Every last Nigerian who says they love everything about Nigeria is why Nigeria is “Nigeria”. Foreigners will definitely not understand the emphasis at a glance, but Nigerians do, no matter what they say.

Before you judge my write-up, keep in mind I’m a Nigerian by birth, upbringing and residence. I interact with Nigerians on a daily basis and I’m not rich folk, so I actually know what goes on in the heart of the country.

Nigerians are full of energy. Yes, we have potential. Lots of it. We have the smartest beings the world has ever seen (I could have been one myself, if I left the country and it’s negativity behind as an infant, no kidding). However limited by religion their thoughts are, the Nigerian society at large still pulls through with wonderful, (but short-lived) creativity.

I’m not exactly sure which of these count as a reason to not like the country and it’s people, so I’ll leave it to the reader. All I’ll do is describe.

Nigerians are aggressive, but never towards causes that make for a better living. A Nigerian can fight to the death to prove he can beat his brother, most times over nothing, but will not even blink if the government decides a whole town will not catch a glimpse of electricity for a year. “Our government is wicked o. We’re angry.” is all they can muster up. Nothing more. Nothing that can change anything.
Nigerians have zero (not exaggerating) maintenance culture. We don’t fix things until they break down completely. We apply paste and glue, then kick the damned thing back to life until we’re sure it can never work again. Then we ‘try’ to fix it, FOREVER.
Nigeria is infested and damaged beyond repair by religion. It’s like religion blocks off the part of our brains that actually evaluates logical input.
Like someone already stated, people do the exact opposite of what their holy books say and have no shame condemning you for not feigning belief as much, first chance they get.
Our countrymen would rather skin and sell a person alive if the church asks that of them. They’d rather pay tithes (in 100%) than buy lunch (which would cost about 0.1% of their tithe) for a stranded fellow.
A mother would rather her kids starve than miss a church event. Hence, ‘serving God’.
Best part yet, anything that requires a positive action is met with a moronic “do your best and leave the rest to God”, “it’s all part of God’s plan” and “pray about it”.
By the way, I’m still a Christian, at the time of writing this post and I know just about how many Nigerians would spit at this section for the raw truth in it.
Almost every situation is casual to Nigerians. Nothing, no matter how bizzare is alarming. It’s like we’re so used to shitty situations we accept just about anything. So there used to be free water supply down the street and suddenly it’s being sold? “Hmm. Na wa o.” is all, and everyone adjusts to it and moves on. Nobody goes “No! This is bullshit and we’re not having it!” Not one person. And if there ever was that one guy, absence of unity would drive the ones who are supposed to support him to actually confront him: “Na wa to you sef o. Shey na because of common water you charge like this?” The end.
The worst part yet, Nigerians will never unify to fight a common cause. “The enemy of my enemy is my ally” just doesn’t work on us. Grown men (and sadly, kids) will follow a politician, pick up arms and engage in lethal violence against their neighbours, and in the end, what do they get? A few thousand naira notes and their constant state of poverty back.
Nigerians are cheap. Kill their sons and buy a few bags of rice for their community and no one will ever speak of it again. When a few cups of rice hits a few homes, the gore is completely buried.
Any law enforcement officer can harass, mutilate or even kill a civilian and it ends in pity. “Ah! Na army man o” and everyone cowers in fear. Justice and rights end on the 9 o’clock news. None of those human rights apply on the streets. Nobody gives a shit if you’re wronged, cry-baby.
In Nigeria, a police man judges you right there on the spot and can kill you if the alcohol says you’re guilty. Few people get to go to trial.
Nigerians are judgemental as shit. It’s so bad it courses through our veins. It takes a lot to suppress that trait.
You could go to jail for looking ripped.
In court, you could be found guilty for your hairstyle. It might sound funny, but that hipster tattoo is all a judge needs to rule that you killed 20 men with a single spoon.
Your average Nigerian is a know-it-all by default. “No, I don’t know how to do this” or “I’ve never heard of it” is so hard to say they’d rather get people killed than admit they’re yet to acquire a skill.
Zero security of lives and property. You protect yourself and your own. You’re more likely to be battered by a police officer than get saved by one. Oh and you can actually get arrested and a huge sum extorted from you for bail if you’re not very lucky. All these for the help you wanted.
The average Nigerian is ignorant as shit. Just because they haven’t seen such tech means it doesn’t exist, but this same set of people are eager to believe that a man dunked at a river and sipped it dry in 20 minutes using juju/magic.
To 50% (or more, I’m only assuming) Nigerians, cats and owls are demonic. Proof that retardation from the dark ages is far from being eliminated.
No matter how insane an idea sounds, Nigerians will swallow it as the best if it came from their pastor or professor (because, apparently, they’re ‘qualified’). Narrow-minded much?
Our educational system. Hahaha. Let’s not go there. I spilled my drink. Skip.
Every failure in business and investments could be traced back to ‘evil family members’ or ‘evil friends’ in the village. 97% Nigerians believe this (and you wonder why we’re where we are today).
A Nigerian can only reason with you for so long, and vice versa, before they forget the issue at hand and concentrate on casting insults your way. Go on YouTube, they shamelessly do it in the National Assembly.
As a ‘leader’, stealing from the people is so ‘normal’ you’d only have to show up in the news and talk about your ‘plans’ to shut the masses up. You get to ‘win’ the next elections and rule a 2nd term without doing shit, and openly stealing from the people who voted you into power as they smile, hail, fight anyone who stands in your way, and go home bitter with nothing to offer their families.
We specialize in fighting corruption. We recover trillions worth of stolen cold cash, and then it all goes dark. Nobody asks where the ‘recovered’ money went. Just tell everyone it’s recovered and bam! They execute the ‘shut up, you’ll get in trouble for asking questions’ command.
With electric cars and solar devices on the rise, how long until our petroleum becomes a ‘meh’ nationwide cash source? I say we’re heading somewhere, not a better place, but somewhere, because the only thing the top dogs are concerned with is oil money and how to split it.
Having basic life supplies and resources is seen as luxurious living in Nigeria, because people are poor as shit. I’m talking breakfast not having, dinner not sure about kind of poor!
So if you have electricity and water flowing in your home, and you can afford 3 meals (not garri in cold water) in a day, you’re ‘living large’.

