Nigeria Is Destroying Its Main Resource.Its Children's Minds.
At the risk of sounding like a pompous, self-righteous, grumpy old man I’m about to have another rant about messing up children's minds by bombarding them with adult images. Occasionally I see something that I feel crosses the line. Something that makes me scream like a mad man scaring innocent citizens. Recently I wrote about Pittbull being invited by Nickleodeon for their children’s awards and D’banj being played at children’s parties. Now another example has turned up that makes that look like child's play.
Meet Ozzy Bosco A.K.A Wonder Kid who is supposed to be Nigeria's next music superstar. He is 6 years old. Watch the video to get more of an idea about him. I’ve got nothing against Ozzy. He is a cute kid and the people seem to love his performances. I know many of you are probably wondering what the problem is. But all I could think when I saw this was ‘No, no , no , no ,no!!‘. Ozzy’s mum or ‘Mummy Bosco’ does mention that he is a good student and class captain. That's all you get to hear about the importance of education and creativity. The majority of the video is all about how Ozzy is the next superstar and how he is going to ‘blow’. And what is your class captain doing wearing two glittering earrings and a medallion anyway?!?
*Read: Why Are There Few Nigerian Made Kids Shows*
This follows the current dangerous social trend in Nigeria. That is the trend of ‘Hammering’ or ‘Blowing up’ and basically making a lot of money. I have no problem with wanting to make a lot of money. I do too trust me. BUT not at all costs. Right now in many parts of the country it is ALL about the money. Glitz and glam. No substance or ideals. Just get that cash by all means. Those with money are celebrated by default no matter how they made it. If they were corrupt, who cares? As long as they have a flashy car. The problem is we are now spreading this message further down the chain to the young ones. Now you might think there is nothing wrong with that which is fine. That is your opinion. For me it is one of the most dangerous roads this country and many others can head down.
Like I said before, I have nothing against Ozzy himself with his cute chubby cheeks. He is just a kid who loves what he’s doing. I am also a supporter of freedom of expression especially amongst adults so I'm not coming at this from a holier than thou angle. I am just scared for the future. Let’s look at the bigger picture for a second. Nigeria and other countries in Africa are at an important stage in their history and the youth are a crucial part to making sure that Africa really does genuinely rise. It is bad enough that the education sytem is failing and now this. If you feed your nation’s foundation, its children's minds, with messed up ethics with no substance what kind of country do you think they are going to create when they grow up?
