E ku ayo odun o!

I have come to you as a Yorùbá man, greeting you with all pleasure now that we are in the New Year. May the year unfold with great goodies for us. Amen.

There are many Nigerians in jail in different parts of the world, not necessarily because they have committed heinous crimes, but for acts of lawlessness. Today, we would be considering this in a very poignant way: Your territory vs Other Territories.

Your territory is your domain, where you have a full understanding of the place. This includes the language, the culture, the people and the law enforcement agents. For example, law enforcement agents in Nigeria can easily be bribed, whereas this is not the case in some other nations. In the same vein, it can be as small as your room.

Other territories can be likened to a strange land. A country that is not of one’s birth, nor is the person conversant with the way of life in that community. Other territories must be carefully examined before claiming to have a deep understanding of the place.

A Yorùbá saying goes thus “ile ti ookun re o toju eni su, a ki rin oru e” meaning the path were you are not conversant with must not be walked in the dark. 

The crux of today’s discussion is that you must be careful to carry the right attitude in and out of your territories. Different things happen in different cities, and you do not necessarily have to carry the experience of your home territory into other territories, for they might not be governed by different extreme rules. Be observant and follow the rules in other territories. What is acceptable in your territory might be a crime in other territories.

When you are in Rome, behave like the Romans.

Cheers!

Olutayo