Pageants: What Manner of Beauty? 2

By Msonter Anzaa

The most controversial thing about the beauty pageant is the kind of beauty it represents. In the manner organized, the thing that stands out most times is the preference for nudity, crudely demonstrated by skirts so short that they reveal the junction of the buttocks and the thighs; trousers so tight and blending so harmoniously with the skin colour that you would think the individual is actually putting on nothing, and breasts, dangling arrogantly at the audience. This is hardly our indigenous idea of beauty. It’s an aberration of both cultural and religious values. The winning criteria seem to consist in the most ability to do wild things and get the audience “crazy”. This has a number of consequences that I’d point out in the proceeding paragraphs.

Pageants: What Manner of Beauty? 1

By Msonter Anzaa

I have read somewhere that if anything can go wrong, then it will certainly go wrong. In Nigeria, we abuse every little invention of mankind. We are our own problem, but that’s not our biggest problem. The greatest problem is that we do not know that we are our own problem. And it is said that he who does not know and does not know that he does not know is a dangerous individual. That’s what we are: we are a dangerous people! A recent strain of madness ravaging our campuses nationwide is otherwise called beauty pageant. This series laments its prevalence and points out that in many instances, it is inspired by corruption and an aberration of national values.

I’m Gonna be a Model

By Msonter Anzaa

You have probably heard someone make a statement like this before, especially if you live where people do a lot of partying, music, acting and “shows”. If you are a journalist, you are also likely to have featured a “model” on your TV or radio programme, or even on the front cover of your magazine. Who therefore, is a model, and how right are we when we do certain things just because we think in our minds that we are on our way to becoming models?

Police: What manner of Friend?

By Msonter Anzaa

There is a popular slogan in Nigeria about the police. We often say police is your friend.” I think it was coined during one of those futile attempts to re-brand the police and correct the mistrust that exists between the institution and the public. Not many officers themselves seem to bother about the slogan, and to many in the public, the concept of friendship with the police is curious and suspicious.

I was returning from Lagos in the night last year and had interesting experiences that demonstrate the level of suspicion that exists between the police and the public. One party sees the other as a necessary evil, and the other is at best indifferent. At one check-point in Ondo State manned by two or three officers dressed each in a red jacket, the driver of our vehicle was asked to come down. Immediately, the passengers began to grumble: “Iinstead of him to settle them and pass, he is wasting our time. Is it not only N200?”

“Open the boot,” one of the officers ordered.

“Na AIG get the motor,” our driver said, probably thinking he would be let go since the owner of the transport company was a retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police.

“Com’on, open that thing. Say na AIG get am,” the officer shouted and the driver obeyed. “They even carry motor engine o,” he continued as he inspected the content of the boot.

“If something happen to you now, you no go say na armed robber?” the other officer queried. “Thank God say AIG get money go buy motor. Me self I dey pray make I get the money go buy am,” he continued.

Few minutes later, the driver was back and the vehicle moved on. I did not know how he and the officers had settled. Meanwhile, a business woman who sat beside me was not done. “These people, if they stop you, give them something. You think say, the work they do, easy?” At that point, I was disturbed. This behavior is typical of how easily we compromise and let corruption thrive endlessly in our country. “Madam,” I addressed her, almost irritated that a responsible-looking person like her would think that way at a time we are talking about fighting corruption and changing Nigeria. “These people are paid by the Nigerian state to do this job. If anyone is going to appreciate them, it should not be by force.” 

As we drove along, I thought about the experience. What manner of friends are the police? In fact, one of the most talkative officers had betrayed the level of indiscipline and corruption in the force. Apart from making contemptuous remarks about a retired senior officer of the force – it wasn’t actually about the person, but the office of the AIG – he also conveyed the impression that they could easily swap roles and rob our vehicle right there. Who would know? And if anyone knew, what would they do about it? The officers would simply board their vehicle and drive off, and it would be as good as though we were robbed by any robbery gang on the high way. Then I realized how much work we must do to restore professionalism, altruism and discipline in the police. A police officer must be loyal to his superiors even in his secret thoughts. I do not say this because the officers failed to give preferential treatment to the bus belonging to an AIG, but because of the manner they talked about the office. They sounded as though they would not even respect the AIG, if they had their way.

Two passengers who sat behind me began discussing the police. “You see police clashing with the army all the time,” one of them, a young army officer began. “And the clashes will continue because police do not respect anybody, even themselves. In the army, we respect ourselves. An officer will never fight a fellow officer in public. But police will even kill you and nothing will happen.” Then he offered a solution: train all policemen in one school so that they can interact with one another and continue in mutual respect even when deployed in the field. “The whole army in this country has only one training school. Every soldier you see has passed through that school. So we respect our seniors and colleagues. But police are trained in different places, so they don’t even know much about themselves.”

