The threats to cultural security among us are legion and young people, especially students, should beware. These threats, as far as I am concerned, include Nollywood (those movies that project Nigerian cultures as being solely about fetishism, voodooism, nudity and barbarism), DSTV (those channels that make you think Beyonce and Jay Z are models, not your parents, and Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj are cool), European Football League (this obsession with Chelsea and Man U, Real Madrid and Barca will lead you nowhere – Ronaldo, Messi and the likes don’t care about you), music (even if Nigerian contemporary music is thriving and gone were the days when Michael Jackson and R. Kelly were ruling our airwaves, your favourite music stars are still cultural bastards), education (the type of education that makes you think all education is literacy in English and you can throw decency and character away by ignominiously calling your President “a walking corpse” or making a mockery of yourself by waxing Ajekuniya music record) and many more.
(This column is based on the lecture, “Driving Sustainable Development through the Cultural Engagement of Young People” delivered by yours sincerely to the Cultural Security Forum, University of Ilorin, on June 17, 2017)