 Welcome to the Advocate. Your panelists are here to discuss thought-provoking issues in an atmosphere of laughter and seriousness. Here, we call a spade a spade and today we're here to remind you that important conversations are among the necessary tools for a saner society. In what I term, the deja vu effect of the Nigerian society, I'll be talking about the avoidance of future disasters in our country. Ruth talks about the increasing drug problem in Nigeria with heavy focus on math. The saint with no halo, Kule Lawal, is talking about a power shift in 2023 and Tonya ends with a conversation on corporate dressing. The deja vu effect of the Nigerian society. Nigerians are people that are stressed and broken. There is a different narrative every single day, which foretells of a terrible future of doom, uncontrolled violence and unparalleled impunity across board. That is, from the corridors of power to the streets of the ordinary or average Nigerian. Often times, we reference this future of total neglect and chaos, more like dub-chub-dub scenario, and we wonder when will we get there. The good news is, we are already there. Growing up in Festak in the 80s and 90s, residents of Ajigule or Jo Okokomayko looked up to Festak. It was a symbol of what we now know as Banan Island, for the residents of that part of Lagos. It arrived out to Ruleri, and of course, the only difference between Ikoi, from Ikoi rather, are the businesses, foreign missions and other strategic infrastructure put up in Ikoi. While we lived there with pride, residents of neighboring communities looked on with envy. Residing in Festak was the ambition of this neighboring residents. Many years later, the Nuvorish of these communities all moved to Festak. With the mentality of their previous communities, they unwittingly unsettled the calm, opulence and beauty of Festak. Pollution everywhere, gutter started becoming choked. Festak became noisier. Drivers would leave the statutory parking spaces and park on pavements. And there came periodic floods after a heavy rain. An uncommon event a few years ago, drinking spots sprang up in this one-time residential environment of choice. And the old residents, particularly the older children who have made some money, started staying out of Festak longer to avoid the unbearable feeling of staying in Festak. And eventually moved out of Festak. Now Festak is a shadow of itself. If you were to visit Festak for the first time, you would not understand the glory that once existed. It feels like it has gone with the wind. Why do I call this unpleasant condition good news? We are already experiencing all what we assume is to come, unknowingly. And we are getting by to prevent that unstable future of erratic violence, killings and oppression. All we need to do is to think about now, study our current situation and start working towards changing the narrative and event at a time. So the question is, what is happening now? The original residents of Festak refused to defend the integrity of their community when new residents started coming in. These are residents who didn't experience the glory days of regular waste pickup, flowing water and mutual respect among residents. We allow those who don't know the history and the tradition of this community to take over. We then turn around and complain that things are not the same anymore. Well, you know that song. Standard of education has plummeted. Local government officials have become less responsive because the residents that insist on their rights have all left the community. Street lights have become a relic of system that works and the area is less safe because now you have more out of school children and drop out who have been fortunate enough to discover the game betting structure. Festak is no longer as glamorous, as honorable and we are all moving to the glorified villages called Ibejileki anaja. Soon, all those people will left behind in Festak will make more money and see the lights in Leki and they will also relocate to these glorious villages. At that time, where do we move to? Then the cycle repeats itself. Standard of education would plummet. Local government becomes less responsive. Street lights will stop working and the area will become totally unsafe. To prevent this impending invasion of Leki aaja axis, all we needed to do was to support the new entrance in Festak to prevent that disaster of a future which has been foretold. We need to stop existing in our community and start living in it. We need to be intentional with our contribution to the development of our community. Support a school, support a child, look out for your neighbor, let the fence in your house stand for protection only and not a symbol of pride or separation by class. You don't need to care about Nigeria. Care about yourself enough to ensure that you are safe and comfortable and you cannot be safe and comfortable if your neighbor isn't safe and comfortable. Long live the federal republic of Nigeria. That felt more like an Independence Day speech. Exactly. You know for me the way I choose to look at your advocacy is that Nigerians have always assumed that class or the proper way of doing things is in a location. It's not in a location. And that's why we always have these issues. You have the same situation happening in places like in Apuja where you say okay we move to this. Lokuguma is to be quiet and settled places and now become a jam-packed type of activities. Games village is to be quite the place. It's becoming something else. And that is because we do not have any orientation exactly on how places should be run. We have no system. And if you've ever questioned anything in