I was already concluding that the police are responsible for the lack of trust that exists between them and the public when we nearly overran another check-point mounted this time by a well-uniformed officer. He was not happy that the driver had not slowed down on sighting him. “Oga, you know wetin dey happen here,” our driver replied impatiently. “They rob here,” he ended with a tone that betrayed his lack of confidence in the ability of the officer to protect us should there be such an incident. I thought he was rude to the officer. Here was a gentleman of the law, standing by the roadside in the night in spite of all risks, to protect us, and yet where we should be grateful, our driver was openly unappreciative. Then I realized that both the police and the public are victims of the situation, and they would need strong institutional reform and attitudinal change to be able to work together as friends.

Should Dressing Code be enforced on Nigerian Campuses?

By Msonter Anzaa

Males put on sagged trousers that reveal three different layers of underwear, and shirts unbuttoned with chests lying bare. Ladies wear tight, short skirts that reveal the thighs. Trousers are designed never to reach the waist thus exposing the upper parts of the buttocks and lower abdomen. Their tops are short and scanty, hardly covering the abdomen and revealing the upper curves of the breasts and the skin between them. Others put on tight trousers revealing everybody detail and blending completely with their skin colour. The prevalence of this mode of dressing is stimulating a debate on whether dressing codes should be enforced on Nigerian campuses. This essay examines arguments on both sides and concludes that a dress code is long overdue on our campuses.

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Those who oppose this dressing trend argue that it distracts others on the campus. It makes it difficult for students and staff to concentrate on their academic tasks. The phenomenon is also blamed for the increasing sexual harassment of females. The provocative dresses seduce men and put them under sexual pressure which gets relieved on their female victims. Sexual promiscuity and moral corruption so prevalent on our campuses is also attributed to indecent dressing. As a solution to this trend, its opponents call for a dressing code to be enforced on campuses. The dressing code requires students and staff to observe certain minimum standards when they dress. This is then enforced by security personnel on the campus.

Proponents of this idea are not without their opponents. Activists and women groups argue that dressing codes are targeted at women and thus constitute a form of gender discrimination. They insist that female students have the freedom to dress the way they want without being harassed by anybody. This is not true. First, dress codes are not made only for females. They also prohibit indecent dressing habits like sagging of trousers, putting on earrings and plaiting of hair among males. Second, it is interesting that they do not say dressing indecently is right. Instead, they argue that it is the freedom of people to dress that way if they so wish. But the concept of freedom is not absolute. Imagine what would happen if I park my tanker on the middle of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway just because I have the freedom to park my vehicle when I want to. Another man comes along and insists on his freedom to pass. Multiply this scenario across the various instances we have to make decisions daily and you will discover how chaotic the society will become. So it is in everyone’s interest for freedom to be regulated. In the exam for instance, a student has the freedom to write that the earth is rectangular in shape. If he writes that however, he fails. This means he cannot express his freedom of alternative thought absolutely. And if students are not free to write whatever they want in their exams, why should they be free to put on anything to the exam hall? Is this concept of freedom not rather contradictory?

One fundamental question opponents of dressing code have to ask is, when we resist a dressing code, will the resistance only be on campus, or are we also going to resist the dressing codes at our places of work? We cannot stretch the issue of freedom that far. If students put on whatever they want because they have the freedom, what happens when they also insist on the freedom to come to lectures any time they want? If our institutions are training students so that they can cope with challenges in the labour market, should they not also equip them with codes of conduct – including dressing – that are acceptable to the society in which this labour market exists? Or are we alluding to the claim that Nigeria is a codeless – or more clearly put, lawless – society?

In fact, the question of dress codes touches on the fundamental character of our society. What sort of people are we? Why do we exhibit undisguised affinity for lawlessness, corruption and allergy to discipline? We do not want to stand in the queue. We do not keep time. We do not even want to work full hours. We just want to be paid quick-quick, fast-fast. It shows that something is fundamentally wrong with our value system and perhaps it is because we have debated the enforcement of codes of conduct for too long. We must however understand that dressing code should not involve imposition of rigid rules on students. Instead, it should give general guidelines within which individuals can invoke their creativity and remain fashionable. What has been done elsewhere when ladies are compulsorily required to put on a certain covering is just an aberration.

Finally, there is need for regulation of our dress habits to minimize sexual harassment and promiscuity, reduce distraction and generally instill in us an important culture of discipline and moderation which is the main attribute of education. Given the current level of indecency exhibited on our campuses, a dressing code should not just be enforced; it must be enforced now.