‘To chief or not to?’

One of the culture shocks that happen when you leave Nigeria is that part when your senior colleagues tell you to call them by their first names. I know till now some people have not been able to get over that. ‘Ha…ki n ma pe egbe baba mi loruko? Agbedo!’ (To call my father’s age mate by name…Abomination!). It takes some getting used to but you finally blend in. One thing you’ll realise however….is that despite the fact that you’re calling each other by first names..there is still civility. You will still be reprimanded nicely when you’ve done something wrong and you will not be rude to your superiors. Even when you do not like the person.

This brings me back to my country Nigeria. I remember when a non-medic heard me being called ‘chief’ on Twitter. He had to ask if I was a high chief of some sort. It is common lingo here to call your senior colleagues chief in place of sir or ma. I read an article recently written by a colleague who talked about the ‘chief’ syndrome and how it should be abolished. The worry I have about this in Nigeria is that when we’re given an inch…we want to take a mile. I’m not sure if we’re at that stage where we can call each other first names and not misuse that cordiality. I worry that we would not be able to maintain civility and we may be unruly.

If you have a senior colleague that you have a cordial relationship with…please do not take them for granted. Know that it is still important to know when it’s time for jokes and when it’s time to be serious. I have always had great relationships with my senior colleagues (and I’m really close to a lot of them)…but they’ll be quick to let you know that I NEVER cross the line by being rude to them and vice versa. I’ll use myself as an example…I’m very active on social media with jokes and all…but that doesn’t mean that I’m not a serious minded person in real life. It would be extremely awkward for one of my students to see me and give me a ‘chop knuckle’ greeting…except we had a relationship prior to that.


We sometimes don’t know where to draw the line. Look at WhatsApp groups for example…you create a group for parents in a school and some people are there sending religious broadcasts or worse still, lewd videos.

Whether we abolish the sir/ma/chief culture or not…one thing is clear for every profession. We need more mentors that will guide the younger colleagues and truly care holistically about their welfare. We need to be kinder to ourselves and genuinely care about our wellbeing. The world is hard enough already…kindness will go a long way in making it better.

What say you? To chief or not to chief? To sir or not to sir? To ma or not to ma? I can imagine calling some of my professors by their first name. Even the the thought is making me giggle.. Although to be honest…I don’t see that culture going anywhere anytime soon…
Let me hear your thoughts….