Posted by Samuel on Sun 05th Oct, 2025 - tori.ng
Speaking on the recent episode of The Honest Bunch Podcast, Chimezie reflected on Africa’s misplaced dependence on the West, lamenting that many young people still believe success lies outside the continent.
Veteran highlife musician Bright Chimezie has urged Africans to focus on developing their home countries rather than continually seeking opportunities overseas.
Speaking on the recent episode of The Honest Bunch Podcast, Chimezie reflected on Africa’s misplaced dependence on the West, lamenting that many young people still believe success lies outside the continent.
“We Africans must find a way. Our problem is here. We are helping those people over there,” he said.
The music icon, known for his fusion of traditional rhythms and social commentary, criticised the mindset that portrays foreign countries as lands of greater opportunity.
“We always feel that the grass is greener outside. The grass is not greener there. I don’t travel small — in fact, you walk. No more opportunities there.
“This is one Africa where you can come, develop this, develop there. If you go there, it is salary, they will pay you salary. And you have to start from washing toilets,” Chimezie said.
The veteran performer also blamed colonial influence for shaping Africa’s economic and psychological dependence on the West.
“I blame the white man for it, I’m sorry to say it. Because of the pattern they used to package Africa. When the white people came, the kind of asset affected our psyche, seriously,” he noted.
Chimezie said colonial conditioning still influences how Africans perceive success and education, adding that if Africans studied science and innovation with the same passion they devote to religion, the continent would progress faster.
“The way we read Bible here, if we read biology books and mathematics like that, Africa for don move,” he added.
Bright Chimezie, fondly called Ziggima Sound King, remains one of Nigeria’s most influential highlife musicians, known for using his music to advocate cultural pride, discipline, and self-reliance.