Alfred Obiora Uzokwe, P.E
igeria has sadly morphed into a nation where the type of treatment or amount of respect someone gets, from the populace, is related to whether the person has one or more titles attached to their names. Apart from being automatically perceived as a successful and financially-loaded person, one of the seeming benefits of being a titled person, which many crave to no end, is honorable mention when one arrives at public events - a form of praise singing. Because they are automatically linked to wealth and general success in the society, titles such as Chief, Dr, Sir and others, have become highly coveted in the society. There are some that feel unfulfilled if they have not acquired at least one title. They therefore give the pursuit and acquisition of a title an unbridled primacy in their quest for success in life. They are willing to get it at all costs – pay for it, bribe their way through, engage in corruption, make half-hearted donations to schools, churches or grease the palms of corrupt “royal fathers”.
The latest craze is the idea of being conferred with honorary doctorate degrees by universities in Nigeria. This is not where the problem lies because universities all over the world confer honorary degrees on deserving citizens in their societies. The aberration, in the Nigerian case, is that while honorary PHD recipients in other climes do not add the letters, “Dr” to their names, aware that they did not earn it, reverse is the case in Nigeria. The other day, I was watching a YouTube clip of a businessman-turned aspiring politician in Nigeria speaking extemporaneously on TV. He was having a great deal of trouble articulating his political manifesto. He could not demonstrate a sound grasp of current events in the country where he was hoping to be a major player in the political arena. I was about to turn off the clip and declare him, in my mind, a political non-starter, when his name scrolled past the bottom of the screen and started with the letters, “Dr”. I later learned that he was awarded an honorary degree by one of the universities in Nigeria because he made a certain amount of donation to the school. Again, my issue was not with the fact that he was conferred with an honorary degree but the fact that a TV station, that should know better, added “Dr” to his name, knowing that it was a mere honorary degree. I have since learned that it is a common practice in Nigeria for honorary PHD degree recipients to brazen-facedly add the letters “Dr” to their names. TV stations and others indulge them even though they cannot defend the degree they hold onto as if they earned them. A clear case of “all hat and no cattle”.
Because of these newly minted “PHD” holders, it is becoming very difficult in Nigeria to tell the difference between people who toiled for and genuinely earned their PHDs and the impostors in our midst. Suffice it to say that the impostors are not only cheapening the PHD degree, they make actual PHD holders look bad. It is unclear if the universities that dole out these honorary PHD degrees explain to their recipients that the degrees were merely honorary and hence not meant to be used as if earned. Although in a nation where titles have become the ticket to respect, honor, slavish adulation and even more wealth, telling them that the degree is honorary may not deter them from using them.
In the not too distant past, distinguished Nigerians that got these honors knew that they were honorary in nature and not meant to be used as if they had earned them. Hence you would not catch them adding the “Dr” letters before their names. Here in the United States, many leading and wealthy men and women have honorary degrees conferred on them by one university or their other for major contributions to the school and humanity, yet you will never see them attached to their names.
On one of my visits to Nigeria, several years ago, I was handed an invitation card for an upcoming event for the Christmas season. I sat down to read through the invitation. Two letters attached to the name of someone caught my attention. I knew the person in question and wondered when he went back to school to get some type of degree in jurisprudence. I turned around and asked my sister, who sitting next to me, what type of degree “JP” stood for. After a hearty laughter, she said it stood for “Jerusalem Pilgrim”. People that visited the Holy Land now have the letters attached to their names. It was not that way when I was growing up in Nigeria. I know a few Jerusalem pilgrims but never saw the letters JP added to their names.
Times have changed
The reader may see this as none issue and wonder why this commentator is making too much about it. To answer that, I crave the indulgence of the reader to tell a story of what happened during one of my visits to Nigeria. During a public event, the master of ceremony failed to add the letters “JP” to the name of someone in attendance when he introduced him. During the interlude, I saw the man walk over to the MC and they had what seemed like a hearty conversation before he went back to his seat. The next time he picked up the microphone to speak, the MC was full of apology for omitting the letters “JP” from the name of the man when he introduced him. That is how serious this has become and one would not be surprised to hear soon that someone was sued for failing to recognize a JP during a public event. Oh judgment, thou art fled to brutish beats and men have lost their reason, as Marc Anthony would say.
The “all hat and no cattle” syndrome has engulfed the whole of Nigeria as a country as well as Nigerians in the diaspora. If you ever attend a social event in major cities in the diaspora, and you are a reasonable or modest individual, you will feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. About a year ago, I attended one social event outside Pennsylvania and could not believe what I was witnessing. Apart from the fact that the event started late, when it finally started, the MC spent more than a quarter of the time assigned for the event to, according to him, introduce the very important personalities in the hall. First, he introduced the “chiefs” and then “high chiefs”. Yes, there is such thing as “high chiefs” in our midst. Someone joked that the concept of “high chiefs” began when some of the “chiefs” started feeling that some village royal fathers were cheapening the chieftaincy titles by conferring them on undeserving people. Their exclusive club of chiefs had been infiltrated and invaded so they got some willing “royal fathers” to help create the “high chief” category to literally separate the men from the boys. One would not be surprised if a new category of “super high chief” is created soon when the high chief category is once again invaded.