Only a Nigerian pays a porn star $500,000 (about 80 million in Naira) to appear for 45 minutes on their show and call our women apes somewhere along the voyage or after (I wouldn’t know. The amount of stupid in it was too enormous to trigger curiousity). Trust me, this seemingly rare kind of stupid is quite frequent in the country. People do dumb shit, say dumb shit and get applauded for it, and apparently you’re a ‘hater’ if you react differently.
Nigerians only borrow retarded pages from the white man’s book. Instagram challenges and twerking, not good road networks, town planning and resource management. Yeah, I’m fun at parties.

9 of 10 Nigerians would rather serve a whiteman, than side with their countrymen. It’s more of a black thing we inherited. Probably a major reason why the slave trade was so successful in Nigeria.
Almost forgot to mention, the smartest of us all are usually found on the streets, in faded clothing, while the dumbest are easily found in air conditioned offices, in expensive suits.

You can be dumb as shit in a field, but all you need is a ‘powerful’ uncle somewhere up the line and you’ll have that job.
In Nigeria, no matter how brilliant your works are, first thing people (who are probably no intellectual match for you) will point out is that you’re ‘uneducated’. This is why some of us leave our dreams to study at least one generic course in the university, even if we end up not attending classes.

You don’t get the job because you’re the best. You get the job because you have a godfather up in management.
We are very petty, and fragile when it comes to pleasantries and show of respect. Much of it is fueled by pure Ego. Yes, I appreciate the ‘no nonsense’ attitude of Nigerians in general, but only to some extent. It becomes silly when a senior citizen curses at you because you had your headphones on and did not greet them fast enough. I had a ‘friendly’ lecturer call me out in class for being ‘disrespectful’ because I didn’t ‘stand’ when I answered his questions. Beautiful.
In an age of complex and reality-bending tech, most of my people really, REALLY believe their elders in the village know what’s best for their communities, just because they’re ‘old and full of wisdom’. Yay.
Not so long ago, an old, nearly abandoned, dying secondary school in a rural area where I’m from was marked for repurposing into a higher institution, but the elders of the village disagreed, because ‘they want the calm in the village to persist, and higher institutions totally bring crowd’.

Keep in mind, 98% of the youths in this village have no tertiary education and probably never will. It was literally brought to their doorstep but they sat back and watched as the elders decided their fate. Gotta show respect, right?
If you live in Nigeria and call bullshit on this write-up, you’re either rich or rich and a politician.
I love my country, but if I was offered a chance to tap into my potential elsewhere, I’d take it in a heartbeat, and then I’d come back when evolution has taken it’s course.
You feel that’s turning my back on my country? Let’s start with the presidents travelling out for medical care, and every last one of their kids schooling abroad (yeah, because our standards are so hardcore).

copied from QUORA.COM by an indian who was born and brought up in NIGERIA