Call a Dog a Bad Name to Hang it

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Last Updated on Friday, 06 March 2009 20:40 Friday, 06 March 2009 14:11

Written by Obianuju Chiamaka Amamgbo

Call a dog a bad name just to hang it. I was busy doing my usual writing while Trisha Goddard’s program on ITV-1 (British Television program) was on. I heard a comment that got me distracted from what I was doing and pay maximum attention to the TV program.

The comment was “… I feel it’s a Nigerian scam”. This comment was made by a British lady (name withheld) who was contacted by a lady from Nigeria (name withheld). The Nigerian lady   claims to be half sister to the British lady by having the same father. The British lady doubts this claim and thinks the Nigerian lady is just out to con her – Nigerian scam. To this British lady, her assumed half sister just wants to use them and come over to Britain. Well the story has it that the father in question worked years back in Nigeria and had a Nigerian maid or so. The maid apparently got pregnant for him and proof of that was a signed consent from the father in question for caesarean operation carried out on the Nigerian maid, mother to the Nigerian lady making the claim. Despite these facts they still feel it might be a Nigerian scam. Do I blame them?

A DNA was conducted to establish the likelihood of both ladies having the same father and the result came out today with 99.99% certainty that both ladies have the same father. Is that still a Nigerian scam? Who laughed last? Well the British lady apologized to the Nigerian lady for doubting her and said they would love to meet with their half sister.

My question is, had this Nigerian lady been listening or watching the program and heard her step-sister call her a “gold digger”, so to speak, how do you think she would react? I am just happy that the result came out in favour of this Nigerian lady for the singular reason that they will have nothing else to say. Maybe if it was negative the British media would broadcast it in their media that another Nigerian scam has been discovered. Can you imagine that?

That brings me to the main thing I want to talk about. I ask again why would you give a dog a bad name just to hang it? What crime have we committed against the European world that they hold so dearly against us and refuse to see any good coming from us? Nigerian has been working on our image at home and abroad yet it seems we are doing nothing. Why wouldn’t they just let sleeping dogs lie and stop painting us BLACK? There is absolutely nothing good said about us in Europe – every Tom, Dick and Harry has been brainwashed about Nigeria. They have obviously crowned us king of scam for instance. It bothers me so greatly the way we are treated and it is time they let us be. I get this feeling that we (Nigerians) are perceived as BAD personified to the European world. We have nothing good coming from us and so everyone who hears anything that has to do with Nigeria gets the con phobia. We are not worse than they are, and I am not trying to justify the miscreants in Nigeria who would stop at nothing to drag our image to the mud. They are the people who bring these names calling to Nigeria.

We may have been “all” they say we are but we are changing and they simply refuse to see the change in us. They only story you hear about Nigeria on foreign tabloids are heartbreaking news, bad roads and poverty stricken society. They fail to capture the heart-warming success stories we have no matter how little it is. I agree that we still have a lot to work on but they should give us the credit for trying and getting to where we are. An adage in Igbo says Ekene nwanyi akidi, o gwota ozo or Etoo dike na nke o mere eme, o mekwa ozo, which if translated into English literally means if you praise someone for the good he has done, he is encouraged to do more. I see on Nigerian home videos lots of fantastic houses and I sometimes doubt it is Nigeria. We are simply amazing but they would not agree with me. Not that I care what they think because I still have to be my best for myself and my country. Every other right think Nigerian citizen would agree with me on this. We have something good happening in the country but they don’t seem to see it. I begin to wonder if their reporters need contact lenses so they can see the good we have been up to.

Ok, I would conclude by telling us not to rest on our oars because more work needs to be done to get us to where we want to be. Yes we can be discouraged by the negative images painted about us, but it lies in our hands to take our future in our hands. Keep on working and being your best.

I love you Nigeria and I will always be proud of us.

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