CLARIFICATION OF CONDESCENDING STEROTYPES ABOUT NIGERIANS!!!

As I took a glance around the crowded New York City Penn Station in Manhattan, I was immediately reminded of the reason why America is continuously referred to as the “melting pot”. Within the limited area, hundreds of distinct faces ranging from Haitians to Mexicans, Chinese to Jamaican, Caucasian to Asian and much more can be observed all attending to the unique yet specific reasons that brought them to this particular location. As I witnessed this cultural conglomeration, I realized that with each distinct individual culture, there was a story to be told. For instance, a look at the Chinese women who spoke her native tongue to her two well behaved sons made my mind drift to a culture whose foundation was laid on discipline. With another glimpse, I noticed a well dressed Caucasian male who was waiting on a long line unconsciously tap his foot on the ground while looking at his watch. Immediately I thought of a fast pace life of living in the city. Finding this rather intriguing, I realized that people must think of something when they looked at me. I wanted to know, so I embarked on a quest to find out what others felt about my culture and people. After some probing of about thirty individuals, I realized that aside from some good comments that stated that Nigerians are beautiful, smart and happy people, the comments went downhill from there on. The remaining comments included that…..
1.) Nigerian men are all cheaters , users and womanizers
2.) Nigerian women are stuck up
3.) Nigerians in general are thieves
4.) NIGERIA is the next IRAQ
5.) Nigerians are ethnocentric for no reason
Perplexing isn’t it. You can imagine how it felt conducting these interviews with a straight face while taking in some of the unappealing and rather condescending remarks that individuals had to say about Nigeria. Although each individual is entitled to their own opinion, I do believe that it is very essential to clarify these stereotypes because they are in one way or another affecting all Nigerians as a whole.
Are All Nigerian Men Really Cheaters, Users and Womanizers?
Of course the simple answer is NO. I mean seriously, how in the world can an entire group of people all be cheaters, users, and womanizers. Don’t get me wrong, of course there are some Nigerian men out there that do fall under the radar, but it is just inconceivable to label every single one of them such absurdity. What I realized was that most people who had nothing but negative things to about Nigerian men all had bad experiences or knows someone or a few people who did. This however is not enough justification for anyone to generalize on an entire group. I personally know some Nigerian men who are happily married and whose thought process revolves around the idea that cheating on their wives is equivalent to consuming poison.
All Nigerian Women are stuck up?
To begin with, I am a Nigerian women and I do believe that I am NOT stuck up. Come to think of it, I know many Nigerian women that are very humble and would not snob their noses at anyone. So what does this say? It means that it is true that “a few bad apples can spoil the bunch”. Let us keep in mind however that within every cultural group, you will find stuck up people, but that does not mean that everyone within that group are snobs. Again bad experiences come into play for these negative stereotypes.
Nigerians are NOT all Thieves or 4.1.9ners!!!
To believe that all Nigerians are thieves and 4.1.9ners is absurd. As we all know, to numerous people worldwide, the #’s 419 might as well be just another set of numbers like 221, 520, or 449, but in a Nigerian mind, these numbers are registered as scams and frauds. The 419 scam which is named after a section of the Nigerian penal code dealing with fraud is currently practiced by more than 400,000 people worldwide. With recent arrests of an abundant number of scammers in the United States, and with the degrading images publicized by the media stereotyping all Nigerians, it is safe to say that we are all affected. Oprah said “all Nigerians - regardless of their level of education - are corrupt." With this statement, Oprah a very influential women without any remorse condemned an entire nation because of the evil act of an insignificant number of people. By doing, she along with other sources of media brought light to this crime, but at the same time, they left other innocent Nigerians to suffer by ruining the image of the entire nation. This is wrong, and I think that it is time to shed light to this situation. There are a vast majority of Nigerians who are well educated individuals and whose success was built on their sweat and blood. What about them, where does the mighty Oprah place these individuals in her stereotypical remark?
NIGERIA IS THE NEXT IRAQ
With the recent terrorist attempt by a Hausa man Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, it is no surprise that someone would utter such an insolent remark. I mean seriously, Nigeria as a whole is not the next Afghanistan or Iraq and it can never be. There are many tribes and it is not wise to say that Nigerians are terrorists because one Hausa man committed an atrocity. Nigeria is the next Afghanistan. According to Jay who wrote a blog on this particular topic, “Nigeria has had absolutely no record of international terrorism. The first and last one so far has been the situation of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Please note that even this virgin case did not come without early warning to the US government from the much concerned father of the perpetrator to further paint the absurdity of this event to the average Nigerian family.” This is true. If all Nigerians were terrorists, Umar’s father would have NEVER contacted the US government, and the general population of Nigeria would not be as angry about the situation as they are. To my belief, Nigerians are angrier about this situation than the USA a hundred times over. This is behavior that we do NOT condone, and this is how things have always been and will most definitely remain.
Nigerians are Ethnocentric for No Reason
For once, of all the claims made about Nigerians, I actually partially agree with this one. Yes, many Nigerians are ethnocentric, but I do not believe that it is for no reason. Nigerian, even in all its political crises according to CNN has recently been named the happiest people in the world. Is this not enough to be excited? Nigeria is going to be 50 years old this year (2010). I think this is enough for us to be ethnocentric about. Despite all the negative stereotypes listed above and much more circulating about Nigeria as a whole, we still manage to remain optimistic and are still very strong minded people. We should embrace our culture. According to Webster Dictionary, Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. I see nothing wrong with Nigerians believing that we are centrally important, simply because we are. No matter the situations surrounding us, we will always raise above these condescending stereotypes.
TruthbeTold- So you have heard what the world has got to say about you. Now it is time to relate your response to the world. Above are my own personal opinions, but I strongly belief that yours count too. So please do respond to these stereotypes, and join me on this mission to if not completely eradicate, at least limit these stereotypes. My email again is twentwo2002@yahoo.com.