Dele Momodu
11 October 2008
opinion
Lagos — A journey to Australia is definitely an endurance test. And no matter your degree of preparation, it must wear you out. That was the case as I dragged myself into the "relaxation suite" already reserved for me at the Hilton on The Park Melbourne. It was as if the futuristic hotel was waiting eagerly for this over-flogged body. The trio of my wonderful hosts, Wale Olaitan, Toyin Abass and Biola Falayajo advised me not to underrate the fatigue in my body and suggested I should have a quick shower, and jump into bed. I heeded their advice, and even did more.
As soon as they left me, I unpacked, and went straight into the massive bathroom that came fitted with a shower and a spacious Jacuzzi. Trust me, I soaked myself inside this great creation of man, and must have felt like a fish as the aromatherapy gels mixed with some tendering salts created rejuvenating bubbles all over my body. I didn't know when I slept off. I later woke up wondering where on earth I was, and had to scan my environment well in order to come back to reality. Welcome to Australia, I said to myself, as I went under the powerful shower to rinse off the salts and soaps.
After this pampering, I knew I had to settle down quickly to write my column for last week. I would have hated to get the usual subtle text from the energetic editor of THISDAY on Saturday, Ijeoma Nwogwugwu, saying "Dele, I'm still awaiting my back-page" or "you are delaying my back-page o." It is always a triumphant victory for me to send the column before Ijeoma would ask for it. Writing a column requires a special discipline for someone who's constantly on the move like me. I've even had to invest in a roaming GPRS to be able to log on to the Internet on the move in some particular countries that I visit regularly like Nigeria, Benin Republic, Ghana and South Africa. In Australia, getting internet access is the easiest of things. It is as common as popcorn.
When my column was done and sent off, I settled down to watch a repeat of the Joe Biden versus Sarah Palin debate, which I had missed while flying from Hong Kong to Sydney. The analysis of the debate also provided some useful insights into how the American vice presidential candidates had performed. Say what you will, the Americans have succeeded in turning their politics into a soap opera. We are all hooked on to the dramatic intrigues and plots, and the suspense. Also it would seem some juju men in Kenya are busy cooking some esoteric jazz for a suave and dashing Barrack Obama to beat the war veteran John McCain in the general elections on November 4. How does one explain, that everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for the Republicans at this delicate moment. The cataclysmic collapse of the American economy to an all-time low can only be described as a divine intervention in Obama's favour according to the Obamamaniacs.
I woke up the following morning, not remembering at what stage sleep dealt me a blow. I was later picked up by Wale Olaitan who drove me to the home of Biola Falayajo, a university egg-head who was hosting us to a barbecue. In attendance was the Nigerian High Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand, Professor Olu Agbi, an authority on diplomatic history, who had earlier served as our Ambassador in Greece. He's rightly described by Nigerians in Australia as "the father of all", as I'll later discovered. His eloquent speech was laced with anecdotes and a richness of the knowledge of world history. I was particularly delighted to meet such a distinguished scholar in the foreign service of our dear nation. He had humbly come to Melbourne from his base in Canberra, the Federal Capital City of Australia to celebrate the Nigerian Independence anniversary with the Nigerian Society of Victoria. I was very impressed to see how he patiently sat through the lengthy ceremonies that later took place at Arthur Wren Hall, Hampton Park.
The main event was attended by so many Nigerian families. I noticed that a lot of Nigerians living in Australia were married to white Australians, especially our men. And these wives looked very happy and comfortable with our culture. The Nigerians here looked like one big family unlike what we usually found elsewhere. The big event was attended by the Mayor who gave a solidarity speech after our High Commissioner had given his pep talk. I was happy to learn that most Nigerians in Australia are highly-skilled professionals and they are migrants doing very well in their chosen careers. According to Professor Agbi, Australia is probably the only country in the world where about 95 per cent of our people are mainly employed in professional jobs. He said he was pleasantly surprised to discover that there were about 71 well rated Nigerian doctors in Perth alone. Nigerian academics are also very influential in many of the Australian universities. "It is uncommon here to hear of Nigerians being detained for fraud, drug offences, or prostitution, unlike in Greece where I was sadly informed there were about 2,000 Nigerian girls in the business of prostitution," said Professor Agbi.
