Athens is a city full of ruins of ancient buildings and the relics of ancient gods yet, every visit to that city is always memorable. My last visit was particularly dramatic because I almost fainted while climbing the Acropolis, an ancient citadel perched atop the city of Athens. My travel companions started pouring water on me as I laid on the floor (I thought I was back in Oshodi where the first thing we do to anyone that slumps is to pour water on them).
Home to the iconic Parthenon, dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, Erechtheion, and Propylaea, this archaeological site is the cornerstone of the ancient Greek civilization. The elevated site offers breathtaking views of the city.
Do you know that just like the European missionaries destroyed all our iconic sites, claiming they were evil, the ottoman also tried to replace the Acropolis Parthenon with a mosque? However, the Greeks were still able to preserve what was left of this monument and today, millions of tourists visit the remnants of Acropolis every year, contributing millions of euros to the Greek economy.
All over Europe, the most important tourist attractions are mainly dilapidated buildings, sometimes with history not as dramatic as the history my father relayed to me about the ancient gods in my village, yet we are paying through the nose to visit these sites, whereas the European marauders destroyed our own culture and religion for Christian civilisation while they preserved their own.
One of the greatest historical monuments in the world in the last millennium was the great wall of Benin. If that wall is located anywhere near Europe, it will be raking in nothing less than 200 million euros in tourist income annually. I’ve been to the great wall of China and I was told that the wall of Benin was even more gigantic.
What happened to our own wall in Benin? It was destroyed by the British in 1897 during the so-called Benin expedition. We now need visas to go and see smaller walls in China and they even make it look like they are doing us a favour.
I have paid to visit several old buildings across the world and I usually weep whenever I remember that we also had similar buildings on 85 Odunfa street, Lagos (lle awo si fila) or even Branco house on 27 Kakawa street, lagos. These old buildings should be generating millions in tourist dollars for our ailing economy by now. They were all pulled down for pennies.
I usually marvel at the ignorance of people that make jest of the ancient city of Ibadan because of the predominant red roof buildings across the town. Those houses need to be preserved and maintained in their original state. Pulling them down for skyscrapers will destroy the heritage. People will one day pay to come and see those red roofs.
When you become a seasoned traveller, you suddenly realise no one wants to visit a place to see other skyscrapers like New York. People want to visit historical centres, preserved ancient cultures, as well as religious centres.
We abandoned our culture and our religion for foreign cultures and allowed them to destroy our heritage. I am a Christian but If I have the opportunity today, I will prosecute everyone, including my ancestors, who allowed them to destroy the monuments of our culture including the relics of Orunmila, Ogun, sango, Ifa and other symbols of our culture and ancient religion.
The highlight of my last visit to Tokyo was a visit to the Asakusa temple, an Hindu temple. The Europeans that destroyed our own religion saying it was evil were all over the temple making a wish with coins in the temple as tourists. That temple receives 30 million tourists per year.
No one respects you when you abandon your own for theirs. Our youths are following in the footsteps of our ancestors with this JAPA SYNDROME. They condemn everything about their home country, display European and Canadian passports as trophies online while bad mouthing their motherland. They now wonder why South Africans don’t respect them or why they find it so hard to get a visa to go and become glorified housemaids to an average westerner who are probably less educated than they are.
There is dignity in labour no doubt but there is no dignity in abandoning your heritage and culture for others.
In the next fifty years, what will be left of our culture? We are selling our ancestral lands to build banks. We are abandoning our schools to develop the educational sector of the UK with the money bled from our economy. We are shipping our youths on voluntary slave trade to develop Europe.
When our children look back in the next century to see what we leave behind for them as a heritage, nothing will be left if care is not taken.
Japa is not an achievement. It is just a temporary solution that brings a lot of underdevelopment to our society. We need to start reversing the trend as a matter of national priority.
Dr Olusola Omoju is a researcher cum public affairs analyst.
Olusola Omoju: Japa Syndrome: Are Nigerian Youths repeating the mistakes of our Ancestors (Part 1)
Do you want to share a story with us? Do you want to advertise with us? Do you need publicity for a product, service, or event? Contact us on WhatsApp +2348183319097 Email: platformtimes@gmail.com
We are committed to impactful investigative journalism for human interest and social justice. Your donation will help us tell more stories. Kindly donate any amount HERE
