I was at a large book store (in a major european city) last night and was going through several books. There was this book about West African countries ( published by (www.lonelyplanet.com) and as a true Nigerian, I checked for my country. What I read was disheartening. It read thus and right on the first page.;

Nigeria famous for corruption and e-mail scams.

This is annoying, I mean its unfair. Why would they do this to us, Just assume you are a tourist and you had this desire to visit Nigeria. How would you react if you pick up a book about The Giant of Africa and the only thing its famous for are negative things, definitely, you would not want to come to Nigeria. There is no country in the world that isn't corrupt.

WE need to right this wrong. I'm truly offended.

iice:

Na today? Have had a negative image long time ago!

I wonder oooooooooooooooooooooooh! What do we do about it is the question that defies all answers!

MILITIA:

I wonder oooooooooooooooooooooooh! What do we do about it is the question that defies all answers!

(Now you've got me started )

Same way the Jews dealt with their 'image' as shylocks - rebuild our Nation as a proud, corrupt-free country, where there is no tolerance for bribery, scams, official looting, and where probity and accountability are our watchwords and the consequences of non-compliance are meted out without fear or favour.

The rebirth of our nation will go a long way towards redeeming our image.

The 'allow now' culture must stop, where we are permissive of injustice for the sake of a phantom peace.

Big bros is back!!!!!  Welcome jare Ugwumba!!!  You were terribly missed!!!!

Ugwumba:

(Now you've got me started )

Same way the Jews dealt with their 'image' as shylocks - rebuild our Nation as a proud, corrupt-free country, where there is no tolerance for bribery, scams, official looting, and where probity and accountability are our watchwords and the consequences of non-compliance are meted out without fear or favour.

The rebirth of our nation will go a long way towards redeeming our image.
The 'allow now' culture must stop, where we are permissive of injustice for the sake of a phantom peace.

How is the problem, how?  No plan to stop the "now culture"!  It is like terminal cancer only a miracle can cure!  When I stop to consider the fact that most of us still think that the only way to get ahead is to "cheat, steal, lie and trifle, I am sad that we are doomed to exist only as a non-entity nation---Nigeria!   How do we start when we have leaders and citizens who despite a church and mosque in every street corner in Nigeria can still opt for doing what is wrong and still sleep comfortably at night?

The whole world doesn't just go out painting a nation black if they don't have anything to gain by doing so. For centuries they didn't care about the image of China because China wasn't moving anywhere and it was minding its own. But look at the good job they've done out of painting China black in the last 10 years because of it progress and independence . You can decide to overlook it and continue doing your thing to get to where you want to be, or you can let all the negativity pull you down and waste away your future.

Have you asked yourself whether there's nothing bad about Cameroun. Just wait till Cameroun starts on its way to rapid progress or when Cameroun stops being a yesman to Europe and the US. That is when they will remember that Camerounians are poor, they eat monkeys, they killed several Nigerians in Bakassi, it is possible one of the strains of HIV started in Cameroun and is most prominent there. Just wait and see.

denex:

The whole world doesn't just go out painting a nation black if they don't have anything to gain by doing so. For centuries they didn't care about the image of China because China wasn't moving anywhere and it was minding its own. But look at the good job they've done out of painting China black in the last 10 years because of it progress and independence . You can decide to overlook it and continue doing your thing to get to where you want to be, or you can let all the negativity pull you down and waste away your future.

Have you asked yourself whether there's nothing bad about Cameroun. Just wait till Cameroun starts on its way to rapid progress or when Cameroun stops being a yesman to Europe and the US. That is when they will remember that Camerounians are poor, they eat monkeys, they killed several Nigerians in Bakassi, it is possible one of the strains of HIV started in Cameroun and is most prominent there. Just wait and see.

True word oh!!! But how do we proceed given the socio-econo-political climate in Nigeria now?----

Thanks to everyone for your comments and like MILITIA said, how do we promote the socio-economic climate in Nigeria? plus are they trying to say that other nations aren't corrupt? the USA is by far a more corrupt nation but they always have ways of cleaning up their dirts.

