₦airaland Forum

iukpe:
For your information Omotola Jolade Ekehinde earn N750,000 per movie and you can imagine how many movie she features ina month. Genevieve earns N1m per movie which is even more than the per annum salry of a banker that works from morning till night for solid 365days.

How much money is spent on these movies they make so much from? They r lucky to have the people who buy whatever movies they make.

Kanto:
NIGERIA HAS FAILED AS A NATION, SO WHY NOT  START WITH SCRAPPING NIGERIA?


No wonder they said the internet is full of garbage.

Millions of people enjoy nollywood movies, both in and outside nigeria. Common sense indicates that if you don't like something you simply avoid it, rather than seeking to impose your unprogressive, primitive and tribalistic will on others.   

But no not nigerians, as usual in their primitivity and blind tribalism we  have a load of anonymous internet charlattans who lack any simple common sense advocating that the private innitiatives of individuals that  have at least created thousands of jobs and put food on the tables of so many people in a land where there are no jobs should be scrapped.


If we have to follow the warped logic of the imbeciles here advocating the scrap of nollywood, then why not also scrap nigeria?

Afterall nigeria is technically a failed state, a disgrace of a nation that cannot even provide the basic amenities of life.
There is no electricity, no water, no roads, no hospitals, massive poverty, human corpses on the streets to name but a few so why not start with scrapping nigeria?


Wny not scrap nigerian customs?
why not scrap nigerian police?
why not scrap nepa?
why not scrap the states?
And finally why not scrap nigeria?

Afterall none of these including the banana nation is working!

I am waiting for an answer from the stupid, unprogressive, primitive, and tribal bigots that promote such a nonsensical logic of scrapping nollywood!

Traditional African values & societal decay in Nigeria

By Henry Chukwuemeka Onyeama

Over the years (at least since the 1970s), it has become fashionable among social commentators to lament the decline, if not erosion, of traditional African values in modern Nigerian society, particularly among the youth. The widespread notion is that this situation is largely responsible for the social malaise plaguing our society. Thus a return to these "positive" values will commence the detoxification of our diseased social climate.

Are they correct? Given that the so-called traditional values are, in themselves, double-faced Janus this question is necessary. What you see is not always what you get and our hypocrisy will debar us from telling ourselves the truth.


First, what do these pundits really mean when they mouth the phrase "traditional African values"? Definition of terms is necessary if we are to avoid being muddle-headed. Honesty, hospitality, kindness, concern for family, etc. are by no stretch of the imagination exclusive to Africans. So what is so special we have lost and must regain for our society to move forward? Nigeria, let alone other African countries, is a tangled web of nationalities with different cultures and world-views. I am Igbo and it is not a positive value for me to allow anyone dictate to me or ride roughshod over me just because he or she is of royal blood. Another Nigerian from another cultural milieu might see things differently.


The clamour for positive African values by some self-appointed sentinels of our society is coloured by a romantic view of pre-colonial Africa (narrow it down to Nigeria). To these sentinels, the coming of the white man disoriented a glorious system of values embedded in rich tradition and custom. Maybe they have a point. But the coin has another side: our fathers killed twins in certain places; had caste systems in others; occasionally ate strangers and travellers in their domain; treated women like dung in some societies; and practised what we euphemistically label African Science. Nudity or near-nudity (which these traditional African cultural advocates blame on foreign importations like Big Brother Africa) was (and still is) a way of life in some of our
"glorious" cultural settings.



Truly, the coming of the Europeans, to paraphrase Obierika, a character in Things Fall Apart "put a knife through the things that held us together and we fell apart" But no civilization stands forever, and why could our "great" value systems not withstand the "oyibo" onslaught?         

The bottom-line of the current sad pass in our society lies in the following:

Generational conflict has always existed, but many Nigerians, especially elderly ones, dislike this fact. Those who bemoan contemporary "vices" like fashion styles, love for American music, easy sex before marriage, and the dubious romance with the internet had their own vices 30-50 years ago. Some of them eventually became worthy adults; some did not. Many of these pundits bestride our public life like the colossus. See the good they have done for Nigeria with their lifestyles of traditional African values.


These traditional values are at times foundations for our contemporary woes. One example: traditionally (at least in many pre-colonial Nigerian societies) the Big Man" syndrome was supreme. The "Big Man" was powerful, rich and famous. He had all the titles. He appropriated the choicest of lands and the juiciest of women. True, there were correspondingly high standards expected of the "Big Man" but he was the lord, and the ultimate aspiration was to be like him or be in his shadow. Transport this traditional mindset into our contemporary society and you get disdain for the rule of law; ingrained belief by certain people that they are born to rule; treating of the national patrimony as a private estate, just to mention a few. The oil of foreign religion, education, commerce and government only greased the evil inherent in the "Big Man" syndrome. Go to our villages during the festive season and see how we worship the newest "Big Man" irrespective of his source of wealth.


The way most Nigerian men perceive women and even most Nigerian women see themselves in this age of Microsoft is rooted in our traditional values. Disparaging of the female folk is not solely Africans even those who gave us Christianity and Islam twisted the words of Jesus Christ and Prophet Muhammed to suit their prejudices and records of the feats of Nigerian women in history are well known. However, many of the traditional values about men & women roles/places in the society, which we have carried into our time are, underlined by these assumptions:

[b]The man is the lord and master, even when he does not deserve to wear the pants of authority; Women should take anything from men in a spirit of humility; Marriage defines a woman's status; Childbearing is a woman's central vocation; Customs and traditions must hem a woman in because she is potentially bad. There are many others.

