This week, President-elect Biden (sounds so good to say after the anxiety-inducing 4 years we have had) appointed a 26 year old Nigerian-American, Osaremen Okolo, as his COVID-19 policy adviser. 26 ooo not 62. In Naija, 26 is practically a baby. Someone would have been castigating Biden/Harris for giving such a relatively important portfolio to a “small girl.”
So many of her age mates are on Twitter looking for someone to do give away of N5000 and lapping up the nuggets of a man who has no business advising anyone. Anyway, the nuggets and the giveaway are subjects for another day. To know how young 26 is considered in Nigeria, one only needs to know the ages of the present youth leaders of APC and PDP.
The National Youth Leader of APC , Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo-Waziri will be 50 in April and that of PDP Hon. SKE Udeh-Okoye is chasing 43. These are our youth. Okay oo. As if her age wouldn’t have been enough to disqualify her in this country, one of Okolo’s pictures has her showing off a prominent nose ring.
Isn’t a nose ring enough for SARS to come after somebody’s daughter and harass her ? Had she gone to register for NIN, She would have been sent back by some over- zealous official to remove the nose ring, wipe off her make up and come back “with your real face.” Who do us this thing eh? Tufiakwa!
At 26, this young woman has not only graduated from university but has been actively empowered to pursue her career dreams. She’s been working for US representatives, building up the experience required for her to succeed in her new role, where she’ll build up more experience to position her for whatever comes next. How can our youth in Nigeria build up experience by 26 when the government is busy wrecking the educational system. Since 1999, ASUU has gone on strike about 15 times.
What quality of students do you graduate if they are kept out of school for several months at a time? A friend’s daughter who should have started university this year can’t because those who should have matriculated last year haven’t yet. Just imagine! And when universities are in session, the massively underfunded schools graduate many students whose qualifications are not worth the paper they are written on. Underpaid lecturers are too busy chasing side gigs to concentrate on their jobs. Didn’t Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba allegedly tell striking lecturers to go and farm to supplement their income?
Who do us this thing for Naija? And those who can’t farm or have no other viable side gigs demand for money from students. Ask and you shall be given, abi? Years ago, a junior lecturer in my department at UNN walked into one of his classes on the first day of the semester and announced that his grades were for sale. He intended to buy a car (by fire, by force) that year and his students were going to contribute to that dream. What your grade was depended on how much you paid.
If you paid nothing, you failed. He did not care , he said whether or not you came to class, whether or not you bought the required texts, all he cared about was his car fund. I knew of students in another department who spent the semester hustling for money so they could give a portion of it in brown envelopes to their lecturers in exchange for good grades they had not earned. These are the people brandishing degrees they cannot possibly defend. The rot is deep but the government does not care because those who run it are in a position to send their children abroad and avail them of the opportunities they deny other people’s children of. In countries where things work, places NoViolet Bulawayo calls “real countries” in her brilliant We Need New names, governments invest in education. Osaremen Okolo has reaped the benefits of that investment.
Once news of Okolo’s appointment broke, Nigerians did what we do best: we rejoiced with her. All over Naija social media /news space, people expressed joy and pride. However, one Twitter user captured the sentiments of many whose joy was muted with the sober realization of how differently things are done in a country where who you know often matters more than what you know. Collins Izuchukwu (@CollinsIzuchuk8) responded to Channels TV tweet proudly announcing the appointment with this: “ A Nigerian appointed in another man’s land without questions being raised of whose daughter she is or which local government /state she is from or her religious affiliation. Even common street chairman for my area require (sic) you to know somebody when (sic) know somebody when (sic) know somebody when know (sic) another.” This is an indictment of a country that has failed him and many like him.
Anyway, so we celebrate with Osaremen whose parents probably don’t move in Biden’s or Harris’s circle , who are not from the same village as Biden or Harris. We rejoice with our brilliant daughter/sister/countrywoman who got this job purely on merit and we wish her luck while we pray that someday, Naija becomes the country we all imagine it is capable of being. A “real” country. Happy New Year.
