In Defense of Nigerian Traditions first published in July 2011: The Presidential Inaugural Dinner Dance Performance

The Presidential Inaugural Dinner and Dance was an affair held in Abuja on May 29, 2011 to mark the inauguration of President Goodluck Azikiwe Ebele Jonathan as the newly elected President of Nigeria.  The dinner and dance could have been the most grandeur and successful public social affairs in recent time in Nigeria. There was in attendance, one of Nigeria’s most traditional highlife kings, talented, and international musician, Dr. Victor Uwaifo of Jeromi fame.

Victor Uwaifo did the best to rekindle those olden day tunes to the delight of the audience who were and those who were not dancing.  The event was seen around the world because the Nigerian Television Authority International, NTAI broadcast the event live.  We watched this event in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States.  Nigerians were in their happiest mood and mode; they have just successfully completed one of the most tempting elections which were adjudged by the world as the cleanest.  It was a time to showcase Nigeria’s cultural pre-eminence; traditional and fashionable way; the Nigerian way of dressing; the “o wambe” and the “milikie” styles of dancing to the Nigerian highlife music, and the “akwete” tunes; but Nigeria missed the opportunity to show itself.  Ghana would not have and the Ghanaians would not have failed in such an opportunity to display the Ghanaian spirit immersed in the flavors of their dressing.  What other occasion should have demanded a better display of Nigeria’s cultural power exemplified in the colors and styles of the Nigerian fabrics to the world than the recently held presidential inaugural dinner dance? It was an event in which the cream and heart of the Nigerian society were present. The President and First Lady, the Chief of Staff and his wife, the Royal Majesties and Royal Highnesses; Senate president and members including the House of Representative members, state governors and ministers; members of the diplomatic corps, top notches of the Nigerian academic communities; commissioners, traditional rulers and chiefs.

President Jonathan, left, with wife & others on the Floor

(as captured on the NTAI in Atlanta, GA USA) 

Civil services top technocrats, captains of industries, community and civic leaders in Nigeria were all there.  If this group of leaderships cannot show to the children and youths of the nation including the world that it respects and is proud to be Nigerian, who else is in a position to promote the culture of our land; and who else is going to promote our traditional and clothing materials made in Nigerian? 

When they were called to the stage to dance, to express their joy and happiness over Nigeria’s success in the concluded elections in spite of all odds, there were virtually absences of the Nigerian traditional national dress. The big agbas made with heavy guinea brocade knittings, heavy laces with their flamboyant and elaborate embroideries of various shapes and sizes; the Nigerian made Holandis, those beautifully colored Prints with impressive patterns; the Mami Judges, Adire and Asoke, all of these are made at Auchi, Aba, and other Textile Mills in the country while some manage to come to the country from outside.  The Nigerian way of dressing at such an occasion was conspicuously not present with those men and women who came to the dancing floor to dance to the music of highlife king. 

Dr. Victor Uwaifo on the Mic on the dancing floor

(As seen on NTAI during that event)

It was first, the President and the First Lady; who were called out to open the floor; they came out dressed like visitors to Africa.  It was reminiscent of First Lady Michelle and President Barrack Obama on their Inaugural Dance in Washington, D.C.  Jonathan and Dame forgot that they were Nigerians in Nigeria and not Americans in America. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo would have come on that stage in his best heavy Asoke or the heavy Nigerian lace material with heavy knitting and embroideries. That night, I remembered the 1960 Independence gala night dance at the Federal Palace Hotel at Victoria Island; and I remembered the late Rt Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe as President of Nigeria on the dancing floor, 7ft. tall with Princess Margret, the Queen’s representative at the event.  He was there in his flowing white Agbada made of damask material dancing to the ever moving Nigerian highlife music of the late Eddy Okonta with his back on the floor while blowing the tearing sound from his trumpet. It was a night every Nigerian and visitors who were there will ever live to remember. The Nigerian patriots were all in heavy Nigerian presence and in happy mood because they knew what Independence meant to them who fought tooth and nails to win it. The poor showing at the Jonathan’s Inaugural dinner dance appeared a reflection of the knowledge of, and value that the current corps of leaderships seems to place on the Nigeria’s sovereign nationhood and its current democratic dispensation.

In as much as I liked the way President Jonathan and First Lady Dame danced the highlife music, they would have been more graceful and representative of the Nigerian people if they have had on some of their heavy and beautiful traditional outfit of the Bayelsa people.  We use to see them on the President before that night.  So what went wrong?  The handlers must have gaffed.  The President and First Lady’s handlers should watch-out to ensure that the nation’s First Family is properly guided in making a choice of what to wear to an occasion from now on.  In fact the choice should be made for the First Family; the handlers are paid to do this. The President and First Lady are the first cultural ambassadors for Nigeria and Africa and they must be conscious of this at all time. 

I have always admired the former President Olusegun Obasanjo for this and I still do; we have never seen him in a foreign outfit on any occasion, at home and abroad, but with Nigerian traditional dresses all the time. If there was anything the former president did that I am yet to admire, is the fact that he did not display the rest of his wives to allow Nigerians know and have more confidence that it is righteous to have more than one wife if one is able to afford them, as opposed to the foreign man-made dogma of one-man, one-wife.  I have only seen the former President with the same woman, and it was known that he had more wives. We cannot succeed if we continue to downgrade by hiding our culture and its influences or paraphernalia while we continue to publicly embrace and promote other people’s culture.

