excellent points ell77. But I gotta say other citizens buy Naija products as well. Plus there is nothing like propelling your country by physically being there. Strength in numbers I say and I gotta say, a whole lot of Nigerians have abandoned Nigeria, a whole lot. We are undoubtely the most in number of Africans in the USA compared to any other African nation, bar none. And alot of the people living are smart resourceful people (and those that say are smart and resourceful as well ofcourse, to survive in Nigeria takes as much wit, strength and smarts and resourcefullness than starting out in a so called First world country like the UK, US or other Western Nations if not more.) But don't get it twisted, people work here in these Western Countries, I will even go far as to say people are slaves to their jobs in the USA for example. You think about not having a job for 1 month or even 2 months. There goes your house payment, car payment, credit card bills and so on. The American dream is a dream for most people, very VERY few people strike it rich in this country so all your hard work mostly goes to propelling THIS COUNTRY (I am using USA as an example ofcourse) and its economy and industry and infastructure.

Perhaps I should change the topic and say NIGERIAN CITIZEN. I know most Nigerians are proud of their heritage and descent and I apologize if anyone took my topic to mean you where not Nigerian by blood. I simply meants as a citizen.

@Shango - If you did not mean to cause offence then I for one can accept your apology. I understood what you said. You too made some very good points. Just wan't to make some points though for you to remember about Nigeria and nigerians. The largest population of Black people in the world are Nigerians, so by virtue of numbers alone you will find more Nigerians than Ghanaians, Somalians etc. It does not necessarily equate to people ABANDONING their country. Afterall, if you step inside Nigeria today, you can hardly call it vacant. In fact, the opposite, it is extremely overpopulated. Similar to Indians and Chinese - thats one fo the reasons you will find these three groups anywhere - because there are more of us. 1 in 4 Africans are Nigerian. Go to Ghana and Ethiopia you will see even though the countries themselves are not so huge the country is still not densely populated.

Also, if you are poor in Nigeria you may make some contibution but if there is a possibility for you to go elsewhere establish yourself and return to Nigeria richer with more to give your fellow people besides empty open palms. Isn't that better? I'm not saying, people must leave naija to get rich, i firmly believe alot of Nigerians would have been better off if they had stayed in there own country! But sometimes a temporary relocation is what they feel they need to get out of the rut there in. This may be 1 month, 1 year or 30 years! As long as they hope to invest in Nigeria someday, then surely this is not such a crime. Afterall, Nigeria has many people but things are not working out, too little jobs and resources and too many people so adding to it will not add to the strength unless the people who come have something to bring with them i.e. jobs and resources. That I feel is where the strength will lie. Another thing is even if we all go to Nigeria and pay taxes, it is still the government that will decide if they will spend our taxes wisely and fairly and that is unfortunately out of the hands of you and I. I do understand what you are saying, but Nigeria's problems are complicated and they effect us all. Hopefully more people will strive to have a positive impact on Nigeria so that we can improve our country. I have my own plans but I guess not everyone thinks alike!

shango

o boy you killed it mehn. to answer that simple one-liner I offered, you basically went off and wrote me a fable.

truth be told young brother, I understand your blind patriotism, just know that it doesn't require a pentium-brained genius to realize that adoption of a foreign citizenship does not disqualify you from being Nigerian.

bo bo, if you read my original post properly you would have realized I said being a citizen is more than holding 2 passports. Because Nigeria lets you hold dual citizenship doesnt mean you are a real citizen of Nigeria. Being a citizen comes from actions not the status pieces of bound paper give you. That you missed that point of my argument is a damn shame. You killed it by not getting the main thesis of my original post. A damn shame.

