Hmm. Russians are one of the most racist people on this earth. If you don't want to live your years in depression avoid that place.

femcruz:
wey Oga tai2 o

I dey here. This man is not a serious man. He is rationalizing the behavior of the woman at the same time he is not happy with it.

The girl gives him attitude because she knows she has him in the palm of her hand. He is in a bottle, when she says dance left, he dances left, when she says move to the right, he moves.

These type of women when they have their fill of you, they will leave you for a guy who won't do 1/10 of what you do for them.

OP has no liver and no control. The woman has the control and when she is done she will spit him out like worthless orange seeds.

Put your foot down, no matter what she says. If she wants to walk let her walk. Chop two or three babes to gain perspective and see what you're missing. If she wants to go let her go, because your first fear and source of loss of control is that you want to be good so she does not leave.

Women will stay with a man who maltreats them and leave a man who waits on them hand and foot. Does that seem logical to you?

You better behave to stop her misbehaviour. All these pussycat men sef.

Brother from where? Wetin join Ubima with Otueke? Since when did Ikwerre become Ijaw? Abeg leave this brotherhood of political convenience

Na so una dey carry unnecessary rumour. That jet is French registered and belongs to Aerovision a French jet charter company. A simple Google search will help.

Funny people. The owner of Joy FM is David Mark. So the presenter shouldn't have been making such comments when David Mark is the one that pays his bills. The Manager had to act to avoid being sacked herself.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3158012/Foreign-students-banned-working-forced-leave-UK-course-ends.html

U.K has just announced plans to force students to leave when their course ends. After spending 6 or 7 million they will send you home with your qualifications. Compared to Canada and Australia them that allow you to work for several years after graduation. Yet some would have you believe that the U.K of 7 years ago is the same now. If you're not a top-tier professional, getting ILR is difficult through normal means, talk less of finding work. People should do research before they just wake up and go anywhere to avoid stories that touch.

Bollinger:


bro's you are so correct. when i first arrived here the Nigerians kept telling me and my wife was that to be successful you had to drive a cab as a man and be a certified nursing assistant as a woman. I tried that crap and found it was not for me. I had to break away from Nigerians and their set minds and norms. In fact i avoid Nigerians abroad like the plague. They will definitely hold you back. I am very successful in my chosen field and my wife is a well sort after makeup artist. The good thing about america is if you can imagine it, then you can achieve. No matter what it is. They have the enabling environment to make your dreams come true. The OP is saying that paying taxes and paying rent is a negative. What a mentality. So it is better to squat with friends and live with no electricity than actually having it. Nigerians.

We know your type. You arrive here and start forming elite and being too good for your fellow Nigerians. The moment trouble comes and you aren't accepted by the foreigners you run to, you run back to the same Nigerians. Keep breaking away from Nigerians o, time will tell.

Nigeria bad, Nigeria bad. Yet when my fellow Nigerians here see small money, the first thing they start doing is building a house or houses back in Nigeria, because they know there is some security Nigeria offers in terms of assets. The moment the obodo oyibo dream goes bad, the hope is to run back to Nigeria and sleep in a house they don't have to pay mortgage on. Where they can spend the rest of their days idling about if they so wish.How many Professors and co who lectured abroad, retire there?

All these people shouting there are jobs abroad and make it look easy. Go to Abuja and Lagos, offices are filled with returnees with multiple degrees, who are back to Nigeria for the easier life. Some simply waited to get papers and then run back to Nigeria to find career improvement with their foreign qualifications and acquired accents. Others could not find satisfactory jobs and are back home even hustling civil service jobs.

Yes, people make it abroad. But it is this myth that gold awaits anyone who jumps on a plane that is the undoing of many people.

My pity is reserved for Nigerians who look up a random country on the Internet, hear that school fees is cheap or that their women are beautiful and then start looking for how to go there without understanding that the wrong move can lead to serious problems they might not recover from.

