11 Jul 2009 |
|
Sylva Nze Ifedigbo
The event was the solemnization of Holy matrimony between Njideka (the daughter of Prof Dora Akunyili our Minister of Information and Communication and the Face of the Re-brand Nigeria campaign) and Justin Crosby an American citizen. Like you would expect, every one who should be there was there. It was a roll call of who is who. From the Vice President Dr Goodluck Jonathan, his wife, Former Head of State Yakubu Gowon, Former senate Presidents Nnamani and Anyim. Ministers, Legislators, Top Government functionaries, Diplomats, Royal fathers, Priests and religious. Orji Uzor kalu took one of the intercessory prayers. Apart from the disappointment I felt that AIT wasn’t beaming the events in Ghana as they had earlier advertised, I also felt this sense of irritation watching the wedding on television. It was in many ways a reminder for me that these people up there have it going for them and are daily devising new ways of preserving and advancing their course. There is nothing wrong with the daughter of a minister and indeed anybody wedding. Getting married to an American wasn’t also an issue. What was an issue for me was the information that the couple had met at college somewhere in the United States. This reminded me of the fact that our universities had been grounded for a while now by the strike action and that Government doesn’t seem worried about it because most of the children of the top Government functionaries had all their children schooling abroad. In addition to obtaining superior education and superior degrees, they now also get to meet and marry Americans. Why then should they be bothered about the rest of us. We spend five-six years to get a four year degree; we walk the streets to find a job. We are victims of the worst conditions on earth. We don’t get to meet and marry Americans. When we wed we don’t have a bishop presiding over the wedding. Our weddings are not live on television. We remain of this brand. A distasteful brand. While ‘they’ continue to re-brand themselves. I have nothing personal against the new couples. If anything I am happy for them. Akunyili’s are my kinsmen. We draw from the same gene pool. But I have everything against a system that has made some people very much ahead of the others. A system that continues to allow a few ahead of the lot. A system controlled by this few who have continued to look the other way because the status quo favours them. A system they say they are re-branding. All I see is our leaders rebranding themselves. Today Prof Dora Akunyili succeeded in re-branding her daughter. She is now Njideka Crosby. Now she becomes a citizen of the free world. Never again will she worry about our bad roads and our death trap hospitals. Our dry tapes and our dark nights. Our unemployment and our failed universities. She is free. She’s been re-branded. I wish the Crosby’s a happy matrimonial experience as the rest of us continue to wait for when our own re-branding miracle will happen. Sylva Nze Ifedigbo
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
While Ghanaians welcomed and celebrated the presence of Barack Obama in their country and most television cameras all over the continent were beaming the proceedings live, our African Independent Television AIT was beaming live what I would describe as the most successful outing of the re-brand Nigeria campaign till date. 
# 
Your Comments
Please make The Square an enjoyable experience for everyone by refraining from gratuitous ad-hominem contributions, defamatory comments and off-topic posting. Such posts will be removed.