By Pascal Oparada
Sunday, April 22, 2018, was the finale of Big Brother Nigeria, nick-named BBNaija by the organizers. Nigerians were glued to their television sets as if they were expecting some kind of apocalypse to happen.
They wanted to see who would emerge the winner of what has been a grueling four months of thrills and frills that divided and united them at the same time.
The finalists, Miracle, Cee-C, Tobi, Alex and Nina hypnotized Nigerians in the way that only the Nigerian national team, the Super Eagles, could. Banters about favorites were thrown and, for a while, they forgot their differences, their hardships and what ails the country.
Our patois
BBNaija showed the best and the worst of Nigeria. Never before has the brand Nigeria been displayed on such an international scale. One needed to watch BBNaija see how our Naija-ness was gloriously or ingloriously displayed, depending on which side of the curve you are.
Nigerian patois shone like a million stars in the galaxy. Nigerian are no pretenders when it comes to displaying their slang. And this is what the housemates in far away South Africa showed the world.
The votes, the voters, and the economy
About 170 million votes were cast in favour or against the housemates for the four-month period. 30 million votes were received on the last day.
That is humongous. No election in the history of Nigeria has gathered such amount of votes. People spent hard-earned money to vote their favourite housemates.
Others had to keep their subscriptions on Dstv running for the entire four months just not to miss a day of the programme. Others had to fuel their generators to stay abreast. If the real economic starts of BBNaija were to be compiled, it would run into billions.
Miraculously, Miracle emerged the winner. But the biggest winner of BBNaija is the brand Nigeria. The Nigerian brand shone brighter, better and bigger. Not even South Africa, Nigeria’s biggest rival on the continent, has its own Big Brother.
#LazyNigerianYouths
For a while, Nigerians forgot their president had declared for re-election, until, like a celebrity who had a massive wardrobe malfunction, in far away London, President Muhammadu Buhari reminded them through what many had called lip slip, that a lot of them are lazy, illiterate and jobless.
“We have a very young population. More than 60% of the population is below the age of 30. A lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria has been an oil-producing country, therefore they should sit and do nothing and get housing, healthcare, education free,” he said during a question and answer in Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
He instantly incurred their ire. Quickly, Savvy Nigerians started a hashtag, LazyNigerianYouths to vent their frustrations on the President they believe refused to see how hardworking, ingenious and industrious they are despite the fact that their government has failed them.
Many believe President Buhari bungled an opportunity to project the country as a destination of choice because of its youthful population.
“It was (a) pure undiluted gaffe especially with a foreign audience you are telling to come and invest in your country,” Uche Enechi said in a Facebook comment. “Normally, a president will say, ‘come and invest here because we have a youthful, skilled and hardworking labour force that you need, plus a secure and business-friendly environment.’ He just said the opposite.”
The opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), cashed in on the President gaffe and said that he de-marketed the country.
Presidential hopeful and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, took to social media to berate the President.
“I will never refer to Nigeria’s youth as people who sit and do nothing. They are hardworking. I should know, I have thousands of youths working for me all over the country who have been the backbone of our success,” Atiku said on Twitter.
“I’ve always said oil is not Nigeria’s greatest asset. Our greatest asset is our youth who created Nollywood out of nothing and an entertainment industry that is second to none in Africa. Our youth are charting new frontiers; creating a huge tech industry on their own! Their entrepreneurial spirit, work ethic, and creative abilities are things of pride and should be applauded, encouraged and nurtured,” he said.
Many believe that as a Chief Marketer of the Nigeria brand, Buhari missed an opportunity to present it as the beautiful bride to international suitors.