Have you ever asked yourself how other people think about you as a Nigerian, while no body will directly tell you about how they see you as a Nigerian, so many people view Nigerians as good, charming, and helpful, while majority view Nigerians as criminals, and liers, but there is one single statement which has really shocked me about how a Nigerian is seen abroad.

I attended a meeting recently in X city, though I have not told anyone where I was originally from, except for Mr. B who knew me before, I presented my papers and everything was going on smoothly, after a while Mr. B was making his own presentation, he mentioned Nigeria as an example in his presentation, the issue of Nigeria was then brought up again by another Presenter, it was all an issue of IT security, how to protect corporate finances from fraud and security theft etc. But in all was mentioned about Nigeria, Mr. Z who tends to be more rude about Nigeria, said "If you shake hands with a Nigerian, make sure you re-count your fingers before he leaves". He made this statement thinking that there is no Nigerian in the meeting, this statement has really shocked me, I told Mr. B how angry I was, but he told me that is how many people view Nigerians especially in Europe and some Asian countries. After the meeting, while we all stood up taking pictures, I was in the first row, so I stand up and told the cameraman to wait a little, I shook hands with all of them and then I told them to re-count their fingers before I leave because I am a Nigerian, they all burst laughing except Mr. Z, who apologizes and re-instate his statement "not all Nigerians are like that, sorry sorry sorry, I don't know you are from Nigeria". That may not be the right thing to do, but I am sure that Mr. Z will not make fun of any country "especially Nigeria" when speaking in public.

If you were the one at that meeting, what will you do?

I think what you did is noble. it is good that you showed with wisdom that he should use is brains before opening his mouth.

thumbs up my guy, big mouth speaker, believe me some nigerians are also guilty of badmouthing their country abroad simply to justify their stay there even on occassions as unimportant as being amidst foreign friends

@Poster, is it that you feel you changed Mr Z's mind?

Kobojunkie:

@Poster, is it that you feel you changed Mr Z's mind?

Maybe, because he was all ashamed of himself, and all what he was saying was sorry sorry sorry. Even though he may not change his view on Nigerians, he will at least be careful when speaking in public, because he don't who and who are his audience.

auwal87:

Maybe, because he was all ashamed of himself, and all what he was saying was sorry sorry sorry. Even though he may not change his view on Nigerians, he will at least be careful when speaking in public, because he don't who and who are his audience.

Ok. But how does that relate to the topic which is Nigerians in the Eyes of the world. I mean the man most likely feels the same way about Nigerians to date, and you even speak of how the very man with you, Mr. B, also feels the same way. 
Basically, I am trying to understand if  it is better for Nigerians that people do not voice their feelings of Nigerians but rather go about hiding them from us?

Say I have a neighbor who knowing I am a Nigerian feels he needs to watch his way around me. Am I better off if he pretends to be ok with me in public, while in private he speaks of how my being a Nigerian is reason why he plans to move away as soon as he can, or install better security system around his house?

Kobojunkie:

Ok. But how does that relate to the topic which is Nigerians in the Eyes of the world. I mean the man most likely feels the same way about Nigerians to date, and you even speak of how the very man with you, Mr. B, also feels the same way.
Basically, I am trying to understand if it is better for Nigerians that people do not voice their feelings of Nigerians but rather go about hiding them from us?

Say I have a neighbor who knowing I am a Nigerian feels he needs to watch his way around me. Am I better off if he pretends to be ok with me in public, while in private he speaks of how my being a Nigerian is reason why he plans to move away as soon as he can, or install better security system around his house?

Mind you, Mr. B does not feels the same way, he was telling me how many people think the same way with Mr. Z. I have already asked originally in the first post, I did not say what I did was the right or the best thing to do, okay, I ask you, if you were the one, what will you do or say?

Now I ask you again, what will you say or do in this event?

