COLONIALISM OF THE MIND: A PANACEA OF NIGERIAN’S
UNDERDEVELOPMENT
Over 50 years of Nigerian
Independent and freedom from the colonial masters, the years appears like
yesterday due to the concurrent influence it has had on our Society, most
especially its effect on our psychology and thinking pattern.
Nigeria as an independent nation with diverse ethnic group
and rich cultural heritage has continued to entangle herself in what i call, “COLONIALISM OF THE MIND”. Needless to
say that the path way to succeed in life seen and adopted by Nigerians, especially
the youths is finding their way out of the shores of this country Nigeria.
Travelling to western countries has in no wise suddenly become a miracle by God
that people give testimony anytime they find their way outside the country or
someone close to them does. It is a daily prayer point from parents to children
and a song in religious houses in present day Nigerian society.
At this point, i would love to
ask a critical question which is "How many people pray to Leave Nigeria
for Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan etc”. the answer is obvious. It then implies
that going to such part of the world is more like placing curse on an
individual. On this basis, one can validly deduce that if we Nigerians are born
in the good western Countries, it will be like a curse if we were asked to
relocate to Nigeria. suffices to say, is it not better to put hands on desk
towards moving Nigeria forward and make it the most desirable nation to live
in, so that our Children will see it as a curse not a blessing nor a miracle,
if they are asked to relocate out of this country.
Yes, making this country
desirable is a very difficult task and looks impossible, but if every
individual are passionate to make Nigeria the best by decolonizing our minds,
then it is just the easiest thing to achieve in a short time.
If everybody wakes up to sweep the Front of their House
every day, the whole world will be clean.
Nigerians of which am a part must take a bold step towards
decolonizing their minds from the following:
First, we must understand that we
are not an inferior race; neither do we possess an inferior skin color, though
the story writers have painted our warriors as being bad, even when we are
their stronghold.
we must accept our origin and
uphold our historical background, Nigeria and Africa have great history of
success which we must know and uphold, for instance, the man who invented the
super and fastest computer is a Nigerian, the root meaning of Chemistry was
gotten from an Egyptian word called KEMAT,
which means black man science, this and many more must be upheld.
It is important that every
cultural entity in Nigeria posses some unique traits, which manifest mostly in
their language and culture. Hence we must encourage ourselves to speak our indigenous
language, most especially when we are in non official places or places that the
language will not look intimidating. It is 21st century Insanity to ban your
children from speaking your language at home or learning it, you want only
English, then you are killing tomorrow’s future. S.L.D Itanrin said, “The
secret of any invention lies in the language” If we all are thought science and
technology in our own native language, Nigeria would have produce great
inventors today, do not forget, Language is powerful, stop making us feel our
language is inferior to one.
Often time i have heard the word “Official
Outfit” who is the judge here? Who told you your Traditional Attire are not
official? It saddens my heart to see Traditional outfit been relegated to a
Friday-Friday Attire in Nigeria, we are killing our rich Tradition and
relegating it by ourselves. Our minds are still being colonized. They say
Western Attire makes one look smart and make you comfortable, Let us decolonize
our mind from these ideologies. I have seen pastors jump up and Down on
Traditional outfit, our Traditional rulers and some of key politicians in the
state, go about their daily duties on Traditional Outfit, so why must we continue
to colonize ourselves again?
We are where we are Today because
we have continue to colonize our minds and putting it within the shackles of
western structure which is alien to us. What is wrong with Abakaliki Rice,
Taimakwo Mokwala Rice in Niger State among many Nigerian products, we have
become a dumping site of the world because of colonialism of the mind. We do
not have any believe in ourselves or anything that comes from us again.
Of a truth, i will agree with you that some Nigerian product
are bad or deceitful, but nevertheless, it still demand our trust from the very
first Citizen to the last, things we import are not totally perfect as well, we
cannot continue to consume. Every Consuming Nation Will Consume and consume,
till they get Consumed.
Olakunle Soriyan Once said, the
way we have colonized and entangled our minds have gotten so terrible to the
extent that, if a Nigerian comes into the country with a degree from oversea,
he is viewed to be like ten years ahead of his colleagues with the same degree
here, not minding the name and quality of the acclaimed institution the person
finished from. It is never the case that we do not have genius in Nigeria but
we have refused to view them and value them because our minds are colonized
already.
More so, in African culture, the
name a child bears carries great meaning along , but nowadays, Almost every one
want to bear English name, our African Names seems to irritate us, they don't seem
good and appeasing to our ears again, all this among others are constant point
to the fact that our minds still remained colonized long after colonialism
ended in Nigeria.
I submit by saying, until we
decolonize our minds in Nigeria, and go back to cherishing and improving what
we have got with honesty and truthfulness, The path to Nigeria’s success still
remain vague and will be unclear. Until we deal with the pest of colonialism of
the mind and moving out of Nigeria prayers will seem like a curse and not a
blessing, the promise land is still not at our sight.
GOD BLESS EBONYI
STATE
GOD BLESS NIGERIA
ESAN OLUWATOBI DAVID
LIVING LEGEND
No comments:
Post a Comment