Even at this Swearing-in ceremony of Jonathan, Chief Obasanjo was there as a former head of state of Nigeria and a world statesman to grace the occasion. That was great of him to be there as a confirmation of his awareness, respect for the Nigerian State, and confidence in the Nigerian democratic process. Nigeria’s other two former heads of state, Buhari and IBB including the former vice president Atiku were not at the swearing-in ceremony for whatever reason they may have had. My feeling on the matter is that the three former rulers felt that they are too big, and Nigeria is their private property with which they can do as they like, and their action was disrespectful to the people of Nigeria and the state.

We seem to know that once the head is off the body, the legs cannot hold.  The rest of all the nation’s men of affairs, with the exception of very few, who later joined the President on the dancing floor were inappropriately dressed for the occasion. The Chief of Staff, the governors, ministers, commissioners, and others were all off in their manner of dress for the Nigerian occasion. The dinner dance ought to have been made official and the mode of dress ought to have been dictated - traditional or national. How else can we promote what we are and what we have that the rest of the world does not? If it was in Europe or America, the manner of dress for that event would have been dictated and communicated to all invitees for such an historical event. Sometimes it could be a “Black tie” affair, and every one coming including foreign dignities and Nigerians and Africans included would have on nothing but Black tie with the suit to match.  In other occasions it could be “formal” which means that one must dress in suit or tuxedo no matter where you come from.  Is there any reason Nigerians cannot ask same of others who work and live in the country?  It is not a lie to say that it is hard to see a European or an American wearing our form of dressing. They are always proud to wear their form of dress and they encourage others to join them to wear their dresses also. This does not only internationalizes their mode of dressing, it makes others to buy American or European made clothing thereby promoting their trade and business in their fabric and garment industries.

I was in Nigeria during the later part of last year; the recent mode of dressing, call it fashion if you may, by females in country and particularly in Edo State appears a wrong trend that requires attention of the authorities in the country. I believe it is the same thing in the other parts of the country.  Majority of the Nigerian females, young and old with the exception of a  tiny minority who are still conscious of themselves, are all on all kinds and types of tight-body clothing (not made in Nigeria with Nigerian fabrics for that matter) including dungarees or blue jeans imported from secondhand clothing stores in America. Most of the dresses and the blue jeans worn by most of the young men as well are foreign made.  The top garments and the jeans worn by Nigerian females, young and old are all very skinny and tight to their bodies. All curves and hollows including some of their under-wears or panties are made visible.  This kind of “fashion” trend makes the culture and the traditions of the land a sham and definitely it is not our tradition nor is it acceptable in our culture.  Allowing the kind of fashion in Nigeria is a destruction of the cultural decency and the identity of the people as Nigerians and Africans generally.

Let us orientate our people, children and adults into what they are, Nigerians and not foreigners in their own home land.  African orientation is necessary as a disciplinary tool in Nigeria.  To get this done efficiently and successfully, cultural and traditional precepts are a must.  This will allow Nigerians to become conscious and productive in everything they do. There is nothing wrong with regulating human conduct and behavior.  Only recently some American women are protesting against police arrest for breastfeeding their babies in the public. Not long ago, Europeans and Americans used to laugh at African women for the practice, but not anymore.

Included in the anti-cultural nature of the mode of dress now in Nigeria is the economic implication and cost to the nation.  During my stay, I went to some popular markets in Edo State to buy children and babies’ native dresses for our grand children in the US and Nigeria.  To my bewilderment, there was no one children or babies dresses made of Nigerian fabrics available. There are all kinds of foreign made synthetic dresses for children and babies everywhere and Nigerians ought to not be happy wearing those plastics on their children under the heat of the temperate climate.  What I ended up doing was to buy Nigerian fabrics, took them to a woman who sew the pieces at an exorbitant amount because according to her, they were of special order. Why should Nigerian native dresses for Nigerian children and babies be classified as special, and English or other foreign dresses for children are regular and cost less? The cost to Nigeria garment industries is huge in billions of Naira and Dollars per annum if properly calculated. Such an amount spent on foreign used and new clothes by Nigerians, if deployed to buy made-in-Nigeria-fabrics will go a long way to boost the Nigerian fabric and garment industries while promoting our identity as a conscious people. This is one of the more reasons our men and women of the upper echelon in the society should make our national dress a must in all occasions.  How will the children learn to wear our native dresses if the elders and the rulers are not proud to wear them?  It will motivate youths and the society in general to be proud to patronize made-in-Nigeria products which will also help to develop our industries while maintaining the continuity of our culture, customs and traditions.  I saw it on NTAI the other day when the Federal Minister of Information was explaining the government policy requiring Civil Servants to now come to work in their native dresses every Friday as a way to promote the idea. That is an important move which should be improved upon. A people ought to respect their own way of life and all that goes with it. That Presidential Inaugural Dinner and Dance to mark the formal ascension to the throne of the Nigerian Presidency by Dr. Goodluck Abele Azikiwe Jonathan was a proper setting to promote Nigerian culture in the Nigerian mode of dressing. It should not be missed next time.