The Nigerian's View Of Nigeria

Nigeria and other African countries have always been portrayed negatively by Western media. Always being described as what it is not (it's not organized, it's not civilized, it's not up to date with technologyetc.).

But what is Nigeria (or even the rest of Africa) to you? I want to know what the Nigeria that you see everyday is (not some comparison of what it is compared to the western world).

I have my own reasons why I am interested in thismost of which I will present later. But what really made me curious, was not that of my own personal experiences, but what other people see. I'm not sure how many of you saw this, but there was a documentary on NTA a few weeks back. There was a white Londoner who was going to Nigeria (Lagos to be exact) and he was asking around what people thought about him going there. Of course he got varying responses, but none of which were positive. Either they were negative on all of Africa, or it was saying that "if you wanted to go to , you should go to Ghana because. . ." Things of that nature. And looking at it, I couldn't believe that they would think that if you went to Lagos you were going to get robbed because of high crime rates and whatnot. But at the same time, I could probably see myself feeling similar at one pointnot to that extreme. But just not knowing what to expect because of conflicting things that I had heard from my parents and the media.

So to change people's mindswho ever might be reading this. What is your Nigeria like? And if there was something you wanted people to know (to change their minds, or to reaffirm something), what would that be? Pictures are welcome as well 

I don't believe what the western media is telling me about most things. I'm just didn't know what to expect in terms of living conditions (I never believed the whole "all Nigerians are 419ers" kind of thing, and I feel like those that get scammed get scammed out of greed). . .but anyways, I don't feel the same about it anymore. But thanks for your input. 

PTB,
Naija is home. Naija is inspiring. Naija has given me certain necessities (besides electricity and the like), Naija requires my input no matter how small. Naija, believe it or not is the big brother to many African countries especially with her numberous peace-keeping missions, thats the Naija we tend to be not so familiar with. Naija has been blessed with biz enterpreneurs, diplomats, economists, mathematicians, prolific writers, lawyers, scientist and other great minds. I also believe that Nigerians (at least most of them) are quite patrotic. This is the way i understand it. I think when people really love their families, it extends to their village, and from the village to the state to the nation. this is how i look at tribalism, not so much as a bad thing. i'm not saying it is ok or it is right, i am only giving some sort of reasoning behind it. did you know that Murtala had wanted to commit a genocide on the Ibo's? but today he is dearly loved by all Nigerians, both those whom he killed/fought against and those whom he fought with. i think he is dearly loved because nigeirans were able to appreciate the great patriotism he had for his people (from clansmen, to state, to nation). the big difference between Murtala and some of our recent leaders may be in their corruption levels. but i would dare to say that the patriotic levels or solidarity for their people are similar.
like i mentioned earlier, i think naija is a nation teeming with entrepreneurs, and it would only be a matter of time before we become the next India or Malaysia or China or Singapore. No one knew India would become an IT giant, or that Malaysia would plant Nigeria's palm produce in their land and soon after become the largest producers and exporters of palm produce. but thanks to the entrepreneurs in those places, those nations have built histories that future students would have to reckon with. so in short, when people ask you what you think about Naija, tell them naija is filled with optimist like myself, who may complain on the outside, but are very hopefull on the inside. i am glad to hear your impression about naija changed for the better.