I finally got the chance to see Imoh Umoren’s film, ‘The Herbert Macaulay Affair’ and it was interesting to watch. If you love biopic movies or history of any kind, you will enjoy watching this movie currently showing in cinemas across Nigeria.
A few days before the movie started showing in cinemas, I remember Imoh tweeted something about this project being a protest or some sort of activism and not just entertainment. I did not understand that tweet until I watched the film. He was right; you cannot watch The Herbert Macaulay Affair as a Nigerian and not feel some sort of discomfort about status quo.
It is very painful to know that in 1908 the colonial masters were planning a project to provide clean water in Lagos but over a century later, in 2019 33% of the population of Nigeria (approximately 60million) do not have access to clean water. It is heartbreaking that after a hundred years the rate of maternal mortality in Nigeria is still one of the highest in the world; Herbert Macaulay experienced this and could not sit still or remain quiet.
The colonial masters oppressed the people by utilizing resources meant for all to their own advantage; 59 years of independence has not changed that in anyway. Yes, we are no more under colonial rule, yet the crop of rulers Nigeria has had since independence have not solved any of the problems we had over one hundred years ago.
Herbert Macaulay could not bear to see his people suffer oppression, so he decided to do something with his pain. What have we done as Nigerians with the pain we experience daily due to a lack of infrastructure and basic amenities? What have we done with the pain we experience daily when one of us is kidnapped due to insecurity and poverty in the land?
Let me tell you what we do. We conveniently say, “It is Well”; forgetting that the person who we quote from the Bible was not docile when she made that statement in response to her pain. She was actively seeking a solution to her problem for which she responded ‘it is well’. But No; not Nigerians. We will rather say it is well and bear the pain, than take any meaningful step to demand accountability from the government and those in position of authority who we have assigned to manage the resources of our nation.
If we are going to move forward and make progress as a nation, then we must take the bull by the hone and demand changes in every sector we are currently experiencing pain. We must be active as citizens and begin to ask ourselves what it is we can do to ensure we do not handover a collapsed country to the next generation.
Thank you Imoh Umoren for The Herbert Macaulay Affair.
