As Nigerians, we love to use the names of those who have achieved. If there is anything we love more than award ourselves with titles, its to attach to and name drop. A man opens a small shop in Peckham and a few months later, he travels home to boast about his new supermarket store in the 'heart' of London, before he could say, "I love my country", he had been awarded a doctorate in business management from the university that refused him entry a few years earlier. Now the guy calls himself a Doctor, forgetting its just an honourary title. This is not the first time Africans have done this, Zik and Nkuruma did this as well. In time, its difficult to know who is who?.
There is now a proliferation of compound names, children desperately trying to ride on the back of the names created by their parents rather create their own names.
So, instead of saying "do you know who i am"?. Its better to say, "do you know who my father is"?.
Its like a bully who struggles to get his way on the play ground asking for reinforestment from his father to beat up other kids. Why win an election based on policies, when you can on the basis of your name or who you know.
You are rarely expecting a saintly behaviour from the son or daughter of a thief?.
In time, a plain Mister with simple surname will become a rarity, well, i can only hope.
http://akin.blog-city.com
01/08/08 @ 09:10