I have given the above real life examples to illustrate just how gung-ho Nigerians are on titles. Be them traditional, professional, political, academic, religious or military titles, some Nigerians will do anything to bag them, and will even do even worse to ensure that they are addressed by them.
- Otunba Honourable and Erelu Deaconness Olori Buruku
- Chief Professor Sir and Lolo Lady Efulefu, KSM, MNI.
- Alhaji Sir Dr Barawo Banza, CON.
- Captain (Retired) and Alhaja Ode Asiwere, FSS, PSP, OFR.
- Engineer Professor and Pharm Mrs Anufurubo
- Right Reverend Dr Sango Amadioha, JP (I always wondered why there were no Left Reverends)…
Contrast this with what obtains in order parts of the world, where human beings are simply known by first names and surnames and nothing more. As a secondary school student in 1993; whose head had already been messed up by the Nigerian title culture, I was surprised to learn from a TV documentary that then US President Bill Clinton had been a professor of law at the University of Arkansas prior to his political career. I remember being really puzzled and wondering why such an important title as Professor did not make it to his name written on the screen each time he appeared on TV. As I grew older I tried to understand the origins of this title culture, and arrived at two conclusions: emptiness and sheer, yet ignorant, arrogance.
In my experience, many people become obsessed with titles when they have nothing to offer by way of inner worth. Titles become a mechanism for making up for emptiness and inferiority complex. The emptier such people feel, the more they cling to titles like drowning people would clutch at straws. Not addressing such people by their titles – earned or purchased – would be like pouring salt unto an open wound.
But the arrogant species of the title-crazy Nigerian are probably the more common. These ones are usually loud, brash and uncouth – educational, religious or political status notwithstanding. Titles to them are a means of differentiating the men from the boys, the big shots from the hoi-polloi. For how can an ordinary Mr. Bassey Balogun talk when Chief Emeka Effiong hasn’t finished? And how dare Chief Emeka Effiong disrespect Chief Dr Sir Bayo Mohammed, KSM, MNI, CFR; the Waziri of Onitsha? To these philistine species, titles tell how far up one has come in the world, and the more one has, the bigger a man he is. If my title is bigger than yours, or mine are more numerous than yours, then you need to know your place when I’m around.
I still think of that wedding reception of 2007, and that chairman. What would have happened if I had refused to add the ‘Sir’ he wanted?