Nigeria, you'd understand that our biggest problem is maintenance. Very true. And it cuts across board. Every area, maintenance is a big issue. And I also think probably in addition to that will probably be the value system that we actually have within our society. Where like you mentioned everyone is thinking of himself and himself only in case where he's not even thinking that the actions of my neighbor is going to affect me. It's going to affect my children. It's going to affect my grandchildren. I mean that fact that there's no emphasis on the fact that we are in a community. You cannot live outside your community. You have to ensure that you protect your community in order for your children. Because I mean one day we live here, we die. Our children and grandchildren have to benefit from whatever money or wealth that we have accumulated over the years. And they can only get it if they live in a safe community. So there's kind of two things that I really pulled out from there. And the first being you build yourself this gilded cage, this gilded prison, high walls. You step outside, you see poverty. I have never been able to understand that. You think it's going to protect you. If everything goes down, they're going to chop the fence. It doesn't take long to put down the fence. Exactly. So what you're saying there is so on it in terms of engage with the community. Know the different people. Yes, the people who are neighbours like you who are middle class or whatever. But there's other people who are in that community. Do you know any of them? Do you engage any of them? Do you guys interact? Because the community is more than just what's inside your compound. The second thing I would say is that it's bigger than what you said. Look at climate change, right? What you said is like the micro story of the bigger story. If we look at climate change, if we're looking at what is going to happen in the future, right? We're planning for these communities. But if you say, okay, let's not make Festa town the subject matter, but let's look at climate change, right? It's the same story but on bigger scale. The local government doesn't engage with the community at a local level to educate. Because it really is about value systems as Ruth said, education. In those days, this is not the first time we're doing hand washing programme, right? In those days that was standard about basic cleanliness, about keeping your environment clean. You do not let keep legos clean. And they would have these programmes about dental, about brushing teeth, about washing hands. These were instituted. These were, every day, this was part of the government's life. Those were the days government and the people were working? Exactly. And this is something, obviously, Kunle, this is your side, that is so important to work at the local government level. Because all these points that you make is really served from there. And we can't just look at it as just reaching out to the grassroots. No, local government also has to reach out to the middle class and above. Because they are also part of that community and have a responsibility. Because everybody is contributing whether it's good or bad. And so you need to engage all the community. You know there's this lie, especially since we're talking about local government, politics is local, which means you should go to the grassroots. That's like the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Politics is local just simply means your constituents should be able to have access to you, whether high, rich or low. So yeah, we all know I just moved to Lagos and then I passed by one police barrack and there were posters of local government, there were people running for local government chairman on it. And that barrack I think is the worst thing I've seen in the world. It's terrible. There are many places but I almost had a heart attack looking at that barrack. And you see like what you're saying, which is part of, it fills into what the presentation I made is, I met somebody who stays in one of these estates in Leki and I was telling him about what a project we have for communities. I want to raise funds for police and stuff. He looked at me and laughed and he said in their community they actually take care of the police in that area and as a result the police is very, very committed to securing the area and that is what we are not doing. We rather complain about everything. We are not helping teachers, we are not helping police, we are not helping doctors. All we do is complain. And these people who are like us, they complain. So from whence come help my help. But well, up next is Ruth. Stay tuned. The Lumin Meth Crisis in Nigeria, sometime in the past week some videos surfaced online of men that were being beaten with heavy woods. The men looked very thin, malnourished and almost mud. These videos were taken in south eastern part of Nigeria. These men were under the influence of meth. It's safe to say that they are meth addicts. Crystal meth, also known as umpuru miri by south easterners and formerly called methamephin is a synthetic narcotic with origin from Japan, according to drug literature. Meth is a powerful highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system of an individual. Addicts can take the drug by smoking, swallowing, snorting or injecting the powder that has been dissolved in water or alcohol. The high from the drug starts and fades quickly. People often take repeated doses in a binge and crash pattern. The drug stimulates the aspect of the brain that creates dopamine first, the addiction. Despite the known dangers of this meth, drug dealers have not stopped in its dealing. In