Go to Obodo Oyibo with money and a plan to return because if not, hmm, life is tough o. U.S, Canada, Australia, New Zealand are much easier than the 100 or more countries Nigerians carry themselves to in the name of going abroad to make it. A lot of people posting here have seen the softer better side of obodo oyibo probably because they went well-armed financially or otherwise. What will you say of people languishing in 100 or so other countries in the name of "I want to travel".

That America offers its success stories does not mean there are no Nigerians suffering there because they entered without a proper plan or the right migration status. People are saying there are jobs in the United Kingdom for legal residents. Yes of course. But how many people got such permits legitimately asides from the professionals went there on a work permit without using one dagbo means - arrangee marriage and otherwise to secure their residence and status? And does it work for everybody especially these days?

Yet people will be here talking as if the bulk of them followed the rules and were 100% truthful on their visa applications before they got to remain behind in the U.K and elsewhere. Yes, there are exceptions but the Nigerian norm is to enter with one excuse and then find a means to stay behind using other means and a lot of less fortunate people make the mistake of following these routes without the backing that others have or the timing. Claiming asylum might have worked in the 90's it does not work like that in 2016.

My advise is for people seeking to use illegal means to go abroad at all costs to consider their decisions because landing on foreign shores is not the final part of the struggle. If you fail to plan you might end up worse than you started and have to do dirty deeds to survive.

EBIXANDRA:
The Op has said it all, some people have refused to pick my call ever since I told them I was in jand, all the ones wey show me over fine pix no gree make I see where them dey sleep. Hw could an able bodied man leave naija to come and be begging in subway here? Majority of Nigerians here na security and cleaner work, some dey do permanent night shifts sotey wife no fit hold body don vex waka. If I begin open this mouth, even Op write up go be child play for where I dey.

Lemme case my rest here

That is how they do o. You will see some of them once in two years sef. The ones who are successful are trying to avoid the larger population of the unsuccessful ones. The unsuccessful ones are trying to hide from the shame of their conditions. It is best to go to obodo oyibo with a workable plan and to go somewhere profitable, then end up there swallowed by the system.

I would advise anyone who wants to do a Master's degree with the intent of relocating abroad to avoid the United Kingdom. You end of paying the system and they throw you out, go straight ahead and try the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. It might be more expensive and longer but if you study the right degree and pick up some practical certifications you have a better chance of staying behind, getting more experience and a salary that you can survive with. No be all abroad be abroad. Forget what people say.

People will carry 4 to 6 million naira to study Masters in the United Kingdom and get sent back after they finish. It was those days it was easier to stay behind in the U.K now everything is tight and the routes that used to work don't work like that anymore.

aspirebig:
Nice one, Op...

But that wont stop people from still travelling.

Things are changing in Naira daily, you pay for Nepa and you will still run gen, have inverter, solar etc, if you can afford them.

Most people pay tax, but they dont enjoy anything in return, no electricity , no good schools, even their prisons in abroad is so fine , well maintained and equipped, good road, no security, no good health services, no good social facilities, so anyway you look at it. Lfe is still better in abroad than Africa....

Life is better abroad agreed but it takes a source of money to enjoy that better life. Without that source of money (job or business), you're in serious trouble and would have been better off staying in Nigeria in the first place.

no2fuks:


bs all your points are bs I dont know why nigerians abroad always try to discourage ppl guy some ppl working in the banks In naija after bsc earn N50k a month yankee minimum wage is about $8/hr 8hrs a day 40hrs a week 40x8=$320 a week x 4 = $1240 a month this is what 16yr old secondary school students are making so what are you saying op? bs

So you feel minimum wage in Yankee will allow you live a comfortable life. That money you're calculating have you factored in tax and the costs of renting accomodation? At the end of the day you might be left with just enough to survive until the next month.

50k or 60k a month in Nigeria will guarantee you a better life in some places than $1240 a month will give you in the United States.

