By Owei Lakemfa
IN the dying weeks of the year, I have watched Nigeria from afar like someone in a different country. The happenings seem baffling.

There was the usual silly clash between the Distinguished Senators and the Honourables of the House Of Representatives raring its head when  the President allegedly was to present the 2010 Budget to the joint Houses of the National Assembly.

The disagreement was over the venue; the Senate chambers or that of the House? I had taken it upon myself to look for a neutral venue. The Eagle Square seemed spacious enough, or the International Conference Centre.

Well since it  is essentially a ritual, why not reduce the ceremony to a handful of principal officers? In that case, any of the major newspapers can make their Editorial Conference room available for  the briefing.

While searching for an alternative venue, I discovered that the President who was to do the briefing was actually hospitalised in Saudi Arabia. This of course shifted the countryՉ۪s attention from the budget to a sterile two-part public debate; is the President healthy enough to rule?

If he is not, should Vice President Goodluck Jonathan  step in or the Constitution be bypassed for political expediency and a private agenda?

But, the focus in Bayelsa, JonathanՉ۪s home state was not on this but on the increasingly violent battle for power between the State Governor Timipreye Sylva and his Deputy, Hon. Peremobowei Ebebi.

In another part of the country, House of Representatives  Speaker, Dimeji Bankole was busy squaring up with his home state governor, Gbenga Daniel for control of the Ogun State branch of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

Meanwhile, the PDP itself which has been the primary source of political crises in the country, was about being swallowed by its reckless and thoughtless imposition of failed former Central Bank Governor, Charles Soludo as its candidate in the February 6, 2010 gubernatorial elections in Anambra State.

At this state, the PDP has pulled off the mask of democracy from its face and brazenly selected rather than allow the election of its candidate.

All the while in Edo State, it was the politics of cross carpeting from PDP to the Action Congress (AC) and vice versa with the soulless decampees stumping the rostrum and raising dust across the state enough to pollute the environment and endanger the people’s health.

It was also this time Information and Communication Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili chose to approach the Venezuelan Ambassador, for investment.

The home truth the Venezuelan told her – including the fact that after fifty five years of oil exploration in the country, Nigeria no longer need allow foreigners cart away its oil resources in the name of joint venture partnership – did not seem  to have passed through her eardrums. Rather she still begged for the illusory “investment”.

At that point, the country’’s honour and self respect seemed far from her mind as was her pet project —   Rebranding Nigeria. Ironically, it was in the midst of all these that in far away South Africa, a Nigerian youth, Kevin Chuwang Pam scored a redeeming goal for the country’’s image by winning the 2009 edition of the Big Brother completion. The issue was not that he won the $200,000 prize money, but that voters in the continent unanimously casted their votes for a Nigerian.

We can better appreciate the victory  when we  realise that our country’s image on the continent is not particularly positive, more so in the southern part where to be identified as a Nigerian  is to raise suspicion. Yet, in the voting in which countries in the southern African area constituted over half the total number of voting entities, a Nigerian was the undisputed victor.

The Big Brother  is in  practice, a southern African sub regional event; out of fourteen participating countries, eight; Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, South Africa, Malawi and Namibia are from that sub region. Four; Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania are from the East African area while Only Nigeria and Ghana come from the West African sub region.

The rest of Africa is classified as a single vote. In a field of five final contestants, eleven countries including “the rest of Africa” voted for Kevin and four for the other four contestants.

His victory is partly because he was able to overcome the widespread prejudice against Nigeria by his personal force of character, refusal to be provoked especially by the Namibian contestant, Edward who mischievously put him up for eviction at least three times, avoiding personal conflicts with other housemates, correctly reading others, including fellow Nigerians; Nkenna and  Geraldeen who sided with Edward, and strong discipline which did not see him getting drunk or behaving in any disgraceful manner during his ninety-day stay in the house.

Big Brother is an unserious programme in which participants are not expected to be principled or truthful. It  is designed as a vain glorious game which promotes promiscuity, gossiping, unscrupulousness and heavy drinking. But while being playful and entertaining, Kevin rose above the petty infightings, he was serious and focused on emerging tops.

Rather than being unscrupulous, he was quite compassionate especially to housemates like Elizabeth of Tanzania and Angola’s Emma. He was the Big Brother Revolution revelation.

All Akunyili’s costly and noisy rebranding campaign, could not secure the rebranding of the country’s image by Kevin’s exemplary performance for three months before an African and global audience. Youths like Kevin demonstrate that another country is possible.