All that Vexing with BB Naija

Two events which have dominated national discourse in the past two weeks involve South Africa. The one is the Big Brother Naija (BBN) a reality TV show being filmed in South Africa, and the other is the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians by South Africans.

I will begin with the BB Naija show and try to establish its relationship with the concerns being expressed by Nigerians. Nigerians are upset that the programme is being aired in South Africa. Because of that, highly placed government officials said that they would take the matter up. The second thing that Nigerians are losing sleep over for the BB Naija show is that it is immoral and washes our dirty buba and shokoto before an international audience. They also say that it showcases what is negative about Nigeria. Take the example of one of the housemates who threw everything to the dogs and bared our Aso Rock, warts and all before a global audience just because he did not want to be evicted. Or the other lady who exposed her nipples to be sucked on prime-time television. In justifying his nakedness on prime-time TV, the young lad said to the world: ‘You cannot imagine what I’ve been through in Nigeria’.

But our annoyance over these matters is misplaced and uncalled for. The young men and women were not forced at gun point or otherwise, to go get naked for the world. They were enticed with fame and fortune, what their country never gives, and passed through a rigorous selection routine before becoming housemates. Those youngsters you see there on the South African reality TV are merely taking shelter under a little umbrella for a huge mass of young people in Nigeria with no hope of gainful employment, or the enabling environment for them to succeed as entrepreneurs. Most of our young graduates who presented themselves for screening for employment nationwide, clad in cherubic robes either lost their lives, or were scammed by the very nation which requested to screen them before employment. But as we speak, employment is currently going on but in the dark and under the auspices of the who-know-man portfolio. Therefore, what we see in the BB Naija is a bigger picture of a nation which has stripped its young naked, and exposed them to all manner of self-abnegating conditions and makes them easy prey.

Also in that light, I want to suggest to Nigerians ascribing immorality to BB Naija to cut off their subscription. BB Naija is for a matured viewing audience and it is only subscribers that get to view the ‘immorality’. And after cutting off their subscription, they must stop watching any musical video in Nigeria as well. Why? A lot of our music videos today are replete with the nudity they say is on BB Naija, to the extent that it is not even music any more but a showcasing of the derrieres of naked young girls. What makes these musical videos very dangerous is that they pollute the minds of our children. On a good day, you get these music videos on any of the big TV stations for a penny. Recall that any big company having anything to sell these days usually attach that commodity to half-clad women. The reason they do that is a marketing strategy based on the axiom that the easiest commodity to sell these days is sex, sex and more sex. So, ascribing immorality to the BB Naija is cutting our nose to spite our face.

Now, concerning the xenophobic attacks: in Africa, not many like Nigerians. The explanations are legion: Nigerians are go-go, they are brash and can survive whatever condition you throw at them, credit to years of living without power supply, water, good roads and medical facilities. Once upon a time on a training programme in West Africa, the full-weight of that animosity stared me in the face from Mauritanians, Ghanaians, Liberians, Sierra Leoneans, Beninese and the Cameroonians.

Education has long been recognised as a way out of poverty and ignorance for individuals, and as a way of promoting equal opportunity. Late South African President, Dr. Nelson Mandela once reinforced the power of education when he described it as the greatest engine of personal development through which anyone could achieve his/ her dreams, no matter how massive.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo once stated that he gave himself fully to studying and researching because he understood the power of education. A brilliant leader, who was raised in poverty, Awolowo rose above his environmental challenges to become a reference point in governance in Nigeria, thanks to the power of education.

As Premier of the defunct Western Nigeria, Chief Awolowo used his free education programme to advance socio-economic advancement in the region. His blazing desire to expand his accomplishment in the Western region to the whole nation was clearly spelled out in1983 when he affirmed that: “To finance free education, we are going to block wastages like the N350 million allocated to be spent on chocolate in the Third National Development Plan. For the four years of my administration, there will be no dinner, no banquet, and no luncheon. Nobody will drink anything but water in the office, including my office if I am elected president!”

It is, therefore, in view of the universal recognition of education as a pathway to attaining a just and progressive society that governments across the world accord it the prime of place in the scheme of things. In Nigeria, for instance, the nation’s founding fathers knew that not much could be achieved without education and they consequently gave it prominent attention to education. They had the foresight to realise that desired high quality workforce, without which national development is impossible, could only be guaranteed by investing in education. In the defunct Northern Nigeria, one time Premier of the region and famous Northern leader, late Sir Ahmadu Bello, laid a strong foundation for the region through his numerous educational initiatives. Indigent Northerners who were ready to learn were supported to go to get education through access to scholarships. Many of those who acquired western education became very successful in their various fields.

Sadly, however, in the last few decades, the standard of education has drastically diminished in the country. Thanks to the nation’s wobbling economy, critical unemployment situation and nose-diving value system, education has obviously diminished in status in our beloved nation. Pronounced poverty, especially, has made it almost difficult for parents to invest in quality education for their wards. Across the country, many children have become hawkers and street beggars, just to make ends meet. A few of them that are interested in education could not actualise their dreams as a result of inability of their parents to make available seemingly simple school’s accessories such as shoes, bags and books.

Shoes, in particular, have historically been one major necessity that students and pupils have found very difficult, over the years, to acquire. In Nigeria, for instance, famous national figures such as late Chief M.K.O. Abiola, Pastor E.A. Adeboye, ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan have variously revealed how they spent their early years without shoes. Ex-President Jonathan in particular once made the issue a huge campaign topic in the 2015 general election. He said: “I was not born rich. I was raised by my parents with just enough money to meet our daily needs. In my early days in school, I had no shoes and school bags”.

Tayo Ogunbiyi, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Lagos