The other thing I think is affecting us is the fact that we are less patriotic, we dont always stand up, we are just not vocal enough!!! I mean a Nigerain guy was killed in spain and only a few ppl came out in London to protest, a city where you have tens and thousands of Nigerians, too bad,

On the image of our country, we need to do something that will go a long way,

do you know what it will mean to have a positive image of Nigeria?

1. a country with 150million
2. 2.3million barrel of oil per day
3. Paid cash $18billion
4. hardworking people


Investment will be driven away from South Africa.

Nigeria image must be battered as much as possible to allow other to move. Thats say on this.

We should correct our mistakes which directly concern us. When we hear news that Nigeria has the worst death rate in the world, as long as we are not seeing people falling dead daily at the bus-stop, let's carry on with our lives and forget about them.

You can imagine an organization that is being sponsored by a certain government. These organizations always forget to mention their sponsors as the most corrupt, or human rights abusive. Below you will find a link of the fraud case against AOL Time Warner. A case which was used by the Bush Government to turn CNN from anti-Bush to pro-Bush.

www.thestreet.com/tech/georgemannes/10199219.htm

then, for the organizations they cannot blackmail directly, they are the major contributor. eg our dearest Transparency International. You will then not wonder why they had no opinions about the Bush-Gore elections of 2000. But they are not just stopping there, they go further to say the enemies of Bush are corrupt. i.e Venezuela.

Our media (or lack of it) is a big problem

I think you ONLY have yourselves to blame!

I dont have to go very far. In Nairaland! For bigfoot's sake, Nigerians ar ebusy painting Nigeria black! There is a thread in which most Nigerians are busy selling Nigerians to be fraudulent. Why do that Are you trying to tell me that Nigeria is the ONLY country which is saturated with fraudsters. No! We (South Africans) also have fraudster big time. But, you wont hear us going around publicising it. The crime im my country is unthinkable however, we still manage to sell our country. Juvinile delinquency is rife in London but not ONCE, did I hear an Englishman singing it out loud!

Follow this link posted by a Nigerian: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-67773.0.html
Why in the Almighty's name would one do that The topic subject is so inviting yet its contents are repelling. You dont think that would envite me to visit Nigeria if I was planning to do you?

I say, charity begins at home and you ALL need to be good Nigerian Embassadors.

word

To Angelheart,

Thanks a lot, it is one of the most logical posts I've ever read on nairaland.

@AngelHeart

one of the problems the people have is that there is no independent news source in Nigeria.

There are the privately owned media sources who wait only to recycle news from CNN and BBC. These are the STVs, the AITs and MBIs. If CNN says that the world doesn't exist, they too will say that the world doesn't exist. They will say it the same very way, even going as far as trying to imitate the tone and the body language used on CNN and BBC. These are the main poisoners of Nigerians' minds. They only want to carry bad news about Nigeria.

There's bad news everywhere, but they just prefer that of Nigeria. There's all sorts of news in Nigeria but they just prefer the bad.

Then there's the second group of Media houses. The NTAs and the State televisions. Everything about NTA tells you that the Nigerian situation is just next to Utopia. Everything is about perfect. Just like the first "matrix" that the machines built. Because Nigerians know that this definitely can't be true, they turn to Group 1 which tells them everything is bad.

@denex
this is the second time i am seeing you being so matured with your post in nairaland and keep it up!! and don't go about being childish most times

@topic
angelheart you nailed it there

a potential Africa super power scares the shit out of the west and their media, so they will do everything they can to tarnish our image

@denex, pls with all due respect, i dont agree with you that AIT is one of the private owned tv stations that wait for other int'l tv stations to broadcast their news.

Infact AIT is the best in NIGERIA, i am not missing words or trying to b sentimental, ever since i started watching this station, i cant stop but wish to see more of it, THEY give life broadcast of any evenT, both for govt and individuals, say what othe stations cannot say, they give us news that are not meant for the public []according to the fed govt, WHY DO OYU THINK that the AIT lagos was set ablaze n the in Abuja destroyed, cassette seized, many harm have been done to them severaly, so they are not local champions, but giant of brdcastin i NIGERIA, just like they will say, they BREAK D NEWS, why others SEARCH.

