Nigerian's perspective

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Elite Baiter Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Posts: 1192

My wife works with a college student from Nigeria. They worked together this weekend and got on the subject of the 419 scamming. The girl was absolutely disgusted with scammers, and said they are a real embarrasment to her country. She talked at great length about scammers and her country. Interesting stuff, but not much not already known. She compared it to Slumdog Millionaire to give it perspective. She said people are either really poor, or wealthy and they will stay that way. She said the poor will go days without eating at times. The scammers are hustlers, and all they know how to do is hustle. She said it is really sad. She talked about the corruption in the government. She said teachers go on strike about every 8 months. There is plenty of money for schools, but the government steals it and then the teachers don't get paid and they go on strike until the money is back. She said the only way to get a decent education is to be sent away to a boarding school. Her parents sent her to the United States for college to ensure a decent education. She said her parents own their own business and work it 7 days a week, 7 am to 10 pm. It used to be until 11 pm, but after 22 years they decided to give themselves a break and now close at 10 pm.

My wife told her what we do and she thought it was great. She said anything that can be done to stop the scammers is great. She also talked about how the scamming money all gets funneled to the big dogs (my terminology) who are hotel owners and such. She said that when she goes home she does not go out at all, that it is dangerous. She works at her family business and goes home.

That's all I can think of for now. Just thought I'd give a Nigerian's perspective.

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 5:48 pm

The Lagos Daily Sun gives a lot of insight into the chaos that pervades life in Nigeria.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/default.htm

It seems the police have cottoned on to our 'scammer holding a sign' modality:

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 7:59 pm

You can also visit www.nairaland.com
A very busy forum with Nigerians who are native and ex-pats.

The problem with saying you've got a "Nigerian perspective" there is that you're only talking about one individual. And as everyone knows - different individuals have different opinions.
For example - when the subject of 419 comes up on nairaland (as it frequently does) it's interesting to see how divisive the subject is - some condemn it outright, some promote it, some blame the Nigerian authorities' culture of corruption and some blame the West for it's "greed".

If you really want a Nigerian perspective, I recomment nairaland as a must read. It's certainly one of my favourite forums.
I often take all the comments made on a subject and try and see if I can make anything of them to give some sort of "national concensus" but to tell the truth, I've generally not been any more succesful than I would have been looking at any other forum where people from the same country hang-out.

Elite Baiter Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Posts: 1192

I guess I did not realize there was a problem. Kind of a weird response...sorry for contributing I guess.

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 8:47 pm

Bob, please don't feel sorry for contributing that anecdote. It was quite informative in its way.

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:06 pm

^Indeed.

@Slightly: I guess Bob was just looking to share this student's perspective with us, not 'looking' for a Nigerian perspective on 419. You are right on the fact that different individuals would have different perspectives though.

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:45 pm

Errr... I wasn't having a go at you bob (in fact, reading through my post, I can't see anywhere where it looks like I've had a go at you).

I was merely stating that if you are interested in the people of Nigeria and their outlook, the forum that I linked is a great place to go.

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 10:57 pm

@Bob, don't worry, Slightly wasn't having any kind of go at you - if he had you'd still be feeling it next week! He's the sharing squirrel, after all.

Elite Baiter Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Posts: 1192

Must have read it wrong. Just seemed weird when it said

Quote:

The problem with saying you've got a "Nigerian perspective" there is that you're only talking about one individual. And as everyone knows - different individuals have different opinions.

I don't see a problem. It was a Nigerian's perspective. It was not from a forum. It was not from somebody who can hide behind a computer. It was somebody face to face and somebody who hasn't been out of the country for too long. Yes, it is one person's perspective. I never said it was the thoughts of the country.

I might be a bit touchy...not the first time a moderator poo pooed something that I tried to offer. I don't do it often because there are plenty who already know everything and have made it known.

After rereading your post I think I jumped the gun a bit. Just letting you know what went through my head.

Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:04 am

I had a student here from Nigeria, and she said much of what your friend said. Its a shame as, looking at the photos of weddings and whatnot, Nigerians are good people, generally.

I got stabbed once in some sleazy Central America shithole port town, and a Nigerian doctor sewed me up, and refused payment. He was very kind, and I remember that.

Thanks for sharing, Bob. It is nice to be reminded that scammers are not all from Nigeria, and not all Nigerians are scammers, something that sometimes seems to be forgotten in our community.

Now, if only I could get my Malian Scammer to travel to the Gambia....

Elite Baiter Joined: 01 Oct 2008 Posts: 1192

When I was in college I did a management internship and had a Nigerian work for me. Hard worker. He was a slow worker, but a hard worker. He had no concept of speed. Good guy. Had a really different perspective of the US government. Interesting to listen to. Funny how people not from the US can view our government.