Why This Nigeria Bashing From White People Always? I Hate It!

While Chinese, Indian, Malaysian and Corean investors like to come to Nigeria, investors from Europe and America continue with their Nigeria bashing. Always playing the same trumpet (corruption, over-reliance on oil, infrastucture problmes, insecurity etc.). All these things exist also in Asia´s lesser developed countries such as Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam but white people go there incessantly and invest their money while they shun Africa.
Can´t they see that our contry is progressing or are they BLIND?
asian investors come to Nigeria our governement should just forget this white people and go on with knitting more and stronger ties with Asia. Nobody will be talking of Europe in 40 to 50 years any more as this continent will be lost as the new Asian century dawns.

Read this foolish article

May 2nd, 2006
Foreign investors not moved by debt payment to Paris Club

Reuters

International investors are not expected to had immediately for Nigeria following the liquidation of the country's external debt to the Paris Club of creditors, analysts in Paris and London have told to Reuters.

In fact, they say it is still a long, rough road before Nigeria can shake off its negative international image that has marred its chances of drawing the attention of investors to other sectors of the economy outside the traditionally lucrative oil and gas.

Attracting foreign direct investments into the Nigerian economy in a much robust and diversified manner, according to the analysts, largely depends on what the government does with its reform agenda going forward, and also what happens in the political process in the next 18 months.

But they all agreed that the payment of the Paris Club debt represents a landmark, which closes a chapter in the country's economic history and draws a line on the debt story that allows everyone to move forward.

Paris-based international direct investment analyst and Chatham House, London expert, Stephen Thomsen, saythat after paying off the Paris Club debt, Nigeria's major problem remains how to overcome the long-standing negative perception of the country in the international investment markets.

Said Thomsen: "Interest in Nigeria has always been driven by the fact that it has oil and a large market. The payment of the Paris Club debt is only symbolic as an indication that Nigeria is able to meet its obligation.

"However, Nigeria has a bad perception internationally and so the major problem will be overcoming this negative perception of the country."

Victor Lopez, a senior economist and Africa analyst at Societe General in Paris, also shares the view that payment of the debt will not necessarily lead to an inward flow of investment into Nigeria. Like Thomsen, he says Nigeria has always had strong foreign direct investments flows because it is an oil-producing nation.

"Nigeria has an average of $3-4 billion inflow of FDI per year, but I don't see how the payment of the Paris Club debt will directly enhance that. The recent banking sector reforms brought in about $600 million, so maybe that's a first step to FDI diversification for the Nigerian economy."

For Societe General's Lopez, there is something remarkable about the debt payment. Indeed, Lopez describes the payment of the debt as a landmark achievement which has totally changed the debt story of Nigeria.

"From being a huge 66 percent of GDP in 2004, it has now drastically come down to five percent of GDP this year. That's a very big step," he said.

London-based Clearwater's Africa analyst, Antony Goldman, says the payment of the debt by Nigeria will now put an end to a "sterile debate," adding that a deal of that size was always going to be an issue for debate.

He said: "In general, the resolution of the Paris Club debt issue with Nigeria is good for all parties. It draws the line and allows everyone to move on. The issue is Nigeria never borrowed that much in the first place, but it became an issue for sterile debate, and the value of the payment is that it puts an end to this sterile debate."

In his analysis of the payment of the Paris Club debt, David Cowan, a senior economist and the Africa editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit told BusinessDAY that it was irrelevant to investors whether or not Nigeria had paid off its Paris Club debt.

According to him, the future of the Nigerian economy is tied to other reforms, the price of oil and what happens in the political process.

Said Cowan: "I don't see how the payment will shape the Nigerian economy in terms of its ability to attract foreign investments. The biggest factors influencing what happens in the Nigerian economy are such things as the reform agenda of the government, which investors are keen to see government carry through.

"There is also the issue of the Niger Delta, which attracts a lot of negative publicity and the government needs to change that negative perception that the country has amongst international investors. Investors are keen to see that resolved."

Michael Peel, the former Financial Times West Africa correspondent, who is very familiar with Nigeria, and a Chatham House associate in London identified the issue of corruption, political uncertainty, and the Niger Delta as issues that new investors are concerned about, not payment of Paris Club debt.

Describing as positive the fact that Nigeria has been able to lift the burden of the debt off its shoulders, Peel said this had freed up a lot of money, around $1billion - $1.5 billion yearly, which could be invested in social services and infrastructure.

"The deal also helps with the credit rating of Nigeria. This can open up the international financial market for the country to raise money," Peel said.
      

