I'm an African American as some of you may know. I was just wondering why is it that Nigeria unlike Ghana and Brazil and others has not began a program to tap into the wealth of African American tourism, most of which is being ushered off to Caribbean and Europe?? And NO, it's not because we don't want to visit. That notion by many Africans is totally unfounded when addressed to the majority of the AfAm population in this day and age.

I personally know many, many fellow African Americans whom have stated that they'd love to visit Africa someday, and beyond that... have insinuated that they see such a visit as somewhat of a Islamic-like pilgrimage to Mecca event for all blacks in diaspora to take part in... aka... a pilgrimage in which all blacks should make at least once in their lifetime before they die. I've been 4 times, 2 of which included visits to Naija, and I loved every one of them, and can't wait to go on another.

My dad is part of an African American tourism group in which goes on a trip to Africa every other year. And on the in-between years they go to Brazil, the Caribbean, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and such other heavily African descended areas. Now with all of that said, one thing in which I along with the fellow AfAm's whom were on the these trips to Africa with me experienced was the fact of that... unlike when we visited the Caribbean or Brazil.... in Africa we, in large, were not seen as fellow brothers and sisters by the natives... but rather little different than our white counterparts, and in some cases worst than.

In Nigeria and some parts of Ghana too... we were frequently addressed as Akatas(sp), and often in Nigeria, the term... Oyebos(sp) was addressed to us. We later learned that these terms were derogative in nature, and that Oyebo was actually a term mostly addressed to whites, so by being called this... we were seen as little more than darkened whites by many.  Hurtful as that was to hear, we didn't let such things expressed by the ignorance of some ruin our trips, and we ended up meeting lots of interesting people, exploring beautiful lands and wishing to return sooner than later.

On my first trip to Africa there was only like 40 AfAm's on the tour.... we all went back and talked about how great it was and on the second tour I went on there was like 100 AfAm's. We left from that tour and again told everyone how great it was, and then by the time I took my 3rd tour... there was about 145-150 AfAm's on the tour. Then by the time I took my 4th and final tour there was a whopping 235-250 AfAms on the tour. And that's just one tour out of tens of similar tours in which had left out that same year... full of AfAm's looking to make that long awaited pilgrimage back to or to... for the first time, Mother Africa.

Ghana, Senegal, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya are primary destinations for African American tourist... for that they present the greatest incentives to this market. If you build it... they will come!! If Nigeria builds a marketing incentive for AfAm's to come to Nigeria, they will come in droves and pump lots of its ((($800Bill))) in wealth into the Naija market while they're at it.  They'll buy land, houses and more, if only the proper incentive is given to them to do so.

Don't believe me, just ask Ghana about how serious we are about this. Within just a few years after that nation has implemented several major incentives to increase African American involvement in the nation.... the number of African Americans visiting the nation yearly has been growing rapidly, as has the number of these individuals whom are buying/building up homes and land in the nation; investing in companies, and building others.

While the Nigerian government is creating incentives for entrepreneurial White Zimbabweans to come to Nigeria and live, Ghana has been and continues to... create incentives for entrepreneurial African Americans and other blacks in diaspora to come to Ghana and invest their time, talent and wealth... and thus far it's wilding great results. Thousands of African Americans already live full-time or part time in that nation, and guaranteed thousands more will follow suite in the near future.

CLICK LINK BELOW:

http://odili.net/news/source/2005/dec/28/424.html

Hero

Wow i do not know where to start. But first let me apologies on behalf on Nigerians for the derogatory name calling that many of us do, many times unconsciously but nevertheless it is wrong and i am saying sorry. But i agree with you, i was in Accra not too long ago and noticed that there is an aggressive campaign to court African Americans back to the motherland and i think it is working very well. But you must understand that there are many reason why Ghana will work and Nigeria will not. Hey Ghana Airways adverts runs constantly in the states and there are direct flights unlike Naija.

First of all,Ghana has a more stable Economy and a stronger sense of citizenry than we do. Hey things general work in Ghana,there is constant power, taxis are very clean,roads are generally good,water is readily available ETC. Those fundamentals are not there in Nigeria or rather at least not as widespread. But anyway i talk to a lot of my African American Buddies and they tell me the want to visit Ghana,Liberia, and Senegal. When i ask what about Nigeria, they have this funny look on their face and we go thru this long silence and it comes down to where it more favorable.

