WHEN ZUCKERBERG EXPOSED OUR ‘UNNECESSARY BRAGGADOCIOUSNESS

So an interesting thing happened in the country this week. Nigerians awoke on the morning of Tuesday, August 30, to images of the 6th richest man in the world, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, on Naija soil- Yaba precisely.

Devoid of fanfare and unnecessary publicity, Zuckerberg had slipped into the country like "a thief in the night" The 32 year old was seen strolling on the pothole-laden streets of Yaba, as he made his way to the CcHub, to meet with budding ICT geeks- including children. It was indeed a sight to behold- Mark in his typical grey t-shirt, mingling freely with the locals! And contrary to maybe the picture of another celebrity- I can't think of any particular name now- mixing with 'lesser mortals', Humble Mark didn't even seem to be trying so hard he really just 'blended in'.
Funny, I saw a picture of Zuckerberg and one of Naija's finest comedians, Basketmouth, having something of a tete-a-tete; and looking at the picture, one could easily have assumed that Basketmouth was actually the one with the most zeros in his account!

From mingling at the CcHub, to jogging on the Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge, tasting our fabulous Jollof Rice (which in all sincerity, is much more delicious than that of our Ghanaian brothers), and taking goofy pictures with our talented entertainers, Mark was a delightsome guest- every host's dream!

Unsurprisingly, as quietly as he came into the country, was the same way he made his exit. No one even knew he had left, until we saw the update on his Facebook page when he landed in Kenya on Thursday. While some may argue- somewhat correctly- that his unpredictable movement pattern was for security purposes, you cannot deny the fact that the Zuckerberg visit shed a huge beam of light on the very noticeable difference between the ways of the typical Nigerian elite, and those from the developed world.

In Naija, any idiot with a mere 5million naira in the bank believes that he/she has achieved the status of a god on the lofty heights of Olympus. Some wanna-be artist would record a mediocre song and get some amount of radio play (after bribing the DJ's), and then walk into a club and refuse to sit with other folks! It gets worse for politicians. These ones, who swear oaths of service, have become a serious menace to society.

I do not believe that there is any Nigerian above the age of 7, who has not experienced being in traffic, only to be inundated by annoying siren sounds. No, it's not a medical or security emergency- like someone dying, or policemen racing to the scene of a robbery- it's just another crazy politician who cannot sit calmly in traffic with the rest of us ˜peasants". You see children of politicians with bodyguards, and you wonder, What the heck? Your father is only a Local Government Chairman in some state with zero resources, and you hire bodyguards to turn-up at some hotspot?

It's totally mind-boggling but its Nigeria,our Nigeria!

We all saw the memes which were made; making fun of our country after Zuckerberg departed even our African brethren in Kenya couldn't stop themselves from poking fun at us. We all laughed as we always do...while also punching back and hurling insults, as we always do. Even Reno Omokri- who seems to have an opinion on everything these days- created his own meme, 'throwing shade' at our "old ICT Minister" again, we laughed: truth be told, it was quite funny.

But in the midst of it all, in some quiet second, I couldn't help but wonder, anyone really thinking deeply about this stuff, or are we simply laughing, as we always do? A billionaire visits our country, and acts as 'cool as a Cucumber', while the rest of us- with not so much to our name-  act like angry Gorillas, beating our chests while trapped in a cage! If pride and swag could make a nation wealthy, Nigeria would have been the wealthiest one on earth!

Its quite ironical; but there is a pattern one notices- the wealthiest ones don't make so much noise...to borrow the words of a former US President, they speak softly, and carry a big stick!"
Our economy is in recession; but for the most part, the status-quo between various strata of society is still being maintained. We are still trying to 'keep up with the Jonese'. There is something wrong with all of us!

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