30/01/2025
The CEO of a Nigerian multinational company travelled to their headquarters in a Western country and needed to photocopy a document. He saw a young boy, a summer student from high school or secondary school, and asked him to help him photocopy the document. The teenager courteously directed him to the photocopier in the office and continued with his job. The big man was shocked. But he went to do the photocopy and went to attend to his issues.
A bishop finished a service in a Western country and was going to his car with his bag to drive off. (Like most people, he had no chauffeur.) A Nigerian who was new to the church saw him and rushed to him to take his bag. The bishop was surprised. The Nigerian man begged him to allow him to carry his bag. The bishop thanked him nicely and continued to his car, started the ignition and drove off.
The West has so much erased all traces of master-servant relationship among human beings. You carry your bag, cut your grass, clear your snow, stand in line to get attended to, push the trolley to buy your groceries, drive yourself, etc. If you want someone to do it for you, you pay the person according to the number of hours. You can't even ask your employee to go buy you food or do for you anything that is not part of the person's job. You can't even ridicule or shout at your employee.
The West has restored dignity to human beings. But Nigeria and most parts of Africa still dehumanize human beings.