BUMP!! I like this topic, it should be focused on more. 

hehehe

Its funny you noted that too. All the pictures of Africa is &*%^ _{(can't think of a word)}. They are so misinformed.

They give loans to corrupt leaders to buy military hardware from them and these dictators keep the rest in their banks.
When kataka burst they freeze their(the dictators) bank account and keep pressing the poor countries to pay up their debt.

Nigeria payed much more than he borrowed, yet when Nigeria borrowed UK some £1,000,000 during the world war, she didn't loan it with interest.
Nigeria bought and sponsored a cruiser called HMS Nigeria and some spitfire fighters too.

http://www.wartimememories.co.uk/ships/nigeria.html


however you want to put it, it was the sweat of my people that translated into that cruiser despite the fact that we where under colonial rule.

Africans will never get it, will they?

Do not expect anybody, white yellow or blue, to pull you out of your predicament or offer any meaningful hel. Why?, because the law of nature is SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. And we are at the bottom of the food chain right now. The only thing we can do is pull ourselves out of the pits ourselves and that will never happen if the able-brained africans keep griping and complaining abaout how the whites hate us bla bla bla. Yea, we know, GET OVER IT AND MOVE ON. like the japanese, chinese, indians, malaysians. The only thing people respect is power, not sentiment, not a sense of fairness, just brute strenth.
Why isnt George Bush invading North Korea?, because he will get his butt kicked and he knows it!

And give a little credit to Europeans, they are hypocritical, self-serving and greedy but arent we all ? In this little Obodo Nigeria we have Abuja a glorious city built with oil money, we have a third mainland bridge and yet we can't build one decent road in the Niger Delta. Kettles calling pots black! Someone mentioned something about 50% aid going to administration- is this not better than the 100% going into swiss bank accounts in Nigeria? Europeans are in no way obliged to give us aid. Do not look a gift horse in the mouth.
If positions were reversed do u see average Nigerians contributing to relief like americans and europeans contributed to the tsunami relief effort?

Someone also said that chinese and others invest in nigeria. I doubt if u really know what you're talking about. Most (not all) of these "investment" are in questionable businesses where they can bend the rules like they would not be able to do anywhere else in the world. The lebanese are pioneers in "investing in Nigeria" . They learnt quickly that u can achive anything in Nigeria with a little bribery. Or have we forgotten Chagouri and Chagouri?. Chinese and Taiwanese sweat shops in lagos cost hundreds of Nigerian lives every year because of the working conditions. As flawed as Euro-Americans are u cannot fault their sensitivity about such things as workers rights and propiety in bussiness dealings. All the pirated CDs we see all over Nigeria are examples of your Asian investment.

And u all think Europeans are racist? Wait till China takes over the world in a few years. Your worst nightmares will come true. I work in an Industry where we interact with people of various nationalities everyday, and trust me you don't want to be subject to an Asian as a black man. Europeans have at least interacted with africans for hundreds of years. There are chinese that havent even seen a black man in the flessh before, and the Japanese are the greatest supremacists of all time. And i have heard that Indonesians say that Black kaffirs are the lowest form of human life.

And to the guy who says nigeria bought a ship in the World War or something. Was that a Nigeria ruled by The British? So that was an example of the British supporting a war by the British with money from one of their overseas businesses, Nigeria----duh

I have not said anything wrong and I have not lied. I am only trying to give people food for thought. Everything I have said is fact. Trust me. I've lived in the UK some years and I have seen a different me in their eyes and I have also seen them without the scales of the media covering my eyes. There was no racism in me whatsoever until I worked with them. In fact I used to love and adore them. I still like a lot of them though. Maybe u should read BBC news and read "Have your say" in the african section. You will notice that the "have your say" is highly moderated and it's purpose seems to be making africa look like a place you should give aids to for the rest of mankind. They would continue to give fish to the hungry but never teach him to fish even if he begs to be taught.

lol 

Whether someone gets u angry or not is entirely up to u. Unless the person does u some physical harm, u can always chose to be unaffected. I think a racist should be pitied above all men. He is not worth being mad at

If Nigerians don't reorientate their view towards their country it would be hard for outsiders to see us any better. We tend to focus more on the negative things in the country, and even outside the  country we share the negative things more than the positives. An election is coming up in two weeks time and the press, politicians and everyone that has a voice are predicting Armageddon, why would the oyinbos not also predict war and chaos?

At the end of the day even if the elections go by peacefully they will report on the few cases of violence and say the election was marred by violence.