Who then is a "real citizen" of Nigeria? Are you declaring that Nigerians based overseas can not act in ways that show they're Nigerian? Those who participate in the Nigerian-independence-day parade in America for example are just being national idiots? If anyone has killed it, it's you. you slaughtered it.

shango:

bo bo, if you read my original post properly you would have realized I said being a citizen is more than holding 2 passports. Because Nigeria lets you hold dual citizenship doesnt mean you are a real citizen of Nigeria. Being a citizen comes from actions not the status pieces of bound paper give you. That you missed that point of my argument is a damn shame. You killed it by not getting the main thesis of my original post. A damn shame.

and to tell you the truth, being a nigerian citizen doesn't come not solely from actions. Ask the Nigerian government they'll list you the requirements you must meet.

being a citizen comes from actions?

utter falsehood!

a 1 yr old kid who cannot talk or contribute ANYTHING to his nation still remains a citizen, citizenship is not something that is earned, it is a birthright

and unless a person of his own volition decides to lay it aside, neither you nor anyone who feels otherwise has a right or authority to say otherwise.

Whether or not Nigerians abroad or at home are living up to what you regard as the 'standard' or 'requisite contribution' to the nation's development is completely irrelevant. Since you did not bestow the citizenship on them, rather it was acquired by birth and not set aside, they remain citizens, even the crook 419 people, the brilliant scientists and the 9-5 ordinary jimoh, they are all Nigerians.

again you missed the point. Italian Americans and Irish Americans celebrate their native holidays every day even though they are 3 or 4th generation Americans. Parading down New York with a Nigerian flag is showing you are a citizen now? That is how being a true or good citizen is measured now? By parades? And we are not talking about what the government defines as citizenship or the requirements for hold dual passports. Again you missed my points entirely. I have pointed it out several times yet you continue to remain blind.

Again I (not Nigerian government) consider citizenship more than holding a passport and Nigerians should think this way as well. Citizenship is more than having status, being a true citizen is in one's actions and how it benefits the country they are a citizen of.

it is a birthright until you adopt another countries citizenship

it is not so hard to understand.

Being a US citizen and holding on to your Naija passport, working, paying taxes and re establishing your roots in the US, can you say with a straight face you are still a citizen of Nigeria

why do we like to delude ourselves

shango:

it is a birthright until you adopt another countries citizenship

A lot of Nigerians acquire dual citizenships at birth. Citizenship is a legal status not a measure of human contributions.John Fashanu is as much a citizen as is Clifford Orji

well if we just limit citizenship to a status then my argument will be moot to you. If you guys keep getting stuck on that point then we cannot even move forward in this discussion.

Just know that people in the intelligence field for example can acquire 10 to 20 passports for any country they wish and on paper would be afforded the same protection as any legal citizen due to their status on paper. I suppose we can call such undercover operatives true citizens of 20 countries as well.

I guess this discussion is over then

again you missed the point. Italian Americans and Irish Americans celebrate their native holidays every day even though they are 3 or 4th generation Americans.

3rd-gen or 4th-gen's beside the point, or I mean what about 1st-gen?  You're dead-set that they're no longer Nigerian nationals once they adopt foreign citizenship.  You're saying they must forfeit all claims to their Nigerian nationality, and that's not true.

Do you even understand what that means? "Nigerian"
there are many ways to being Nigerian.  Acquisition of a foreign-citizenship does little to strip you of that right.

THE PROBLEM WE ARE HAVING HERE IS NOT ABOUT CITIZENSHIP OR WHATEVER

the problem is those niggas that think anything good cannot come out of naija

any time they see small improvement  comming  in naija, fear go catch them

befor na shakara dem de use[b] turaya [/b] do. now GSM full every where
SMALL SMALL NAIJA  WILL BE GREAT INSHALLAH!

shango:

well if we just limit citizenship to a status then my argument will be moot to you. If you guys keep getting stuck on that point then we cannot even move forward in this discussion.

What do you mean limit? Isn't that what it is? A Status of being a citizen/ isn't it basically a membership in a community? the type of membership it is has no bearing on the status of that citizenshp.

@Shango

I am sure you are aware that a naturalized citizen can have his or her citizenship revoked
although I am certain you can't do same when citizenship is by birth in most countries.

If that was to happen to a Nigerian born but naturalized American citizen, please tell me
where you think the Yanks are sending that person back to. To France, UK, or Nigeria?

jim iyke thank you o.
ngbo shango .

Iyke-D:

@Shango

I am sure you are aware that a naturalized citizen can have his or her citizenship revoked
although I am certain you can't do same when citizenship is by birth in most countries.

