For students of Ecole Nationale Superieini des Beaux Arts de Paris, otherwise known as National Fine Art School of Paris, coming to Nigeria is an eye opener.

Before they came for the three-week linkage programme at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, they had been told that Nigeria, particularly Lagos, was a dangerous place to be.

According to them, they were afraid to come based on the reports they had heard about Nigeria.

”We were told that corpses littered the street, that the people were hostile while many were armed robbers and rogues. But after staying here for over two weeks, mixing freely with people and even riding on Okada, we have discovered that most of the stories we were told were not true,” 20-year-old Miss Ombelive de la Gournerie said.

Ombelive, who was among the nine arts students led by one of their lecturers, Prof. Patrick Tosani, however, said the students were finding it difficult to cope with the noise and heat being generated by irregular supply of electricity.

She said, ”Nigerians are happy people, they laugh a lot, they love music, anywhere you go, you hear loud music and they dance a lot. Too much noise is not good for our job because an artist requires a certain level of serenity to function effectively. But in spite of this and the heat, Nigerians are highly hospitable and friendly people.”

She added that from her interaction with Nigerian students, she had discovered that they were intelligent and could compete favourably with any student from anywhere in the world.

Ombelive, a student of Photography, however, said that she initially did not understand why some people did not allow her to take their photographs.

She said, ”But I think their reaction was normal. I ought to have sought their permission before taking the snapshot. I discovered through their reaction that they were civil about it.”

Like Ombelive, the other eight students expressed delight at the quality of works of arts created by YABATECH students.

They however expressed surprise at the level of facilities in the institution. “The school is clean and the environment is serene but facilities are not adequate,” they said .

The team coordinator, Mr. Emeka Okereke, who is the only Nigerian in the school, said that the college decided to establish the linkage with YABATECH because of the richness of its arts department.

The linkage, he added, would enable the students to interact and exchange ideas.

http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20080429511471

lets not blame them,nigeria is the only country i have seen where even the nigerians abroad will be the first to discourage foreigners from coming in that situation they totally believe if a nigerian is sayn this then it must be right not knowing these people have not been back to nigeria in like 10 years and know nothing about nigeria

nice one@blue

I have a cousin from Denmark who went to Naija with my aunty and uncle. He was supposed to stay two weeks but ended up staying two months because he loved it so much. He could often be seen trekking in slippers and singlet around D-Line area in PH stopping to chat to everyone. Even when he went to the village, he loved it so much that he was very sad to return to Denmark.

@Ibime

I have a friend who is married to a Whitie.

She(Whitie) derive so much joy in visiting Nigeria and her connection with our country.

Now she visits Nigeria twice while the husband(Naija) go to naija once.

She even like NEPA

She like our togetherness so much.

My father-in-law was to spend a month
Now this is the third month and he is still enjoying himself, NEPA or no NEPA!
Like he says, there are good things in Nigeria we take for granted
The guy is not even a Nigerian

My grandpa who married queen Elizabeth came back home with Eliza last 2 years. Queen Eliza didn't like Nigeria until after two weeks. Now, she loves Nigeria more than her throne in UK. She is always thrilled when she drives through potholes, drink dirty water, get abducted by militants, get robbed several times and hawked apple under the scorching sun. NEPA is the biggest thing that have happened to her life.
In fact she loves living under $1 a day. She has a secret but strong passion on the police brutality.

I dont need a french girl to tell me how sweet, safe and comfortable Naija is. I already know that.

9ja is ours to build o! there's simply no where like it! lets join hands to appreciate and lift up our coutry! Kudos to Chief Jibunoh & his crew 4 making us proud! 9JA ROCKS!!

clareomiz:

Nigeria is ours to build o! there's simply no where like it! lets join hands to appreciate and lift up our coutry! Kudos to Chief Jibunoh & his crew 4 making us proud! 9JA ROCKS!!

same mantra , different decade!!!! same people

clareomiz:

Nigeria is ours to build o! there's simply no where like it! lets join hands to appreciate and lift up our coutry! Kudos to Chief Jibunoh & his crew 4 making us proud! 9JA ROCKS!!

yes o,and be patriotic as well, we realli need more of people like that man, as long as we all do our bit for the country and not totally leave it to the government then nigeria will grow in leaps and bounds

lol @ Nuzo. Face it though, Naija is a great place to spend a holiday - but not a great place to live unless you are rich.

This shouldn't make headline in a national daily.

The summary of the content is;

Nigeria (Lagos) is not as bad as foreigners think it is.
It is a noisy and rowdy city.
YABATECH lacks learning facilities.

What's positive about their observation?
Subtle approbation?

azorjiu:

This shouldn't make headline in a national daily.

The summary of the content is;

Nigeria (Lagos) is not as bad as foreigners think it is.
It is a noisy and rowdy city.
YABATECH lacks learning facilities.

What's positive about their observation?
Subtle approbation?

I think it all depends on what end of the story you go with. I agree that your observations are on the mark but in my case, I am happy that they did not at least get buggled or get to deal with the many problems the average Nigerian gets to deal with that have come to be considered by some as regular. Things like corrupt police,bribery, armed robbers etc.

People always get the wrong impression about our dera country because sometimes we have the opportunity to correcvt the impression, but we oftentimes fail to do so.

Recently i applied for an international conference in Australia with registration and accomodation about 1200 Australian Dollar, i told the organizers that i have the that kind of funds considering the cost of processing Australian visa.

The Coordinator of the programme had to speak about the need for me to attendconsidering i was the only Nigerian who will attend. He was told to carefullyinvestigate me if i would ask for money and other things.

The organizers waived my registartion fee and hotel because of my transpaprency.

Today i have a cordial relationship with the coordinator, and he bntold me so many things he heard about Nigerians some good and others worse.

I believe there is always an opprtunity for us to correct the ills and impression ofNigeria when we meet people on the internet.

There is must be a conscious call for all and sundry to represent Nigeria in a good light when you are in the closet ofyour mail box, chat room and web discussion rooms.

my dear NIAGRA