Why you should normalise giving African names to your children – Reno Omokri

Embrace your native language. Normalise giving African names to your children. Cease defining intelligence by your ability to speak English or any other European language. Accept your melanin skin tone and ditch that inorganic ‘organic’ pano pano cream.

The world has changed. It is not changing. It has changed. Maybe if you travel widely, like me, you would know.

I led a team of influential Nigerians to the U.S. Congress at Capitol Hill last year, and all the others, whom I will not name in order not to embarrass them, wore suits and ties.

I was the only one with a Babanriga. Guess what? Every Congressman wanted to shake hands and be photographed with me, and they ignored all the other suit-wearing people in the delegation. That is where my photo was taken with Congressman Pete Sessions, son of the former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, William S. Sessions.

The world would rather embrace authentic Black Africans than sub-Saharan Africans wanting to be pseudo-Americans and Europeans:

Learn from the Lukumi Yoruba. The more their singers and movie directors release songs and movies in the Lukumi Yoruba language, the more the world accepts them. The more they do the same in English, the less the world accepts them. Look at Morayo by Wizkid and Lungu Boy by Asake. They are some of the most streamed albums on Spotify Nigeria and Africa. How many English albums made the list? Even Grammy winner Tyla did not make the top three in South Africa with her English album.

Nollywood has several movies on Netflix, but its biggest hit is Jagun Jagun. This Yoruba-language movie became the Number One movie in the United Kingdom and seventeen other countries within 48 hours because it was authentically African.

As of today, President Bola Tinubu is the highest-ranking Nigerian in Nigeria, while Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the DG of the World Trade Organisation, is the highest-ranking Nigerian in the international civil service. In the United States, Wale Adeyemo is the U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, whereas the highest-ranking Nigerian in the United Kingdom is Kemi Badenoch, a Member of Parliament and leader of His Majesty’s Opposition.

Moving on, the highest-ranking Nigerian in academics is Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, while Ngozi Adichie is the highest-ranking Nigerian in the literary world. In journalism, it is the Pulitzer Prize-winning Dele Olojede. Finally, the most celebrated Nigerian in medicine is Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, Chief of Surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Texas, and a pioneer of fetal and neonatal surgery.

What do they all have in common? They all bear authentic African names.

Moral of the story: If you want to rank high, drop Benjamin for Banji, and add Chim to Amanda!

By Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022.