Old Men, New Men, Nigerian Men

I have recently gotten into the habit of looking at Nigerian men and trying to decide if they fall into the category of Old Man or New Man.

For those of you who are wondering what I mean, I will look to give a simple explanation.

There is the belief that the Old Man, is the Neanderthal man, the man who thinks that courting is hitting a woman over the head with a stick, and dragging her into his cave.

This man of old has supposedly evolved to the New Man.

The New Man is a man who is in touch with his emotions, has no fear of getting a facial and can be afraid of a rat (the scurrying type).

The Nigerian men on the other hand seem to be a breed of their very own they embrace the mani’s and pedi culture, but also seem obsessed with the traditional idea of what a MAN is meant to be, they in fact make the perfect metrosexual.

What is a Metrosexual I hear you ask?

Well, a metrosexual is a person who is comfortable with their masculine and feminine side, and have no inhibitions about letting that out.

It would be easy and straight forward to end it here, but like most things involving men in Nigeria, things are not so simple. Nigerian men have always been very aware of their looks and take great pride in wearing the right clothes with matching accessories.

The problem comes in when you so much as suggest they moisturise their feet they rear back in disbelief, how could you suggest such a thing, only women do that.

I asked around my girlfriends to find out their thought to the idea of the Nigerian man being a metrosexual.

Now while they admitted that the Nigerian man has all the traits, they had issues of their own. To them the Nigerian man was the man who would cuddle you at home but keep you at a distance outside, he is the person who will take hours to get ready but should the woman take an extra 5 minutes to get their lipstick right he throws a tantrum.

Since their views were rather subjective, I felt it best to go in to the lair of the Nigerian Man, to find out what they thought about the idea.

When I first asked the question the answer was predictably Neanderthal, it began from what’s that? Is it like fag? Can I get some from you? I will metro your sexual? and followed the usual round of coarse words and thinly veiled innuendos.

After the predictable response, which denoted low level brain activity and nonsensical mutterings, the new man came out.

In defining themselves, Nigerian men saw themselves as incomparable to their western counterparts.

For them it is not enough to know Gucci from Prada, they must also know that the quality of the product bought will stand the test of time, and more importantly it all looks good on them.

They know the value of getting a manicure, but moisturising their feet will be a step too far, after all they wouldn’t want their feet to slip out of their shoes.

So what is the difference between the Old Man, the New Man and the Nigerian Man, well the simple answer is that the Nigerian man is all this and more, they are the strong, educated, and ambitious men that we want, but they are also the sensitive, sometimes unsure men that make us remember why we love them.