LET THE WHITES SAY WHATEVER THEY WANT, LET THEM SAY, I BELIEVE ONE DAY, NIGERIA WILL BE ONE OF THE GREAT COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD, MANY COUNTRIES WILL BOW DOWN WHEN THEY HEAR THE NAME NIGERIAN, OUR GOVT WILL BE REASONBLE, our economy will change for the beta, grt things will hapen in dis nation, that will make the world to stand for days wailing, so dont worry brothers n sisters, Rome was not build in a day, we will surely get there, no mata howl ong it takes.

LETS WORK FOR IT

I agree with wafarian on AIT being good. I was in Nigeria when the Bellview crash happened and AIT was the one who found the crash site and broadcast it after several hours of misleading news from the govt and other media houses including CNN and BBC. And they were rewarded by being shut down!

Hi Folks,

Let me give my 2 cents on the issue disccussed so far. There are four areas I will like to touch upon
1. We have a problem in Nigeria
2. Western world expects only bad news from Africa
3. The media cultures are different
4. What we can do to in our own little way

1. It is a fact that we have issues, problems in Nigeria and we broadcast this to the world everytime because we are the most populous black country in the world. We are the 5th largest oil exporter to the US so Uncle Sam is always looking at us and watching anything that happens.

2. The western media feeds their audience what they want to hear. A documentary or news of good things from Africa will not sell or arouse as much as bad news. The most recent case is the kidnap of the 3 year old in Nigeria. None of the western media reported that the mother was Nigerian. All they reported was that the father was british. Now look at the case of the british kid that was kidnapped of recent (I think in the Phillipines or somewhere). The media reported that the parent were british. Now the innuendo here may be subtle but recognising a Nigerian parent will kind of dilute the impact of the message: Kidnappers in Nigeria are brutal and they only kidnap foreigners.

3. I think this is the most important of all my points. The media culture is different. Western media hypes a lot: polish the truth, exagerates and tells only part of the story. I was a consultant so I have an idea of how to spin whatever information whichever way you want to spin it. In Africa, our media does not hype and they don't know how to hype. For example, you don't see the projects (settlement for poor people), reserves (where the whites have forced the indians to live in poverty) in mainstream media in the western world, all you see are pictures wallstreet, whitehouse, etc. While in Nigeria, how many times have you seen the picture of aso rock in the news but we can all remember oshodi pictures.

4. How do we bring about a change? The most critical solution has been discussed. Clean up our acts. Forget image laundering, we need to clean our country and start doing things better. The western media will resist this (Ghana has been prosperous fo so long now but how many times have you heard about Ghana in the western media). But with time, they will come around and will become our friend. Case in point: China.

Angelheart:

I think you ONLY have yourselves to blame!

I don't have to go very far. In Nairaland! For bigfoot's sake, Nigerians ar ebusy painting Nigeria black! There is a thread in which most Nigerians are busy selling Nigerians to be fraudulent. Why do that Are you trying to tell me that Nigeria is the ONLY country which is saturated with fraudsters. No! We (South Africans) also have fraudster big time. But, you wont hear us going around publicising it. The crime im my country is unthinkable however, we still manage to sell our country. Juvinile delinquency is rife in London but not ONCE, did I hear an Englishman singing it out loud!

Follow this link posted by a Nigerian: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-67773.0.html
Why in the Almighty's name would one do that The topic subject is so inviting yet its contents are repelling. You don't think that would envite me to visit Nigeria if I was planning to do you?

I say, charity begins at home and you ALL need to be good Nigerian Embassadors.

Angleheart you just reminded me of one comment by a camerounian friend, he said Nigerians criticise so much he wonders why anyone should aspire to be president.

