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Is Nigeria really a shithole?

  Peter OvieAkus

News reports emerged last week that the American President, Donald Trump, allegedly called Haiti, El-Salvador and African countries “shithole countries” in a meeting with Congressional leaders on immigration policy in the White House. He allegedly added that he preferred immigrants from Norway and Asia as they help America economically. Mr. Trump has, however, denied referring to African nations as shithole countries, but said that he used tough words to describe them.

This is not the first time that Donald Trump is attacking Nigeria. In 2016, during the race to win the Republican nomination, he had accused Nigerian leaders of looting Nigeria’s money and stashing it overseas. Similarly, in June 2017 during a cabinet meeting, he allegedly said that “once Nigerians step foot in America, they would not want to return back to their huts in Africa”.

To begin with, let us look at the literal dictionary definition of the word “shithole”. Simply put, a shithole is a place of physical dirt and shabbiness. With the exception of probably Abuja and Calabar, a drive on most Nigerian roads in the major cities would reveal heaps of refuse, stinking to high heavens, lying on the roadsides unattended to alongside nylons of sachet water and other used consumables. It is no secret that Nigerians do not have a culture of properly disposing of dirt and anywhere that seems convenient for them is where they dump their refuse, including gutters. This, most times, leads to flooding during the rainy season. Have we forgotten so soon that just a few years ago, most Nigerians derisively referred to Aba, a commercial city in South-east Nigeria, as the “Refuse Capital of Africa?”

Before we begin to break our heads over what Donald Trump thinks or says about us, we should endeavour to ask ourselves a pertinent question. How do Nigerians perceive Nigeria? It will shock you to know that most Nigerians, despite their protestations to the contrary believe that Nigeria is a shithole. Majority of Nigerians who are ranting about Trump’s statement on social media are either living overseas, have their children living overseas, have dual citizenship, have investments overseas or are seriously praying to travel overseas one day with the hope of never returning to Nigeria again. Nigerians played the American Diversity Visa Lottery for several years until they exhausted the quota numbers allotted to the country and were subsequently placed on the list of countries ineligible to apply by the US Immigration authorities. While it lasted, some Smart Alec quickly turned it into a profitable venture by setting up business centres to help prospective applicants file their application papers. These are the same set of people who flock churches, mosques, prayer houses, shrines e.t.c and engage in all sorts of spiritual gymnastics in order to secure an American visa. We view anything foreign as superior to anything local therefore those who have been privileged to travel outside the shores of Nigeria are seen as superior homo sapiens which makes many of them possess a superiority complex and an entitlement mentality.