If that was to happen to a Nigerian born but naturalized American citizen, please tell me
where you think the Yanks are sending that person back to. To France, UK, or Nigeria?

I believe back to Nigeria.

The "insult Nigeria by all means brigade" ran for cover once they knew Shango was resident in America. If Shango had not disclosed that fact, the "you are all jealous" "Its because you can't get American visa" brigade would have been having a field day. You can live in diaspora and still love Nigeria, haba Shango just proved it.

@Iyke-D

If that was to happen to a Nigerian born but naturalized American citizen, please tell me
where you think the Yanks are sending that person back to. To France, UK, or Nigeria?

We don't care if he is sent to the moon. Why should it be our problem?

Nigerians always accept their pple back if they repent from wrong doing.

You guys really don't get it - the Yanks will most likely do a "back to sender" unless that
individual have legal residency status elsewhere besides Nigeria and wants to go there.
Who the hell cares what you think or want? Its not your decision to make about where
that individual was born - it's already an irreversible fact!

Go to Murtala airport and check the immigration dept and see how many people are detained there, they are called stateless citizens. They don't belong here, thats why we got rid of them abi.

nobody is stateless, they were only not telling the truth, we all came from somewhere.

If you have a house and you lose it, you are declared homeless abi? Now if you have a country and nobody want you back then you're stateless. Who will take you?

lagos will

your country can not refuse you, if you have all evidence,but they can accept you and put you in jail if you are a criminal from where you are been deported, not reject you.

Paw-Paw:

Go to Murtala airport and check the immigration dept and see how many people are detained there, they are called stateless citizens. They don't belong here, thats why we got rid of them abi.

Same way you see stateless people in other country airports, who destroy their passports/return ticket or flush it down the plane toilet so that they can claim stateless on arrival and seek asylum. Note that a lot of Nigerians do it on arrival at foreign countries. These stateless people do not belong to those countries either.

Wonders!!!^{na wa ooo} How 1 thread created succeeds in creatin numerous vile threads

blah blah blah , ur black asx is stil nigerian,

Those who visit foreign nations, but associate only with their own country-men, change their climate, but not their customs. They see new meridians, but the same men; and with heads as empty as their pockets, return home with traveled bodies, but untravelled minds.
Charles Caleb Colton

k0be:

Those who visit foreign nations, but associate only with their own country-men, change their climate, but not their customs. They see new meridians, but the same men; and with heads as empty as their pockets, return home with traveled bodies, but untravelled minds.
Charles Caleb Colton

WORD!!! Pre-ee-each it, bro'.

k0be:

Those who visit foreign nations, but associate only with their own country-men, change their climate, but not their customs. They see new meridians, but the same men; and with heads as empty as their pockets, return home with traveled bodies, but untravelled minds.
Charles Caleb Colton

laudate:

WORD!!! Pre-ee-each it, bro'.

Haba! I hear you Laudate----I had to wake up from sleep to read this again to have my own copy.

K0be you too much as usual! Please more!

Those who visit foreign nations, but associate only with their own country-men, change their climate, but not their customs. They see new meridians, but the same men; and with heads as empty as their pockets, return home with traveled bodies, but untravelled minds.
Charles Caleb Colton

its funny, the English and other Western Europeans are the most guilty when it comes to this. And Mr. Colton was no exception. Who but an American for example, epitomizes the last part of that quote. A white American is the last person to visit a country and NOT go to the local macdonalds or starbucks looking for the same enclaves that existed in his home country.

I went to a Catholic jesuit highschool here in Maryland and one of our priests has spent his sabbatical in Nigeria, and you know how he summed up his experience there, "the food was lousy, I couldnt wait to get back to the states."

There goes your Traveled bodies but untravelled minds.
We Nigerians, we try all sorts of foods here in the States, we put on coats and ties and read Western Newspapers and experience everything uniquely American. Attend American colleges and schools which teach the most xenophobic foms of topics form history to political science from a wholly Eurocentric perspective. If anyone is guilty of being a traveled body but n untravelled mind, it is NOT a Nigerian in diaspora.