The 2022 Headies awards organized in Atlanta, USA, has got me worried, and I believe it should equally be worrisome to every Nigerian who believes in the greatness of our country. Recently, it has become commonplace for Nigerians to identify with other countries rather than take pride in their fatherland.
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Since becoming president in 2015, President Buhari has spent a chunk of his tenure in London, England, seeking treatment for undisclosed ailments. Despite objections raised by many Nigerians as to the propriety of such behaviour, his actions have been defended by his lieutenants. It has emerged as well that the president is not alone in this attitude; the First Lady is known to have a preference for Dubai as a base to conduct her engagements; reports of her receiving the wives of Nigerian governors in Dubai set Social Media abuzz some time ago.
Also, the presidential candidate of the PDP Atiku Abubakar is known to be in love with Dubai, maintaining a cozy hideout there in preference to the insecurity in Yola and Abuja. In like manner, his rival presidential candidates of the ruling APC, and opposition LP; Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi, have equally found reasons to showcase their foreign credentials with trips to Paris, London and Cairo. Obi is even aiming to raise his presidential campaign funds from the diaspora.
Similarly, it is now in vogue for top politicians to congregate in European cities to strategize in the lead-up to the 2023 elections. Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State leads this charge, flanked by his retinue of current and former governors of different states, with President Olusegun Obasanjo as a supporting cast.
It is against this backdrop that the hosting of the Headies, a music award ceremony organized by Hip Hop World Magazine got me worried. The awards instituted by Ayo Animashaun in 2006 have become a red-letter day in the annals of Nigerian music, it was, therefore, a shock that such an important cultural event was uprooted from home to the diaspora.
In recent years the Grammy and Oscar Awards organized by the Americans have been elevated to global events. The original concept was however localized, and targeted at the American audience. Along the way, and with a cultural colonization agenda, the Americans sort the buy-in of the young minds of foreigners. This resulted in the infusion of foreign categories in the awards. Foreigners who win the awards now see it as their Mount-Rushmore; the pinnacle of achievements.
In reality the Oscars and the Grammys are just like any other awards. Their global appeal is credit to the superiority complex of the Americans and the deployment of global media networks to broadcast them. The ongoing burial of Queen Elizabeth the 2nd, and the crowning of King Charles the 3rd, are other pointers that tradition is best appreciated in its home ground. This contrasts sharply with the decision to host the 2022 Headies in the diaspora.
The organizers of the Headies could have found a way to showcase Nigerian culture to the world, by broadcasting the event worldwide from home. At a time when scarcity of foreign exchange has almost crippled the Nigerian economy, millions of dollars were spent on visa application fees, flight tickets, hotel bookings and sundry costs associated with hosting such a huge event in unfamiliar territory. The worst of all was that not one mention of the event was made in mainstream American media. In today’s world where you could do anything in your backyard and share it globally, of what use was hosting the Headies in America if not the inferiority complex?
While I blame the organizers for this faux pas, the greater blame must be reserved for President Mohammadu Buhari, Dr Chris Ngige, and Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM. Between them, these three government officials have conspired to make Nigerians feel that living in the diaspora is better than living at home. Their actions and utterances betray their love for the diaspora above their love for Nigeria.
President Buhari junkets abroad to treat his ailments, and when interrogated as to why his minders remind us that his doctors are actually Nigerian doctors in the diaspora. On the part of Ngige, while the furore over the recruitment of Nigerian doctors by foreign embassies was raging, the moustachioed minister told Nigerians that it was a good thing; after all, the doctors would remit dollars back home to their families. In like manner, Madam Dabiri-Erewa has been preening herself as to the billions of dollars in remittances from Nigerians in diaspora. It has got to the extent that Nigerians at home feel like the enemies of their own country for being at home. Little wonder ‘Japa’, which means to run away from Nigeria, is now a buzzword among the youths.
Dabiri-Erewa conveniently forgets to tell Nigerians the conditions under which these remittances are made. Nigerians abroad mostly work minimum wage jobs which pay very little, and must work an ungodly number of hours in order to pay their bills; the deception is in the low exchange rate of the Naira. Most Nigerians in diaspora want to return home, living abroad has opened them to discrimination, oppression and stigmatization. Their family and social life suffer due to the long hours they have to work. It is the numerous challenges in Nigeria that prevent them from returning home.
This whole diaspora illusion is nothing but a mirage created to deceive; no country develops from the diaspora. It is the work that people do in their country that actually develops a nation. President Buhari must realize that nations are built from home and not the diaspora! It is therefore a shame that rather than promote Nigeria and encourage Nigerians to promote their country, his government is more interested in promoting other countries in the guise of the diaspora. This attitude must be condemned by all patriots, if we are to achieve our dream Nigeria.
