{"id":11705,"date":"2016-01-18T00:09:43","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T05:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/verastic.com\/?p=11705"},"modified":"2016-01-20T16:26:47","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T21:26:47","slug":"11705","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/11705.html","title":{"rendered":"When Nigerians Say They Can Never Live In Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"

So far in my life, I have lived in three countries and in three continents (or four continents, depending on where you believe Russia is located). First, I lived in Russia which is located on the bother of Asia and Europe. Some people call it Europe, some call it Asia, and some others just call it Eurasia. I personally could not care less. Then I lived in Nigeria, located in the continent of Africa. Contrary to ignorant belief, Africa is actually not a country. And now, I’m in America, located in the continent of North America. I have spent majority of my life in America. In fact, my time in America is more than my time in Nigeria and Russia combined.<\/p>\n

Although I was born in Russia, you will never hear me refer to myself as a Russian. I don’t call myself an American either. If it pleases the American people to call me African-American, then they may do so. But I am not under the illusion that I am actually any type of American. American citizenship only makes me American on paper, and even if the American people want me to think otherwise, I know better. There are many things that remind me everyday that if shit hits the fan, my citizenship can be stripped and my ass will be on the first thing flying\u00a0back to Nigeria. But I do love America.<\/p>\n

\"Confused

My facial expression when I’m wondering why some Nigerians think they’re better than the rest because they live outside Nigeria<\/p><\/div>\n

That’s why I never understand it when I hear Nigerians say things like, “Me, I can never live in Nigeria oh!”<\/em> It is annoying as it is ignorant. And funny, too, when you consider who is saying it. When someone who has spent most of their lives outside Nigeria say it, it makes sense because they do not know that life. And I am not referring to someone like me who once lived in Nigeria. I’m talking about someone who never lived in Nigeria, or who maybe spent the first couple years of their lives in Nigeria. Their willingness to live in Nigeria, a country they technically do not know is as likely as my willingness to live in Iran. No offense to the Iranian people.<\/p>\n

However, it’s not these people who have barely lived in Nigeria who say these things. No, it’s the ones who have actually lived in Nigeria. And not the ones who have spent my amount of time. No, it’s the ones who were born and raised in a remote village, who went to a school where English was the second language, who never lived in a big Nigerian city like Lagos or Port Harcourt or Abuja, and whose current presence in America is the result of winning the visa lottery or being filed for by a spouse or fiance.<\/p>\n

The ones who were too broke to have a good generator, the ones who paid their school fees late, the ones who did not have a family car, the ones whose roofs leaked with every rainfall, the ones whose stay in America has had no impact on their mentality or thinking ways, the ones who still think that a woman’s place is in the kitchen (or on a bed with her legs wide open) and that it is a man’s birthright to sleep with everything his eyes sees, and whose accomplishments in America are micro and limited at best, and whose idea of living is working round the clock to look rich and stay broke. It is them who say these things. Meanwhile, there are people who never left Nigeria who are moving mountains,\u00a0making history, changing lives, and giving the others a run for their money.<\/p>\n

I am not saying that every Nigerian needs to pack their kaya and return home. No, not at all. People have different reasons for preferring to live wherever it is that they live. \u00a0It’s okay if a Nigerian prefers to live outside of Nigeria, and God knows, there are many, many reasons to want to live outside of Nigeria. But to utter that they can now never live in Nigeria because of potholes and unstable electricity is humorous at best. How did they live there before? What if they had never gotten out? What makes them think they are better than the Nigerians who live there? And instead of preferring to enjoy the amenities that someone else produced in a foreign country, why not try to produce the same or better in Nigeria – so that someone else can prefer to live in Nigeria?<\/p>\n

Being a Nigerian in a foreign country has afforded me a lot of insight and different points of view. America will never stop being in my heart because she gave me so many opportunities, because I became an adult here, and because I widened my mental horizon here. I sometimes try to imagine what my life would have been like if I had taken a different route, like if I had never come to America and stayed in Nigeria instead. Or like if I had gone to college at Clark Atlanta as I so badly wanted to. Like if I had not failed out of Nursing school<\/a><\/strong>. Would I be here today? Would I be a writer? Would I have started a business? Would I have met or married Igwe? Would God have found a way to still make all these happen in spite of the different route I \u00a0had taken? There is no way to know.<\/p>\n

I digress. The point is that we, Nigerians need to learn how to be patriotic to our country, and it goes beyond waiving a flag on Independence Day or joining the trending hash tags on Nigerian Twitter. No, Nigeria is not close to perfect, and yes, we have a very long way to go and a laundry list of things to fix. But don’t be the person who points out all the problems and never offers a solution. Don’t go around saying reckless things like how you’re unable to live in the country that belongs to you. When you do that, you become a part of the problem. There is a Nigerian proverb that says that if the owner of the calabash calls it a trash can, then the neighbors will join in calling the calabash a trash can. Stop calling Nigeria a trash can.<\/p>\n

The truth is that as a Black person in America, America primarily sees you as Black. We, Nigerians and Africans know that we are not just Black (not that there’s anything wrong with being Black), but America does not care. You may have to work twice as hard to accomplish half as much as your White counterpart. I am not at all implying that being Black in America means that you can never accomplish your dreams, of course not, and if anyone tells you that, please disregard it. Believing that being Black is a burden instead of a blessing\u00a0will send you into a downward spiral of failure, lack of accountability, and contentment with mediocrity. You do not want that. Unless you actually do, in which case, I cannot help you.<\/p>\n

As for me, I am a proud Nigerian, and I look forward to the day I can live on Nigerian soil again. Also, Ada Verastic may have been born in America, and she may have more rights than me (like she can actually run for President) but she will be taught to know that she is first Nigerian and should not be caught saying, “I’m American, but my parents are Nigerian.”<\/em> Statements like that will be rewarded with Nigerian slaps on both cheeks, followed by twenty-four lashes of two-mouth koboko.<\/p>\n

With that said, what kind of Nigerian are you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So far in my life, I have lived in three countries and in three continents (or four continents, depending on where you believe Russia is located). First, I lived in Russia which is located on the bother of Asia and Europe. Some people call it Europe, some call it Asia, and some others just callRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_14738191_14738191":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[561,560],"tags":[208,1260],"class_list":["post-11705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal","category-social","tag-nigeria","tag-patriotism","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Nigerians Say They Can Never Live In Nigeria - 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