Recently, Punch reported the heartbreaking story of Ridwan Akinfenwa, a Nigerian software engineer who lost a $260,000-per-year international CTO job. He had signed the contract, celebrated the breakthrough, only to receive a sudden email: his offer was withdrawn because of “regulatory constraints” tied to his nationality.
It is not the first time, and sadly may not be the last. As the name of Nigeria echoes around the world, from those who play in different leagues -- from Floro to PsKemi -- to those who have migrated and mingled with races in the UK, the Bahamas, and across the globe, it is difficult not to see an emerging generation of Nigerians who sought greener pastures, who nationalized elsewhere, or who now carry dual citizenship.
Most of us make these choices to break through the walls set before us. Yet those grinding hard daily at home still face the debacle of a politics and a skewed system that elevates mediocrity above merit, only to be met again by secret, coded language that quietly terminates their offers when it is time to compete on the world stage.
When President Donald Trump once vowed to evacuate illegal immigrants, he never singled out Nigerians. Every country in the world has those who bring disrepute to its name. Why then should Nigerians, talented dreamers breaking barriers bear the weight of collective suspicion?
My own experiences within West Africa show the same: even here on the continent, Nigeria is perceived as a threat, perhaps because of our sheer audacity to dream, our insistence on breaking barriers.
This hatred against the Nigerian passport, this suspicion of the Nigerian name, is why I speak today. To the world: stop the bias.
Where is the love? Where is the unity? Why must every dreaming Nigerian be judged not by their talent, but by the paper that bears their nationality? A Nigerian will struggle, sacrifice, and build systems with the hope that one day the world will celebrate their success. Yet too often, they are disqualified, reinforcing the stereotype, feeding the narrative of the few bad eggs.
But if the world keeps humbling its best Nigerians at the vestibule of success, what happens when the good, weary of rejection, finally turn bad? Then the world itself grows more Hobbesian, brutish, divided, and unsafe.
— Abioye Tosin Lawrence, Publisher of Oriontimes Online Newspaper and author of the upcoming memoir Voices from the Fire: My Journey Through a Hollow Empire, frontier of the HATE-AGAINST-NIGERIA Campaign.
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