fact, its popularity is really growing in so many eastern states and communities. Reports have shown this drug is gaining popularity among youths and thus destroying their lives. In the conversation with some relatives of some of these addicts, I got to understand how the lives of some previously well-off individuals went downhill because of meth. The soldier lands, properties, goods, etc. just to feed their meth addiction, which by the way is expensive. Families are being destroyed by meth and we might have a social crisis in the near future. Suffice to say that this meth addiction might feed more crimes in the future as addicts lose all sense of reasoning in a bid to satisfy their addiction. Again, we call on the NDLEA or governments that is local, state and federal to do something about this time bomb we are sitting on before it destroys an entire generation. They should not think this is only a south eastern crisis because the drug is already sipping into other regions of the country. For me, whenever I hear of drugs, I shrink and I blame an entire generation. The reason is this. Whatever we are saying about drug now, it is even more painful when we say in the future, in the future it will be this, in the future, no. I remember about 10 or 15 years ago when we started hearing news about primary school students getting into causes and taking drugs. The question is what did we do? Someone has been taking drugs from primary school. It would take a lot more effort to win that person of drugs than someone that has just been introduced to it as maybe as a young adult. As a primary school student or pupil you are more reckless, you expose, you just take it as you are giving and it has become a part of your system for 10, 15 years. What have we done as a people? The government, the parents, the big brothers in the area, what have we done? Now you realize a lot of young people. For me, it is good enough to say that almost all of them take it. The reason is this, not because I have a particular statistics that I am working with, but the reason is this. Unlike before when we were younger, when she is someone taking drugs, the person hides to take it. If the person doesn't hide to take it, is taking it where you are, is telling be careful, this thing will kill you. You are not condoning it because you are not taking it. Now people take it more openly and even their friends who are not taking it don't really see anything wrong in it. They will tell you this country stress too much, make it high. So which means that it's only a matter of time before you start taking it. So it's, I don't know if to call it a time bomb or like I said someone, a keg of gunpowder. I said no this is a tank of gunpowder and I don't know how. I have no idea this was happening in this Niger myth. Like I am so shocked because you know you read and hear all these stories from example the United States where myth has for the past 20, 30 years has really caused them a lot of trouble. And you know you think back here to a couple of years ago when there was the issue with the cough syrup. Right? Yes. There was, there still is. Of course there still is but we were introduced to it in the wider population that it was going on. Now this is scary on a different level because anybody can create myth. Yes. And that's the difference to the other drugs. Anybody, you don't have to be smart. You don't have to have gone to school. Anybody can create myth in their kitchen. That easy. Simple YouTube video. You know if you look back into the 80s I remember and I think I'll try and draw a social parameter for this. So in the 80s or early 90s when I was in secondary school if you were wearing a uniform and you were moving around you wouldn't have attempted someone you don't know what are you doing outside. They'll take you back to your school and you'll be flogged. But now it's kind of common anybody can do anything. I think in the freedom of rights that we're giving ourselves as Nigerians we have begun to trample on the rights that will preserve a culture. Exactly. We are totally undermined ourselves. We have gotten to a position where it's not anyone's business. And I will tell you most people will draft this away but my experience travelling in Nigeria would always say this and I'll say this. I think politics has fed the most rubbish into our system. And this comes down to the cults that are being used for political attacks. This comes down to training the next range of hard guys that will push an agenda. And these guys get to do things which are not regular which cannot be done normally. A normal human being will probably say no but they need the money and then to dull their conscience they need the substance. And that's where we find ourselves right now. So even our politics is to blame for the kind of situation we have right now especially with the drugs. Everything is to blame but the question is always how do we get rid of this because NDLEA came up with a statement earlier on that the amount of drug in circulation is enough to sustain the level of crime and violence we have in society which means unless we reduce access to drugs violence, banditry, kidnapping all that work. Yesterday I saw five guys in the news they were arrested around Ajah with pump action. I mean these are you know those red bullets that are very thick that kind of gun they were using. The oldest was 24. They had a 24 year old, a 20 year old, a 19 year old a 16, a 17. Before a 16 and a 17 and even a 20 we would be able to wield a gun and go on the streets. What's your state of mind? If crime is going to be even more of a huge factor and unfortunately I don't think it's going to