HOW HOLLYWOOD CAN MAKE NIGERIA A BETTER DEMOCRACY

ARTICLE TWELVE

HOW HOLLYWOOD CAN MAKE NIGERIA A BETTER DEMOCRACY

      Once upon a time, Hollywood was white-blindingly white. All the major actors were white. All the major producers were white. All the major directors were white. All the major stories were white. When minorities began to appear at all, they were confined to non-essential roles like janitors, delivery truck driver, etc, or to dull stereotypical roles. Hollywood was so white that discerning people could not bear to look at it directly. But, little by little, Hollywood listened to criticism and began to blend other colors, black, yellow, red, etc with its white. This effort has culminated in films like Get Out and Black Panther, movies hemmed by black directors and telling stories that are fiercely black. Not only are these movies critically acclaimed, but judging by the waves they are making, they are acceptable to ordinary people of all colours; and they are making money.

      This brings me to our beloved federal republic. Nigeria has a staggering population of over 180 million divided among over 250 ethnic groups. But If you’ve ever read any book, watched any documentary, listened to any radio show, whether foreign or local, about the history of Nigeria then you’ll know the country is dominated by 3 major groups, the Yorubas, the Igbos, and the Hausas. And if the book you read or the documentary you watched or the show to which you listened was really good, it might have mentioned that Nigeria also has 10-15 major minor groups like the Ijaws, Tivs, Efik, Edo, Junkuns, Idoma, etc.. The question then is: what about the remaining groups? What about the over 200 groups left out of the discourse? I’m afraid to ask if the government of Nigeria knows the name of all the groups it is supposed to govern!

      Today, I do not want to talk about the political and economic domination of Nigeria by a few groups. I want to talk about something equally fundamental: the domination of the socio-cultural life in Nigeria by a few groups. I want you to imagine yourself wondering, doubting if you exist in your own country, your fatherland! That’s the way these obscure minority groups must feel when they read about the country to which belong and find no mention of themselves, or watch ‘Nigerian’ movies all their lives and never see anyone who bears their name, or look at the government of Nigeria without finding recognisable faces from their places.

      The wider society serves as a mirror for the individual groups. When each of these groups look at Nigeria, the national or state culture should reflect a value that is unique to them. When all ethnic groups look at Nigeria, they should be able to find traces of their beliefs, values, foods, dressing, in the national or state culture. For the larger groups, this is extremely easy. The yorubas have given us their owambe, moi-moi, etc. The Hausas gave us their danshiki which is now ubiquitous everywhere in Nigeria. The entreprenurial spirit of the Igbos has become the Nigerian spirit at home and abroad. The major minorities of the Niger-delta gave us pidgin as a national language. Tiv women gave us their white blouse and black wrapper. No doubt, when a Hausa man looks at the motley of values that make up our national culture and he sees ideals that the Hausas have contributed, it reinforces in him the sense of being Nigerian, and equally important, it creates a feeling of shared experience and shared nationhood for him with the Igbos, Yorubas, Tivs, Ijaws, etc who have also contributed to the culture. But if these major groups can still feel alienated in Nigeria, what can we expect from the little known minorities?

      It is evident that like Hollywood in the mid 20^th century, Nigeria is not telling the stories of all Nigerians, and just as was done with Hollywood, calls have to be made for Nigeria to embrace true diversity. I admit that in a nation where around two-thirds of the people live in poverty, this would not be an easy task and some may even consider it non-essential(how e take affect the price of garri). I also admit that in a nation as big as Nigeria, it would be difficult to include every group in the story, much like trying to fit everyone in the class on the small stage for a class play. Still, I believe we can do better, much, much better.

      Take the Wedding Party, for example, a movie that portrayed the culture of two of Nigeria’s heavyweight and used the marriage of one Igbo son and one Yoruba daughter to symbolise the understanding the two groups have been able to achieve. But when one twitter user praised the film for the diversity it portrayed, while expressing regret that it failed to include the “third leg of the tripod”, the internet exploded against him. There were comments after comments that basically said something like this: “if the hausas want to feature in the wedding party, let them go and make their own” This attitude needs to change. The irony here is that mostof those who made the offending comments feel reassured when they see black scientists at NASA thanks to Hollywood’s effort to bring diversity to our screens.

      Another thing we can do is to conduct national and state affairs with increasimg consciousness of our diversity. No matter how difficult it may seem, we must make the effort to carry everyone along. As things currently stand, I’m afraid to ask if the government of Nigeria knows the name of all the groups  it governs. An example of what we can do in this regard is to celebrate our independence day, using the culture of our numerous minorities as a theme from year to year. Additionally, those who plan our educational system need to do more to ensure Nigerian students learn more about this aspect of their country.