Well, I would have approached Mr Z, and explained to him that he should consider innocent Nigerians out there who are working hard to change the image the criminal minds amongst there have given and continue to give us. I don't think I can say your reaction was wrong.

I had a particular experience relating to how people view Nigeria, involving a Pakistani cab driver.
As I stepped into his cab, we exchanged a few standard pleasantries. He then asked me if I am from Nigeria. I asked him "How do you know?" In his own words, he replied "Because you are tall, you look smart and you are very polite." I was surprised at his reply.
Later he asked me about doing business with Nigeria, as he had heard from people of his own nationality that Nigeria is an up-and coming country to do business with. This is when the "Nigerian factor" came into play: most Nigerians, when asked this type of question, will try to dissuade the person asking this question from doing business with Nigeria, and basically rubbish their own country. This is more or less what I did - I told him to be careful of fraudulent business partners. Surprisingly, the cab driver played this down and replied that this danger exists everywhere, including his own country, and that this would not put him off visiting Nigeria.

Most people will say bad things about Nigeria, but deep down they are aware of positive things about Nigeria. It seems to be a trend to put Nigeria down and emphasise fraudulent and criminal activities. Nigerians themselves don't help this matter - they are actually at the forefront of this and actively spoil the image of their own country by saying negative things about it.

gbam gbam gabm!!

NIGERIANS ARE HIGLY FEARED AND RES-ECTED!!!!

u soon find out! dnt worri

What you experienced with Mr. Z at X city is the "Standard Identification Procedure" for Nigerians.
Its a pity that the innocents within are the ones most affected by this unfortunate trend.
When our leaders are brash with their dishonesty, then there is little others can do to correct the impression, stereotyping Nigeria is unending reality!!!

Nemeziz9ja:

What you experienced with Mr. Z at X city is the "Standard Identification Procedure" for Nigerians.
Its a pity that the innocents within are the ones most affected by this unfortunate trend.
When our leaders are brash with their dishonesty, then there is little others can do to correct the impression, stereotyping Nigeria is unending reality!!!

Exactly, and the media also plays a significant role in tanishing the image of Nigerians.

auwal87:

Exactly, and the media also plays a significant role in tanishing the image of Nigerians.

That is not really a good argument there. We get similar reports on crime committed by people from other countries such as america, russia, china, and other countries in Africa. the problem is frequency. When it comes to Nigeria, even folks who live in Nigeria will tell you that 9 times out of 10, they fear people from Nigeria than persons from other countries living in Nigeria, why? Is that the media? Come on!!! Instead of continuing to blame the media, maybe we ought to focus on the main problem, which happens to be that we do have a lot of corrupt individuals and we may not see change unless we trim down that number and quickly too.

If a traveller goes down to Nigeria and gets kidnapped, is the media to blame when the same man comes back and tells his friend of his situation and then another who experienced similar tells of similar experience when he was down in Nigeria? Is that the fault of the media?

Kobojunkie:

That is not really a good argument there. We get similar reports on crime committed by people from other countries such as america, russia, china, and other countries in Africa. the problem is frequency. When it comes to Nigeria, even folks who live in Nigeria will tell you that 9 times out of 10, they fear people from Nigeria than persons from other countries living in Nigeria, why? Is that the media? Come on!!! Instead of continuing to blame the media, maybe we ought to focus on the main problem, which happens to be that we do have a lot of corrupt individuals and we may not see change unless we trim down that number and quickly too.

If a traveller goes down to Nigeria and gets kidnapped, is the media to blame when the same man comes back and tells his friend of his situation and then another who experienced similar tells of similar experience when he was down in Nigeria? Is that the fault of the media?

But consider this, most spam emails were originated from America, but have you ever heard the media say "American Spam", for example in the case of Nigeria, the name "Nigeria" itself is generalize on all online fraud, even if the person that did the fraud is British, or American, or Chinese, it will just be called "Nigerian Fraud" or 419.

