By Donu Kogbara
I RECENTLY visited the United States and was invited to the official opening of an impressive, world-class Benue Culture Exhibition in Washington DC.

The event was wonderfully well-organised by American Afrophiles and was attended by lots of distinguished people of various nationalities.

I don’t normally feel proud of being Nigerian because most aspects of Nigeria are, bluntly put, an embarrassing mess. But my heart sang with proprietary pride when I saw how beautifully the Benue artefacts and archive film footage had been presented and when I heard foreigners enthusiastically praising them.

The whole package was a stunning, mood-lifting tribute to the best of Middle Belt history; and I looked forward to personally congratulating Gabriel Suswam, the Governor of Benue State, who was expected to grace the occasion.

But guess what? He never showed up! The MC announced his name and the audience eagerly clapped as they anticipated him mounting the podium and speechifying. But there was no sign of him. He didn’t even send a representative.

I wished the ground would open up and swallow me when one of the foreigners who was standing next to me scathingly remarked that we shouldn’t really be surprised because Nigerian VIPs are notoriously unreliable and ill-mannered.

Na wa for the political Master of Makurdi for missing a golden and rare opportunity to make his state shine on the international stage!

OK, so let me grudgingly give him the benefit of the doubt and concede that he may have had a sound reason for failing to make an appearance at a party at which he was supposed to be the Star Guest. But this thing about letting people who are waiting for you down is pretty typical of Naija dignitaries.

And, let’s face it: More often than not, this penchant for failing to honour commitments is caused by uncouthness, arrogance and inefficiency…rather than by genuine difficulties or factors beyond their control. They simply get into the habit of regarding themselves as demi-gods and treating others shabbily…though most of them are mediocres who would not get to the top in civilized societies where thieves, thugs and election-riggers become jailbirds not leaders!

Sour taste

I left the exhibition venue with a sour taste in my mouth and shaking my head sadly and praying that Suswam would later apologise profusely to the organisers.

By the way, I also went to see the “Fela!” (Anikulapo-Kuti) musical while I was in Washington; and it was an enjoyable theatrical extravaganza that was extremely well-received. But it was funded and created by Americans. And I keep wondering why a Nigerian impresario did not come up with this brilliant idea first…and then persuade an indigenous multi-millionaire to finance it.

A few thoughts

Thanks!

I WANT to express immense gratitude towards the many Vanguard readers who responded sympathetically to my anguished lament about the fact that Oliver, my adored teenage son, left home for a distant boarding school last week.

I have derived so much comfort and strength from the wise advice and warm commiserations you kindly sent me via email and text. May God bless you all. But, at the risk of sounding as if I am too selfish, too weak and too emotionally immature to react philosophically to a separation that everyone around me swears will greatly enhance my child, I have to say that I do not accept the widespread belief in this country that our offspring must fly away from the maternal nest before they can truly commence the process of becoming adults.

In Nigeria, most kids are despatched to boarding schools as soon as they complete their primary-level educations. Here, I was regarded as overly clingy and somewhat eccentric for refusing to let go of Oliver until he was l6.

In Britain, where I grew up, the reverse is true. There, the majority of youngsters live with their parents full-time until they leave their non-residential secondary schools and start work or go to university, art college or whatever.

And, interestingly, my Nigerian friends who went to boarding schools are not necessarily less spoiled, less self-indulgent or less skilled at coping with tough challenges than my British friends who went to day schools. I myself went to a boarding school and I’m less disciplined and less adept at surviving life’s shark-infested waters than some of my contemporaries who weren’t boarders.

Given that the personalities people wind up with boil down more to their basic natures than to the form of schooling they went through, why do Nigerians constantly insist that boarding schools are “definitely” character-building?

One thing I’ve noticed about Africans is that we are often too quick to base our convictions on irrational theories and prejudices rather than hard facts.

Shameless looters

Meanwhile, almost every shameless looter of public funds who has impoverished this nation went to a boarding school! Ditto almost every woman who has greedily sold her body to buy luxuries like diamonds that she doesn’t need…and almost every cultist or killer who has terrorised his fellow citizens.

Frankly, even though there are good folks in Nigeria and bad folks in Britain, the British are, on the whole, less prone to misbehaviour than we are; and I have plenty of British friends who despite not leaving home until they were l8, possess high moral standards and characters that are strong in the right way.

And the question I want to ask is this: Given that there is no proof that products of boarding schools are inevitably superior to products of day schools, how can the Nigerians who nagged me to send Oliver away be so absolutely sure that he will emerge from the boarding school experience as a better person?!