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J uly 12, 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
P age A6
Ted About Nigeria
frica sadly stands
alone, a misunderstood
continent... imperfect
patches of its culture and
tradition are often beamed to
an ignorant world.“
It V as precisely a year ago that I
A
observed the above statement in this
column. I told you how the western
media, glorifies in giving you the
side o f Africa that would invariably
dissuade and drain your love fo r that
continent.
Before CBS washed N igeria's
dirty corruption secrets before the
entire w orld on 60 Minutes the last
two weeks, it was horrible stories
about death and disease in A frica and
gory pictures o f a ravaging Ebola
virus prowling the streets o f Zaire
looking for whom to devour.
Before then it was Nigeria con
men caught in the camera lenses de
frauding white foreigners. I know by
now you are wondering why and
asking how did it happen that all
these vices and diseases are embed
ded in the fabric o f Africa societies?
I f y ou had w atched the 60 m in
utes piece, you might think bribery
and forgery originated from Nigeria,
a country o f about 120 m illio n black
folks.
M aybe i t ’ s o n ly g o in g to be a
little tim e before a psycho w o u ld
wake up and te ll the A m e rica
p u b lic that vice or c o rru p tio n o f
a ll kinds comes from A fric a s im
ply because a couple o f sick N i
geria n s a ccepted b rib e s fro m
CBS reporters.
B efore then let me refresh
yo u r memory that lon g before
now , most A fric a so cie ties or
p re cise ly N ig e ria co m m u n itie s
were an em bodim ent o f peace
and p u rity .
C o rru p tio n o f any k in d was
fo re ig n to o u r society and b r ib
ery wras an a bo m in atio n p u n is h
able by banishm ent. That was
u n til the E uropean came and
changed o u r m ethod o f b u yin g
and se llin g .
They intro du ced us to “ lo b
b y in g .” a m ore refined w ord fo r
b rib e ry . These fo lk s bequeathed
to us a system that encourages
fraud at the expense o fo u r b ro th
ers. I t ’ s a legacy that our c o lo
n ia l master le ft behind
N ig e ria stands as one o f the
richest co untries in natural re
sources. It is the fifth largest sup-
p lie r o f crude o il to A m e rica .
M uch o f its beauty have been
sw allow e d in a negative m edia
b litz o rc h e s tra te d by faceless
enemies o f A fric a .
Show me a co u n try w here
there is no b rib e ry and c o rru p
tio n. W here m oney cannot buy
you a n yth in g , in c lu d in g a pass
port.
D o n ’ t be m isled. It is a ques
tio n o f conscience fo lk s . N o th
ing e x tra o rd in a ry .
G reat G ran d p a re n t/ P aternal: V irginia o f Camas
G reat G randparents/ M a te rn a l: Olive & Alva
Promise King is an associate
editor o f the Portland Observer He
was born in Nigeria, West Africa.
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