The Nigeria You Don't Know

When it comes to Nigeria, don't believe all the hype. Sure, we have the good, the bad, and the ugly. But, Western media tends to focus on the bad and the ugly and forgets about the 90-95% that is good about Nigeria and the Nigerian people.

Nigeria gets a bad rap in the media

There is intense scrutiny on Nigeria whenever anything negative happens. Whatever it is will definitely be blown up in the press. And yes, there are some things going on in Nigeria that are negative, but there's also many more positive things going on in Nigeria that you never ever hear about in Western media.

Definitely, Nigeria suffers from corruption at the highest levels which then trickles down to lower levels. There is ineffective leadership. There are the dramatic, flamboyant financial scams. There are the very disturbing kidnappings of school children in some areas of the country. And some areas of Nigeria are, indeed, prone to violence. We know that.

But there is also much more to Nigeria than what is so often heard

We Nigerians do not whitewash the truth about what is not good about the country. But, that is not all that there is to Nigeria. The reality is that there is much that is good about Nigeria and Nigerians, and what is frustrating, is that so many people all over the world have no idea about what some of those things are. All they know is the bad, and that is in large part, due to the way that Nigeria is covered by Western media.

I am in the travel business. We often hear statements like, "Who in their right mind wants to go to Nigeria? ... Nigeria is not on my bucket list! ... There's nothing there ... You go there and get kidnapped." This view and feeling is warranted, if that were all that there is to Nigeria, but it is not. This perception of the entire country is the result of knowledge obtained or influenced by stories told through a single lens, and that lens is focused on the negative.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Can you name two or three countries where there is no good, bad and ugly? The sad irony is that the bad and the ugly account for only 5-10% of the people, if that. Most people in a country are good people. Yet, it is the small percentage of bad and ugly that ends up stereotyping an entire country and its people when the good is not equally presented or reported on.

Take America, for example. If all we heard about America was told through a negative lens, you would think that America was full of violence. You would believe that you can't take a walk down the streets because you can be killed in a drive-by shooting, and that there are mass shootings all the time, including in elementary schools. You would believe that if you are a young Black man, or even a small Black kid, you can get shot and killed by police for no apparent reason, and no one will go to jail for doing that. People disagree with other people and kill them ... and so on and so forth.

These things do happen, but if that were all that the media focused on when it comes to reporting on America, then definitely, America would not be on many people's bucket list, ever. America could be looked upon as one of the most unsafe places in the world to visit.

But that would be such a one-sided portrayal of America and its people. I know these bad and ugly things to be true, but I also know that those events do not tell the whole story of America. I know that 90-95% of Americans are the among the world's most tolerant and giving people, and that America is beautiful, and for the most part, very safe.

The way a country is perceived is a measure of how that country is portrayed to others, and often that means the way it is portrayed in the media. There are two sides to every country's story and its people. Some countries are portrayed through a more balanced lens than others. And what you know depends on the stories you hear from the storytellers.

Nigerians and other Africans need more storytellers to present more balanced stories

It is the one bad apple, or the five bad apples in an entire orchard, that gets all of the attention. The storytellers are the ones to tell the whole story, but so often, they do not. Nigerians and Africans need more storytellers in the media who will tell a more balanced story about who we are, our contributions to the world, including the global economy, and the beauty of our continent.

For now, don't believe all the negative things you hear about Nigeria, because like most countries of the world, Nigeria is 90-95% comprised of hardworking good people, doing good things, the honest way.