If you grew up in Nigeria in the 90s or early 2000s, chances are you didn’t learn about milk from a science class. You learnt about it from television. Back then, adverts were part of our childhood. We didn’t reach for a remote every time the commercials came on. We sang the jingles, quoted the catchphrases and years later, many of us can still remember them word for word.
For me, one advert stands above the rest. It followed a young Kanu Nwankwo as he dribbled a football through the dusty streets of Owerri on an errand for his mother. He left home with nothing but a football at his feet, dribbling all the way to the market. Just as a tin of milk slipped from the market woman’s hands, he flicked it back into the air with effortless skill.
She smiled and said, “Papilo, I know say one day you go make us proud.” As children, we believed her. Not because we understood marketing, but because those adverts made us believe that greatness could begin anywhere. They told us that a boy from Owerri, Nigeria could become one of Africa’s greatest footballers. They told us that ordinary children with big dreams could grow into extraordinary adults.
And somewhere between that advert and my mum pouring Milk into my breakfast cereal every morning before school, I came to believe two things. The first was that milk helped build strong bones and teeth. The second was that maybe, just maybe, I could become whoever I dreamed of becoming. Years later, after becoming a dietitian, I realised that my childhood understanding wasn’t wrong, it was simply incomplete.
Today, conversations about milk have become surprisingly complicated. Social media is filled with conflicting opinions. Some people insist milk is only for children. Others believe