Its mostly my friends in the medical sector abroad who blow the best grammar and talk of the comforts of obodo oyibo because in their field as long as your university is in the WHO register and you can pass a country's exams e.g USMLE or GMC, you are considered good to go, with the shortage of medical professionals it even makes their jobs easier.

These people can never see things from the perspective of somebody who came to the United States through the back door. Meanwhile 7 out of 10 travellers might fall into such risky circumstances.

Before you go to obodo oyibo have a plan for experience and qualifications, and go to a country with prospects for immigrants. Don't carry yourself to a dead end zone with no money to survive. You will hate yourself.

In Nigeria, it is hard to die of hunger or lack of accommodation. Bad as e bad you will find one uncompleted building to stay sef, if not a friend or relative to squat with.If you own a house, you can never go hungry to the point of death in Nigeria.

In obodo oyibo the day you run out of money is the day you will understand hunger and eviction are worse abroad. And when you go without enough money for experience, retraining or even getting a legal work permit, how will you make money to survive?

Someone who has completed a medical degree in Nigeria and goes to the United States and passes his USMLE exams cannot have to same outlook on life as someone who came with a two year visa with a BSc in philosophy and whose travel documentation is currently expired but yet is looking for oyibo to marry for papers or menial jobs to survive, with no money to write any professional exam and retrain. Yet the bulk of obodo oyibo travellers fall into the latter category.

The problem with professionals like doctors and some categories of engineers e.g petroleum and mechanical engineers who get to succeed abroad is that they think their circumstances apply to every other Nigerian, or the bulk of Nigerians who are trying by all means to go abroad.

The most successful Nigerians abroad are professionals in certain fields. However this does not mean that jobs are waiting for every Nigerian who lands a foreign country with a Master's degree in anything.

Some jobs can even be gotten directly from Nigeria in countries like the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United States, the countries of the Middle East and a number of others if you have the right professional experience. However the vast majority of travellers are people who have no such qualifications and hope to play it by luck in foreign countries typically end up in trouble.

Nigerian professionals are largely oblivious of the suffering of other Nigerian immigrants in foreign countries because they live a sheltered life. What has someone who works in a gated Halliburton compound in Iraq or an expat compound in Khobar in Saudi Arabia, got to do with the illegal guy dodging police in Riyadh and sleeping in a room of 12 people?

erico2k2:

How about Nursing? the UK is short of Nurses even Ireland are.

Yeah nursing is great. The best countries abroad for Nigerians are the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom etc (in that order too). Even South Africa is a lot better than a number of European destinations. These are countries with the right qualifications and experience you can get a job and live like a human being. In the Middle East you can get jobs too although without the right to permanent residence eventually. Anything else is a big gamble.

Inoknowbook:
I hate it so much when paupers that are trying hard to survive abroad attribute their ways of living to every Nigerian living abroad. The OP is, obviously, a pauper trying very hard to survive. But that shouldn't give him the freedom to attribute his way of living to every Nigerian abroad. I live both in the US and Nigeria and I can speak with authority on this. What did need mean by people hiding food under the bed when visitors come? Food is the cheapest thing you can get here. It does not cost much. So, I don't understand how he got the info that people hide food under the bed. As for guys buying each other drinks for free, it still happens a lot. I do take friends out to bars and restaurants and buy them drinks. If you come to my house, my bar is well stocked with all kinds of liqueurs that I do wish that people come around to drink with me often. Please guys, if you wanna write about your experience abroad, do call it your individual experience and not try to pass it off as that of the generality of Nigerians. Please, I did not proof read, so, pardon me for mistakes

Lol. The hiding food under bed part was an exaggeration and meant to be extreme. I clearly pointed out that not everyone abroad that is Nigerian is suffering. You have well-paid Nigerian professionals who are lecturers, some are doctors, some are engineers in the oil and gas industry. The difference is that these people had a plan mixed with either hard work or luck.

There are far too many people who do not plan and end up suffering abroad. I'm a business owner, I do not depend on any employer for my wages, I deal with other businesses on my own terms. Thus I am better protected. The day abroad does not work, I will pack my bags and head for the property I own in Nigeria.