get better I think it's going to get worse because these are young people with no hope. So what do we do? We have to go back to the drawing board it ties into everything we talk about in this show. We have to go back to the basics education, healthcare, power those are the three things that need to be dealt with. Once you address those areas it's a knock on effect on everything because those three areas encompass all the values of a nation and right now the state of things we have no value which is why life is worthless and means nothing. That's it. I think I just add I think I still go back to the same value system conversation but this time around within the families because some of these people have families. Some of these people are well, I mean they probably have people that could guide them through the path way of life or whatever it is but for some reason these days even I mean I was having a conversation with a friend one time ago and this was on the Yahoo crisis then and she was telling me that you see parents going in and registering their children for certain things so parents typically these days are turning a blind eye to everything their teenagers their children are doing or sometimes are even enabling these things to happen. Because they need to eat. Is it because they need to eat? Because if really it's because you need to eat there are so many other options for example farming is one of the easiest it takes too long there are so many other things there are so many other things someone is looking to eat today no back in the day the parents will have sent the person to the streets to do something we are no longer a system that supports meritocracy which has built an impatience for finance so it's inpatience it's not about just eating now it's about I still wouldn't call it inpatience it's inpatience of one person but I still wouldn't call it inpatience it's necessity it's need and some people will compromise everything for that need because they have no other choice you know well well I mean I don't know if you say you don't have a choice but like trying it back to the education thing that I spoke about I mean I remember in a church someone was actually doing something I got angry I was walking out and all these church units and the leader of church said no don't do that blah blah blah I was getting angry then another person came and I was telling you remember how you trained us in this church years ago and the person said to her he said listen let this child go after the child left the person said you we trained you right from when you were younger so we give you all the values all the trainings this guy is coming to this church a teenager what is done to you will even do worse to the mother so you now wanted to apply the training that I gave to you 20 years ago on this guy that's ready you know is like a crayfish already bent you don't get anything out of it so it goes back to the home when the mother misses it every person misses it you know what I'm talking about now exactly so up next is Kolei stated the game of thrones this of course isn't about the TV show that got us on the edge of our seats by HBO this actually is about the shift of power in the most popular black nation in 2023 before I proceed an overview of the state of politics as is first political parties I know most Nigerians are not aware but there are 18 functional parties in the country according to INEC as of now the ruling party of course has started in world congress and has no elected exclusive other parties are yet to clearly define opposition and make the right moves proposing the right solutions while galvanizing the electorate's support they play the same game and expect a different outcome you can't always preach we're going to if you vote us in we will change it we've heard that music a lot in Africa and it's changed nothing secondly the electorate they scream good governance which couldn't be louder or more agitated from a distance from understanding the true power that has never been so far away from them a little example the wukes state in Nigeria is always legals but when you weigh that wukeness against the LGA elections in the mega city of wukeness with less than 5% voting population participation well you have how ready we are for politics third civil societies of course with their grants they look good it's great to see the work in the space and there are things we really need to point out to the inexperienced policy preferring solutions for the politically illiterate now CSOs have said the PVC drive the PVC drive Nigeria has never actually had a PVC problem 84 million registered voters in 2019 and yet only 28 million participated in the federal elections CSOs have also tried to use the problem to create a valid future what do I mean by this inviting the problem in the legislature to teach the future how to handle politics the media houses you'd love to think of them as the fourth estate but in actuality they are the third legs of politicians for brown envelopes and paid time on their airwaves the crucifixion of investigative journalism and the outright abandonment of news worthy material makes them puppies under the dinner table of the average dinosaur politician they ensure the miseducation of the electorate which is the worst thing ever due to a weakened democratic system now for us to understand this we must understand this critical statement the game in politics is always to unfold and is never to be told which means indirectly you do not have access to what exactly is going to happen except you understand the way the chess pieces move in 2023 there will be a generation house shift a lot of people