Why we have to be so negative, I don't know. May God help us

what people think about us matters but what matters more is what we think about ourselves.
yar adua, publicly confessed to coming to power through the wrong means. does this require a prophet to say we are corrupt.
alamasiya building a refinary outside nigeria while his state is one of the worst states in nigeria in terms of facilities, tony annenih diverting funds mearnt for federal roads, andy uba caught in money laundary via presidential jet, obj valued at 20 thousand 8 years ago and presently valued at 180 billion, okonjow iweala the much celebrated minister puched out of power without explanations,chris uba forcing hell on the people of anambra and confessing to mass rigging in elections, adedibu been a lord of his own and dictacting the pace in a state (oyo).
if we want to be truthful to ourselves, we know where we belong and prayer is the only way out.

@all

This is not new at all to someone like me because i have read and seen a lot about western media trying to paint us bad at all cost. I still dont know why CNN has not come out and apologise to us after it fired its reporter( jeff koinange) in an issue which may be connected to the doc on the niger delta militants where the reporter used its media power to dent the image of our country, our minister defended the country in a telephone conversation with jim clancy on CNN that the story was contrived.

Come to think of this scam issue, one may say some of the victims are either stupid or greedy because i have come accross some formats used by yahoo boys and you will laugh and ask yourself if a 10 year old kid will ever think the stories painted are real.

A friend in U.K. told me that some companies will delibrately honour payments from a fake credit card because they know insurance will make good any loss suffered eventually. I have once asked myself that if boys that are half educated ( Y.Y. boys) can dupe companies and banks in U.S. and U.K., then where is all thier so called HIGH TECH

I dont think we should loose our heads because westerners are taking the advantage of the bad eggs amongst us to colour the entire country bad, recently in the U.S., a naija native ( MR OLOKO) was appointed into one of the highest judicial position in YANKI despite all the negatives.

To all my bros and sis all over the globe, Osama bim ladin is from saudI arabia, yet the UK and US are still giving more visas to dudes from that country than they give to an african.



PEACE

proudly naija boy

Quote ' think you ONLY have yourselves to blame!

I don't have to go very far. In Nairaland! For bigfoot's sake, Nigerians ar ebusy painting Nigeria black! There is a thread in which most Nigerians are busy selling Nigerians to be fraudulent. Why do that Are you trying to tell me that Nigeria is the ONLY country which is saturated with fraudsters. No! We (South Africans) also have fraudster big time. But, you wont hear us going around publicising it. The crime im my country is unthinkable however, we still manage to sell our country. Juvinile delinquency is rife in London but not ONCE, did I hear an Englishman singing it out loud!

Follow this link posted by a Nigerian: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-67773.0.html
Why in the Almighty's name would one do that The topic subject is so inviting yet its contents are repelling. You don't think that would envite me to visit Nigeria if I was planning to do you?

I say, charity begins at home and you ALL need to be good Nigerian Embassadors."

@Seun: Question is why has the referenced post not been removed by the administretor. If we are serious about cleaning up our image, let us start by using our hands and not just complaining about it.
@ all posters, we could vote and agree that on this website, unnecessary negative image projection of Nigeria will not be tolerated. this may seem small but IT is an effort.
@iice: If you say what you said, I wonder. Don't you think it will be nice if we start having a good image at least in our own eyes?

Onigba lo pe igba e ni ekufo ti omo araye fi baa ko le. I hope I got that right.

God has a reason for making us Nigerians, we will be asked, seriously think about it.

I must agree with FLT123 on his points on Nigeria. As well as Angelheart's point that charity does begins at home!

Yeah the image of Nigeria worldwide is negative as well as the identity of the country. What can we do about it?
There are many things for instance to start with shaping up our identity rather than to think what the world think about us.
GO Forward Nigeria!!!!!!