There are far TOO MANY NIGERIANS who dream that abroad is a place where everything is available and money is picked up on the streets. It is easier to make a million dollars in Nigeria than it is abroad. It is however in some circumstances easier to make a decent salary abroad when you have the right qualifications, experience and a job or a profitable business. My advice is that any plan that involves going abroad should think in terms of right qualifications, experience, a job or a profitable business, not roaming the streets of obodo oyibo.

This same America that you have success stories. Do you know at what cost? Can you go to America with $500 in your pocket and survive? Yet so many young people jump into planes and boats these days with nothing but that amount exposing themselves to risk.

Someone who went to study a Master's in Petroleum Engineering in Norway or Canada, has some experience with Shell and gets to work with an oil company abroad, is different from someone who gets there with an illegal passport seeking to claim asylum. My point is plan accordingly and hold your funding otherwise do not bother going at all.

samuelkingz:
@ tai2...ur asvise is needed...am in my final year in d uni studying mass comm in a state..my major plan is to do my masters abroad and then seek some permit to work dere professionally..my problem now is that wat professional course can i do dat can guarantee me a good job abroad and also wat country would be able to give me succh good prospects??@ all ur matured posts re highly appreciated

I would advise you to switch to something like programming, learn a few well used programming languages that are in demand anywhere regardless of degree or not. You really don't need a Master's degree, especially in your line of study which means nothing without experience in countries abroad. The best jobs abroad are the ones that are hands on, work you do with your hands not stuff you say with your mouth.

Another career which most people overlook is the shipping industry, you can find a maritime academy and become a sailor, they are in demand all over the world and are given special travel privileges regardless of region.

I would advise you to consider a career switch after getting your mass comm degree.

Some days you will see Nigerians begging you for small money for food. You ask them their life stories, the person will tell you how they came to a foreign land with only $1000. Some spend sums of money e.g 800k or 1 million, that would start a successful very small business in Nigeria even with the frustration.

Nigerians will gather irrelevant certificates and head for foreign shores only to find out that they don't know what they need to know and have no means of getting what they need to know (e.g money for education and retraining).

Others end up in countries where the inhabitants are looking for work or where to run to (e.g Greece) and end up living in limbo. I only warn before it is too late. Obodo oyibo may have its advantages but people should think critically in order to avoid being victims.

It is better to head to countries as xenophobic as South Africa where there is hope of a job that some so-called countries like Greece, Poland, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia and co. No be every visa be visa.

Lol. When I wrote this piece. It was to help the people who want to travel by all means and end up suffering abroad. However some have taken it to imply that I am currently in that state of limbo. Far from it. I live a quite comfortable life abroad but I know what it took and I know how many misguided Nigerians I see everyday looking for how to survive or living on the wrong side of the law just to stay behind.

If I didn't have the money to live the life. I would be gone in a month.

Some live their lives just to be constantly on the run from the police or immigration officials, meanwhile their mates in Nigeria have gotten themselves small jobs and moved ahead whether in civil service or private sector.

A banker in Nigeria will be earning small money, dump it all and run to the U.S only to end up in poor circumstances due to failure to plan. Success is easier in some foreign countries than others and by learning how to seek it appropriately. No be to end up for Poland or Kazakstan in the name of searching for foreign visa and end up suicidal or frustrated.

erico2k2:

Guy the only limitation for a good job in the UK is the issue you being legal or not.U have to start from somewhere.

And how easy is it to be legal in the U.K these days? We're not talking of 5 to 10 years ago when international students had the right to work or when the U.K wasn't flooded with E.U migrants looking for jobs.

Even things like "Arangee" marriage people were using to get legal in the United Kingdom is facing greater scrutiny these days. Yes, the U.K is easier but anyone planning to go to such countries should plan appropriately. There are so many people trapped in strange countries for donkey years with vague hopes of "getting papers" only to turn around and get deported. Some people spend 10 to 15 or 20 years of their lives waiting in one location that may not be profitable trying to get a passport.

