By Ekuson Nw’Ogbunka in Abuja
In Nigeria today, a birthday is rarely just a birthday. It is a runway, a concert, a destination postcard. But on his day, Dr. Odiraa Nwankwo, a Professor of Paediatrics in the United States, walked away from the script. No luxury yacht. No foreign beach. He spent it with children who are deaf, blind, and orphaned — those whose names rarely trend. In a time when society rewards excess, his choice asks a harder question: What kind of culture are we building with what we celebrate?
Many of us mistake culture for traditional religion, dressing, entertainment and language. But culture is much more than that. Stripped of all euphemism, culture is the set of values and incentives that shape how people behave.
When certain actions receive the approval and admiration of society, others naturally imitate them to earn the same acceptance and respect. That is how norms are built, and how societies are made or broken.
Economist Thomas Sowell calls this social capital — the stock of values, habits and norms inherent within a society that profoundly influences its destiny.
Political scientist Samuel Huntington put it plainly: culture matters. It is the distinctive force that determines the success or failure of societies. In many ways, the progress or decline of any nation is a reflection of the culture it rewards.
Over the past two decades, Nigeria has increasingly become a stage for the ostentatious display of wealth. Nothing has been spared — not even solemn occasions such as burials.
Birthdays have evolved into extravagant spectacles. Exotic beaches, luxury yachts, private destinations across the world. The goal is visibility, not values.
Yet, all around us, the outstretched hands of the poor continue to grow weaker, waiting for compassion that seldom comes. The contrast has never been starker.
Through social learning, amplified by the democratisation of information on social media, many young people now see flamboyant displays of wealth as the ultimate measure of success.
The consequences are evident. Crime, driven by the desperate pursuit of material riches, continues to rise. Compassion for the less privileged steadily declines. Resources that could transform lives are diverted to fleeting displays of luxury.
It is against this backdrop that the simplicity and purposefulness of Dr. Odiraa Nwankwo’s birthday deserves recognition.
Dr. Nwankwo, a Professor of Paediatrics in the United States of America, certainly possesses the means to celebrate in grand style. Yet he chose a different path. He recognised that birthdays are moments for reflection.
“While we celebrate because our kernels have been cracked by benevolent spirits, there are others whose kernels are yet to be cracked,” the philosophy goes. Rather than an exhibition of affluence, he chose to share his joy with those whom society too often forgets.
He celebrated with children who are deaf, blind and living with other disabilities at a special school in Isulo. He visited an orphanage at Ndikelionwu. He concluded the day with orphaned children at Solution Fun City, Awka.
This was not an isolated act. It reflects a lifelong commitment. Caring for the less privileged has become a defining feature of Dr. Nwankwo’s philosophy of life.
For years, he has collaborated with various associations in the United States to donate medical equipment to selected hospitals across Anambra State. He also organises periodic medical outreaches for underserved communities.
History teaches that every society is engaged in a continuous contest of values. For Dr. Odiraa Nwankwo, those values are clear: compassion for the poor, concern for the vulnerable, and the conviction that society is better served when wealth is invested in people rather than in spectacle. His birthday is therefore more than a personal celebration. It is a quiet but powerful reminder that the values we honour today will shape the society we bequeath to tomorrow.
