Nigeria is not in the list of the top 30 countries according to the corruption perceptions index report for 2015. True, Nigeria ranked very low at 136 out of 168 countries on the report. Nigeria is not among the top five countries with highest inmates in UK prisons. The US has the second highest inmates behind bars, still the world does not seem to see that as anything relating to corruption. Crime has a relationship to corruption. Yet the issue of how corruption is perceived about Nigeria has continued to be an issue of concerned to well-meaning Nigerians.
Below is a Facebook opinion that reflects the perception of corruption in Nigeria by the the ouside world. This article retains the originality as presented by Ikechi Uko on Facebook . Below the write up are various reactions by several Nigerians and other Africans to his views.‘Nigeria is supposed to be the place where everything is a crime until proved otherwise. At least that’s the way the story goes. My friend called me the other day to complain that he bought a laptop from the mall in Dubai and the laptop was already ‘passworded’ by someone else meaning it is tokunbo. ..used. He has been jobbed in Dubai. Another friend told me last week that the police pulled him over in South Africa and searched him and by the time he got to his hotel room $6000 was missing. He has been jobbed in South Africa.
‘Regular stories by Nigerian travellers but Nigerians do not go around insinuating that everyone else is a thief. A South African friend of mine came on a visit; and I had to give her a drive tour of Lagos. She was impressed until we got to a police checkpoint. She wanted to know if the police were looking for drugs. For me that sounded like a joke. I asked her if she was serious. Police cannot be searching cars for drugs in Lagos Nigeria. It’s not possible. She told me that in her world Nigerians are associated with drugs so a police search in Nigeria means drugs to her. I mischievously told her that Nigerians will trade anything that makes money in the society and maybe drug was a lucrative business in SA. She didn’t take any offence.
‘She went on to explain that she had noticed that Nigerians are uncomfortable when she smokes and she now knows that Most Nigerians hide their smoking habits and treats smoking as a dirty habit not to be seen in public for a responsible person. She decently told me perception matters.
‘The other day I was in Zambia for a meeting and the Zambians were complaining of always receiving bad press from South Africa media. I pointed out to them that the 2 newspapers I read that day had 2 different stories on Nigeria and both were negative and one was false. Same as I have seen in Zimbabwe media and other countries.
‘When a crime involves a Nigerian it makes sweeter news. As a Nigerian I don’t actually bother about such things because ‘we get as we be’. But I recently have seen a pattern were foreigners try to always insinuate wrongdoing on the part of Nigerians to cover up for their own errors. I call this jobbing, as in Job men.
‘If you noticed all the past US ambassadors return to become Nigerian experts once their tenure ends. Walter Carrington, Renee Sanders, and John Campbell are together contributing positively to Nigeria in different ways meaning there is a lot good that can be done here. Most Hotel GMs and Airline managers always return and marry Nigerians. Yet some people will tell scary stories about Nigeria to keep others away; so they can exercise control. This is job.
‘One of my friends had an issue at the airport with an airline but she insinuated that the immigration service must be up to some wrong by allowing me illegally bring people to Nigeria with visa on arrival. That is a job. Some Hotel GMs tell the cabin crew that they should not leave the hotel because the town is unsafe but the GM is white and drives around Lagos on their own but tells a black cabin crew not to visit the mall. That is a job.
‘I had a one hour long argument at Schipol airport in Amsterdam with some diaspora Nigerians who had tales of lost investment with thieving brothers. I asked them how many of them who had lost money invested in a brother is a businessman. None was actively involved in business. They had regular jobs abroad but expected their brothers to become smart business persons overnight. I shared my experience with them. I had lost money in so many investments I made before I learnt how to operate. If someone else was giving me the money maybe I would be declared a thief. So if you have never done business and you expect your brother to succeed the first time you are a job man. There are legitimate cases of betrayal and massive crime going on all around me but I see a lot elsewhere.
‘I had told a government official that any attempt by Nigerians to float an airline with a European will end in disaster and accusation of fraud. Because most Europeans come with that mindset so there is no need to start. Check all the agreements Nigeria has gone into with most people. Nigeria gets scammed and you are quickly accused of corruption. Job men are plenty.
‘I was at an ATA conference in Uganda when a Briton married to a Nigerian and making all his money from Nigeria came to speak and he authenticated his presentation by playing up corruption in Nigeria. He was quickly challenged by a South African Airways staff that had lived in Nigeria.
‘Why do Nigerians allow job men get away with maligning Nigeria? A lot of Nigerians are disappointed with how the country has fared despite all its God given advantages. So they actually enjoy the bashing and amplify it hoping it will change something. Other Nigerians feel that a lion shouldn’t care about what an antelope thinks of it. So the job men continue with their jobbing to keep others away so they can enjoy the advantage of the huge market. It’s a job. So shine your eyes when someone comes to you with a story about Nigeria. It’s a job. Remember Nigeria invented Nollywood. Don’t get jobbed’.
Sammy Musa, who lives in Dubai and works at Gulf Reps Limited Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), commenting on the write up, said, ‘A great write up Ikechi, but I fear the issue is not only Nigeria but all of “Black Africa” and it is an issue of message management that is controlled by Western media. As an African born, British raised living in Dubai it frustrates me that my own continent of birth cannot get the message of its beauty to the world.
Other than, of course, South Africa which is aspirational destination, I must admit that whilst living in UK these are the stories I heard of Nigeria through the media and hearsay and it wasn’t until I lived in Sudan that I started to realize the global media bias towards Western economies. Interesting, even in the UK, the “dangerous” areas are where the blacks live. We, either as a continent or as a group of individual countries need to invest in strong message management and having a strong voice and spread the truth starting with our neighboring countries and expanding globally. Unfortunately this starts at the very top of our nations and since Nelson Mandela I don’t know of any African leader who has been able to carry this out effectively and unselfishly. Ikechi for president!!
Also reacting to the article, Ndiana Matthew of Palm3, a leading Pan African strategic communications firm specializing in South Africa, Nigeria, ECOWAS and other high growth frontier markets: Spot on! They bad-mouth us on their media, but make the largest revenue in advertising from Nigeria, and we are stupid enough to pay for it in USD. Even businesses with no presence in more than one State in Nigeria or Pan African target market wants to advertise on foreign media, to show that their “dicks” are larger than others!
Few of these local companies or national champions spending tens of thousands to hundreds of dollars on wasted and ineffective advertising with no tangible ROI, invest in local media or SMMEs… I won’t name call, but it’s time to change. It’s time to build Nigeria, because hell’s gates won’t prevail against us.
Foreign companies with less pedigree than Nigerian alternatives are making millions of dollars annually doing management and customer service trainings in Nigeria!
We are the butt of their travel advisories but a money making paradise for everyone. Arise O compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey. I’ll say it, when our government gets serious about reversing billions of dollars leaving our economy through the myriad airlines Nigerians patronize on their world travels, it will create a level playing field and regulatory environment for a proudly Nigeria carrier to be floated by Nigerian entrepreneurs offering the best standards available locally and internationally.
A Nigerian, Soni Akai of the National Population Commission ,Yenagoa, said , ‘This is one of the best image cleansing write up I have read about Nigeria. And it is only foreigners who define their own truth that enjoy Nigeria. Those who believe whatever they are told are easily scared away without finding the truth. Great piece!
