A US-based Nigerian woman, Princess Adenubi Olagbegi-Apampa, whose father has 39 wives and 147 children, has said she feels proud to have been born into a large family.
She said this while speaking with newsmen at the dedication and commissioning of multi-million naira Princess Nubi Plaza Seliat Hall, Lagelu Estate, Ibadan.
According to her, if she has any chance to come over again, she will be glad to belong to the same family.
Contrary to the popular notion that that type of family will be chaotic, she explained that all the children easily blend in and relate very well with one another.
She urged Nigerians in the diaspora not to capitalize on insecurity and to stay away from their country.
Noting that prevalent social vices like insecurity and corruption are not peculiar to Nigeria alone, she emphasized that many Nigerians don’t know that the US as a country is also grappling with all these problems.
You know how important my father was. He had 39 wives and 147 children. We blend and eat together. We do everything together. Even, where I live in New Jersey, I did one drawing, it was one of my brothers who did it for me and another who is an engineer supervised the construction for me.”
“So, if they ask me is it good for a man to have two or more wives, I can’t say no. If I have the chance to come over again, I will to still come from where I come from. From my mother’s side who comes from the popular Adetula. He had 25 wives, 71 children. So, if you ask me is it good to come from a multi-family, I will say yes.”
She passionately asked Nigerians living in the diaspora to reconsider coming back home to help rebuild the country.
She said, “I’ve been appealing to all Nigerians abroad. Staying abroad is not the best. There is no place like home. Nigerians should come back home and do something tangible.
She stressed that insecurity in Nigeria shouldn’t be an excuse for Nigerians not to return home, adding that insecurity is not only limited to Nigeria alone but an issue that cuts across the world.
“We have triple what is happening in Nigeria in the US. Do you even know we have more beggars in the United States than here? Anytime I’m going to my offices, I’ll see 20 or 30 on the streets; they’re begging for money.”
“So it’s not only here, it’s everywhere. So we just have to learn. The only thing I can tell you, even when we talk of the most corrupted nations, it’s in the US, but they don’t do it openly the way we’re doing it openly here in Nigeria.”
“I think what we should do is to just encourage one another to come back home and do something. We need to know that fingers are not equal, because that’s one thing I’ve seen in Nigeria.”
“We should all wait for our time, and I’ve been telling everybody that when God gives you money if you cannot share it with your neighbor if you cannot share it for community work, then it’s of no use.
“And I tell people, if I have to give you my track record, you can Google it, in the state of New Jersey, I’ve trained thousands of people. You can imagine, if I’m here, in my own father’s land, how many would I be able to train. If I’m in a foreign country, and God granted me what I was able to do, and now I’m here, I believe I will do better. So, that’s one thing Nigerians need to encourage themselves,” she noted.
As part of her contribution to the country’s development, she said there’s a pharmacy at the back of the hall where drugs will be distributed free to people without particular attention to any ethnic group.
