nigeria

Dear Supposed Nigerian Prince:

Thank you for your many emails over the years. I was sorry to hear about your dire predicaments and unfortunate incarceration. Surely, you eventually received the millions of dollars you had coming to you, or at the least, enough to pay your outstanding tab at the internet café.

I am writing today to share with you about my recent trip to your country, because after rethinking the crux of your extensive “outreach” to myself and others, I realized that you may not actually know very much about your own homeland because you left out so many details in your correspondence over the years. Interesting tid bits such as Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and areas like the north (where I went) are some of the fast growing regions in the entire world. These facts also make projects like the one I went to see so important, but we’ll talk about that more later.

Mr. Prince, you also failed to mention how overflowing your homeland is with natural resources, but is that by chance because the exploitation of those resources has caused so much suffering? If so, that’s understandable and perhaps not polite conversation among acquaintances, but still, a man in your position of royalty should be working to fight the awful corruption that has long cast a dark and deadly shadow over the oil fields of the south. Maybe if yours wasn’t so much a political system of horse-trading among the wealthy elite, something would actually get done for the average Nigerian, like say having reliable electricity? But what do I know…

Beyond the political issues and pillaging of resources, the biggest thing you failed to share is how nice everyone is! I have to confess, that before I visited your country, letters from you were about my only glimpse into Nigeria, and though you were persistent in your efforts, it honestly left a negative impression. So for me to be greeted by such lovely, warm and kind people was a bit shocking. Then, as I traveled to your capital Abuja, to Kaduna and back to Kano in the north, I met more and more people, and guess what? Everyone I met was as smiling and welcoming as the person before. No one was harsh or manipulative. They were just… charming. They fed me pounded yams and delicious spicy beef. I haven’t had such good food in Africa since my trip to Ethiopia! It was a treat.

As I referenced before, Mr. Prince, I did do some traveling around your country and was also impressed by your roadways. I say this because I have spent a good deal of time in Africa and know what bad roads look and feel like, so I just wanted to complement you on the evenly-paved, pot-hole free, four-lane thoroughfares. I learned as well that in your mansion-covered capital city motorcycles were banned. Was this to keep down the congestion and pollution so as to impress all the foreign visitors, because I also understood that the majority of visitors never leave Abuja, is this true? Regardless, if you get to looking for all of the motorcycles, I believe you can find them in Kano, where I spent most of my time. Though nicely paved, the streets there brought back stirring images of Beijing traffic, but not quite as chaotic.

I did want to share with you, Mr. Prince, about the project I was there to see. Being Nigerian, I’m sure you’re familiar with the concurrent religious and geographical divide in your country – that the north is predominantly Muslim and conservative, while the south is mostly Christian and more contemporary. (Is that accurate? I hope it’s a fair assessment.) The traditions and languages are different, and it’s English that is the working language of the government and what many Nigerians use to communicate across ethnic lines. Though the cohabitation is mostly peaceful, except for the occasional flare-up, the regions of the country are immensely unique. The Ku Saurara ("Listen up") project focused on the north and started about ten years ago in an effort to reach young people with positive messages about health. They started with a simple radio program that grew into an effort that impacted millions and transformed lives and attitudes.

As you know, Mr. Prince, the north is very conservative, and when they first started Ku Saurara they were almost kicked off the radio and were kicked out of many communities when they tried to do programs – simply for talking about things like birth control and HIV protection, which were considered “taboo” in their society. But in reality, this conversation needed to happen, and Ku Saurara broke through cultural barriers and ended up ultimately turning critics into advocates for their cause. Religious leaders, government leaders, and particularly the young people were “empowered” (their word choice) by the project and began making positive changes that led to improved health for young women and increased girls’ education.

Honestly, Mr. Prince, there were also some things I did not like about your country – the main one being that in many places women simply have no rights. Particularly in poorer communities, people are shackled to tradition and girls as young as 11 or 12 are married off to become a third, fourth or even fifth wife to a much older man. She is forced to drop out of school and start having children right away. (This is an awful scenario,  but we both know it is still common and contributes to northern Nigeria having one of the fastest growing populations in the world.) These children then grow up suffering from preventable diseases like malaria and diarrhea and are malnourished because there isn’t enough money to feed such a large family. Yet men still prohibit their wives from using any type of birth control, even if pregnancy puts their life in danger. (I also learned that Nigeria has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world.) Such a multiplicity of problems could be solved if women just a few basic rights – choices about their education, marriage and health, primarily.

Granted, Ku Saurara helped catalyze massive changes, but they will be the first to tell you, these types of projects and activism must continue if lasting change is to take hold, or society will become complacent and revert to old ways. You should watch the video I made for them and see for yourself what is possible in your dynamic country. So, next time you draft one of your outreach letters, perhaps you would garner more interest if you talked less about yourself and your millions that are waiting to be shared, and more about your homeland and its charming people, rich resources and daily collision of centuries of tradition with the modern world.

Then, maybe I wouldn’t be so quick to hit “Delete.”