Nigerians Say Leave Us Alone

Nigerians Say Leave Us Alone

Author: Emeka Esogbue


Nigeria is today known for good and bad but the truth is that the problems of the country is often exacerbated by the attitude of those from the outside world who only see the bad side of the citizens of this great nation. The truth of the matter is that there is no single nation in existence today that is free of all the accusations leveled against Nigerians internationally. As a Nigerian, it is personally painful to me that Nationals of other countries especially our own African brothers are beginning to exhibit behaviors that one can at best describe as envious towards Nigerians, this seeming malicious attitude is fast spreading against hardworking Nigerians all over the world who experience disasters in the hands of their hosts. I wish to remind everyone who for one reason or the harbor serious hatred for Nigerians for no just reason that almost all of us today are guilty of the accusations that are ascribed to Nigerians. Nigerians are certainly no saints but definitely not the worst sets of criminals the world has seen yet. The USA, South Africa, Germany, Indonesia, Palestine, Israel and the rest of them cannot stay free from the accusations of crime that the rest of the world think Nigerians are the manufacturers. It is now the culture of the world to view Nigerians as spoilers, people who move into foreign countries in order to spoil no thanks to the bad economic state of the nation as designed by the leaders of the country, past and present. This orientation on Nigerians is costing us the best of our brains in foreign countries where the citizens of the country are constantly facing disasters. Only recently, attacks were targeted at Nigerians in South Africa in spite of the contributions of the nation towards the freedom of that very country from the shackles of Apartheid. Again, the world appears to have developed a steady attitude of taking cognizance of only the bad side of the nation and her citizens which continues to portray the nation in bad light, spreading like wild fire among their counterparts in foreign countries. Any Nigerian who has ever left the shores of this nation will understand perfectly the seriousness of the implication of Nigerians li9ving side by side with other nationals in foreign nations. As one Ghanaian woman sweepingly puts it “There is nothing special about Nigerians except that they are all rogues” A comment such as this spells disaster for any Nigerian traveling out of the country in search of greener pastures. Our Government has been sleeping and is yet to rise up; it is for this reason that every foreigner thinks a Nigeria a criminal. Everyday at least a Nigerian gets killed in one nation of the world or the other, yet our government is unconcerned. It is now daily news to hear of the death of one child or adult in Britain, while our government folds its arms and shams ignorance. Soon, Nigerian mothers in London would need to contract security men to guard their children to schools in Britain. Is it not cheapening that no government in this whole world has ever officially apologized to the Nigerian Government for any death of a Nigerian in a foreign country. Interestingly, our government will have us believe that it has the diplomatic weapon to protect us. The reasoning of our government is that any Nigerian who on personal basis travels out of the country does so at his/her own risk and should as a result bear this risk. No wonder, Nigerians in foreign countries are treated like chickens and goats because no government is responsible for our welfare whether at home or in foreign countries. Since this situation is worst at home, many would prefer to suffer the worst fate in foreign countries and die. The world only appears to see the bad side of Nigerians, leaving the good side to die some natural death. No record seemingly and officially speaks of the remarkable feats of Nigerians. Earlier in 1985, Nigeria became the first African nation to win the under 16 world cup tournament in China, and the then captain of the team, Nduka Ugbade became the first African from the African continent to lift the world cup. Expectations were high that at least the Guinness Book of Records would officially take note of this but till today nothing of such is found in their records, just because it came from a Nigerian. In 1996, the world was again pleasantly stunned by the remarkable feat of the nation’s Olympic football team which became the first African nation to claim gold medal in men’s football event beating Brazil and Argentina. The Guinness Book of World Records again ignored this amazing deed. Only Nigeria has played in the finals of a football tournament in which two penalty kicks were used to determine the two goals scored against her by Argentina her opponent. I am yet to experience any football tournament organized by FIFA in its final in which two penalty kicks were awarded to any team, before and after the Nigerian match. I leave you to cogitate on the reason behind this. Nigeria’s music maestro and political activist, the Late Fela Anikulakpo Kuti once married 27 wives in one wedding ceremony and divorced all of them at the same time. This again went unnoticed in the eye of official records, thus ending what would have amazingly found its way into the Guinness Book of Records just because a Nigerian delved into it, many people ordinarily may not consider this a great feat but we all know that in the eye of “Oyibo” (Whites) it is well amazing. Nigerian born former WBC heavyweight boxing champion, Samuel Peters with hard work and strong punches won his way through as the fourth boxer to win from the African continent to win heavy weight boxing title but while we Africans were still celebrating, a the world had completely plot his downfall and how he would easily hand the title over to any boxer of non African origin, scheduling more than three fights for him at a go. In the pre-fight conference his last October 11 fight with Vitali klitschko Peters was clearly referred as a champion with WBO title in wait for Klitschko, this angered the Nigerian born boxer who angrily left the venue. Peters publicly challenged Vladimir Klitschko who holds the WBO IBF titles but in order to a unification bout but in circumstances only clear to the organizers, Peters was compelled to fight Vitali because it was mandatory for him to submit his title at all cost. All we hear of Nigerians are characterized by negativity with “the Happiest People on Earth Award” which means nothing to the nation. Our government needs to be reminded that Nigerians deserve good image which must begin at home and accompany us to foreign countries where we wish to sojourn, and the way our government intends to protect us supportively matters to this course of action. We should also note that if our economy is good in the first place, Nigerians will have no reason to take the oath of dying in another man’s country and that very soon if nothing at all is done, Nigerians in Diaspora will surely outnumber the population of those in the country. Only time will tell.

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About the Author:

Emeka Esogbue hails from Ibusa, Delta State, Nigeria. He is a Historian and International Relations graduate with lots of tremendous published and unpublished works