 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. It's 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 colonized? 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 So why do we continue to hold up this outdated suit and tie standard of corporate wear?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, decolonize the mind and we can decolonize our bodies. It's one simple thing to me. I was going to add the wig and gown. Thank God you added that. Another thing that you add is why a policeman wear black under this hot sun. Yes! You don't want them to be nice when they are baking. Why do we wear black in the hot sun? Why do we wear black in the hot sun? 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 would 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 artifacts 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... In Timbuktu? Yes, Timbuktu. We 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 I can look back to because you know when you have... It's like when comes to tell you now that, okay, take this herb. As an educated person you want to find out what does it do to me? They can't explain to you, just take it. We need... It's time for us to start doing research and penning down all these activities because for example I told people that when we talk gender balance it's in a way funny to me. The reason is this. Before the colonial masters came, right? 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 woman called? Yaludi. Who is like the minister for women affairs. You remember about women riot, the Kano women riot. Women have always been powerful but there comes colonization that tells us, okay, this is how to go about it. Then years back when I've been told no, let give your women rights, give your women rights. Like we used to, we're told it's not and now we're 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 would love jazz or music and I got so angry and didn't understand why. I said, listen, when we were younger we had our mothers telling us that no, when you're pregnant don't go out and fight. And our uncles who have traveled abroad and now 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 is just so strange to me when 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 tactic, getting to work. You can see them struggling with what they're wearing, with the heat. So by the time they get to work they sweat heads, 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, where they're trapped and it's very, very different and I just feel like why is it? Honestly, if you put a picture side by side of the same person all right, if we work out a day our supermodel on the advocate if we put him in a suit and we put him in a trap I'm sorry, the trap will win every time. Actually, I'm not sorry. The trap will win every time. Well, you know the funny thing on the advocate today we get to see our supermodel Tonya Thank you. You know where he's trapped and she's so, she's so Sydney Crawford like. Oh my goodness. Ruth, please, go ahead. I think, I mean from what's happening now in the world sort of changing the narrative and thanks to COVID as well. Because I'm part of my current job I used to work in in more corporate environments where we had that we fought. We fought for them to change dress culture because as a lady you couldn't wear some kind of you couldn't wear this and you're asking yourself like the dress doesn't change my imputes I'm still going to do the same work with or without. There's always that perception that oh I have to you couldn't wear open-toe shoes you couldn't wear sandals I mean things that do not influence your work imputes and also because there's that perception that you're trying to maintain because COVID everybody working from home you don't even know I'm there. One, and then two, in the start-up world there's now that in fact it's cool Max Zuckerberg and her parents please don't mention Max the whole conversation how to dress down wear whatever you want to wear at any point in time so it's just sort of I mean I think it's changing traditional. You'll be asked are you here for an interview? 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 tvafrica hashtag the advocate ng and instagram at plus tvafrica hashtag the advocate ng to catch up with previous broadcasts go to plus tvafrica.com slash the advocate ng don't forget to subscribe to our youtube channel plus tvafrica join us next week, same time on this station. Let's keep advocating for a better society see you next time