When I was young, I had my dad wanting to be a better person. I think he didn’t quite know how best to do it. I say this because each time I erred, all he does is grab my back, and hit me hard until I confess my sins and swear to him never to do it again. Thereafter, he’d come down with some sermon on how to be a better person and why I can’t afford to soil my name and that of many generations before mine. Back then, I felt like he was not my dad but there I was bearing all his physical features. Thing is, he did his best to mold me into a better part of him even though I wanted to be me. But I was living under his roof and dwelling on what economists refer to as “transfer earnings”. Many were our conflicts back in those days but now that I am older, I look back and I smile because irrespective, I think I have emerged to become a person worthy to proud of. My dad gave me a whole lot to see me become better.
Why am I saying all of these? Culture is probably not just a way of life. In my thought, I honestly think that a culture adopted in any given society has a way of throwing up its head in a man’s future engagement. For instance, Sam, a recruiter at Thompson Enterprise observed that job seekers from western Nigerian tend to be more respectful than their counterparts from other regions. Furthermore, he also observed that northern traders tend to be more honest than the rest. Even though there is no real evidence to back up this claim, one can not relegate the influence of culture in the affairs of man. A man’s affairs as he relates with the larger world is a reflection of his or her culture. More importantly, men emerge from a smaller unit known as families.
However, culture is always in a transition. Years ago, wisdom was a function of age because the numbers acquired by any individual translate into knowledge. A little while, education made the acquisition of knowledge rapid. Then came digitisation which made information readily available by tabbing in a few words and within split seconds, the whole screen is filled with algorithms of answer.
On the flip side, I am forced to consider if some of our political leaders are indeed products of culture, families or education. For many of them, they act with a great deal of monumental waste and with an unrivalled portray of corruption. In my house for instance, when something gets missing, we find the culprit from amongst us and a discipline is meted out to whoever is found wanting. If this is the case with other families, none would have had the gut to say that millions of cash were swallowed by a big snake somewhere in Abuja. The narrative is not only disrespectful but also a gross abuse against the brilliance of many.
My take is this, the family must miss the rare opportunity to mold better Nigerians. The society also must not fail to put up good cultural norms. It is a must-do if any meaningful progress is to be made about the Nigerian dream.
– Olayinka Kayode Kingsley
olayinkakayodekingsley@gmail.com
