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| Mark Zuckerberg and President Buhari in a group photograph with some ministers |
one of the brightest mind of our time, a genius who created the platform for people to relate and share ideas regardless of distance, language or any known barrier decided it was time he pay a visit to Africa after meeting with the pope in Rome. so came the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg to Nigeria, then to Kenyan and what follows is what you are about to read #KenyaVsNigeria
mark Zuckerberg while meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, had said that Nigerians are highly gifted in the Information Communications Technologies (ICT). His words
“We all met with entrepreneurs as part of Demo Day, an initiative for the Nigerian government to fund entrepreneurs with ideas for improving the country,” Zuckerberg said.
“It has been an inspiring trip. The energy and entrepreneurship in Nigeria and Kenya is amazing. I can’t wait to come back again soon."
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| Vice President Osinbajo, President Buhari and Mark Zuckerberg taking selfie |
what is very interesting and significant about Captn Collins Wanderi's tweet is not because he is a Kenyan or an African per say, what really struck me about this statement credited to his tweets is his background. a look at his tweeter handle profile shows that he is a lawyer, a fraud examiner, a military/security expert who has among other things worked with the UNHCR, the Kenyan Defence Forces and presently Regional Boarder Security. This man, Captn Collins is not an ordinary Kenyan, he is someone to reckon with in the scheme of things in the Kenyan socio political system, hence i take his assessment or perception of my dear country Nigeria very serious.
Do i agree with his views about Nigeria?, no, not all. Is there an element of truth in what he said? yes somehow there is. Is he right in saying what he said about Nigeria? again i don't think so.
I remember listening to a Kenyan Pastor who came to my local church last year saying something similar about Nigeria, only that this time he said he was taking back with him a different kind of views or perception as against the one he had prior coming to Nigeria. The Kenyan Pastor said in Kenya, Nigerian Pastors are known for always been in the news for the wrong reason, either they are caught sleeping with members wives, or defrauding an innocent Kenyan using the name of God. But upon coming to Nigeria, he couldn't help but realize that things are quite different from what he knows of Nigerian Pastors in his home country. for instance, in my local assemble where he was hosted, he realized that excellence, order and godliness was more like a culture than just a religious slogan and the same could be said of all the other places he's been to, he concluded by saying, you never talk about a people until you have visited the people.
Captn Collins speaking from his Kenyan perceptive of Nigeria maybe right, given the bad news the activities of some Nigerians give to the name Nigeria. But that alone should not inform this type of bashing of a giant of a nation by someone from a country that has a population that is less than Lagos or the economy the size of Lagos, but the attitude of Nigerians and Nigerian leaders in Nigeria has every thing to do with this shameful submission about Nigeria from Captn Collins.
Do we get the leaders and government we deserve as a people? the answer is yes, because we vote for them. Do we have have a large and indiscipline army? the answer is yes, because we see how indiscipline they are everyday on the street of Nigeria as they are in the habit of molesting and beating civilians up at every slightest provocation. Do we have a general as a President, yet can not rescue the abducted Chibok girls? the answer again is yes, he has not fulfilled his promise of rescuing the abducted girls within the time frame he promised. Is Nigerian economy in recession? the answer like we all know is yes, even thoguh the government is blaming Jonathan instead of their lack of any sound economic policies for that. Do our movie industry aka Nollywood do witchcraft movies? the answer is yes, as evident by the many stories of money ritual and spiritual battles we fight. Is the name Nigeria synonymous with drug peddling around the globe? sure it is, Malaysia and Muritala Mohamed International Airport will bear witness. Do we have real men who can rescue our school girls from the Boko Haram bandits? yes we do, like the Bakasi boys or the OPC .
But against all the yes about Nigeria, Captn Collins Wanderi has no moral right as a Kenyan to make such a defaming statement about Nigeria, for the obvious reason that Kenyans are not by any means better than Nigerian both in global image and leadership, as a matter of fact, both countries like very many African countries are suffering from the same bad leadership and follower-ship syndrome.
Ruled by the son of a former long time Kenyan ruler, Jomo Kenyatta, Uhuru Kenyatta. Kenya has her own fair share of the socio political problems plaguing Africa, among which is the issue of cross border security and internal terrorism as evidently seen by the activities of Al-Shababa. A bad global image both from the personality of the President who is wanted by ICC for war crime, and also from the media angle. The issue of graft, media harassment by government etc.
Nigeria is not difference from Kenya, we are all African suffering from the same African problem of not having good leaders and having bad fellowers.
To Captn Collins, i would say, take a cue from your brother Pastor, come to Nigeria like Mark Zuckerberg did and see for yourself if all the negative reports you hear about Nigeria abroad is all that there is to Nigeria. yes we may have bad leaders and government like most African countries including Kenya, but we certainly by all standard have some of the brightest minds Africa can boast of, and in case you are forgetting, we are still the giant of Africa, even though we might be sleeping now doesn't change that fact. a giant sleeping is still a giant, and when the giant wakes up, the giant will take his rightful place, not among midgets but among giants of other continent.
To the Nigerian government, a good advice is a good advice, it doesn't matter where its coming from. take the insult of this Kenyan lawyer as an advice and do something about the disgrace that has become our identity. put your military in order to conform with the best in the world, i believe we have what it takes to do that. put our economy in order and stop looking for escape goat in the direction of the past administration, if you need help, just acknowledge that, it does not mean failure, it simply shows you are human. Do something about the future of Nigerian youths, so that they will stop going abroad to look for greener pasture with some ending up peddling drugs. For my Nollywood friend, please rethink your next script and write something about the good that is happening in Nigeria, it could be the Nigerian jellof rice or the good and hospitable people of Nigeria as portrayed by Mark Zuckerberg's visit to Nigeria. Borrow a leaf from Mexico, with all the drug and murder you have in Mexico, Telemondo is all about love, so much so that all i can remeber of Mexico as i write now is romance and not violence. Paint a good picture of Nigeria and that is all the outside world will have as image.
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| Mark Zuckerberg in Yaba |
To my fellow Nigerians, especially tweeters and bloggers, lets stop fighting the Kenyans over whose better or not, lets look inwards and do what will make the likes of Captn Collins swallow his words about real men been in Nigeria. lets take our stand as the real watch dog of our faith and give the bad leaders and government a fight for their money, until they change for good or be shaped out. Yes we can do it, if only we resolve to do it, and not be afraid of what will befall us.
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