Hey because of Oil we have abandoned our Natural resources in wildlife,rivers,lakes,beaches ETC. And i still am not sure why the Nigerian Embassy charges $100 for a single entry visa. That really discourages Tourist. I do not know a country that wants foreign currency that charges so much for a visa. Kenya,SA,Senegal,Ghana and Ivory coast are all free or nearly free.

So to answer your question honestly, we simply are not interested in Tourism and that is why the tourist stay away. We have a boat load of internal problems and many times we need to think outside the box or at least hear from outsiders to solve our problems, but i am not sure we are interested in that either, hey after all we are the happiest people on earth....!

Ha!

Hey, lots of things are being done towards tourism awareness in Nigeria now. It was neglected in favour of oil, but many are now seeing the advantages of building a strong tourism culture. There is an agressive campaign in places like Cross river, Osun and Bauchi states. Another problem has been that of perception- I am glad you came yourself, and your experience was not too bad apart from the name calling. I guess that may have come from the culture and I am sure they will learn to change. Be assured however that when you were called 'akata', it did not correlate to any deregatory sacarsm. Nigerians have a name for everything, pls forgive us.

You will be hearing more of the tourist sites they are trying to build in Nigeria very soon.

@ Omon

Well said, I think we need African Americans as much as they need us. The Caribbeans have don a good job in aligning themselves in the Diaspora,we need to reach out more in the Motherland.

@Hero
Big up to you and peeps for going back home. Please encourage people to have a discussion about our differences, a lot of us have some strong beliefs and all we need to do many times, is sit down and talk and many times we fail to even communicate with each other.

Hello Hero. Nice to hear that Afican Americans are interested in visiting Africa and nice to know you have enjoyed your previous trips to Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

I do not agree with Kokcity about some of what he said about Nigeria. Nigeria is a great place and almost all the people I know who visited it have loved it. The people are great and the culture is excellent. It will be simplistic to say Nigeria is better than Ghana or the other way round or that Ghanaians have a stronger sense of citizenry (I am not quite sure where he got that from). Ghana has not got a more stable economy than Nigeria, if they did they will not be getting so much external aid while Nigeria gets virtually none (in fact Ghana was totally bankrupt a few years back). Again, even given the proportion of land size, Nigeria has far more high grade roads than Ghana. But, as you may have noticed, it is us Nigerians who often run ourselves down.

Anyway, thats not really what we are talking about. I am sure Ghana, Senegal are good places to visit and in any case you are not just visiting these places for the infrastructure they have but, maybe more so, for what they mean to you in terms of heritage.

Although Nigeria neglected the tourism industry for a long time, there are now efforts to revive it; although they can do far better than they are doing now. Hopefully, things will improve in the very near future. There are, however, quite a lot of places you can visit in Nigeria, centres built to cater for tourists; although I suspect, in the case of our African American brothers and sisters, you will also want to mingle with the people. I am sure Nigeria will also want African Americans to come over and stay and invest.

Regarding name calling; just like Kokcity I apologise for any offense caused. The fact is that many of those people who use those names do not know they are offensive. Although some of the names were derogatory when they started being used, they have somehow found their ways into the vocabulary over the years and some people use them without really meaning to offend.

Hope to hear from you when you come back from your next visit to Africa. It is your heritage as much as it is ours.

many thanks for the interest you should for naija,unlike many people that sits by the side and call naija a bad name,you visited and as you said you enjoyed your tirp.apologies if you were offended by the term akata or oyibo.be rest assured that the people ment no harm.i am a nigeria and people always call me oyibo because i am just a little bit light in complexion.it is in no way an offence.akata or yankee shows that you are from united states not britain.

as for tourism,the politician as still too busy with the oil money to think of tourism.the crude has been more of a curse than a blessing.(in nigeria,we use to say na for god hand we dey)

My question: Do Ghanaians have this?

My Answer: NO!

Constantin:

My question: Do Ghanaians have this?

