By Precious Onwumelu
Una remember when naming ceremony meant 3 days of drumming, aso-ebi, and aunty that would collect plate? Now it’s a 15-second TikTok transition and “send me your account.” Don’t get me wrong, I love a good dance challenge. I’ve done two myself.
But Aproko Mataz dey ask: are we trading substance for virality? Our proverbs are becoming captions. Our food taboos are becoming “foodie” reels. Our village meetings, where elders settled disputes under the udara tree, have moved to Twitter Spaces with no minutes.
If we don’t document them, who will? The algorithm doesn’t care about ogbanje stories or the meaning behind ikat cloth. The algorithm cares about 3 seconds of hook.
Maybe the answer isn’t to fight TikTok. Maybe the answer is to put Mama Ngozi on it. Imagine a 70-year-old explaining bride price in 60 seconds with subtitles. Imagine a blacksmith showing how he forges cutlass while talking about apprenticeship.
Culture isn’t dying, it’s just waiting for us to press record with intention. Let’s be the generation that archives, not just trends.