That you're one of the few who succeed, should not mean other people should not be advised on how to do the right thing and avoid a life of frustration.

ogaibe1:
Somebody is trying to discourage people who want to hustle their way to a better life, but who is listening??.

No such thing as hustle o. Without a clear cut plan for obodo oyibo you will end up in trouble. A lot of people simply assume they will come to obodo oyibo like people in the village head to Lagos, then stay on the "streets" and something will work itself out. It doesn't work like that. The society is streamlined /formal and the informal sector is only for illegal things or the most low paying of jobs. Some people end up living a rat race for 20 years and get deported because of failure to plan initially. Do not be a victim.

samuelkingz:
mehn d op just defined me in d first paragraph....so my dream @of doin masters in finland..and finding a work afterall dere may not be rosy....@ op wat do i do ??

Hmm. Finland ke? You're better off trying a much more multicultural place like the Netherlands. Lots of international workers and multinationals in Amsterdam. Not all Europe is survivable Europe. Don't go to a place you will end up stuck for years or sent back home with nothing but your degree.

Even Germany is better because of its industrial history and presence of several large scale companies. I'm not saying one or two people haven't made it in Finland but there are other safer and better bets. The worst thing is to be stranded in a strange land in obodo oyibo with no black man in sight for 1000 miles.

dechandel:
Taxi will not carry you for free in Obodo Oyibo?? And in which part of Nigeria do you see cab men doing that Charity work??
Nothing is free in Obodo Oyibo? Is anything free in Nigeria? Even the electricity that isn't free in Nigeria is a mess but in Obodo Oyibo what do you get? I guess you really dunno what 24/7 eletricity is though?


Loneliness? When you have your Job, school, trust me, your social life won't be in shambles!

Cost? I am sure you prefer paying your Light bills and yet you keep buying litres of petrol daily!! Talk about cost!!
Tax? If Nigeria wasn't ruled by greedy old mofos, trust me, you'd really be glad to catch a reality of what it is to live in a civilized world!!




There is no place like home when it comes to our food sha

In Nigeria you can get favours done when you don't have any money. You can ask the taxi guy to reduce his fare based on you don't have too much. In obodo oyibo, taxi guy will point to the metre. I hope you know even with sporadic power supply not everyone pays their light bills in Nigeria, PHCN cuts the power in the afternoon, you go and reconnect them later during the day. Lol.

yorubadelta:
Poster, what do you mean by lack of jobs? That statement is false abeg. If you are well qualified, got relevant experience and are LEGALLY in the country then getting a good job wouldn't be a problem at all.. In fact, jobs boku for UK if you know what you are doing.

Aside from that, everything else said is true.

You obviously didn't read through. I acknowledged the fact that jobs are available for those with relevant (foreign ) qualifications and experience. However someone who is a bank manager in Nigeria should not expect to walk into the United Kingdom and get a well-paying job with a high street London bank. There are far too many Nigerians without the requisite foreign experience and qualifications who end up roaming around with no destination.

MarvellousGod:
The only thing I'll miss in Naija if I ever leave is our food. .. Our local foods dey sweet no be small


Then maybe naija craziness, you can bring your friends over to your house, drink, shout, dance with your music at the highest volume ... etc..


Meanyl, the poster above me has mouth odour, really choking me here .

Yeah, I completely forgot about food. No peppersoup, no suya, no nkwobi.

5. Nothing is Free

Nothing is free in Obodo Oyibo. In several places if you decide to sit down, you must pay. You cannot sit in a restaurant gisting with your friend for two hours buying nothing. Or go to a bar and watch free football without buying booze. If somebody offers you something for free, check closely, there’s a price hidden somewhere.

Your Nigerian countrymen will hide food under their bed if you’re coming to visit. Nobody is in the business of “come and eat”. Some will see you through keyhole and not even open the door.

