Why I can never live outside Nigeria – Yeni Kuti slams Nigerians abroad

Born in England, Anikulapo-Kuti was born as the first child to afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and to a British mother. She completed her basic and secondary education in Nigeria after leaving the United Kingdom at the age of two. She holds a diploma in journalism upon graduated from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism. In 1986, she joined Femi’s band as a singer and dancer after dropping her job as a fashion designer. She currently serves as co-presenter of the popular Your View show and co-manager of the New Afrika Shrine. Yeni Anikulapo-Kuti, speaks to GODFREY GEORGE about her childhood and life journey…

You turned 60 recently. What are you most grateful for?

I am grateful to the Creator for life and for health. I am also grateful for my children and grandchildren who are here to celebrate with me. I value family and see it as a gift. So, I am grateful I am part of a family that loves me and that’s one thing to be grateful for. My partner was also there for me, and that’s such a beautiful thing.

What fond childhood memories do you have?

You know I am old now (laughs). I remember going swimming at Onike Swimming Pool with my father, Fela. I love to swim so much. Those were very beautiful times and I don’t take them for granted. Fela became broke after a while and that was very disappointing, so we could not go anymore. I had one cent one time and asked him to take us, but he laughed so hard, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to take us there.

You used to call him by his name?

Yes, we used to. He was a very simple man.

Would you say your father’s simplistic lifestyle had an influence on your personal life as an adult now?

It most definitely did. Like I said, my father was a very simple man. He did not have the air rich and influential people have about them. He was very free and accessible. He spoke to everyone with kindness, so there was no room for us, his children, to be arrogant. My mum was exactly like her husband. She was very simple and would smile most of the time to show how happy she was.

Your father had many wives. Would you say this affected you or your siblings in any way?

I wouldn’t say so. It didn’t affect me at all in any way. It was a very big family, so I enjoyed myself growing up. Moreover, I am the first child of the family, so I wouldn’t say I felt some kind of way, because of the presence of many women. But now, as an adult, I can imagine how it affected my mum psychologically, having to live and deal with all of the other women.

As the first child, how have you been able to continue to keep the family united after all these years, since your dad passed on?

I tell people that the Creator doesn’t put what you cannot handle on your table. You enter the role that you are born to enter. He gives you only the things you can cope with. So, I don’t see it as a huge task per se; I see it as a duty, why I am put on this earth. I handle anything life gives to me with all that the Creator has embedded in me.

Would you, maybe later in the future, consider relocating abroad?

Never! I pray I never ever have to, for any reason. My daughter lives in England with her husband, so I always go there to visit them. I haven’t been there in over a year, because of COVID, and I am not going till the pandemic is over. I can’t live abroad. Never ever! Nigeria is the only place for me. At least, I am a first-class citizen. You know one thing about moving abroad is that you become a second-class citizen in whatever country you decide to reside in. Nigeria is my country, and I should stay here to build it. You don’t expect me to go to another man’s country to help them build their economy when ours lacks builders. It is us Nigerians who will repair this country, nobody else. So, where are we running to? This is why I did all my degrees here. We have to learn to be patriotic citizens and stay here in Nigeria, doing our own bit in making Nigeria great. I know we have bad leaders, but if we don’t all think together to make Nigeria great, then there is a huge problem looming.

A research report I read one time showed that black people in hot places in Europe like Florida thrive more than people in, say, New York, Chicago or Canada, where the weather is very cold. This shows that black people need heat to keep them going; they need the Vitamin D in their systems. So, when we all keep moving, we die early from sicknesses.

I have an uncle who lived in Nigeria for a very long time. While in Nigeria, he drank and smoked. When he moved to England, first he was hit with a stroke, and then kidney problems followed. One thing that baffled me is that he actually stopped smoking and drinking, yet the illness came to him. I think, for me, it is the lack of vitamin D in his system that is causing all of this. It is here in Nigeria we thrive, not there. That weather is not for us. I could never ever live in Canada; it is never warm there, even in the summer. That’s like punishment to me. What are Nigerians doing there?

Growing up, your dad was arrested and put in prison by the government of the day. Did that have an impact on you and on how you viewed the country?

I am not sure about that. I know that I don’t like the injustices that happen in the country, especially with people in government. I don’t like how they treat the citizens who put them in power. I can’t seem to understand if they think about these people, because I know it is not difficult to be good to your people. If you are good to your people, you leave a great legacy for generations. Our leaders only think about themselves and how to fill their pockets.

Do you share the sentiment that the country is too big to be governed by one president, so Nigeria should break up into different units?

No, I don’t. Now, the point is, when the British divided us (Africans), they did so in a way that they put all these different tribes together, so we will never know peace. Now, it was not only Nigeria that was divided like that. We have Yoruba people in Benin Republic, Hausa and Fulani in Mali, Igbo in Cameroon. They did all this partitioning so all of Africa will never know peace. We are playing into their narrative. We have lived together for too long to break up; it is better we manage the situation and find solutions to our problems than break up.