would love to hear this but it's not the generation you're thinking it will be the generation that will take over power have served as ministers and governors and want a seat at the table but I'll tell you there's little good news somewhere down the line as long as any generation is not strategic and unified it will be lost in the ballots another good news for 2023 is that a lot of political dynasties will fall and this will be because of the loss of power that occurs in any changing government there will be a lot of inter-party tussles and most of all a weakened political structure by the two usual suspect political parties but most of all poor dominance by any political heavyweight in nation spread the electorate at this rate will be at its most gullible ever in 2023 leading to bad political structures to the throne which once again will bring in a government that does not know the constitution while in governance and be pregnant with corruption let's also add at this point that political literacy will be at the highest level possible if you thought this different let me ask a question deep in your heart do you know your local government chairman and in case you do do you know he has no immunity the way forward one we must come up with a unified front for once we must build a new tribe and that tribe we must be nepotic too and the name of that tribe is being Nigerian it must supersede any religion, ethnic bias or thought process which limits our front this is the only way we can pick someone not from the usual he has structure which means he drives this G class and has 16 PA's but a Nigerian who actually wants to represent the people secondly we must have a clear understanding that we cannot survive as a nation with eight more years of bad governance if there is a repeat of what we have faced presently over the last time within democracy or the last 21 years of democracy there will be no country called Nigeria the mismanagement of corruption, funds and people will be destructive third political literacy and participation is most necessary to change governance now by participation you think I'm going to ask you to vote no I won't ask you to vote and I'll give you an example it's better we have an influx into political parties that ensures that we can of course change the kind of people that are in primaries and all political parties produce good candidates then we can leave it for 2 million people to vote at the general elections the time to start this I will tell you is yesterday if Nigeria fails the entire black race fails if Nigeria fails the entire black race will fail I wonder why I'm stuttering maybe I need some chicken let me take it from that before I even go to the Nigerian bit so that's simply to say the black race is where it is today because of the current state of Nigeria because we are not doing as well so if we feel further that's what we are saying now bring it back home I believe that you've expressed a lot of my fears my concerns and my views in your narration I believe that the approach to governance and politics over the years has been wrong we've not with the people we've not had our own voice and ideologies the individuals who make up citizens of Nigeria we've not had our own voice and by that I mean that we trumpet what a politician has said it's not anything that will favor us as a people that okay we know that this is what will favor me as a person so what you're saying now if you were to tell them and say it's about joining a political party a lot of people would disagree that don't just go around say you want to vote alone infiltrate the political parties have a say influence who the nominees are and that has always been my view because we're not doing enough Nigerians are at a point that's why in my earlier my presentation I said we're broken we don't see the light anymore we've come to a state where we're stagnated all we like to do is complain so 2023 like you're saying you've outlined all the do's and don'ts how many of us even believe in those do's and don'ts how many of us even understand it so for us to even be able to achieve these do's and don'ts I think it comes back to what you're doing and we need to make it larger and what a lot more people are doing as well which is educating the average Nigerian on what it takes to get it to politics in Nigeria what your rights are saying you have the right to vote out the local government chairman what you really want or you deserve as a people we don't know anymore because now everybody's talking about 2023 and all we are saying is anything but worry and I ask, it's okay hold on you can see that I'm not related to him we're all suffering the same stuff but we said anything but Jonathan now we're saying anything but worry what are we going on who are we as a people and we're accusing the politicians are we analyzing what we're doing you talk about doing things differently if you keep doing the same thing the same way we say it's a mad man that does the same thing the same way and expect a change anything but worry anything but Jonathan now anything but worry whoever comes in anything but that after four years I don't know so listen if most people right are again thinking about their daily needs how much time do they have to really dissect the meat of governance of what it means so they just know what they don't want but what the average person doesn't think about is that it can just be what you don't want right you have needs that are not being met which is why you're struggling which is why you have no time to address or look at these things we need people who are running in government to understand our needs but we also need