FEW foreigners would feel so much at home in Nigeria as do Helges Samuel Bandeira, the Acting Consul General of the Brazilian embassy in Nigeria
, and his wife. But then, a closer look would reveal that once you remove his skin colour and his slightly different accent, what is left of Bandeira is essentially African. He jolts into life at the sound of African drums! He could interpret the sound of the talking drum and pronounce many Yoruba words with almost the deep accent of a Yoruba man.
He also explains why it is so easy for him to blend with the African culture, saying that like every other Brazillian, he has his roots in Africa. “It is like in the olden days when people used to attend the Christian Mass which was conducted in Latin. You know the people just followed the mass in Latin, replying the prayers in Latin even when they didn’t know what they were saying. But that was what they were taught to do and that was what made sense to them.
“When you tell somebody in Brazil that Yoruba culture actually came from Nigeria, a lot of people become even more fascinated with the idea. I recently went to Osun-Osogbo to see the festival. I saw a lot of Brazilians there. You may not have noticed it, but Brazilians are one of the few people in the world who love Nigerian culture and sincerely want to come to visit Nigeria.
“In order for that to happen, you need to have a very clear understanding of who you are, where you come from, and your current situation. So I think it is very important to cherish these traditional cultures. And that is what you have so much in Nigeria. Everywhere, there is so much culture here, which I think can be economically explored.
“I think that currently we have different types of travellers from Nigeria to Brazil. We have a lot of people in academia. Students too travel to Brazil. We have a programme for graduate and post-graduate scholarships to Nigerian students who may want to study in Brazil. It is an interesting programme that has been in place for quite some time now.
“So I think that one of the aspects of our society in Brazil is the ability to integrate, to mix. If you go to Brazil, you will see that everyone has a little bit of everything: a little African, a little native, a little European, a little American and so on. That is what Brazil is: a mix of different ethnicity, different cultures and so on. It is very common to see families of Nigerian-Brazilians over there.”“No,” he retorted. “I haven’t travelled a lot to tell you the truth.
“A senior ambassador is not going to interview everyone that comes to ask for visa. But I do that myself! If I think that somebody does not have good intentions for the trip, I interview the person myself. I want to know why you want to go Brazil, what you want to go and do there, your intentions, because we want good people to travel. And I think that is important even for Nigeria.
An interview with Bandeira would not be complete without he talking about the carnivals Brazil is popularly known for. He said: “Well, you know that I am a diplomat ! So I have never been athletic, to tell you the truth. Of course, soccer is our national passion. I am usually also in my jersey like most Brazilians when the country’s football side has an international engagement. At such moments, I am always cheering for Brazil.
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