A Nigerian man has wondered why there is white supremacy over a black man even in his own country. He narrated incidents on Twitter where even a black man prefer something just because it was made or packaged by a white man even if it does not speak quality.
Kelvin Odanz shared stories of how a black man has to allow his driver pose as a the owner of his company in order to penetrate locked doors or windows of opportunity.
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I know of a Nigerian who schooled in the UK, graduated and became so successful that he established a company in the UK with a branch in Nigeria.
But anytime he has Business meetings in Nigeria, he comes along with his British driver who poses as the owner of his company. His British driver only has to pose as the owner, open up greetings, give small briefing and hand over the rest of the conversation to his “manager” or something.
And this strategy works like magic. He got easier access, credibility, respect for working with “oyibo”, contracts. Literally everything just gets easier because of the “oyibo factor.” Top Government officials beam with foolish smile as they jostle to shake hands with Oyibo.
They swallow everything that’s said hook, line, sinker because Oyibo man owns the company. Foreign = original. Now, this is a smart Nigerian man who understands the kind of country he comes from and adjusted his Business strategy to fit in.
He knows that no matter how Brilliant he is, a white dishwasher from England will be valued over him because foreign = Better.
I am recalling this story because of the controversy surrounding the competitiveness between foreign companies and indigenous companies operating in the same sphere.
Anyone with a know-how understands that it is never a fair competition, especially in the Nigerian market. There is a certain bias the Nigerian clime (and the Nigerian people) have FOR foreigner companies and their products.
And indigenous company that want to survive mostly have to opt for having an upper management filled with foreigners to Garner credibility. Now, this is a terrible societal flaw. If a foreigner understands that he is valued more than the indigenes, he proceeds to abuse such privileges.
We can see how this plays out on how Indians/Lebanese/Chinese employers treat their Nigerian workers. They dehumanize us. This doesn’t happen in America or Spain or India for instance. These are countries where people have group confidence and pride.
But you see Nigeria? We’d bend over and invite a foreigner (entity) have their way with us.
And while that is happening, others look the other way. If you don’t put a premium on yourself, someone else won’t do that. If Nigerians don’t value themselves or indigenous Nigerian companies, others don’t do that for us.
We must do away with this “Oyibo factor” or we’d always pay a heavy price for it. Place a high value on US. Oh. And you should read about how Kwame Nkrumah bankrupted Ghana and you’d find trace of this Oyibo/Obroni complex also.
He literally approved any contract Bid/proposal submitted by foreign Nationals even if it made absolutely no sense. White Elephant projects by Obroni Power. If you read Petals of blood by Ngugi Wa Thiongo, you’d see how this played out in Kenya.
Someone had to build mannequins of foreigners for his school to give impression that it is an international school with Oyibo students. Hired a dumb, old white woman as principal. And of course her school immediately turned high profile, and the rich and mighty began sending their children there because the school is international and uses British syllabus.
He just placed a high price on school fees and the magic was complete. International school don set. Sometimes I think about it and I feel that Colonialism also robbed us of our pride and racial inferiority has been wired somehow into our genes and we pass it down from generation to generation.
We act as a race of defeated people all over Africa. From cradle to grave. For instance, a white man/women can tour Africa using a bicycle. He’d cross borders, cross waters, be welcomed to villages, treated like a King, get home safely and blog/vlog about it.
But can an African do the same? It rarely happens. Some harm will befall him/her.