Though most of the email scams were sent from Nigeria, but in my own opinion, the media should not name the entire crime to be "Nigerian" in nature, because it is a world-wide problem.

auwal87:

But consider this, most spam emails were originated from America, but have you ever heard the media say "American Spam",

Can you confirm the above statement is true? I have tried tracing many of the SPAM I get and most of them come from outside and not within the US. I remember working on a project to help trace SPAM and block the servers from sending future SPAM, sometime ago, turns out majority come from outside of the US. Many of the Spammers here are prosecuted.

auwal87:

for example in the case of Nigeria, the name "Nigeria" itself is generalize on all online fraud, even if the person that did the fraud is British, or American, or Chinese, it will just be called "Nigerian Fraud" or 419.

You mean you do not get the onslaught of fraudulent emails from persons who obviously got your contact information from Nairaland here, send the emails with Nigerian names and even attach a Nigerian phone number for you to reach them should you want to bite? Are you saying that all those emails that have been traced to Nigerian addresses are false? I have myself tried contacting one of the spammers and I did get a Nigerian on the other end of the 234- number. Are you saying that was all the media?

auwal87:

Though most of the email scams were sent from Nigeria, but in my own opinion, the media should not name the entire crime to be "Nigerian" in nature, because it is a world-wide problem.

It is a world-wide problem sure, but unfortunately, even Nigerians in Canada, in Amsterdam, in the UK have been caught in these crimes. Just because the Emails do not originate from Nigeria does not in anyway mean it is not connected. I doubt any of them will actually originate from Nigeria since we do not have so many mail servers, if any, in that country. However, trying to blame the media is the usual COPOUT and nothing more, in my opinion.

All the facts, coupled with the large number of people around the world who have fallen victim to these scammers only points more to this being a serious problem that needs to be dealt with and not some thing we can blame on the media and get away with. Even right there in Benin republic and Ghana, people will tell you stories of how they have at one time been swindled by a nigerian group or that they know of someone who has. To blame all these stories on the media is to turn a blind eye to the problem.

Spam mails trying to sell you something is one thing. Nigerians dont spam, they cheat and steal. That is the intention when sending 419 mails.

Nigerians per capita are one of the most dishonest, cheating citizens on the planet

Thor:

Nigerians per capita are one of the most dishonest, cheating citizens on the planet 

You see!, Nigeria is a Devil Paradise

Kobojunkie, I just think you derive pleasure from being controversial in every post of urs. Not saying u dont make sense, but wat baffles me is the fact that u have to find the negative sides of every post to make urself d centre of attraction? If dats ur aim on this forum, then u must be having fun. If not, u need to reconsider your approach to threads okay? Good Boy!

Back to the topic. Nigeria is one of the most populated countries on earth; Hence, one should expect the find a large variation of personalities and traits in its citizens. A well informed foreigner knows two things for sure.

1. He could find one of the most intelligent, smart, hardworking and friendly people in the world in a Nigerian.
2. He could also find the most shady, dishonest and crooked persons in a Nigerian.

Those are two extremes that most people in the world see Nigerians as. If you happen to be in the 1st category and they notice that in you, good for you because they will all want to associate with you. On the other hand that you belong to the 2nd category and they notice in you, they immediately keep their distance from you.

In general, I think being a Nigerian is something every1 should be proud of when meeting a well informed foreigner if u know you are clean, and have no ulterior motives.

@Poster, you may need to see the video at this link below. The Video is on Nickelodeon but my sister just informed me that she just saw a piece on Nigeria on the show. It is funny!!


The show is Back In the Barnyard and the Episode is Titled Sun Cow. Check it out !!

http://www.nick.com/turbonick/?extvideoid=142223

Another one again lol, I love Nigeria lol, we are always stealing the limelight but negatively and possitively, which one do you belong and how are you correcting the negative ones

I'm asking you!!!, yes you!!!

We are sure stealin the limelight negatively lol