“The giant of Africa.” Decades ago, we wore this title proudly on our sleeves. We painted it in the sky, on the roads and clearly on our foreheads so whoever saw us would know who we are. This way our way until things start to go south. Today, the economic, political and every other sectors are in shambles and no one is doing anything about it. We are no longer the giant of Africa. We lost that title a long time ago and it would be absurd to still claim it. Decades ago, the world recognized us as a fast-developing country. They saw potential in us and for years, we didn’t make them doubt us. However, we have tarnished our images. Our white linens have been stained by our own hands. This brings me to today’s Hive Learners’ topic: **My Dear Country**.
For today’s prompt, the community asks us to share one good thing that the rest of the country knows about my country and also one bad thing the world knows my country for. I’ll start with the latter.
The world knows my country to be a den of scammers. Over the years, people have talked about us using negative terms. Whenever I come across a post where Nigerians get called scammers, I try as much as I can not to get angry because I know they are pouring out their emotions from a place of hurt. Do you know how many people have gotten scammed by a “Nigerian Prince?” This was even the most common tactic decades ago. Now, only a dumb person would fall for it. Still, these guys keep devising new ways to reap people of their hard earned money. Do you expect someone who lost millions of dollars to a Nigerian scammer to still be friendly towards them?
The most painful part is that although Nigeria is a den of scammers, not everyone is a scammer. It is sad that people judge Nigerians based on the bad people. And again, I do not blame them. Many of us work diligently to make money. This is clearly evident on Hive. We write posts, engage in different places and put in maximum effort into our work. Yet, when people talk about us, they don’t talk about how persistent we are. They don’t talk about how many of us strive to work legally to make ends meet. They only talk about the bad eggs among us.
The truth is that there are a lot of scammers in my country. If you’re not careful, you could fall into their hands. They keep devising new ways and that’s what I find intriguing. How do you come up with these things so creatively? If only they could channel that energy into something legal. The rotten eggs amongst us are affecting us badly. Now, we cannot get opportunities in many places simply because we are Nigerians. People around us have to constantly look back just to make sure that we don’t scam them and again, I don’t blame them for this.
On the other hand, one good thing that the rest of the world knows about my country is that we are determined and persistent. They might try to deny that, but that is the truth. Nigerians are everywhere, hustling like their lives depend on it, because it actually does. Nigerians are in the United States, they are in China, Russia and many other countries. We are determined, persistent and creative. If only we could apply all these things positively and work harder instead of trying to scam people, then we would reclaim our title as the giant of Africa in no time.
Thanks for reading.
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