Gen Z Must Not Become the Generation That Went Viral and Lost Its Culture

@Gen Z Must Not Become the Generation That Went Viral and Lost Its Culture.

Nigeria’s Gen Z is one of the most digitally powerful generations our country has produced. From Afrobeats and street fashion to Nigerian slang, comedy, food and social media trends, young Nigerians are exporting our creativity to the world every day. Lagos can create a trend before the rest of the world wakes up to it; a Nigerian sound can move from a bedroom studio to global playlists; a local fashion style can become an international statement. This is cultural power, and it must be celebrated. Yet there is a question we must ask: while we are making Nigerian culture globally visible, are we becoming disconnected from the very culture that gave us our identity?

We must not become a generation that knows every global trend but cannot speak its indigenous language; a generation that can sing every viral song but knows little about the stories, proverbs, festivals and traditions of its own people. There is nothing wrong with loving foreign music, fashion, films or lifestyles. The danger is allowing admiration for everything foreign to become embarrassment about everything Nigerian. Our Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Ijaw, Tiv, Efik and hundreds of other languages are not technological disadvantages; they are repositories of history and identity. Our aso-oke, adire, Ankara, traditional foods, dances, folklore, names and indigenous knowledge should not become valuable only when celebrities, foreigners or social media make them fashionable.

Gen Z has something previous generations never had at this scale: the smartphone as a cultural megaphone. A young Nigerian can turn a grandmother’s forgotten proverb into a viral video, transform indigenous folklore into animation, document traditional craftsmanship, teach an indigenous language through short-form content, modernise traditional fashion or tell the history behind Nigerian foods to a global audience. We can use TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and other digital platforms not merely to consume culture but to preserve, reinterpret and promote it. Culture does not have to remain frozen in the past to remain authentic; it can evolve without losing its soul.

Nigeria does not need a Gen Z that rejects modernity; Nigeria needs a Gen Z confident enough to be modern without becoming culturally homeless. Let us use technology, innovation and creativity to take our heritage from the village square to the digital square, from oral tradition to podcasts, from indigenous crafts to global fashion and from local stories to international screens. Let the world dance to our music, wear our fabrics, enjoy our food and repeat our slang. While Nigeria is going viral, let us make sure Nigeria's identity does not go missing.

Yours in fulfilment,

@Otunba Dr Femi Abiola, MCE

@President

@Project Youth Fulfil

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