Nigerian parents have a certain quality that doesn't seem to die as generations pass. Bragging is a quality that permeates Nigerian families and creates competition amongst neighbors.
Amongst Nigerian families, we see our parents competing against their friends on ‘whose child earns the highest degrees’, ‘whose son makes more cash’, and ‘who builds the largest house’. The term that I use to describe this form of warfare is ‘Brag Warfare’.
In Nigeria, showing ostentatiousness has been made so much of a necessity that a father would go as far as getting a new car in times of financial turmoil, simply as a ‘counterbrag’ against his neighbor who had recently bought one.
When I wrote the JAMB examination back in 2011, my results came out as 232 out of 400, (which was good, as it was above average). My dad was joyful at my performance and I can clearly remember him buying suya (it’s like braai, but tastier). When he called my aunt who was one of his ‘usual opponents’, to brag about his son’s JAMB result, she counter-bragged with her daughter’s which was 264. My dad’s countenance for the rest of the week changed … he had been out-bragged.
When I got admission into Monash South Africa, my dad sure enough did not waste any time in bragcasting (bragging to multiple people in a short period of time) his son’s admission into a prestigious foreign university. As time went on and the issuance of my study permit was being delayed at the embassy, his friends were beginning to question his veracity. This form of counterbragging is known as psyco-counterbragging; whereby you identify a weakness in an opponent’s brag, and then verbally undermine it and question it until the opponent believes that his/her brag is worthless or low in value. By psycho-counterbragging, the opponent’s brag is invalid, and therefore, he/she needs to replace the brag or else, the brag warfare is deemed to be won by the psycho-counterbragger.
6 Principles of Brag Warfare:
- Each ostentatious action of a neighbor is deemed to be a form of bragging;
- A neighbor has initiated brag war by such an action;
- It is necessary to counterbrag;
- Each successive counterbrag should surpass a previous brag in value.
- A brag ceiling exists. This is the ultimate and unsurpassable brag that a bragger can produce.
- The Law of Win by Brag Ceiling comes in when the highest possible valuable brag has been implemented. This means that once the highest possible brag has been given, the opponent cannot produce a higher value brag, and therefore, the brag war has been won by the person who produced the brag ceiling.
