‘’Good day, Madam. I am a regular reader of your articles under the banner, ‘’The Crow’’, in the Sunday edition of The Pointer, where you dwell mostly on issues relating to Nigerian youths. I have been wondering about the relationship between the Crow, which I know to be a species of birds and youths. Please, can you enlighten me? Thanks.’’
The above message of enquiry is one of many received from readers of this column. Having received a plethora of similar enquiries, I feel obliged to explain the metaphoric connection between the idiosyncrasies of the wise crow and those of Nigerian youths in this article.
The crow, often depicted as a problem-solver who uses intellect to overcome adversity, serves as a metaphor for resilient Nigerian youths. Like the wise crow, Nigerian youths are characterised by adaptability and finding innovative solutions to navigate harsh, resource-constrained environments both within the country and abroad.
The crow is a type of bird that has shiny black feathers and a fan-shaped tail, strong, robust beaks that are well-adapted for a varied diet, allowing them to tear apart food and manipulate objects. They are known to be highly intelligent, adaptable, vocal and social with complex problem-solving ability. They exhibit creative, tool-using behaviour, such as placing nuts on roads for car tyres to crack them so they can eat and using their beak to shape twigs to extract food. Most crows are predominantly black with a glossy sheen that can show iridescent hues of purple or green under certain lighting conditions.
They are opportunistic and resourceful omnivores that eat almost anything. They thrive in both urban and rural environments. When a crow dies, other crows may gather around the deceased crow to investigate the cause of death. Apart from working together to drive away predators or threats, they are typically curious and may sometimes steal objects that catch their fancy. Crows are found worldwide, living in tight-knit family groups.
The crow is courageous and daring. It is the only bird that dares to land on an eagle’s back and peck its neck. The eagle does not fight back but instead flies higher to an altitude where the crow will find it impossible to breathe, forcing it to fall away. This typifies the relationship between Nigerian youths and the Government in the sense that Nigerian youths have a way of holding the government of the day on its jugular in driving home their demands for change. However, just like the eagle, government has a way of deploying the apparatus of coaction to subdue the youths every time.
The Crow has a reputation for curiosity, excellent memory and a sense of recollection; occasionally mischievous and vindictive in the sense that they can hold grudges against specific people or animals that have threatened them. They can recognise human faces, remembering individuals who have treated them well or poorly, and even pass the information to other crows. They are known for forming tight social groups, often known as ‘’murder’’. They communicate among themselves using complex calls and can even adapt to regional accents.
The above characteristics of the crow are reflective of Nigerian youths, who are also largely known to be highly intelligent, adaptable, vocal and social with complex problem-solving ability. Nigerian youths have a huge sense of curiosity with excellent recollective memory, and like the crow, they could be vindictive towards any government official who had failed them in the past, just as they could also be affable towards those who treated them well.
The crow is known far and wide among the animal kingdom for its intelligence, sense of observation and cleverness. It is not just any bird; it has a knack for solving problems that baffled others. It could analyse a situation, think critically and find solutions where none seemed possible. This ability earned him the respect of many creatures in the forest.
