Nigeria Must Stand Against Attempts to Recolonise Minds, Policies, Social Institutions, Says Group

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

In advocating for the reclaiming of African cultural identity and values, Executive Director of The Initiative for Equal Rights, TIERs, Afolabi Aiyela, said the ultra-conservative transnational organisations are attempting to recolonise African minds, policies, and social institutions through moral imperatives that are not rooted in African culture.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Reclaiming African Family, Culture and Values’ which was organised by TIERs, Aiyela, while calling for equal rights for all regardless of sexual and religious affiliations, said colonialism and foreign ideologies have had a profound impact on African cultures and values that have often severed people from their indigenous understandings of kinship and belonging.

He said the colonial mapmaking and indirect rule have shaped ethnic identities and traditional authority in Africa, and with lasting legacies that continue to influence contemporary identities which are often misunderstood.

He therefore emphasised the need for critical reflection and cultural truth-telling, advocating for an Africa where families are affirmed in their diversity, and where gender and sexual minorities are not erased but embraced.

“By reclaiming and celebrating African cultural heritage, Africans can challenge external narratives and ideologies that seek to undermine their identities and values. This includes recognising the diversity of African family structures, cultural practices, and values, which are often overlooked or distorted by external forces.

“By doing so, Africans can work towards a more inclusive and culturally diverse future, free from the shackles of colonialism and foreign influence. This requires a nuanced understanding of African identity and culture, acknowledging the complexities and contradictions that shape the continent’s cultural landscape.”

In his speech, Professor of Sociology, Demography, Population Studies and Social Research at the University of Lagos, John Oyefara, harped on the need for research, documentation, data collection and dissemination of the findings in reclaiming African family and cultural values.

He said while all cultures have positive and negative sides as revealed in the face of education, awareness and globalisation, Nigerians must not loose sight of the importance of what family, culture and values can offer in national development. 

Oyefara stated that as Nigeria’s continue to have contact with other societies, advancement is achieved and people bring in the right approach to issues that centres on agitations to what is different from that they’re used to.

According to him, “What we need to do really is to see how we can do more studies to be able to understand these cultural issues that are good, because there might be some other aspect of our culture that might not be good.

“But the ones we know that are good, how can we retain them? How can we sustain them? How can we keep them to forge ahead? And since we need to hand over these cultural issues to our children, we must not forget the proper way of documentation.

“You know, it’s like victimisation of women. If we have widowhood rights, do you have widower rights? So is it only women that can kill their spouse? Is it not possible for men to kill their partners? These are feasible things.

In the same vein, mental health expert, Dr. Olayinka Atilola said there is the need to decriminalise governments involvement in policing certain aspects of personal life, noting that it allows individuals to make choices about their personal lives without fear of criminal prosecution.