By Abdullah Korede
The Nigerian society is currently in desperate need of a moral compass. The rate at which decency and common sense are fast cascading into the dunghill of morass demands a collective effort in order to salvage our society. I must regretfully say that the level of our complacency in this social malaise is appallingly dispiriting. It looks as if many abnormalities have been normalized as we helplessly watch many aberrations stomping us in the face without making genuine efforts to halt them. For how long are we going to fold our arms and allow our society slide inexorably into the dystopian abyss?
The social media has been abuzz and literally on fire in the past few days as a result of brouhaha sparked by the controversial cross-dreser, Idris Okuneye popularly known as Bobrisky when he was presented with an award of the best dreesed woman at a movie premiere despite the fact that there were a lot gorgeously dressed bevy of beautiful ladies at the event. Many people have cried blue murder and expressed outrage over the lack discretion and insensitivity on the part of the awardees. It was regarded as an affront on decency and morality as it passed a wrong message to the younger generation who may look up to the cross-.dresser as a role model worthy of emulation. The backlash of the award has generated a lot hoopla and become an instant trending issue on the blog sphere. To many Nigerians Idris Òkuneye (Bobrisky) is an antithesis of what morality stands for. His demeanor and carriage are considered as totally against our cultural ethos. Habeeb Okikiola, better known as Portable, the sensational hip-hop singer also lent his voice dropping a track of song to vehemently denounce Bobrisky and all he represented.
The Nigerian society should collectively rise to the occasion and fashion out panacea to the issue of moral decadence stirring us in the face both online and offline before the future of our youths is irretrieveably jeopardized. Our youths should be made to realize the fact that the country is not in short supply of global icons like the late Gani Fawehinmi who was regarded as the conscience of the nation and Senior Advocate of the Masses during his lifetime, the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of World Trade Organization, WTO and many other eminent personalities.
Apart from the parents who have the primary responsibility within the family to inculcate morality into their wards, the government should also intensify efforts to wage a titanic battle against the shenanigans of the likes of Bobrisky through the sustained sensitization of the members of the public that such characters should stop to be promoted. This is where the National Orientation Agency, NOA, comes in. The agency has been doing fantastically well in projecting and communicating government policies, programmes and activities to the people of Nigeria. It can still do more by giving adequate and sustained orientation to the populace, especially the impressionable youths whose innocent minds may be corrupted by the antics of characters like Bobrisky. Doing this will no doubt inject sanity to our society.
Korede Abdullah, lawyer and public affairs analyst, writes from Lagos