The High Commissioner pleaded with Nigerians to do away with the negative attitude of self-doubt. He said, like the great philosopher, Rene Descartes, Nigerians were in the terrible habit of doubting everything, including their own existence. Before any step is taken, we are already projecting the failure of that step. We doubt every government policy, when all it requires is for all of us to contribute our own quota towards the successful realisation of that policy. He said the people in power are also human beings who cannot know, or do it all. He complained very passionately that Nigerians living abroad hardly take the many advantages available to them by working closely with their home government. "We do not even have a comprehensive data of how many Nigerians live in these countries. They only come to us when they need a passport to travel, or a visa to Nigeria. We see or hear of most people only when they get into one trouble or the other," he said.
He advised Nigerians living abroad to take advantage of the Yar'Adua administration because of the new simplicity in governance. He said this government is determined and committed to righting the many wrongs of the past. He said his office was available to welcome all Nigerians and assist them in ensuring that they can discover the vast opportunities now available to them, not just in their country of residence but also at home.
I was later invited to talk to the large gathering on the quiet revolution going on in Nigeria. I spoke with great delight about the improvements taking place back home. Yes, we've had our fair share of problems but Nigerians have learnt to move on positively, with or without government. I said the private sector is bubbling with ideas and creativity. Many of our solid banks are designing many projects that target Nigerians living abroad. The sad cases of people stealing your money while pretending to be building houses on their behalf are fast disappearing, because very good banks have established mortgage departments. The Nigerian banking sector has really come of age, and I'm aware that one of our global banks, United Bank for Africa, only recently travelled to India, led by Tony Elumelu, their young and dynamic Group Managing Director, to study how the Indian banks, especially the ICICI, India's leading private sector bank that took non-resident Indian banking to the level it is today, and helped to create wealth at home by working closely with Indians abroad. Our situation is very similar to that of the Indians, who can be found everywhere in the world. Our retail banking is now where it was in India ten years ago. The Indians are extremely brilliant and gifted like Nigerians. They have a superb movie industry. Bollywood is only second to Hollywood, just like our own Nollywood is now a world-wide phenomenon.
We don't live on trees as many foreigners in the West would want to believe. I gave an example of a Nigerian living in America whose daughter came back from school to tell her father, "I really pity your mum in Nigeria because I was told people live on trees." The Nigerian man was so enraged that he charged like a wounded bull at his American wife asking if she was the one polluting the mind of their daughter against Africa. The poor lady told her husband she knew nothing about it, and suggested that her husband should go home in Nigeria and bring back some photographs of how people live. The man travelled to Nigeria and during his visit came across an issue of Ovation, which had featured the house of gold in Maiduguri owned by the stupendously wealthy Alhaji Mai Deribe, who died a few years ago. In the same issue, he found some amazing Nigerian fashion and lifestyle articles and photographs. He could not get over the flamboyant wedding of a young Nigerian, Femi Ogundere whose groom's men all dressed like Polo players. He returned to America armed with a copy of the magazine. He felt on top of the world. The man later got my number from the magazine and called to tell me how I had "saved his manhood".
I encouraged them to have one leg abroad and one leg at home, and take maximum advantages of both opportunities. I spoke about my special project on Nigeria's contributions to the world which we intend to document soon in a special Ovation publication. I pleaded for their support for a project I consider very important. We must begin to tell the world our story: that our country does not have a monopoly on crime and criminals, or violence and wanton destruction of lives and properties, or hunger and poverty, or famine and diseases, or illiteracy and ignorance, or religious bigotry and intolerance, and all the negativity they often try so hard to plaster on all of us. We must begin to sing a song of praise about our heroes who live everywhere on this planet. We must reflect this in our publications, on our radios and televisions, in our movies, and in all that we do. I recently met a Nigerian woman in Tampa, Florida, who told me how she took some copies of Ovation to her racist boss and since then she has earned respect from her colleagues in the office. Many people have told me they didn't know SEAL and Tunde Baiyewu were Nigerians until they read about them in our magazine. Many Nigerians now proudly dress to events all over the world by using our magazine and the deluge of lifestyle publications from Nigeria as their fashion catalogues. I submitted, finally, that I have chosen to contribute Ovation to the process of our emancipation by promoting those Nigerians in all professions abroad and anyone who knows of such wonderful people should contact me by email.
Next week, I plan to paint a vivid picture of my impression of Australia and why I think God must have deliberately chosen to hide Australia from the rest of the world. It is a must read. Till then, enjoy your weekend wherever you find yourself on our planet.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
