EDITORIAL

ARE WE REALLY PROUD OF OURSELVES?

Take a look at the picture displayed, did you see anything wrong with it? Perhaps, you will say no! This is just a beautiful picture advertising an interesting picnic that was already conducted. Yes! The picture is beautiful and the picnic, of course, was splendid, but you will agree with me that none of the people in this picture was present at the picnic or even knew any picnic was held.

In my opinion, the picture is just showing foreign love and over-appreciation of foreigners, more commonly, westerners. While no one is advocating tribalism or xenophobia, it is important for our stakeholders to note that vet school is specially bestowed with many handsome guys and amazingly beautiful ladies. Rather than getting these wonderfully crafted, brilliant Nigerian jewels to publicize and promote your picnic, why resorting to advertising with people that do not even know your programme is existing, and more excruciating, people that do not know you exist.

Now, our age is rapidly delving to one in which we must appreciate ourselves and try exhaustively to applaud and promote any unique talent bestowed on us. I am very sure that veterinary medical students' associations abroad will not look for a random person's picture, or worse, a Nigerian's picture to advertise or design any of their adverts, they use themselves!

If they want to argue based on the financial implication of getting quality, high-resolution pictures of vet students to design their adverts, the faculty executives do not have any valid points owing to the fact that high-tech, wonderful-resolution cameras are dwelling in the pockets of numerous students of the faculty. Additionally, there are many gorgeous models in the faculty that would be willing to partake in designing the faculty's programmes.

For most of our faculty packages, especially books, we have always been obliged to go home with a book whose front cover is a picture of a foreign doctor holding a foreign dog in a foreign hospital. For crying out loud, Nigerian vets are also beautiful! In fact, in my opinion, they are more beautiful! Why can't we start flaunting that to the world? We also have beautiful breeds of dogs, cats and other pets here. Let us start propagating our own image, this is 21st century, this is 2019!

While accolades are given to the faculty executives, present and former, for the job well done so far, we hope to see them improve on their activities. Actually, this piece is not intended to make anyone hate or undervalue foreigners, it just aims to open the association's eyes to what they might have opined trivial and unnecessary , it just aims to reiterate that our own selves ought to be appreciated. Let the world see how beautiful we are! Probably they may be using our pictures too. According to Oprah Winfrey, "when you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are."

The world is moving, let's move to be more conscious of little but important things around us.