ourselves to understand our needs and therefore what we need to do to make sure our needs are met and I think that is what Kung-Lei is getting at is that you know and what you're getting at is that there's a lot of talk right we say we want this but then there's anything but anything and then we'll go on and complain again but really it would be helpful like the work you do is amazing right so if more people or it could be rolled out on a wider basis so that it's not just the average citizen that doesn't understand governance it's beyond the average it's actually most of the population and so if we kind of address this we have to really go back to the basics again in everything and really it's like baby it's like weenie right we have to take people back to the milk and that takes a lot of work and it takes commitment and there are young people who are committed to this so we need to find a way to engage and empower and for those empowered to understand that this actually benefits them for this to happen I think there's a lot of fear for them outside of losing power fear of change because you feel that people come after you when you leave or that you will have that loss of power because power is everything but I think they also feel to understand that these things happening can actually benefit both those in power and also the citizens you know in average life I think I would come from the angle of voting within parties because I mean I'm on the school of thought that democracy is not fun on education society preach girl preach so because I mean we end up selecting the majority what the majority goes for and if the majority doesn't really understand what is happening or what governance is like then we end up selecting what kind of leaders we've had in the past so but now that he made mention of going into the primaries being involved in the politics then making that decision to influence the kind of people that are selected in primaries I think it's now making more sense to me and I'm thinking okay this is an opportunity for smart minds to actually go into politics because sometimes I mean I have conversations with some people smart Nigerians doing great stuff and ask them okay so how about going into politics and there are typical responses like they don't want to dirty themselves they don't want to be involved in all of those things because for them politics for them is I have to take on a position but if they get to just understand that as a card carry member of a political party I can decide I can influence the kind of people that will be put forward in the presidential election or the military election or even our states that in itself would sort of be like a mind shift that sort of influence or make them want to decide to go into politics you know talking about people and the influence of people one thing that scares me a lot is in Nigeria today unfortunately everything has to be binary you must either hate worry or love them we don't discuss issues where we say okay this thing worried it is good this thing it did it bad once you start saying good about it you are unstable exactly okay guys I will say continue this conversation it will take a very long time Nigeria has always run a selection and not an election because we rarely participate in the process so rounding up here today is Tonya do stay tuned corporate attire in Nigeria today no long speech I'm getting straight to the point swift and sharp to leave more time for discussion my topic is on corporate attire I confess I've never had a real strict corporate job where I've had to dress in suit and all that corporate wear in the world of banking finance and general business for men is a suit and tie and the equivalent version of skirt or trouser suit for women I have always kind of wondered why this is we live in a hot and often humid climate and so it has never made sense to me that we wear the same corporate wear the brits do for their climate wouldn't it make more sense for our usual corporate attire be more appropriate for our environment why the uncomfortable sweat causing attire in our hot weather well it goes back again to the colonial masters who impressed on the Nigerian people that our way of life and culture was inferior and this has stuck if you want to be taken seriously in the corporate world you must wear a suit and tie does that mean that those who prefer native are less serious the one thing I love about our government is the proud way our politicians wear their native attire something that the corporate world has failed to do it astounds me also that in the 21st century our lawyers and judges are wearing 18th century wigs and gowns frankly it's utterly ridiculous and a reminder of just how deep the colonial mindset goes didn't we take our elders and workers seriously prior to being colonised let's look at it this way I believe we have the best looking men in the world right here in Nigeria and a Nigerian man looks his best in native I also love it when it's dressed down Fridays and you see workers choosing to wear their native it isn't dressed down because you know our Niger peoples know how to give them and this allows for a certain personal expression in the workplace so why do we continue to hold up this outdated suit and tie standard of corporate wear once again I say to you decolonise the mind and we can decolonise our bodies it's one simple thing to me I was going to add the wig and gown thank God you added that and another thing you should add is why policemen wear black under this hot sun yes you don't want them to be nice that is so when they are baking why do we wear black in the hot sun why do we wear black in the hot