The most amusing part is how some of these people dress when they come to public events. Just to look traditional, some literally dress like it is Halloween. I saw someone dressed in what looked alike a house robe and tied around his waist was a rope-like string that people restrain their curtains at home with. I had a hearty laugh but you could see how serious the man in question looked. He wanted to look extraordinarily different from everyone else and hence get their attention, respect and special treatment. All hat and no cattle.
During the event, I watched with amazement as the chiefs and high chiefs bantered back and forth to establish supremacy when kolanut was presented. The crux of the issue was who would have the final say on how the kola nut would be broken - the high chiefs or the ordinary chiefs. As I watched this shameless display of silliness, I wondered what the children in the room would be thinking of this generation. The people in question believed they were upholding tradition not knowing that they were actually trampling on it through their shameless public displays and struggle to be recognized. They did not seem to understand that what mattered most was the legacy they were leaving for those that were not chiefs to follow. I wondered if they understood that their legacy should be that of good public and private persona; a legacy of people who deliberate cerebrally before talking so as to make sense all the time. I wondered if they understood that their legacy should be marked by community service, advancement of education, encouragement of true democracy in Nigeria and most of all, leadership and foresightedness wherever they find themselves. Unfortunately, I have to believe that many of these people do not understand that to who much is given, much is expected and that if you crave respect and recognition, you have to carry yourself with dignity and respect in all you do.
The reader should not take this as a condemnation of all chiefs and high chiefs in our midst because, just as I have come across the fake and empty ones, I have also come across many that truly earned the exalted pedestal upon which society placed them. You do not need to be shown what they have done that earns them the chieftaincy because their deeds speak for them. You engage them in conversation and foresightedness, wisdom, knowledge and community work oozes from them. You look back their path and you see a long trail of accomplishment and service to community that make you respect them even if they are not seeking respect. You can even tell that the ones that have not been opportune to make major accomplishments yet have huge potential. Many are making whatever leadership contribution they can wherever they live and one could see that given time and opportunity, they would do more.
The reader probably remembers remarkable Nigerians like Sir Adetokumbo Ademola, Sir Louis Mbanefo, Sir Louis P Ojukwu and more. Because of the contribution of these men to nation-building and commerce, they earned the title “Sirs”, having been knighted. In those days, if you see “Sir” next to the name of anyone, you would not need to be told why because their achievements and contributions stand out. These days, the tide has changed. Every church, even if not reputable, now confers knighthood on people. Sometimes you see “Sir” next to the name of a shady character or someone with a questionable means of livelihood. As a result, the prestige that the connotation once carried has simply vanished. Churches knight members who are willing to pony up donations. They even knight potential donors in an attempt to get them to do something. The churches know that Nigerians crave titles and would pay any money they are asked to just to be bestowed or conferred with a title they believe would give them a leg up in the society so they are making most of it.
Our politicians seem to be the ones that hanker after these titles the most, especially the ones that have little to show in terms of personal achievement and contribution to society. To make up for that deficiency, they go after all types of titles, making donations and greasing palms sometimes with ill-gotten money. I get the impression that as soon as someone becomes a prospective politician in Nigeria, they go for what I call title indoctrination. This is where they seek out malleable” royal fathers” willing to confer chieftaincy title on them with no questions asked. They seek out a church that will confer knighthood on them so they can attach “Sir” to their names. They look for universities willing to grant them honorary doctorate degree in return for donations or construction of hostels. Then they cap it off with a visit to the holy land that adds “JP” to their names. Once this is done, they can now boast of answering Chief, Dr, Sir, JP. The table is set for them to start going around town seeking votes. At that point, because of all the titles attached to their names, the voters automatically see them as men and women of honor. No need to question their past or their manifesto. No need to question the source of their wealth, afterall, the church validated their authenticity with knighthood.
This is what is going on in Anambra state as the gubernatorial election draws nigh. All manners of Tom, Dick and Harry want to become the governor of the state. Many of them are very lean on actual credential or track record but they garnish their names with high-sounding titles like chiefs, Dr, Sirs, JPs and more. Some of them have been interviewed on television and one could hardly make out head or tail from what they say. Some find it difficult to even articulate what they hope to do for the state except that they should be accepted for being chiefs, Drs, Knights and JPs. In the end, they hoodwink the electorate and get by with minimum or no scrutiny. This type of politics has been the bane of Nigeria. People are voted into office, not for what they have done before or track record, but because they present themselves as belonging to the elite group of multi-titled Nigerians that should be given whatever they ask for. It is time that Nigerians started ignoring high-sounding titles and start looking deeper into the people that come before them for votes. It is time that Nigerians stopped worshipping titles and started probing to unearth what those that want to lead us are truly made of. It is time that we started challenging those that hoodwink us with chieftaincy titles that truly amount to nothing and start asking deeper questions about what they have done to merit the laurels and what they plan to do if they must be placed by the public on the special pedestal that they seek. Merely wearing a 5 gallon cowboy hat does not make a cowboy. You must have a healthy number of cattle to back up that name – cowboy, otherwise, you will merely be all hat and no cattle. That does not a cowboy make.
HERE I STAND
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