Bus will be paid for, taxi will not carry you for free. You will account for the water you bathe with, the electricity you use to toast bread, even the one you use to watch TV. Some people even put off all the lights in their house and operate in semi-darkness just to cope with the bills.

Except your friends are Yahoo Yahoo men. Nobody will carry you to bar and buy booze for everybody. You will pay for your own alcohol or at least contribute to the bill. That Nigerian pattern of following one big boy up and down to eat and drink free does not exist here. People who start it abroad never end up well.

If you’re lucky you will find a girlfriend to ease tension. But even girlfriends are expensive sef especially when it’s a Nigerian babe. Many young men are forced to find “Milan” aka ashewo just to deposit something somewhere.

This is why many Obodo Oyibo guys go and import babes from Nigeria in the name of marriage so they can have somebody to be doing all the doables in the cold of Obodo Oyibo.


I might have forgotten to add one or two other things. The summary of the matter however is that obodo oyibo is great when you have money, foreign qualifications, obodo oyibo experience and a job in a proper company.

Without these things, you are very likely to suffer. This is why you see so many obodo oyibo people building houses in Nigeria and saying “East or West, home is best”, because at the end of the day, while 2 million naira will not build a cubicle to live in obodo oyibo, in Nigeria it can get you a house you can live for free without bothering about eviction. In Nigeria all you have to do is have a house you own. Food will come from anywhere and everywhere. In obodo oyibo, so many people pay one form of modern slavery every month for 30 years called mortgage, just to have a house that is their own in old age and survive on pension.

3. Racism

Lol. Being a black man or woman is tough in this world. Oyibo that bathes twice or three times a week to save water, will hold their nose when they see you. Some people will openly refuse to serve you, some will refuse to even answer you or give you a job.

Racism is everywhere, the level of racism depends on the country i.e are you in a country as hard as Poland or in one where they have a lot of people of different races such as the United States? If you live in a city with people from different countries, it tends to be much less.

Its not all bad, some people will actually like you for being black others will detest you. The point is you don’t know who is going to hiss at you in the morning or smile, which can be depressing.

Also the poorer you are and the poorer the society you live in, the more racism you are likely to suffer. Rich people are welcome anywhere. A rich black man will think he is the most loved person in the world in some of these places but still some people will not care and look at you like you were coated in dawadawa and smell of the substance. You need a strong mind for this one.


4. Loneliness

In Nigeria, its never hard to make friends. Even with Iya that owns the provision store near your house, where you can sit down and discuss everything from the thieves that are stealing Nigeria’s money to that single woman in your compound who is always entertaining men with different cars at all hours of the day.

In Obodo Oyibo, nobody has time to sit around and discuss. Your neighbour will see you in the morning and walk past without saying hello. The person smiling for you in the store is only trying to separate you from your money. You cannot call people to gist with them on the phone and spend one or two hours. Calling Nigeria however might be easier because of Internet calls, however when you have to work for food you have little time to socialize.

Over time you might learn to make friends with co-workers, other Nigerians and other people, but it will take a lot of time. People you spend time gisting with today might not even acknowledge you tomorrow. That is the way it is.

2. Lack of Jobs

You’re running off to Europe? Lol. The people in Europe are running to the Middle East, Asia and the U.S to find better jobs. Not every country in Europe is an opportunity. Simply because someone came to you with visa runs or told you of his brother that is “making it” in one country that sounds like something foreign and exciting does not mean it is true.

Yes, you see them all the time. They will take pictures standing near the Eiffel Tower, Burj Khalifa, Sydney Opera House, the Statue of Liberty etc. Please do not be deceived. Taking pictures in beautiful locations does not necessarily translate to enjoyment. Some people have not eaten, others are wondering how to pay their next rent. They are mostly taking pictures to show their relatives in Nigeria, that all is well and their brother is enjoying. The reality is much much different.

