A View of Nigeria from Outside the World

Today I am in the mood to share some of the thoughts that kept me awake almost all night last night. After playing around online yesterday (something I like to do) trying to find something to read, I came across something at last an article written by British Journalist and BBC reporter David Hayward.

The blog title was "British Journalist Narrates Experience in Nigeria after A Short Visit" on Ladun Liadi's blog and this immediately captured my attention. I was curious and wanted to know about his experience so I clicked on it and read from beginning to the end. I could not help laughing as I read this article because I found the things he wrote about quite hilarious. From his warnings from people about Nigeria to his actual experience in Nigeria, everything was so funny.

Hayward was told by friends, family and colleagues that he should not come to Nigeria and they had their arguments backed up by solid evidences. Hayward divided the advice he got into two camps: (1) "Don't go you'll get kidnapped or catch Malaria, (2) Nigeria is a nightmare, when you arrive, you'll be swamped by hustlers trying to rip you off , steal your luggage and your money", laughable you would agree but is it far from the truth? The one million dollar question now is where do the Europeans get all these negative perspectives on Africa from? Do we unconsciously give them this impression of us or do they just make it up?
Hayward's article also reminds me of a video I watched some time ago on Youtube "The Danger of A Single Story". In the video, my favourite writer Chimamanda Adichie addresses some negative perspectives on Africa as well. It is amazing the impression that Europeans have about Africa and Nigeria even before visiting. Some of them never get to visit in their lifetime but know what they know and tell others as well.  This is a discussion for another day as I bring you a concise article on this topic soon so watch out for more.