My Answer: NO!

I dont know much about Ghana, never been there, but whatever they have, their government sure manages tourism  better than ours have even done!!! Rather than taking a snipe at fellow africans who are at least trying to do something for themselves(they are not perfect) maybe we can borrow a leaf from their books and at least try to start from somewhere and ensure the current resurgance of tourism does not fail. We do have a history of starting but not finishing or maintaining past projects.

na according to constantin- those are "tiny" countires

tiny countries on the raod to bigger things, hopefully we wont start begging them for visa soon

@topic,
you mean there are groups that actually plan and take trips to africa(non - research) just for the fun of it?- Wow, i'm impressed. And you actually came to Nigeria, even more impressed despite all the bad and negative images and stories i hear are broadcasted to you guys, now i am overwhelmed.

Five Gbosas(kindalike thumbs-up to you and your co-travellers) for such moves

I suggest you visit again around december to catch the Cross River festival

Cheers

Kokscity:

Hey Ghana Airways adverts runs constantly in the states and there are direct flights unlike Naija.
long silence and it comes down to where it more favorable.

Ghana Airways ceased operations 3 years ago. Ghana's national carrier is now Ghana International, which only covers the London and Johannesburg routes. Perhaps u were referring to Ghana tourism campaigns funded by the Ghanaian govt.

I used to think Ghana had more stable economy than Nigeria. That's because i've read alot of comments by Nigerians saying that.
Anyway, Some ghanaian pissed me off so i decided to research about that country, i ended finding out that Ghana do not have better economy than Nigeria. According to UN, in 2002 they did but in 2008, our economy passed theirs. I also read that country use more Foreign aid than any other African country.

N-way @ poster
We have overpopulation, etc. Do you actually think we need more people in Nigeria. I heardthe AA's going to Ghana, ends up living in that country. Abeg, we have other African livingin Nigeria. We have overpopulation, etc. N-way, ifthey fix the tourism in Nigeria, then that's Good.

Ifygurl:


N-way @ poster
We have overpopulation, etc. Do you actually think we need more people in Nigeria. I heardthe AA's going to Ghana, ends up living in that country. Abeg, we have other African livingin Nigeria. We have overpopulation, etc. N-way, ifthey fix the tourism in Nigeria, then that's Good.

Nigeria has population density of 142 ppl / km2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density and is only 74th in the world. Rich countries such as UK, Switzerland, Japan and Hong Kong have more "overpopulation". It's not how many people you have per sq km, but how much money there is per sq km.

i am an american living here in nigeria (lagos) with my hubby. with the offensive ways people treat me here it is any wonder why tourist would come here. between the racial remarks (oyee-bo and hey whitey) touching me without permission, talking about me in front of me like im stupid or non existant, changing the prices of objects when i go to buy them. wtf

ha hmm

Agathamari, hope you dont mind me asking, but are you European?

They call people Oyibo even if they are Nigerian. In Ghana they would call you Obroni. It means the same thing.

I understand about the touching etc, but have you really been to Nigeria or have you been to Lagos?
There is a difference.

Koksity, I dont mean to sound rude, but you sound like someone who has done no research at all before making your contribution. There has been so much investment in tourism in Cross river state. from the carnival, to the almost week long concerts they have in December. Obudu ranch etc, this all takes time. Fashola is also looking into tourism for Lagos. I agree there needs to be a more deliberate effort and investment, but befor Nigeria looks into making tghe place lovely for visitors, let ordinary Nigerians enjoy living there.

londoner:

Agathamari, hope you dont mind me asking, but are you European?

They call people Oyibo even if they are Nigerian. In Ghana they would call you Obroni. It means the same thing.

I understand about the touching etc, but have you really been to Nigeria or have you been to Lagos?
There is a difference.

