never played a second without a message to pass across.

Young people believed so much in the dignity of their labor that they had little or no regard for rich people whose source of wealth could not be well explained; each and every one believed in himself or herself and worked so very hard that the other cultures envied us.

Just before we lost it, it was a grave error for young lady to leave behind clues that could make mum or dad discover she has a boyfriend for it was an unthinkable abomination to have one. It would be a day she would never forget in haste for she would not only receive the beating of her life, but she will receive that of her next life too. But our loss has taken its toll, so it became normal for us to defraud other people and throw a party with the proceeds. It had become normal. But now we not only brag about our boyfriends and girlfriends but we do the unthinkable and even make videos out of it (I have failed over and again to understand who the videos are for or why).

It has become normal that men should be more of dogs than men, allowing even dogs to behave better when it comes to certain tendencies. Sometimes I wonder what exactly has changed when I see our ladies cringe and succumb under the intense pressure of the craze we label fashion and give in to bleaching and other vices almost without realizing how much time, money and originality they are losing while trying to feed a repressed African ego nor the possible mental and health consequences by trying to be the faded evening shadow of the white people they watch on borrowed televisions: did the men tell them that they don’t like them the way they were anymore?

So American and European media sells us another one: how to have at least a child with every woman you come across and you can trust  how much we have developed our ability to copy other people. Now the people we have as role models, the ones we see on our movie screens everyday and admire so much begin to replicate and propagate the dirty message, not only shoving innumerable sex languages down our throat in the name of senseless and meaningless music but by having a baby with any man or woman they come across, so much so that many do not have the foggiest idea how many children they have out there. The list is endless but I must not hide my confusion; do they all ever remember that there is a virus called HIV out there not to mention its sucker-punching staphlococcus counterpart? (We may all have come down with HIV and still are not by any chance aware). If yes, when did it become a thing of pride and celebration to make a job out of having as much children as possible with as many women or men you come across or for young unmarried female peeps to come home with unexplained pregnancies without anybody blinking or asking questions? Surely this was not the Nigeria we grew up in.

I would not end this piece without a shout-out to all my beautiful Naija sisters who have made a job out of posting their t**s and every other sacred thingy they got on twitter. I thought it was just a weird and dirty behaviour left for the agaracha oyibo people dem, when did we start competing with them on that sinking stinking ground? Have we all altogether lost our minds or I am the only one observing these things? Well we may well still be Nigerians but we have far changed beyond recognition.

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Ifeanyi J. Igbokwe is a seasoned writer, motivational speaker, consultant and an action coach with special interest with personal and corporate growth and effectiveness

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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