I have been living and working in the United Kingdom for over six years now, I have always been proud of my Nationality until recently, A friend of mine asked me to help her search for a job using my internet facility, I invited her over to my flat, so I could help her fill out the online application. When we got to the monitoring form part, a form that is used according to employment policy to monitor equal opportunity, the form is to help check that people from the same Nationality, Race, Religion, Sexuality, Ethnicity among other criteria gets fair opportunity and equal treatment. On this organisation monitoring form, they had, Nigeria listed, Nigeria was the only nation that was actually listed, usually, the format is African, British, Black British, among others, but in this case they had Nigerian and a column for applicants to tick if they are from there.
I was going to tick it but my friend quickly nudged me, she screamed out no! When I asked her the reason for her refusal to tick the column she quickly lectured me on how that may limit her chances, and the fact that they listed Nigeria separately may mean they have had enough of us, I told her to be positive and see it the other way, that they could be looking for a Nigeria to fill up the position, the half full cup rather than half empty cup mentality. She declined my suggestion, saying she will only waste her time, then I asked her what nationality she wants to tick, she said Black British, I quickly reminded her that she would need to show her Passport on the interview date, if she gets short listed. She said it doesn’t matter as she would have made it to the interview and had the opportunity to prove herself.
Long story short, she got short listed went for the interview, said it was going well until she revealed her ID at the end of the interview, the people photo copied her ID and before she got home, they had emailed her to say how sorry they were, and that she has not been successful, she wept on my shoulders inconsolably, she tried to convince me that she did not get the job because of her Nationality, she went on to tell me, how they had actually asked her when she will be available to resume, and how they confirmed that they had the right contacts for her references. I told her employees usually do that in spite of whether they will take you or not, they check all that details as that is part of the whole interview process, she insisted that they were friendly until she produced her Nigerian Passport, she said she noticed a sudden coldness, their smiles faded, and they quickly shook hands to bid her goodbye and then to fulfil all interview rules, they reluctantly copied her ID.
I explained to her that all that cry and wasted journey and time to attend the interview would have been avoided if she had taken my advice in the first place and stated her real ID in the application form. She insisted that she took the right decision; I gave in to avoid further argument. It then dawned on me that she is another smart Nigerian. If you are shopping on EBay, an online shop, some of the traders that enlist there products will have a notice that they will ship there items to any part of the world except Nigeria, others advised Nigerian fraudsters not to contact them, Western Union will do on line money transfer to any nation except Nigeria, you have to go into any of there branch or agents to transfer money to Nigeria. Absurd! When I inquired why, I was told smart Nigerians has shown them there true colours, another embarrassing one is when you are buying air line ticket to Nigeria with credit or debit card, some will give you the option of presenting the card at the airport, others will suggest you come into their office to authorise the transaction, there are others that will insist they can only take cash or bank transfer from Nigerian Passengers, Again I tried to find out why, I was told that Some Nigerians are in the full time business of stealing other peoples credit card details and using them to purchase tickets for either themselves or their acquaintances.
I remember, going on lunch break with a colleague, we met another colleague who works in a different department, she came and joined us at our table, while we were eating slowly, we delved into a conversation about holiday and were one intends to go, I told them I will be going to my country, I described my country as sunny, hot and lovely, the other colleague from a different department asked me where am from originally, I told her Nigeria, she literally choked on her food, I asked her why, she said she had always had the impression that am from the Caribbean, then she looked at me quizzically and asked me if am serious, I got upset at that question but maintained my calmness, I quickly asked what she meant by that, then she told of how she was conned by certain Nigerians who said they were having difficulty opening a bank account and how they have been working for someone who has promised them to pay them in arrears if they will produce an account, she said she had pity for them as she could identify with their predicament since she is from a black minority ethnic group, she said, she gave them her account details, and the next day, a huge sum of money was paid into her account, She quickly rang them but suggested to them that they should give her four days for the check to clear.
The money became available on the fourth day, she went into the branch and withdrew some of the money for them, but because it will take her up to six working days to withdraw the whole money, she suggested that they can use her card and draw the money themselves from ATM machine, she gave them her pin number and wisely moved her balance to another account. Two weeks she had not heard from them, then she tried calling them, the number had suddenly ceased to exist, she decided to pay them a visit, they had moved, she went into her bank branch to order for a new card, her bank told her that a letter had been sent out to her inviting her to a court, and how she has been paying in dud checks and cashing them, and that she also took an overdraft of £1,000.00 pounds. She eventually went to court. Long story short, she paid back the sum of £11,000.00 pounds to the bank. I empathised with her and tried to tell her that, that shouldn’t make her hate all Nigerians but before I could finish my statement she got up and walked out without finishing her lunch or saying goodbye. I felt so embarrassed for the sins committed by others who are so much in a hurry to get rich to prove a point to their mates and family back home that they are doing well.
What Nigerians in Diaspora who prey other people’s pocket are doing is far from doing well, they are doing damage to what ever is left of our nation reputation, they are damaging the image of our people and it will take years to regain our good name. We need to start now, to save the face of our future generation. Those in Nigeria can help by not expecting too much from there relatives in Diaspora, their expectation puts these people under pressure to under take all sorts of evil tasks to prove their worth. The government should provide jobs; make the economy vibrant for Nigerians to survive. They should seek means to eradicate poverty and rid the nation of corruption which is actually the main cause of this problem. Leaders should be made accountable. Offenders should be severely punished. Educative messages and adverts should be used to disabuse people’s mind of this get rich quick syndrome. A. These 419 guys should be tracked down and brought to book. This is the only way forward. If nothing is done now, we will all be treated as criminals if we identify ourselves as Nigerians any way!!!
Nneka Emehelu writes from London
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