USA Africa Dialogue Series - Can I Be Proud of Nigeria's History and Institutions the Way that Many in the US Are Proud of Theirs?: A Reaction to Watching the US TV Series Designated Survivor

    Can I Be Proud of Nigeria's History and Institutions the Way that Many in the US Are Proud of Theirs?

                                        A Reaction to Watching the US TV Series Designated Survivor

                                                                Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

                                    

                                                The President in the film, centre, flanked by his aides

                                              Picture by Ben Mark Holzberg in Explore Entertainment

Watching on Netflix the fictional film Designated Survivor, a sheer celebration and idealization of the US Presidency through visual and performative symbolism, plot, characterization and speech projecting the Presidency as a noble institution rooted in the convergence of intimate,  heterosexual family values and humanistic personal integrity, radiating outward to pastor the American people and care for the world through personal challenges the President may face, through national and international crisis, at one point I started crying bitterly, asking myself if I could be proud of my own country's history, institutions and values the way that films like this one project those of the US, idealized projections, but demonstrating some truth, and  reflecting  how many Americans see their country, in my view.

Against the background of the recurrent quotation of words of that most iconic of US Presidents Abraham Lincoln, the pervasive use of images of past US Presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others, evoking for those informed about their symbolism, the glories they are associated with, and the recurrent showing of famous paintings dramatizing great moments in US history, I asked myself, are there any Nigerian Presidents or heads of state I can't point to as heroic, whatever their limitations, any events in Nigerian history that I understand as collectively agreed by the nation as great moments?

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