@Angelheart

Must we hide our realities under the guise of projecting a positive image? Maybe if we had more outstanding places than the ones that make you shake your head in pity/disgust, we would gladly show them to the world. Most cities in Nigeria lack infrastructure, good roads and simple aesthetics.  Let me give you one good point to note: I'm sure you have drains in South Africa and you have "walked on top" of many without noticing them because they are well covered and maintained. The situation is different in Nigeria. There's this assumption that drains must be open for all to see the murky, stinking water and rubbish. If the decide to clear the drains during one of the sham, time-wasting environmental sanitation exercises, they leave the rubbish at the sides of the road just outside the drains! I don't care what you think, but I'm not bothered if you think this is negative press.

The pics above say or show the negative things about Nigeria that are real. We see situations like that everyday and there's no use deceiving tourists to come and see them. In fact, when the ministry of tourism is ready, they will need to advice the powers that be to clean up their acts and use common sense to govern people. The craze for money has blinded the politicians and dulled their senses too. That's why they can afford to buy limos and 100kUSD cars to drive on earth roads and pot hole ridden "expressways". Common sense will tell a governor that he needs to make good roads for the people in the hinterland so as to enable access to agricultural products. We learnt that in geography years ago.

As one contributor above said, the important thing for us all now is how to correct these negative things. When our leaders start implementing what they see during their many sojourns abroad in their search for foreign investors, then things will improve. For example, considering the issue of drains, is it rocket science to have trucks ready for the dumping of the rubbish being cleared from the drains during sanitation? Is it not what people pay tax for?

I Think, the world and especially, some counties, dont wanna see the progress of Nigeria, i wont say, if they have an interest or they just feel happy each time there is misfortunes in Nigeria. For God sake, there are Kidnapping, everywhere in the world, but when it happens in Niger delta, BBC and some media, would magnify the issue, as if its something new in our vocabulary! it amazes me, am not saying that what the Niger delta guys are doing is right, but for God sake, let us be. and i feel some of our leaders are playing house-boys to they so called World Leader or they are just been diplomatic, i really dont know which one dem dey, cos i never see. Sometimes, some journalist residing in Nigeria working for all those International Media(BBC and CNN) are not helping matters, cos just because you are been paid in Naira or Dollars, i dont really care, does not mean u should sell your country.

its so because what you see is what you get in nigeria, corruption and greed everywhere.
nobody cares about anybody else and until that changes, nothing changes

@ all

Nigeria has a negative Worldwide image, because:

1. Things are really bad in naija--- 30%
2. Really negative publicity- internally and externally---20%
3. Government has no clue how to fix the image and the problem---50%

The public institutions have institutionalized corruption; from the presidency to the customs official to the PHCN man to the policeman.

The real problem with Nigeria are Nigerians themselves. If we don't give bribes, will corruption be as rampant as it is?

No be today business.
Na tee te e

So everybody shun

E go beta!!

Hello Guys, Corruption, bribe taking, stealing etc are all cost by one thing or the other, a person who is frustrated and needs something to do can easily take to any thing as far it will fetch him or her moni [i will not blame that kind of person], a bishop in warri once said that if he heard or see any mobile police man kill an armed robber in delta state, he will sue the police to court, why because wen work are not provided notin to look up to, whats the nest thing to do in other not to die by the cold hands of poverty, thats by the way, imagine somebody who trained himself throught primary to university, graduated with good results n end up riding Okada, do u tink that kind of person will b happy, if it happends that some1 ask him to use the Okada to carry him out for robery he will not hesitate, so we should look at these from all angels.

For example, the fastest swimmer in this whole world, if they should put him in the biggest river in the world, he will swim, swim, swim and die, because it s not a swimming pool but a river, he can swim one quata of it, Govt realy needs to put tins in order, hlpe the masses to grow, i dont blieve there is any body that does not know what to do, but because some tins r not in place, we sometimes find it dificult to fulfil our dreams, THE GOVT NEEDS TO HLPE THIS NATION TO GROW, we need thier help seriously in all ways, i pray GOd touch there mind and help ease things

These stealing, kidnapping etc do happen in other countries, its just that, them say na the mess wey poor man mess, na im dey smell pass, so na so we c am, MAKE THEM TLK them go tire, them go join us one day celebrate the growth of this nation