Baskadia

Oh Nigerians!

Great people of Africa!

For how long shall we remain

In our deep slumber?

When shall the veil of deceit

Be removed from our eyes?

For how long shall we follow after

The legacies and landmark

Left behind as the product of colonialism?

When shall our blind eyes

Be open to see the reality

Awake and arise!

People of Africa

Restore back the old paths

Left behind by our forefathers

Revive our dying culture

Let’s remember our long-forgotten way of life

Which we have thrashed

To embrace an alien culture

Which does not value

The respect for parents and elders

Where the children can call the police

On their parents

Standing upright, children greet elders

Disrespect has now become

The main order of the day

And a practise

Which the society does not frown at

Our mother tongue has been forgotten

Our children

Are now illiterates to their local language

An alien language

has overthrown the mother’s tongue

From its seat of power

And is now called vernacular

Our local dresses

have now been replaced

with corporate dressing, an alien dressing

We are meant to wear the suit

And balance it up with a rope on the neck

And suffocate in the heat

Our children now go out half naked

Because they want to imbibe

Every foreign mode of dressing

When shall we be free

From this yoke?

When shall be independent

Of this strange culture?

We are unknowingly enslaved

We need independence

And total freedom

from this dysfunctional standard

Let us arise

And let our culture take its place once again.