Beyond Chidimma Adetshina….ChiChi…
The first WhatsApp status I viewed this morning was from her… an excerpt from a screenshot she shared and I quote “To Nigeria, Thank You is Not Enough…You Picked Me Up When I Was At My Lowest”.
I paused for a moment.
My thoughts moved from her status to other people Nigeria has picked up at their lowest – exiled world leaders, talented kids picked up straight from the streets into stardom, expats who came to Nigeria with nothing but ended up building massive wealth in Nigeria and many more. And a voice asked “has any one of them ever said THANK YOU NIGERIA?” None that I know.
For a minute, I realised that I also owe Nigeria a big THANK YOU for teaching me RESILIENCE in my formative days.
Life in Nigeria is ‘difficult’. Social Welfare is dwarfed by Capitalism. Cash is king and credit is Slav£ry. Population is beyond 213 million people so competition is aggressive. You think you are smart, Nigeria will humble you with 50 million other people who know what you know and still struggling. Where else can train a person to become resilient and not give up in the face of aggressive competition like a country like Nigeria?
The most misunderstood humans on earth today are Nigerians. The world can’t just understand these specie of Homo sapiens. They are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
To be Nigerian, by nature or nurture is to be Resilient. If your pastor, mentor, brother Inlaw, boyfriend, husband, friend or partner is Nigerian, you too have acquired this spirit of NEVER GIVING UP through association just as they acquire your unique traits too. So whether by nature or nurture, there’s a Nigerian in everyone of us.
And this is the story Nigerians wanted to tell with the emergence of Chidimma Adetshina. She fit into that story – and that story has been told at a global level. In her story, we see a piece of our own story. There’s a Chidinma in all of us.
Again, this movement was beyond Chidinma or even her saga in her country of birth. No. This was about a nation battered on all fronts – vilified by relentless international media, crushed under the weight of its own leaders’ betrayal, and struggling to raise a trembling voice to tell its story to the world.
Congratulations Chidinma. Thank you for not giving up.
