Beyond 419 And Nollywood: Uncovering Nigeria's True Story

I've heard countless things about my country, Nigeria, both the good and the bad. If I'm to give a stat according to what I've heard, the good about Nigeria is more than the bad but how the bad affects us is very disturbing and make it seem like there's no good about us. I'll still say it anywhere that I'm glad I'm a Nigerian anyways.

Even though I'd be glad to go live in some other country, I'm sure I'll have countless things I'll miss about my country. It's why I think more on how to go on vacations outside the country to return instead of leaving totally. With access to good resources, it's a beautiful place to live in but it's sad that many think it's better to leave for good.

I'll start with the good of my country and as my title says, one is that my country is known for their movies (Nollywood). To be honest, I'm not a big fan of my own country movies but I can't deny that the industry is picking up so well that I see countless clips of them everywhere on social media growing it's popularity around the world.

Our culture is a bigger good of our country, I get surprised when I see other country people dressing in our attires, some through marriage and some just for the fun and love of it. Many foreigners prepare our meals and even try to teach others recipes of our country meals, it tells a lot how much people do appreciate our culture.

But one good I'll say my country is known for, in response to the prompt question is, we are everywhere and we're not just there but active. I remember someone said you shouldn't do a business an igbo person is not involved in because their business minds makes them popular. It is same for a place with no Nigerian.

We are resilient people so we tend to survive in any location and condition, we just find our ways around it and many even do better than those who are native of the place. I've seen countless Nigerians get married to foreigners and build a home in other countries like they are natives of the place. They are mostly dominant wherever.

Sadly, the good is part of why the bad about Nigerians is spreading so fast and making the country look bad to the world. It's no news that 5 out of 10 foreigners would think a Nigerian is a scammer when they are approached because of the bad name we've somehow made for ourselves and it is being escalated too much.

I remember many years ago, it started as 419 and now, the name is being refined from fraud to yahoo yahoo. All are bad names to spread that our country is filled with scammers. Even here on Hive, Nigerians are perceived that way before anything good is proven. It's causing the good ones among us difficulty as we try to prove it off.

I can't even think of anything bad about my country that weighs more than this aside the Government which I believe it's God's appointed and we continue to hope a better Government will emerge. Nigeria is known for a bad government but it doesn't affect us out there as much as being called does fraudsters affects us.

One thing I'm sure of is, every country has their good and bad side so it's totally fine that people know both sides about my country but I believe it's mostly exaggerated and that is where it goes wrong as it involves our reputation to the world. It's only wise that anyone says what they think about a country from their own experiences and not generalize their thoughts, it will only do harm.