I was inspired to write on this subject when I came across a piece on the internet written by Alexander Dan’lyan. I was swept away with nostalgia and I suddenly made up my mind I had to share one or two things about the good old days with you good people.
I was born in the 60’s but am proud to say I grew up in the the70’s and came of age in the 80’s. Ah! 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s! those were the good old days. Everywhere you go nowadays the youth call us ``OLD SCHOOL’’ as if it is something to be ashamed of............ Far from it. There are two things I thank God for making me. First I am passionately Nigerian and two; I am unrepentantly ‘Old School lapel’.
How can I not be when I grew up on ``Cow and Gate’’ was fed Cerelac, enjoyed Hollicks, chewed the old hard Goody Goody sweet and there was this toffee that used to stain our pockets in those days. How can I ever forget Bazooka Joe, Smarties, Condensed Milk and Treetop that I stole in the fridge and added water to so my parents would not find out. I got so addicted to stealing it and adding water that after a long time the treetop became just water. I will never forget the beating I got from my uncle who had been patiently following my ‘’fridgecaped’’ or is it escapade? Our parents drove the best of cars 504, 404, Land rover, Citroen that used to go down when you park, of course the legendary Nigerian car that no one could kill the BEETTLE. There was also the Igala, the Morris Minor and guess what? All these cars were left hand drive and they all had one thing in common. A popular sticker that read `` no hand signal’’
These were the good old days when bread was truly bread, Akara had so much beans in it, if you had one for breakfast you could skip lunch not because you were not hungry but because it was filling, forget Meat pie we had our Puff-Puff that this generation refers to as Buns.
Our parents in those days were mostly civil servants. In those days your parents were not the only parents you had, everybody on the street was. Your parents knew all your friends, did homework with you, knew all your clothes, dropped you in school and did all it took to be called parents not a lot of absentee parents of today and yours truly is also a culprit.
Going to school was fun, do you remember Cortina shoe from Bata? as for me my favourite song was ``Holiday is coming Holiday is coming, no more morning bells, no more teacher’s whip, goodbye teacher, goodbye scholars for I’m gonna spend a jolly holiday’’. Ah! Don’t tell me you know it too. We had nursery rhymes like motor jam police, police jam dog, dog jam mama akara mama throway. Do you remember Hip for the hip for the hipopo po po for the hippo po and thamus for the hippo po tamhus hipphopothamus! Ah I enjoyed school especially at the end of the day when we sang. Now the day is over night is drawing near shadows of the evening move across the sky. If you are old school you must remember that there was also evening school!
After school we would run back home for lunch and wait for T.V to start at 4pm? Yes 4pm! Our television sets in those days looked more like wardrobes, opening it to see the screen was an exercise of sort and of course it was black & white, if you wanted coloured T.V you had to pray for someone in your house to be sick and go to the fridge where you will surely find a bottle of Lucozade with its yellow wrapper. In those days it was like everyone had yellow fever when watching ``coloured ‘’T.V
T.V opened with national anthem ``Nigeria we hail thee, our own dear native land, though tribes and tongues may differ in brotherhood we stand, Nigerians all are proud to serve our sovereign motherland.’’ Then we had the best programme in the world Sesame Street, Skippy the Kangaroo, Treasure Island, Hawaii 50, Atom Ant, Jackson 5, Charlie’s Angels, Captain cave Man, Space 1999, ROOTS with Kuntakinte, Tarzan, Spiderman, Wild Wild West, Mind your language, Smoking Guns, Jan Blocker, Penal Robert, Michael London Lund Green and a whole lot more. Too foreign you would say? Ok try on local content....... Village Headmaster, Jagua - House no 19, Koko Close, Second Chance, Sura the Tailor in the Southwest, and Behind the Clouds that came much later with Bassey and Company.
We also had great Stars and Celebrities, we were blessed with Baba Sala, Jagua, Jacob and Papillilo, Ade Afolayan aka Ade love, Herbert Ogunde whose films no pirate ever thought of pirating for fear of sudden death. Patti Boulaye, Julie Coker, Bimbo Robertson, Mike Enahoro, Yinka Craig, Chief Eleyinmi, Amebo , Sisi Clara, Okoro, Garus Garus, John Chukwu the master compere. I must not forget Ernest Okonkwo the master commentator. We had so many that if I continue all I will serve you will be a menu of names.
In Football we had Mathematical Segun Odegbami, Blockbuster Aloysius Atuegbu, Felix Owolabi, Muda Lawal, Chairman Christian Chukwu, and Chief Justice Adokie Mesi Maka. Before these great men were Haruna Ilerika and of course the Legendary Teslim Thunder Balogun. Our Stadium used to be full in those days especially when the Flying Antelopes – Ranger’s International of Enugu, The Oluyole Boys IICC, The Darling of Lagos Fans Stationery Stores, Abiola babes, Leventies United or Niger Tornados, Kano Pillars, Ranch Rovers played. Our footballers were just too much they didn’t have much money but had passion to play and a desire for success...
My people, we had fun. We had people; we had it all from Education, to sport, to socials, to movies and also to music. Ah! Talking about music do you remember ``Ring my bell’’ Boney M, Shalamar, James Brown, PeterTosh and all the other greats. Do you remember naija’s Felix Liberty, Chris Okotie now a pastor with his ko!ko!ko! Koko! Abc, 123, doremi you and me. Christy Essiens –Omo mi seun rere! Ebenezer Obey’s ‘’ketekete, Comfort Omoges ‘gbemile bebe’, Bongos Ikwe’s Mariama, Alexo’s- Sweet Banana, Onyeka Onwenus numerous hits, Shina Peters- Afro Juju Revolution, the growth of Fuji Music.
I can go on and on and on but I am sure if you are one of us then I need not go further, if you are old school you can’t run from it. If you are however still confused, please take time out to reflect on the following questions asked by a confirmed Old Skool lapel.
If you remember WAI as a kid you are one of us
If you remember all those ‘You No Tall, You NO short, you be like Shagari Walking Stick’ jokes from your childhood, you are one of us.
If Voltron, Fraggle Rock, Thundersub and Speed Racer have significant cultural value for you, this group is for you.
If the only way you got Transformers, He-man and all those Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies was by borrowing a tape from your friends, you are one of us.
If you remember FAN ice you are one of us.
If NTA News at 9 was your family’s most wanted show, you are one of us.
If Behind the Clouds, Morning Ride, Samanja, Checkmate and Village Headmaster were shows you watched regularly, you are one of us.
If you are a big fan of MC Hammer, Salt’N’Pepa, Kid’N’Play, Vanilla Ice, Snap and C&C Music factory you are one of us.
If you know who Shina Peters, Junior & Pretty, Boy Iyke and Wasiu Ayinde Marshal are, you are one of us.
If you are about 30 or older, and have never voted in Naija, or have voted maybe once or twice, you are one of us.
If you still think of Babangida as the most powerful man in Nigeria because he was President during most f your childhood years, then you are a confirmed, undeniable, should be unrepentantly OLD SKOOL LAPEL.
In conclusion I believe that the future of this country is in our hands and we owe it to generations yet unborn to FIX Nigeria and allow them enjoy what we enjoyed growing up.
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