Koksity, I dont mean to sound rude, but you sound like someone who has done no research at all before making your contribution. There has been so much investment in tourism in Cross river state. from the carnival, to the almost week long concerts they have in December. Obudu ranch etc, this all takes time. Fashola is also looking into tourism for Lagos. I agree there needs to be a more deliberate effort and investment, but befor Nigeria looks into making tghe place lovely for visitors, let ordinary Nigerians enjoy living there.

in from NYC i have been living in nigeria for over 2 years now in various parts. people in the east tend to be more well behaved then here in lagos. havent spent much time up north. my best friend here is from LA and has been here 7 years. another from china for 4 1/2 years thank you very much. i hate to tell you but you would have no idea what it is like to be a white woman in nigeria unless you were one.

@Agathamari, you must admit, there are the bad sides to being a foreigner, but you know what you actually have more good afforded to you by simply being a White woman in Africa.

You say I would not know, yes I am Black, but born and raised in the UK, I also get grabbed in the markets in fact if you were just to watch instead of thinking its just happening to you a "white woman", you would notice it happens to many woman even those born and raised there. its very notorious. Along with the special inflated prices, all Nigerians who have been outside the country can attest the same happens to them.

Oyibo is something they also call people like me, I was referred to as Oyibo and I am a full blooded Igbo.

You have more in common with Black Nigerians then you have probably ever considered when it comes to social norms. Much of it comes from simply being female, not from being white.

I hate it just as much as you do when its happening to me, but you know what, why should you get special treatment?

The only difference is we dont share the pedastal many Nigerians put you on, which you take as normal.
They may call ypou oyibo in Nigeria, but some parts of the world I get called the |N word, want to swap?

as far as the N word goes i have never used it, my familt members have never used it nor have my friends. a poll in the new york times found that only 5% of the population has admited to using that word in any context other then reading a history book or portraying a dated movie/play. people here teach thier children to call us that. i have never heard of anyone saying can you say N? but daily i hear say hello to auntie oyebo. what special treatment? i cant leave my house alone without being harrased often physically. if igo out in the car we get stoped by anyone in a uniform telling us we have to give them money without doing anything wrong. i was held by lastma for 2 hours for sitting in a car next to another car where another woman was sitting. they demanded 25000 niara to release me and the car and told the other woman to go. other people i have met here have gone through the same thing and just dont leave thier homes/hotel rooms. is this special treatment? is this that pedastal you talked of? name one country in the civilized world where they do this to other people. as far an the N word yes today it is viewed as offensive but the word itself means the color black in latin the other n word is the color black in spanish. its one thing to call me the color white as in look at the white lady (dont address me as hey white) it is something completly different to call me skinless or weak (translation of the word from the orriginal yourba). i dont give a damn about being called yankee/americano/or mick because i am those thiengs but dont put me in the same gerneal description as the british/frensh (seen as an grave insult to people in the US)

[b]Aghatamari you are so funny, how i wish you can come down to Asia, malaysia in particulat and see how the white are treating the blacks. I am a Nigeria schooling in Kuala Lumpur district in Malaysia. I regretted coming here but i have no one to blame but myself for coming here. I am married to a black America from San francisco Ca and she has visited me three times in Nigeria and once in Malaysia. She discover the big difference of racism in Malaysia and Nigeria. Infact she enjioned travelling to Nigeria than Asia continent full of racism.When i booked for a car here they charge twice the real amount or take you in the cab and passed through a long routh to your destination so that you pay more for your trip just because you are a black. Even that one is a small issue compare to closing their mouth and nose each time they come in contact with a black man or woman. Any black here in Malaysia will testify to these facts, can you imagine such an insult and am sure you don't face that in Nigeria if not, i known by now you would have probably boarded the next plane back home.So to me these broblem is all over the world only God will save us. And for this simple reason of racial discrimination a lot of people are not doing the will of God just imagine what the last day of God judgement will be like.

fomski1:

[b]Aghatamari you are so funny, how i wish you can come down to Asia, malaysia in particulat and see how the white are treating the blacks. I am a Nigeria schooling in Kuala Lumpur district in Malaysia. I regretted coming here but i have no one to blame but myself for coming here. I am married to a black America from San francisco Ca and she has visited me three times in Nigeria and once in Malaysia. She discover the big difference of racism in Malaysia and Nigeria. Infact she enjioned travelling to Nigeria than Asia continent full of racism.When i booked for a car here they charge twice the real amount or take you in the cab and passed through a long routh to your destination so that you pay more for your trip just because you are a black. Even that one is a small issue compare to closing their mouth and nose each time they come in contact with a black man or woman. Any black here in Malaysia will testify to these facts, can you imagine such an insult and am sure you don't face that in Nigeria if not, i known by now you would have probably boarded the next plane back home.So to me these broblem is all over the world only God will save us. And for this simple reason of racial discrimination a lot of people are not doing the will of God just imagine what the last day of God judgement will be like.