sun so many things are wrong and it goes back to how we think we just do things because as it was in the beginning it is now and forever shall be what will that end you know for me it's highly I don't know whether I would say crazy because for people that still are culture and tell you that your culture is not good you abandon your culture yet your artefacts are in their museums your music is being translated into their music your entire lifestyle your food let me even tell you how bad it is in medicine everything we know as an advancement in science was taken from Africa even education was taken from us so we had the first university somewhere around Timbuktu Timbuktu had the first university these guys created Harvard and tell us Harvard is better really so for me it would always be that way as long as you don't have a history a trail that you can look back to because you know when you have it's like when comes to tell you now that take this herb as an educated person you want to find out what does it do to me they can explain to you just take it it's time for us to start doing research and penning down all these activities because for example I tell people that when we talk gender balance it's in a way funny to me the reason is this before the colonial masters came a chief let me use the Yoruba area for example which I'm very familiar with a chief cannot take or a king cannot take a decision without the what's this one called the Yaludi who is like the minister for women affairs you remember about the Aba women writer the Kanu women writer women have always been powerful but there comes colonization that tells us okay this is how to go about it then years back we are now being told no let give your women rights give your women rights like we used to we told this not and now we are going back and the same thing goes to remember how the friend who studied psychology and one day came back from school he was saying in human psychology today they learned that when you're pregnant and you're listening to jazz opportunities are that your child will love jazz or music and I got so angry and didn't understand why I said listen when we were younger we had mothers telling us that no when you're pregnant don't go out and fight and our uncles who have trouble abroad will tell you know all this superstition why would that affect the child it's the same thing we just need to do research and write down all these things so the thing that really kind of it's just so strange to me when you know you're going from one place to the other especially in the morning people are going to work and you see people who are you know it's busy legos is hectic getting to work and you can see them struggling with what they're wearing with the heat so by the time they get to work they're sweating sweaty smelling body odor and all that it's just not conducive and that is someone who's a hard worker that is someone who spends how many hours going to and from work see the same person on that Friday where they're allowed to wear the track and it's very very different and I just feel like why is it you honestly if you put a picture side by side of the same person alright if Oluwa Kaede our supermodel on the advocate if we put him in a suit and we put him in a track I'm sorry we win every time actually I'm not sorry the track will win every time you take a second look at it well you know the financing on the advocate today we get to see our supermodel Tonya thank you you know she's so she's so Sydney Crawford like oh my goodness but it's Ruth please go ahead so I think I mean from what's happening now in this bad world sort of changing the narrative and thanks to Kofi because I'm part of my current job I used to work in in more corporate environment where we had that we fought we fought for them to change dress culture because you couldn't wear as a lady you couldn't wear some kind of you couldn't wear this you couldn't wear that and you're asking yourself like the dress doesn't change my influence I'm still going to do the same work without there's always that perception that oh you couldn't wear open toes shoes you couldn't wear sandals you couldn't wear I mean things that do not influence your work performance and also because there's that perception that you're trying to maintain but now with COVID everybody working from home you don't even know what I'm wearing one and then two instead of words there's now that in fact it's cool Max Zuckerberg and Appearance please don't mention Max the whole number of conversations I think it's hard to dress down to wear whatever you want to wear at any point in time so it's just sort of I mean I think it's changing actually it will be times if you go for an interview wearing traditional you'll be asked are you here for an interview yes so it feeds into that perception of what professionalism is we could also talk about hairstyles relating to that as well but I really do believe that there's a place for our earn attire in the corporate workspace we have it everywhere else but it must enter the corporate workplace so thank you so much for your attention while the program lasted we hoped our conversations resonated with you little drops of water they say make a mighty ocean don't forget the advocacy continues on our social media platforms on Facebook plus TV Africa hashtag the advocate NG and Instagram at plus TV Africa hashtag the advocate NG to catch up with previous broadcasts go to plusTVAfrica.com forward slash the advocate NG don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel plus TV Africa join us next week same time on this station let's keep advocating for a better society see you next time