Acculturation of Foreign Knowledge.

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It is documented that civilization started in Africa (Ancient Egypt) and Mesopotamia (now Iraq). Unfortunately, while the forebears of development snoozed, peoples of other races took over. Now the historical originator is being tutored on what to do and not do.

According to Lamarck's law of use and disuse: you lose what you don't use. This has been the fate of developing countries. It doesn't matter if one was the first to discover something. What matters is if one optimizes what was discovered. Time and tide wait for no man.

Many developing nations have lost trust in themselves. They are just waiting for a "Messiah" to sort them out. As we have seen, the "Messiah" has only been offering Dutch gifts; ultimately, they take back what they give.

What is the realistic and sustainable way forward? Acculturation.

For developing countries to grow at a commendable and sustainable pace, they have to adjust foreign or western information and practices to suit their peculiar pattern of life, and not the other way round. The Chinese, Arabs, and Indians are masters of acculturation.

Everywhere in the world, after invention of a pattern, others "copy and paste."

People who will transform their lives for good must know how to optimize valuable foreign information without compromising self-preservation. 

For example, any English speaker who visits certain areas in Russia, China or India for education or business purposes will contend with their language. Over the years, these countries have taken technologies from Europe or America and infused them into their peculiar pattern of life without losing their identity. This is what acculturation is about: self-preservation while improving daily.

But what do we have in Nigeria? On a regular basis, we see initiatives by teenagers and young adults in all the geopolitical zones of the country: videos of a 14-year-old kid who harnessed electricity from the community stream to light up few houses. We commend the efforts and share the videos. That's all. Government officials or persons with means don't bother to push these initiatives till they become publicly relevant and solve palpable problems. After some time, another talent is discovered somewhere in its crude state. Same thing happens. Instead of encouraging the fellow, we kill the ambition, with pseudo-intellectual critiques, proving why it will not work till the person loses confidence in his invention.

For sustainability, we must look inwards to identify and develop our areas of strength, copy foreign knowledge like other countries do, and invent our own solutions. This does not stop us from creating new ways of doing things that will benefit mankind all over the world.

Killing our industries by tagging them "fake" while promoting foreign products has brought us to our present miserable state. With right thinking, we can undo the harm we have done to ourselves.

Copy, Edit, and Paste is what every country does. Nigerians, let's make hay while the sun shines...

Ademola Orolu


About the Author

Ademola is a Consultant Family Physician and writer. He founded the online health magazine, The Family Doctors, and was its Editor-in-Chief from 2017 to 2020, when he wounded up the magazine to concentrate on his full-time medical practice, Nathaniel Health Consulting, Matogbun, Ogun State. 

He is an author of many books including storybooks. He regularly writes on health-promoting topics and encourages positive behavioural change in his articles.

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