Why do Nigerians have a bad reputation?

Well something I've noticed about Nigerians is they have quite an uncompassionate culture.
There's not a lot of sympathy for the weak, the poor or anything like that. They have a very snobbish view. Not only this I've noticed they don't really have a lot of respect for art. Everything is about money money money. and they seem to mimic the worst american ideals. Like those of the jocks and "mean girl" types.

something I've noticed about nigerians though is that they often care more about their reputation than actually whats right and wrong.

Like there was recently a video of a baby being abused by a nanny in nigeria.
there was public outcry not for the baby. but because it was apparently "making nigerians look bad"

Actually, at the rate things are going, they'll become an Islamic state in shorter time (since their government don't seem to be batting an eyelid).

So are you going to wait till they attack a major city before you acknowledge the threat that Boko Haram pose?
Just think of the children,men and women that have been slaughtered so far.
If I was living in Nigeria now, I will pretty worried and I definitely won't wait for them to attack my city before I pack my bags!

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Nigeria is the most developed country in Africa. South Africa is close second but outside of Johannesburg, it's full of shanties. They have reason to be cocky if you ask me.

Well something I've noticed about Nigerians is they have quite an uncompassionate culture.
There's not a lot of sympathy for the weak, the poor or anything like that. They have a very snobbish view. Not only this I've noticed they don't really have a lot of respect for art. Everything is about money money money. and they seem to mimic the worst american ideals. Like those of the jocks and "mean girl" types.

something I've noticed about nigerians though is that they often care more about their reputation than actually whats right and wrong.

Like there was recently a video of a baby being abused by a nanny in nigeria.
there was public outcry not for the baby. but because it was apparently "making nigerians look bad"

No it wasn't. Ask any other African. Nigerians got their reputation from shady business dealings and their reputation for arrogance among other African nations.

Nigerians have a bad reptuation but i'm not going to mention whats been said here already (obviously scams, fake passports, My auntie is currently doing one and im tempted to tell uk border force ....)

There attitude stinks, the way nigerians treats their kids with discipline, its HARD to explain to an nigerian to **** off. they then start shouting in pidgin english (nigerian accent). Their problem is, in that country, everyone is two-faced.

When i was in nigeria, i felt like an immigrant, they just talk behind your back and treat you like ****... Beware if your a rich white boy, because nigerians will be jealous of you will scam what you have.

I can just keep on ranting and ranting, I just hate how they pretend to be christians or muslims as well... When they ARE SWEARING AND INSULTING YOU BEHIND THEIR BACK. I just ****ing hate my own country.

I'm glad to be british, If i had lived in nigeria and came to uk at 18, i would be a scammer, an armed robber and having fake passport and faking marriages with white women..

This is what I've heard about them, being materialistic people.
But is it part of their culture since a long time or since colonisation?

I guess they feel a bit touchy now since they apparently have a bad reputation.

I bloody love Nwankwo Kanu personally.

That's hard to say.

I think sadly Nigeria is so corrupt and so violent that anyone artistic or philosophical is murdered. take Fela Kuti for example.

So I'd say its probably a post colonial issue combined with perhaps already existing culture.

Of course you also get cultural variations largely between different groups like hausa, yuroba, igbo and others. Certainly I've noticed yuroba tend to be the most snobbish whereas igbo tend to be a bit more philosophical. Certainly what i've been told in terms of tribal gossip is that yoruba are the sneaky ones that play off igbo vs hausa against eachother. or that after igbo put the most pressure on the british to leave the igbo then jumped into the throne of power as soon as the british left. as i said all of this is very much gossip and worth little.


but really i put it down to corruption and violence.


When you see nigerias neighbour Ghana and the vast difference between them you can see that Ghana was always more of a foot hold for african intellectualism and this has been allowed due to for the most part. its lack of violence. despite corruption and coup's there has very rarely been breakouts of violence. But then again also tribally I believe the tribes are less contrasting. It all seems very confusing but it seems like the majority of tribes in Ghana like Fante or Ashanti all originally came from the Akkan. Whereas the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo of Nigeria have very contrasting roots.


I think theres also a lot to be said about immigration.

for the most part the nigerians we are getting in the uk are from affluent backgrounds or as refugees. so some of these have been very cut throat about getting here to the uk and have beg borrowed and stolen from many to fuel their trip. most of the people they will have exploited along the way will have been fellow nigerians. so i think the nicer nigerians of moral character who still posses the resolve and have the luck to find their way to the uk are going to be a lot rarer.

then the affluent nigerians. I mean any affluent people from a corrupt society are going to have achieved their affluence through corruption and exploitation of those around them.
I met the daughter of a ex military leader turned property developer who had made his success from a war he was part of where literally the people he had ordered "cleared" from a village he had bought up the land for cheap after. This was not in africa though. I won't say where. But I think it shows the type of stuff that can go on in war torn nations.

then you have political refugees which is very much rarer. again I new a girl whos father was murdered in nigeria. He took his family over here to the uk as refugees. once they were safe he went back to nigeria to continue his politcal works and campaigns.
sadly he was of course murdered by the government. however i was very surprised by my friends reaction. she basically didn't care about what her father was fighting for.

so it strikes me that maybe many nigerians have quite literally given up on making nigeria a better place and just focus on "getting theirs". that maybe nigeria is such a lost cause that its not even worth the effort to try and fix it or indeed care about it.

^ this
so much valuable info, thank you

It seems to come down to tribes a lot. Hm. But again, it really depends on the area. Gambia doesn't have that much ethnic tension.

This is all really sad.
(Are you from Nigerian descent?)

Glad its helped.

The Gambia seems really cool I'd love to visit there. I especially love the fact that its called THE Gambia. Like if I was from there and anybody called it Gambia i'd have tot stop them be like "no... its THE Gambia..."

but yea no I'm not Nigerian or of Nigerian descent. I dated a half Nigerian girl and have had few Nigerian friends and at one point was very close with a group of Nigerian guys and we used to go out clubbing. But they were very rare, they were kinda... 2 of them were hardened "area boys" and despite the fact that many would look down on them as immoral for that back ground, they actually seemed very humble and empathetic. We would have big long talks about Nigeria its history, politics and current state. It seemed to be that while they may have been "bad" due to being area boys that they actually provided a lot of service to the community and when they were exploiting the community often did so at the behest of some one rich and often more immoral. It seems that they were able to see the damage that was being done on the bottom but also the corruption and moral depravity reigning down from the powers above. And they had sincere regret about the bad stuff they had done. But they were in the UK for a reason and that was to make an organization that could help back home but base it over here that would be safe from governmental attack in Nigeria. Really cool guys its a shame I lost contact with them.

But yea they were mainly Igbo descent but the whole group was mixed.

I myself am Irish but as Ireland used to be a British colony (some would argue still is). I'm fascinated by ex-colonial nations. I think all ex-colonial nations should study each other to see what works and what doesn't.
Its difficult to start a brand new nation from scratch after all. Especially when its a government model given to you by your ex-colonial masters in the first place.

But I also had a particular interest in Nigeria due to the Biafra conflict. Many of the inhabitants of Biafra (most of them Igbo) were catholic and Ireland sent I think the most support out of any other country at the time and the leader of the Biafran republic thanked Ireland for their support. But many of refugees from there came to Ireland. They actually seemlessly integrated too. There was only tension in the 2000s when the next wave of Nigerian immigrants came who were from the whole "identity theft" generation.