Can you imagine if Nigeria goes to war? The suffering will be terrible. Where will over 200 million people migrate to? Africa will feel the impact. No country will be able to accommodate so many Nigerians in their country. The white will use that as a licence to come into the country to sap our remaining resources and render us useless. This is why I keep saying we have a bad government. If our government was better, the situation wouldn’t be this bad. These are the kinds of things Fela was talking about. I agree that we were divided wrongly, but the best thing is to make good out of a bad situation.

I agree we need to restructure, but I don’t agree with so many states. Why do we need about 200 states, for what? We are all in this same country. Why can’t we have, say, Yoruba State, Hausa State, Igbo State, Calabar state, etc.? If we want to use the number of tribes to do this division, then I wonder how many states we will come out with. It won’t make sense.

By the time we break up and have all our clamouring, there will still be divisions and contentions, so it won’t work. The restructuring should be in a way that we can live together in peace, because the war that they are advocating, our leaders will not be here to join us in the fight. They have their private jets which they would use to jet out of the country. Most of them don’t even live in this country. During the heat of the Biafra War in 1967, we saw the leader run away to Ivory Coast and let millions of his people die. We are the ones that will suffer if a war breaks out, trust me. Even though I was in Lagos, I felt the impact of the war. In front of our house, we saw the soldiers carrying out Operation Weti e. It was terrible.

If you had the chance of being president for one day, what would you change?

I would change four things: water, electricity, education and health. Those are the real problems of this country. If a leader comes in and tackles just one, then, at least, we should be somewhere. Take a look at the healthcare system. Someone like me who is ill can afford to go to a private hospital; how about others? The private hospitals are even becoming so incompetent. One was so useless as to kill my sister from a wrong diagnosis. She was just 34 when she died.

I was in England when my daughter gave birth. That day was when I realised that if you died in England, then it was indeed your time to die, because the level of professionalism and care they give you is out of this world. They don’t just give you drugs and injections without looking for the cause of the illness. When my daughter, who is a National Health Service member, was giving birth, she was treated like a queen. The amount of care I saw from the doctors and nurses in the ward was tremendous. In Nigeria here, it is by trial and error. One just wakes up one morning and decides to open a private clinic, most times, with no facilities. Our leaders waste no time going abroad when they are ill, because they don’t trust the system.

How did you feel when you became a grandmother?

I have two grandchildren, a female and a male. The feeling was out of this world. I was totally happy and excited. Like Dame Patience Jonathan used to say, ‘There is God!’

At 60, you still have an amazing sense of style. What inspires your style?

(Laughs) I think it is just being happy. I try – even if I may not always be successful – not to let things bring me down. I try to be happy with everything I experience. Life is full of ups and downs; take them as they come and move on. You cannot have everything your way all the time.

I don’t know what I would say my sense of style is, but I know I love to look good. I love to match my clothes. I think it is good to give a positive image of yourself, so when you step out, people will look at you in a positive light. I got a lot of my style from my dad. My father paid a lot of attention to his looks, so that rubbed off on me. I don’t know if I imbibed it or was born with it.

You left journalism for dance. What would you say informed that decision? Would you say you actually lived your dream being a dancer before tilting towards journalism again?

Dancing was my passion. So, when Femi was starting his dance group, it wasn’t even a question. It wasn’t a hard decision to leave the corporate world to pursue my passion. I have no regrets whatsoever. It was the best decision of my life. It made me happy. I had the opportunity to travel all around the world and meet a lot of people.

I saw a picture of you with a lot of dogs around. Would you say you are a lover of dogs?

I am an animal lover, not just dogs. I love cats and monkeys. From a very young age, we had a dog named Dino, a cat named Tino, and a monkey, Afrobeat, which Fela got on his way back from a performance in the North. The dog was my sister’s, the cat was mine, and the monkey was Femi’s. All of us had to care for them. So, you see it has been normal to have animals around.

Afro was a terror to everyone. He was killed by the Nigerian Army because he went to a barracks to scatter things there. He was shot by soldiers there.

What are your hobbies?

I love to go anywhere there is calm water to swim, somewhere in the Caribbean. I would love to visit Obudu Cattle Ranch; it is my dream place to go.

What is your favourite food?

I don’t eat my favourite food anymore, and it is actually sad and surprising. I love pounded yam and oha or afang soup. I think I should eat them today.

You were gifted a car by the ladies of Your View on Television Continental and also a plot of land by a property company. How did that make you feel?

When I was given the gift, I was over the moon. I still am. I never expected it. I love the colour; yellow is one of my favourite colours.