Man Know Thyself!

Some of the popular images many Nigerians are likely to have encountered on social media are the videos and photos of the car garage of the high-flying Nigerian music star, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu (aka Burna Boy). These images are indeed a spectacle of lavish opulence exhibiting an array of luxury cars, such uncommon brands that are not daily sights on our roads. Such is the young man’s love for car luxury that he must have spent hundreds of millions of naira funding that aspect of his social inclinations.

But one recurring reality is that in all such lavish lifestyle, it is certain that resources are being misapplied and wasted. What do I mean? When people maintain a large car garage, it is usually the case that they habitually use just few, say two or three, while the many others merely lie fallow, serving no other purpose than that of pandering to the owner’s sense of wealth and high taste.

On Sunday, I was discussing this with a friend and he agreed with the above assertion based on his personal experience. He once lived with a senator who, according to him, maintained a fleet of cars in his large garage in his Enugu state country home. My friend observed that most of the cars in the garage were never used by the senator who lived in Abuja and visited home from time to time. He had one favourite car he used whenever he was home and another which he usually brought from Abuja whenever he did not come home by air. So, the implication was that virtually all the exquisite c5ars in his garage were never driven and the engines had to be kept from rusting away only through daily warming. This senator died few years ago and here again is the recurring paradox of life where one acquires a lot and only to depart this life without utilizing the acquisitions. Instructively, the senator was so attached to these idle vehicles that he found it difficult to give out any. My friend said the only time he witnessed the man give out a car was when he gifted his cousin a rusty and ramshackle 504 brand which four tires had to be replaced by the receiver to make the car usable. This was not among the man’s pool of luxury cars which he loved and preened jealously like a cute pet.

In 2020, I joined a friend on a visit to felicitate a popular businessman on his birthday. The house was a mansion by all standards, testifying to the stupendous wealth acquired by the young billionaire. Several birthday cakes were being brought in, including from banks that were expressing gratitude to a big customer. I at once noticed the sheer size of our host’s garage stretching along almost the entire length of the southern wall and a better part of the western wall of the expansive compound. Parked in there were cars of uncommon designs (not less than 20, if my reconning is correct). Whispering to my friend, I inquired whether this man used all those cars. He simply pointed to a jeep that parked outside the garage, close to the entrance of the main building, and told me that it was the car he usually saw the man use. He confessed he never saw any of those fanciful cars on the road, but only in the man’s compound. This immediately confirmed my suspicion that the garage was there simply to impress and not to serve our host’s mobility need.

This is the folly of human of today where acquisition has become an art form; people no longer acquire a car for mobility but to impress; no longer build a house to provide shelter over their heads but to show class; and no longer eat or drink to satisfy a biological craving but to show off (as seen with the so-called dorime practice at lounges and nightclubs). Manufacturers and other businesses that deal in cars and other products now take advantage of this pride-induced consumption pattern to increase their profits endlessly. They create exquisite designs to manipulate taste and craving, even if such products offer nothing spectacular in real quality.

This is the sorry fate of humans who have become alienated from their real self. They have become estranged from their inner pulses, hence mistaking their craving for food, drinks, and cars to be a quest for social recognition and status validation. They buy things that solve no real problems but only pander to ego. That is an immoral way of dispensing with one’s wealth. Is it not a disservice to humanity that one who becomes fortunate (lucky) to scoop so much wealth from the common pool of humanity’s resources will choose such an aimless ego trip over showing real sympathy for humanity in its various afflictions – hunger, sickness, poverty, homelessness etc?

But then here is the bottom line: This human that has become estranged from himself and his kind (ie humanity) must rediscover self for the world to become a better place. Man know thyself!

This is my meditation this midweek.

Henry Chigozie Duru, PhD, teaches journalism and mass communication at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.