Prior to these times we could boldly say that we could still see traces of our cultural identity in various aspects of our society.
We could still see our kids go to school and still carry that fear factor with them that discipline is a watchword, there was more relevance and attention given to traditional marriages, children were taught their local languages, ebe out traditional outfits were better incorporated as legitimate formal wears, just to mention a few.
Fast forward today, the western influence is at an all time high, in our schools, the element of respect and values is wavering, kids no longer want to learn their local languages, then the curiosity case of the expenses incurred in planning a WHITE wedding.
What would be the future of our cultural identity when the next generation emerges?
It is a sad reality that same cultural heritage that was once our pride is gradually fading away, we have allowed western and foreign influence to have the better part on our cultural heritage, today almost all our cultural norms are gradually lost, especially amongst the younger generation, Nigeria and Africa as a whole is very rich culturally with many cultural diversities cut across various tribes and ethnic groups, in fact those days knowing once culture was a thing of pride but today the reverse is the case, we have a bad mentality of wanting to copy the western world in almost every aspect of life and this has really affected us badly as a people, it has stopped us from developing ours and teaching it to the next generation.
Comparing the past with now i will say that of a truth as a country we are gradually loosing our cultural values, and if things continue this way it will become worse in the next generation, those good things like our decent dressing pattern, our respect for elders, our love for festival etc is really dying off, take for example the Calabar carnival use to be a global event before, people travel from different countries just to come witness it but today the standard has really dropped, it’s not as colorful as it use to be due to politics and civilization, i blame families too for the loss in interest for culture because training mostly begins at home from our mothers, if mothers can still try in their way to teach children their language and teach them about certain cultures it will increase their love and interest for it, the government too must play a role in making sure that culture is revived by organizing activities that will create platforms for cultural display just like the festac 77 that was organized by former president Obasanjo back then, by so doing the dying interest for our culture can be flamed. Our culture is our pride, let’s alway try to protect and preserve it.
