“Get treated like a dumb animal long enough, that’s what you become.” – Trumpkin
We can trace the tragedy of modern-day Nigeria to how those at the helm of government have treated the citizens; first, the British and, more recently, the military. However, I think it’s more accurate to say that this is how the citizens have allowed themselves to be treated. And it’s so sad.
They have treated us as a dishonest bunch of hoodlums. They sold us the lie that we are a cesspool of corruption. Labeled “fantastically corrupt” by those on the outside and even adopted by some within. And now we have come to believe ourselves as being subservient to the evils in our land.
The European and American media have owned the narrative for a long time, and they have propagated themselves as the first world and us as the third world. Third world. What does that even mean? Sadly, those from amongst our own who have ruled us have further pushed that agenda.
Our teachers taught us that Mungo Park discovered River Niger as though it was lost or hidden in some secret location. The land inhabitants who dwelt next to the river did not know that some explorer had just discovered them. When they eventually heard the “good” news that they were found by such and such, they openly accepted that narrative and even taught it to their children.
This take may be somewhat simplistic, but the sad reality is that we are here today because we have accepted labels and received treatment from people who only had selfish motives towards us.
It’s about time to reclaim our story and the Nigerian narrative. It’s time to refashion them as our own.
We have to tell our own stories. We have to prophesy our own identities to ourselves. We have to treat ourselves as royalty, and with enough consistent application, that’s what we will become.
From the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” (2008).