Don't mind agathamari, she has been hanging around lagos for too long. Oyinbo is derogatory if you choose to view it that way. It has no racial undertones and is a word simply used to describe european and non european foreigners. Nigerians do not use this in such a manner as to offend the person. Point blank.

As far as touching and grabbing, its a cultural thing which I am surprised you have not gotten used to by now obviously coming from a society that views proximity as an invasion of privacy. I mean if you moved to the kalahari desert with the san people you don't expect them to conform to your social norms do you?

Please visit Abuja and see how "Oyinbo" dey waka up and down there enjoying themselves and being given prefrential treatment just because.


PS a foreigner who is not localized will be taken advantage off anywhere in the world. This is true of brazil, South Africa china and so on.

I doubt if you've lived in Nigeria for as long as you say you have , you are not already familiar with the tactics used to extort money from people.

Please watch this deaf oyinbo girl get around Abuja being familiar with Typical extortion tactics. i wonder why you would have a bigger problem is she is brave enough


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl50goRPRoU&feature=related

Nigeia has got bigger issues to sort out, its also just not an attractive tourist destination and I dont even think the toursit industry or african americans is that big

@ fomski
cab drivers charge more as well in turkey

Interesting post.

The truth is, Nigeria does have the potential to be a prime tourist destination. However, the many political problems have not really allowed for the sort of stable environment required to develop any potentials for tourism.

For much of Nigeria's history, we have been under a series of repressive and abominably corrupt governments, and the vestiges are still there till now. The social system is heavily constrained by the crushing weight of a corrupt and repressive political system, so there can't really be any meaningful development in the tourism industry for now.

So often on this forum whenever the question had been asked, what do Nigerians have against Ghanaians that makes them react so negatively to anything Ghana?, the answer had been….no, we don’t have anything against Ghana. It is the other way round.Ghanaians don’t like us, blab bla bla. But reading through this particular thread provides some intriguing insight into the negativity that pervades this forum.

How did a post asking why Nigeria has not done as much as Ghana and Brazil to woo African American tourists turn into a commentary on the Ghanaian economy?

Yes, Ghana gets some external support for budget etc. Western governments trust that whatever resources they provide to Ghana will be used for the good of the people. They will not put their money in countries where officials will loot and steal the treasury blind. And having some external funding component in your budget is really entirely not bad. It makes you more conscious of the need to fulfill goals outlined in the budget statement. The same cannot be said of some countries (who fund their budgets by themselves) and whose leaders read their annual budgets and yet implement only about 10 percent of what they had promised and go ahead to pocket the remainder.

It would also be wrong to suggest that Nigeria gets nothing from Western donors. They may not give money directly to the Nigerian govt (for reasons some of which I have outlined above), but they provide substantial funding for NGOs in Nigeria. I know that to be a fact. Nigeria gets more foreign help with NGO activities than any other country in Africa. So from my point of view, whether the funding comes in the form of budget support or NGO funding, it is still money from donor nations. And what is more important to me is which country uses its resources better?

I also hope folks here will focus on issues raised in threads rather than needless distractions.

Nigeria has more pressing issues to sort out first, like political stability/electricity etc. The gov first has a mandate of the people, before holiday makers. Having said that, I think people often make uninformed assertions. There are state governments which are actually doing ALOT for tourism potentials in Nigeria. As I mentioned earlier, Cross River state. They are also trying to make the state a holiday destination for Nigerians.

@K4, most of this thread does not even mention Ghana, so how has it become about the Ghanaian economy? It was about three posts out of twenty four which mentioned Ghana, then went back to the main topic, so maybe you are just overreacting.

