Better Nigeria: All we Ogas at the top!

BY ADESUWA ILUOBE


At the office this morning I could  not help but put this down.

So, I woke one beautiful morning to the “oga at the top” joke. I didn’t get the joke until I saw the video and my! I was dumbfounded at first and then it got funny, then I began to think...

First, for those of us that do not know, the man who was being interviewed by channels on its morning show popularly known as ‘sunrise daily’ is Obafaiye Shem, a commandant of the Lagos Nigerian Security Civil Defence Corps.
The interview was about ‘Job Racketeering in MDAs’. He stated that he has never visited the website and he has only been working in Lagos for three (3) months. Quoting him “I cannot be in all departments….it is somebody’s job to report on website”.
When asked about the address of the NSCDC he kept beating around the bush and stated that “I do not want to say one thing now and my oga at the top would say another…” and when he finally decided to give the address he said “ the website is
ww.nscdc. he thought and coughed* that’s all”

Then I googled “oga at the top” and wow! I got thousands of sides to the story.

For me, I am repulsed and highly disappointed that a man of such supposed calibre would actually go for an interview on a renowned television station ill-prepared. Who does not know Channels television and the quality of its staff  in Nigeria and their doggedness during interviews?

As I saw how the joke became widespread I was like how idle are Nigerians? But another thought stopped me “No, how bad are our leaders?”. Now, am talking about leaders at every level, whether at school, at work, our small communities and so on. If at these levels we have bad leaders and we fold our arms and we watch, of course we would have bad leaders at the top. Also, I want to ask we Nigerians, how knowledgeable are we about what we do ?

Well, that aside. My main worry is the way Nigerians took the issue. I thought the joke would stop at the video alone. But no! as I write some people had made handsome sums money off this blunder. We now have branded ‘oga at the top tee-shirts’ with a finger pointing upwards, musicians like Jahborne and springz have individually released solos titled “oga at the top” just in the space of 24 hours. There are cartoons and pictures, and those from whose websites we downloaded the video and songs are richer.
I must commend Nigerians for our creativity. It is highly commendable. However, can we channel this energy to positive things also? Let it not stop at "oga at the top". This issue has shown the power we have in our hands...technology. Through technology we have exposed a lot of ills in our country. Its during times like this I see the good sides of gadgets like Blackberry phones, we all know they are highly distracting too. Has it occured to us that through our phones we can decide 2015? that we can make strong statements  that would be the birth of great things in Nigeria? Comm. Shem's blunder opened my eyes to these facts.

However, I would like to see lasting solutions. I remember Aluu4, we made a lot of noise about it, and soon there were jokes about Aluu community and it ended there. How about we use IT to ensure that things are done the right way. Ridiculing the situation is 1st step..how about way forward?

Just as we broadcast jokes through the media, we can also think up solutions and use jokes,music,videos and so on to spread the message...you never know who is observing.

We are laughing and spreading pictures, videos, cartoons and music about ‘oga at the top’, but the issue is bigger than it looks.

This issue exposes at length, the bad reading or research culture of Nigerians. We would not read, we would not find out, if any one wants to help us, we ask for an easier way out. For example, today, one would send a link to some friends and be like read this, it would help you. About 90% would
Reply saying “abeg I open am e too long, what is the link about?”. Oh well, you opened it but would not read it!

I took part in an interview exercise as part of the interviewing team, I shook my head as I watched applicants mess up, for an interview whose advert was quite detailed. One would expect that as one hunting for job, such person would take the pains to develop him or herself while waiting and try to be acquainted for the job applied for.

So Comm. Shem, was just unfortunate to have exposed his ignorance on television. Many Nigerians would have done same and even worse.

However, I also thought in the line that he knew the website, but after having defended NSCDC for not taking part in job racketeering, and may be afraid that the interviewers would check the website and see that of course no advert for recruitment was on the site, he decided to be smart about it. It is just a thought.

Please Nigerians, lets not condone ignorance and lets not be ignorant ourselves. We should see this as a wake up call, to
be fully informed about who we are, what we do,
why we are doing what we are doing. The world is global village now, tommorow it could be anyone, and would travel the globe like Comm. Shem's and his blunder has done.

Nigerians Let us :
∙ Read widely
∙ Be sensitive, as we spread news, let's give way forward
∙ Beware! The world is now a global village, gossip soon fizzles out, but cyber gist never does . In 2050, google and you would find 'oga at the top'
∙ Suffer not corrupt practices to go without reprimand
∙ Not allow ignoant people lord over us
∙ See this interview as a wake up call to be better informed.

Now, let me go back to work, before my boss reprimands me.

GOD bless Nigeria.