Any wonder many Nigerian men are not at ease with the likes of Chimamanda Adichie, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Lara West, Ofunneka etc. who repudiate these values. Our conformism is rooted in a traditional mindset, which dared not break out of line, even if doing so will bring positive societal transformation. Who dared question the oracle's pronouncement back then? Even when they knew the decision was made by rapacious priests of an unjust idol? The elders spoke, the youths obeyed, case closed. Deviants got harsh desserts. Any difference in our times when people like Shehu Sani, Gani Fawehinmi and Ralph Uwazuruike are heralded to Golgotha because they dared have conviction? Conformism rooted in mindless religion and custom still hold us from breaking the shackles of oppression, and changing our destiny. Our copying of  "oyibo" ways does not extend to the dare to question the wisdom and shackles of the ages.
[/b]

Hypocritical cover-ups and hang-ups about sex and sexuality that afflict many Nigerians are embedded in a culture, which denies that what a man and a woman do behind closed doors is an integral part of life. Why must a titled man who would not hesitate to mount her under the cover of night declare a menstruating woman unclean?

These are a few of the realities we like to lock away in our cupboards. But moral realignment is only achieved by staring honestly into reality's eyes. That we are now part of a global hamlet only expands the frontier of challenges and conflicts. Contemporary Nigerians are a hybrid, despite our black skin. We are the products of several influences. Harping back to the antediluvian ways of our fathers will not solve our societal problems. The earlier we start seeking the good in all these values, the better for us as a society. Unfortunately the thieves in high places who man our posts of power are too engrossed in their debauchery to think of such higher values.


[size=16pt]*Henry Chukwuemeka Onyeama is a Lagos (Nigeria) based writer and teacher.[/size]

bawomolo:
not a bad article, some points seem stretched.  

Holding my wife in public was a no-no before now, but I'm gradually changing. Instead of trying to make my wife fit the mode of my ideal African woman (cook my native meal, kneel down, take of the children etc), I have accepted her for who she is while focusing on her good side rather than hammering the areas she is working on. I have discovered that as the Bible says love does covers a multitude of sin, loving my wife unconditionally (no matter what my feelings are) have paid great dividend in my marriage.

i don't see the hoopla over public display of affection, it's just not part of nigerian culture.  people should be allowed to express their love differently.  the only flowers my wife is getting is a bag of efo and ewedu  

RichyBlacK:
The angry women crowd? I hope not. They want to change our family values to those of the West; the failed system of the West where women use the threat of divorce to beat weak Western men into submission or take them to divorce courts to cart away with their property. No wonder some Western men have seen the light and refusing to get married to these nasty women or prefer to go abroad and get a more stable woman from Asia, South America or Africa.

I have no problems whatsoever with challenging the status quo, but I expect it to be done with some sense. Our culture and heritage, though fraught with many faults, is still ahead of the curve of whatever you can describe as Western culture.

In our culture, a woman has clearly defined roles as wife, as mother and as in-law. The man also has his roles as husband, father and in-law. The confusion of these roles is at the root of the failure of the oldest institution in many Western nations.

According to our culture, the man is the head of the household. Even Western religions like Christianity and Judaism, though newer than our culture (African culture is as old as man - after all humans emerged first from Africa - Eden? In Africa!), have upheld that view. When it comes to marriage, the woman can exercise her power of choice! To chose a worthy leader of her future household!

KarmaMod:
You sef. You know VERY well that's what he's going to use as his excuse.

I have also found that the African man definition of physical abuse is different from what obtains in western countries. Africans regularly slap their wives or yell at them, meanwhile if you as much as touch your light skinned wife and live a red scar on her, you'll go to jail without collecting 200, I hear many African men say to me "I was only trying to get my cell phone from her"

Men and women are equal before God, but the man is the head of the home. The leadership should be like Christ demonstrated which is Servant Leadership. A servant leader does not force people to follow him, he earns their respect, and many times Jesus asks his disciples if they wanted to leave him, but they choose to stay because they believe in him.

A godly husband would not beat the wife to submission, he would he treat her with disrespect, he would not give her silent treatment and other stupid things human mind can think off, just to maintain his leadership.

The Bible never told the woman to obey the husband, like it did children and servant, women are told to submit, honor and respect. I have written many articles on what I believe this means practically, it means deferring your opinion to what your husband want while praying that he makes the right and Godly choice.

JustGood:
You are right here!

But it is found all over the world; not just Nigeria. It is human nature. I used to head a voluntary organisation here and the statistics will shock you when you read what some white men also do to their women and how much the women go through. It's an individual thing and it's not just about nationality

The biggest obstacle to change is accepting that what you've been doing is not working. Many African men in Diaspora need to accept that they have been influenced greatly by the existing African culture, each person then need to identify areas that they need to work on. In my 14 years of marriage to Ola, we have both adjusted but because this is addressing the man, I'll tell you my own adjustment. I now see "respect" differently my definition of respect when I was in Nigeria and my definition now is different. For the first four years of marriage I thought my wife's idea were foreign and never listened to her for a day, now I can't make a decision without asking for her opinion, even if I end up doing what I had thought about.