When a nation listens to you, then it behoves on you to be very careful about the things you say or publish. The older generation used to hold dear that sense of responsibility.

What Sir Abati termed “A nation’s identity crisis” ought to have gone deeper than just a cursory examination of our pop music industry. It ought to (in my own mind)have x-rayed the parts of our culture that should be upheld and those that needed to be jettisoned in order to move us forward as a people. Oga Abati should have also apologised to the younger generation for the kind dysfunctional society and sense of value that they bequeathed to us. But then, the Abati episode is only a diminutive of the entire Nigerian challenge. We have become a nation of eloquent and audacious noice makers instead of remaining introspective thinkers. Eloquence has now replaced Intelligence. God help us.

posted by yemi azaino