Saturday 28 June 2008

Labyrinth

Pic of Rumoukorushi, Port Harcourt showing quite a contrast between the suburban shell camp and the surrounding district.


The idea that we are all,in some way, connected first hit me when I was about 6 or 7. I can remember walking back from school with my mother, who was quick to admonish me, on seeing that I played with a Naira note with my lips.
"Do you know where that money has being" my mother commented that day, with her eyes glaring the way it used to, before she realised that constant mannerisms like that, caused a distancing of her children from her. The comment triggered me into wondering where actually that money had been, right from its origins at the Central bank. I tried to imagine who had handled that particular note right from when I took it as change from the kiosk opposite my primary school. The always indifferent-faced woman at the kiosk might have gotten the note from some other student, who was probably handed the money by his pregnanancy-induced slouched mother, who herself might have gotten the money from her middle-class and thrifty husband, who just got paid his forty thousand monthly salary in two batches of 100, 50 and 20 naira denominations.

That idea of of us being all connected by some material thing or common emotional feeling has even intrigued more, with movies like crash, Babel etc. And it reoccurred to me a while ago on writing a non-linear story that chronicled certain troubled Nigerian individuals of different cultural, financial, academic and introspective differences all heading to Abeokuta city; which is the destination of their journey in search of a common desire and need. And I wondered what this common need or rather missing link, that these characters searched for, was. Then, I got transported into another realm of thought, where the idea of equating what connects all Nigerians together as a people to what connects these searching characters, occured to me. In as much as the inadequacies and annoying bustle of our country connects us all together-whether you are in Nigeria or the diaspora, I wanted some other fact or even idea that was more extrinsic and existential that binds us. And by extrinsic, I do not mean some trait in us that is as a result of our tribe or just being part of a geographical region, rather, I mean something that has being built or arrested in us and is a product of living in Nigeria or just being of Nigerian heritage. All I could come up with was the individual search of every Nigeria for self-fulfilment, regardless of our communal and sometimes repressive culture. But, I wasn't satisfied with my conclusion, as I felt the search for fulfilment and individual happiness is a common and universal one.
So, I put out this question to you bloggers or anyone reading, on what they feel connects us as Nigerians together, apart from the country's inadequacies and instability?

5 comments:

NaijaBabe said...

Wow, this is a tough one I think. But then again, I think alot of things connect us. For one, I know that Nigerians have the same beliefs in, be it politics, superstition or even places such as markets. In Nigeria, The market is the pone place where you find people from different social classes coming to shop, unlike in the UK for instance, where there are supermarkets or grocery stores where you would find certain types of people.

We have culture and thats one thing that connects us, I guess this ties in with common beliefs in ways of worship...etc.

I may be going on a tangent here, but this was quite a tricky one

Atutupoyoyo said...

LOL. YOur analogy of the Naira's journey is one that I asked myself many years ago, so much so that I wrote a small story on the life and death of a five Naira note.

Your question, I suppose is what is Nigeria's national identity? What defines or unites us as one? Cultures vary, languages change within regions, there is no national attire to speak of. I would have once said values, basic values of honour and decency. However we no longer have honour and we are far from decent. This perhaps leads to the greatest connection you can find: the desire for wealth and instant gain. It is now that which identifies us.

Afolabi said...

@ naijababe-- yeah I agree with you on that one-it's in naija, that no matter how rich one is, we'll still all shop in the shady markets, spend hours in traffic jams and not enjoy constant electricity.

@atutupoyoyo--I'm gonna go read your description on the story of the naira. Your comment is in contrast with naija babe, in that you that you claim cultures and etc vary. Which really describes how wierd and complicated naija is. Sometimes I feel nigeria is an amalgalm of counties like the US (the East and South-as capitalist as they come), Iraq (the north-mainly muslim-some extremist) and Britain (the west-these ones think they're superior to everyone). And buddy you got it, claiming our greatest connection is the desire for wealth.

Anonymous said...

http://chiomamom.blogspot.com/2008/06/your-man-bridesmaid-caught-in-act-day.html

Osondu Nnamdi Awaraka said...
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