The action of a single Nigerian is not the action of all Nigerians who are hardworking and honest people, they should not be tagged ‘fraudulent people’ for the misdeeds of a few”. Sure of recent times there have been some bad eggs representing Nigerians in a bad light, but the sterling achievements of other upstanding Nigerians in the diaspora should be able to overshadow these terrible deeds.
A few Nigerians in Disapora have taken out time to make a VIDEO to debunk this terrible claim that the average Nigerian is a fraudster. Numerous Nigerians all over the world are known to be hardworking, diligent, and determined and succeeding tremendously in their chosen careers or fields of endeavour. Some examples out of the many individuals include:
Tanitoluwa (Tani) Adewumi, a young Nigerian immigrant proved that hard work pays by winning the New York State Scholastic Primary Championship in his age bracket in 2019. According to what his father explained to CNN, the family of four fled the northern part of Nigeria for fear of being murdered by the Boko Haram sect, in 2017. While they lived in a homeless shelter, Tani learned to play chess. Just a little over a year later, he became a winner and changed his entire family’s fortune.
A top Nigerian designer, Duro Oluwo Became The First Designer To Win The ‘New Designer Of The Year Award’ Without A Pageant. is signature ‘Duro’ dress was hailed by both British and American Vogue as the dress of the year in 2005. He won the New Designer of the Year Award, that same year. Some of his clients are Solange Knowles (Beyonce) and Michelle Obama.
There is also the great Computer Wizard who redesigned the meaning and use of the computer in his time. Born in Akure, Philip Emeagwali invented one of the world’s fastest computers and won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize. New African Magazine voted him as the 35th greatest African scientist and earned him the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers’ Gordon Bell Prize in 1989, considered the “Nobel Prize” of computing.
Pearlena Igbokwe was born in Lagos during the civil war and migrated to the US at the age of six. During the growth of her career, the NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt brought her over from Showtime where the two had worked together, with an impressive track record since joining NBC in 2012 with a string of drama series breakouts, including The Blacklist, This Is Us, Nurse Jackie and Blindspot. In 2016, she became the President of Universal TV.
Akinwunmi Adeshina is the current president of African Development Bank. A position he thoroughly deserves because of his amazing record as a distinguished public servant. A graduate of the University of Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo University) Adeshina is Nigeria’s former Minister of agriculture and his time in office revolutionized the sector in Nigeria. He particularly intiated a transparent process in the sector’s fertiliser supply chain which helped the cause of local farmers thereby increasing farming activities and boosting food production across the nation. Before his appointment as a minister by former President Goodluck Jonathan, Adeshina had a stint at Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) where he served as vice president of policy and partnerships. He also previously worked at the Rockefeller Foundation.
Arunma Oteh is the current vice president and treasurer of the World Bank. Ms. Oteh is credited for sanitising Nigeria’s capital market during her time as the Director-General of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). The University of Nsukka graduate, had stints with the African Development Bank, Harvard Institute of International Development and Centre Point Investments Limited, Nigeria before she was appointed as SEC DG by Late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua. Efforts by some unscrupulous politicians in Nigeria’s House of Representatives to rubbish Oteh’s achievements was rebuffed by the Abia state-born woman, who exposed the legislator’s demand for bribe, after which she was given a clean bill of health by PricewaterhouseCoopers following allegations of financial impropriety against her.
John Boyega Hollywood’s new kid on the block was raised by Nigerian parents in Peckham, South London. He started acting in school plays from an early age right down to his late teens when he trained at the Identity School of Acting, Hackney. Before his huge breakout role in the latest installment of theStar Wars franchise, he acted in the film adaptation of Half of A Yellow Sun, written by fellow Nigerian, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Notably, he was an acquaintance of Damilola Taylor, the Nigerian schoolboy in England who was gunned down in 2000. The story made major headline news.
When Hollywood decides to film a movie based on your life, then you know you’ve hit it big. Dr. Bernet Omalu, Nigerian-American physician, forensic pathologist, and neuropathologist has gone down in history as the first to publish findings on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, changing the face of sports medicine as we know it. His theory highlighted concussions during gametime as the cause of dementia found in some National Football League players; a theory that faced major uproar from the community. After learning of his story, Will Smith portrayed him in the 2015 biopic, Concussion.
Other wonderful examples include: Wale (Musician), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Economist), Victor Moses (Soccer star), Hakeem Olajuwon (Basketball star), Agbani Darego (Fashionista), and numerous others.
Putting all Nigerians in a bad category is only demeaning to the efforts of other good Nigerians, in other words painting Nigeria in a bad light to other countries in the world.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK