INDECENT DRESSING ON CAMPUS:RAMIFICATION OF A MISPLACED CULTURE. Nigeria,as a nation,is faced with an all-time hassle:Balancing its modernization proclivities with pre-colonial cultural norms and values.
A salient norm which Nigerians,particularly the youths,have struggled to adopt as a modus operandi,is decency in dressing.A messianic and wholehearted plagiarization of virtually every foreign "style" without considerations for its appropriateness to the Nigerian fundamentalistic cultural beliefs and tenets has plunged our youths into an all time low level of virtuosity.
The Nigerian culture extolls decency in dressing and appearance;what do we have today?a pudendous and ignominous display of "naked"youths on our campus who justiceate their nudity proclivities on grounds of fashion and modelling.The popular names given to this accoutrements are not far fetched:spaghetti,bumper shorts,leggings,stockings(I have lost count!).The males,of course,are not free from this miasma;From sagging(the prisoner's identification) to the rastafarian hairstlyles,the list goes on.
Going by the latin philosophical maxim:Faber est suae quisque fortunae(every man is an architect of his own fortune;in this case,misfortune),the egregious and immoral manner of dressin in vogue on campus has not come without its cataclysmic consequences.Rape-an atrocity once novel to our culture and people- is now commonplace.From time to time,we keep getting inundated with plethora of disgusting and exasperating scenarios of how ladies were raped on campus.An average man,unfettered with moral or religious inclinations,will always be tempted to "have a taste" of an "open show of shame".Even the biblical character David-a man after God's heart -could not resist the thought of sleeping with the woman he saw while having her bath!
While some female prostitutes and models have somehow escaped the scourge of rape,they have been embroiled in the doldrumms of harassment and give-and-take meted out to them by lecturers,professors ,cultists and other campus "big men".Due to the revealing and enticing outfits worn by ladies on campus,they get sought after by the "big boys" for sexual immorality(to them,its never an immorality) with high grades promised as a quid pro quo.The males are not left out in this malaise:They get courted and threatened to join cultists and other "big organizations" on campus so as to be in "safe hands".Do I need to add,at this point,that a cultist always on crazy jeans,rastafarian cuts and pierced ears would surely look out for "preys" with his peculiarities?
In a country still circumambulating within the circulus vitiosus of flagitious malfeasance,ethnocentric contretemps,consternating impecuniosity and inexorable anarchy,I find it a conundrum why its supposed leaders of tomorrow indulge themselves in a superflous and ingratiating display of "dress vanity".To add pile on the agony,our tertiary institutions,saddled with the responsibility of endorsing and ienforcing our cultural norms on the students,have failed woefully in the discharge of this duty.As if that isn't enough,they have even encouraged the students through the creation of plattforms for indecent dress maniacs to exhibit their mephistophilean tendencies all in the name of "talent hunts".Disappointedly,Obafemi Awolowo university,which is supposed to tenaciously endorse its motto,"for learning and culture" can now be called "for learning and fashion." However,there is still a glimmer of hope on the horizon if exigent steps are taken toute de suite to obliterate and conflagrate this ravaging cankerworm on our campuses.Prodigious emphasis should be laid on the quintessence and significance of our cultural norms,values and ethics in tertiary institutions.The need for the apotheosization of cultural probity and consistency over plagiarized foreign standards should be accentuated ex tempore in tempus(from time to time).Seminars,lectures,workshops should be organized by indigeneous and non-indigeneous parastatals in order to sensitize the students on the need for them to abrogate this incubus on campus.In addition,strict laws and fiats should be promulgated to demur against pervasive dressing on campus.The various institutions should establish ad-hoc bodies and task them to institutionalize and enforce those fiats to the letter.Strict measures should also be taken to keel-haul erring students.Nigeria is undergoing a veritable revolution and our youths shouldn't be left out.WE SAY NO TO INDECENT DRESSING.
Bamigboye Judah is a commentator on national issues.
cc: fynestboi, lalasticlala, oga seun.

I always yawn when I see things like this...........





Summary of it all : Blame the youths eh