Getting a job in obodo oyibo is not easy, except you are looking for the lowest of jobs in some places, which will turn out to be a rat race. You work and all your money disappears, while you have to keep working just to survive. You won’t even have time to search for another job or time to read for that certificate qualification you were told will bring you millions (NEBOSH,CCIE and co). In fact it is cheaper to do the professional certificate course in Nigeria at 60 k, than to come to obodo oyibo and do it for the equivalent of N 400,000.

The white man does not care whether you are a Master’s degree holder from the University of Bujumbura, or whether you were the Chief Manager of one bank in your village. As far as most of them are concerned, Africa is a jungle where houses are built of thatch and mud and all of you live on charity from the developed world, so where did you find a university to go to? How come you even speak English? The fact that Nigeria is a rich country is only known by Nigerians.

You will only avoid this problem if you find work with a multinational or a place that does business with people from countries around the world. In such places they have people who have worked in Africa and know that at least there are well-read people from places like Nigeria and Angola. However, you will have to show you have experience, which means dropping your degree and retraining. Yes. You need to get obodo oyibo degree and their experience to prove your worth. International certifications may help regardless of the country you got them e.g Nigeria but that is not the end of the story.

So for people with money, get a good Master’s degree (not Master’s in philosophy o) from a good institution in your country of choice. Find an entry level job first of all (remember you came from Africa and have no obodo oyibo working experience.) that gives you the chance to grow, not a job that has no growth prospects. Then over time you can prove your worth. The good thing is when you have obodo oyibo working experience and certificates it is easier to get work that will help you survive. If you have Phd in Nigeria, nobody cares. There are jobs you apply for that your Nigerian over-degree will be a curse sef instead of a blessing.

If you were a Bank Manager in Nigeria. Leave your Bank and your Manager in Lagos, nobody in Obodo Oyibo cares, as far as they are concerned, there are no banks in Africa, you people use cowries for money.

If somebody tells you they are “hustling” or “on the streets” in obodo oyibo. Run. The only street business that brings money is crime and sooner or later they get caught and pay for it. For every hustler that has “succeeded” and built properties in Nigeria, there are 100 others locked in prison, dead or buried. Do not be a victim or claim you have special luck. Probability does not know luck or the prayers of your mother in the village.

-- Copyright (c) 2015 tai on Nairaland. All rights reserved --

This piece is for potential travellers in the foreign section. All those looking to leave the shores of Nigeria to make it to foreign lands (obodo oyibo) at all and any cost in order to leave behind what they perceive to be the frustration and lack of progress in Nigeria. Only to land in strange destinations and find out all is not as it seems, with no means of return or imprisonment for crime or debt or even suicide and death. Read and be warned.

1. Cost

This is the number one disadvantage with obodo oyibo. That mouth watering salary you were told you would earn abroad i.e. anywhere from $2000 to $10,000 a month and you were converting its equivalent to Naira, lol, better throw away those calculations.

Getting the job or the money is one thing in the first place. Saving enough is another. Everything is expensive. So don’t think you will “manage” on $200 a month and then send the rest to Nigeria and build a palace to rival that of the richest man in your village.

In obodo oyibo, you must pay for everything, electricity, water, tax, food, plumbers, and carpenters. There is no Nigerian “oga abeg them never pay me, I dey wait for money”. Fail to pay your bills and your electricity will be cut off. If you live in a land of cold, the cold may kill you or if you live in a hot country, you may die of heat stroke and people may not find you until the smell of your body disturbs your neighbors or your landlord remembers you haven’t paid rent.

It is not Nigeria, where you squat for free in one brother or friends house and eat free food, with nobody ever wondering when you are going to get a job or get your own house. In obodo oyibo, your blood brother will throw you out if you are not contributing to the bills.

The more savings you come with while you do whatever you intend to do to make money (school, find a job etc.), the better off you are. Otherwise be prepared to suffer when your money runs out, as it will. Two million naira is nothing. Obodo oyibo will swallow that money in one month or three days if you are not careful and spit you out like orange seeds.