Hero:

I'm an African American as some of you may know. I was just wondering why is it that Nigeria unlike Ghana and Brazil and others has not began a program to tap into the wealth of African American tourism, most of which is being ushered off to Caribbean and Europe?? And NO, it's not because we don't want to visit. That notion by many Africans is totally unfounded when addressed to the majority of the AfAm population in this day and age.

I personally know many, many fellow African Americans whom have stated that they'd love to visit Africa someday, and beyond that,  have insinuated that they see such a visit as somewhat of a Islamic-like pilgrimage to Mecca event for all blacks in diaspora to take part in,  aka,  a pilgrimage in which all blacks should make at least once in their lifetime before they die. I've been 4 times, 2 of which included visits to Naija, and I loved every one of them, and can't wait to go on another.

My dad is part of an African American tourism group in which goes on a trip to Africa every other year. And on the in-between years they go to Brazil, the Caribbean, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and such other heavily African descended areas. Now with all of that said, one thing in which I along with the fellow AfAm's whom were on the these trips to Africa with me experienced was the fact of that,  unlike when we visited the Caribbean or Brazil,  in Africa we, in large, were not seen as fellow brothers and sisters by the natives,  but rather little different than our white counterparts, and in some cases worst than.

In Nigeria and some parts of Ghana too,  we were frequently addressed as Akatas(sp), and often in Nigeria, the term,  Oyebos(sp) was addressed to us. We later learned that these terms were derogative in nature, and that Oyebo was actually a term mostly addressed to whites, so by being called this,  we were seen as little more than darkened whites by many.  Hurtful as that was to hear, we didn't let such things expressed by the ignorance of some ruin our trips, and we ended up meeting lots of interesting people, exploring beautiful lands and wishing to return sooner than later.

On my first trip to Africa there was only like 40 AfAm's on the tour,  we all went back and talked about how great it was and on the second tour I went on there was like 100 AfAm's. We left from that tour and again told everyone how great it was, and then by the time I took my 3rd tour,  there was about 145-150 AfAm's on the tour. Then by the time I took my 4th and final tour there was a whopping 235-250 AfAms on the tour. And that's just one tour out of tens of similar tours in which had left out that same year,  full of AfAm's looking to make that long awaited pilgrimage back to or to,  for the first time, Mother Africa.

Ghana, Senegal, Egypt, South Africa and Kenya are primary destinations for African American tourist,  for that they present the greatest incentives to this market. If you build it,  they will come!! If Nigeria builds a marketing incentive for AfAm's to come to Nigeria, they will come in droves and pump lots of its ((($800Bill))) in wealth into the Naija market while they're at it.  They'll buy land, houses and more, if only the proper incentive is given to them to do so.

Don't believe me, just ask Ghana about how serious we are about this. Within just a few years after that nation has implemented several major incentives to increase African American involvement in the nation,  the number of African Americans visiting the nation yearly has been growing rapidly, as has the number of these individuals whom are buying/building up homes and land in the nation; investing in companies, and building others.

While the Nigerian government is creating incentives for entrepreneurial White Zimbabweans to come to Nigeria and live, Ghana has been and continues to,  create incentives for entrepreneurial African Americans and other blacks in diaspora to come to Ghana and invest their time, talent and wealth,  and thus far it's wilding great results. Thousands of African Americans already live full-time or part time in that nation, and guaranteed thousands more will follow suite in the near future.

CLICK LINK BELOW:

http://odili.net/news/source/2005/dec/28/424.html

To be honest, I feel Ghanian and Brazilian government care's more for tourism exchange with african americans then the Nigerian government. Even the south african government has out reach programs for african americans but the Nigerian government doesn't really see it as a priority, to be honest I don't see that ever changing. However the Nigerian government is doing more programs when it comes to tourism but not directly at one demographic or aggressively like Ghanians. Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with Ghana's or Nigeria's path, but it isn't as clear cut as you make it seem.

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I must also add though that I have noticed that ghanians and african american tend to connect better with each other then Nigerians and african americans, not so much with culture but the Afrocentric philosophy african americans embrace is more en-lined with the pan-africanism philosophy view Ghanians embrace but Nigerians don't embrace either philosophy. I am not siding any side just saying what I have observed.

,.