4 Things I Noticed About Working in Abuja

I've been working in Abuja for a few months now and I'm enjoying it. My colleagues are hilarious, the work I do is the kind of work I've always wanted to do in London but couldn't, and the benefits are great. People are people everywhere you go so there aren’t any huge differences between working here and working in the UK, yet here are four things I have noticed:

You Get Paid More If You Have a Foreign Education

I was told this before I moved to Nigeria, and it’s true. It’s like, there’s a base rate companies will pay ‘ordinary’ Nigerian graduates, then you get 20% more if your degree is from abroad, 20% more if you have a Masters degree from abroad, 20% if you have an authentic foreign accent, 20% more if you’ve worked for many years abroad, 20% more if you know the same people your employer knows, and 20% more still if you talk, walk and behave as if you’re the best thing since sliced bread because of your foreign experience.

I personally found this all to be true, but I’m sure if I’d walked around the office as if I’d dined daily with the Queen back in England and insisted on a chauffeur and for everyone to call me Madam, I’d get paid more still. Humility doesn’t get you praise in Nigeria, it’s quite the opposite actually. The more you act as if you’re better than everyone and treat everyone as if they’re less than you, the more respect you get. People actually expect this of you, especially with your foreign background. I’m having to re-programme myself to think ‘like a big Madam.’

The More You Earn, The Less You Do

I was shocked to discover that graduates can earn just N20, 000 a month in companies in Abuja. It might sound a lot to those not used to the Naira, but it really isn’t.  And these graduates work hard, yet the higher you climb the ladder, the less work you actually do.

Naira: The highest bank note in Nigeria is N1,000, yet that's the cost of a single magazine

Taxes and Pensions

Every month, my quoted salary is less by a few thousand Naira, so naturally, I queried this discrepancy and was told the deductions were to cover taxes and my company pension. I accepted this, but later I remembered that I hadn’t actually signed any documents agreeing to having a pension, and as for taxes...hmmmm. Later, some of my colleagues confirmed my suspicions, that there wasn’t actually any ‘Pension Fund’ to speak of, and the collection, implementation and accountability of taxes in Nigeria were arbitrary at best and non-existent at worst. It seems as if some clever accountants are syphoning off a bit of everyone’s pay to line their pockets. Hmmmm.

High Level of Respect For Senior Staff

For someone used to the informal, laid-back nature of London offices, where you call your boss by their first name and they joined you in the pub for a drink, the Nigerian workplace is a lesson in hierarchical protocol. Here you call even your immediate superior ‘Sir’ and ‘Madam’ or ‘Ma’ and defer to them in everything, not speaking when they speak etc. I’m still getting used to and enjoying being called ‘Ma,’ but still find it odd and false to call anyone likewise, so I don’t. I show my respect for them in other (better) ways. Also, senior staff rarely socialise with lower level staff.The only person anyone called ‘Ma’am’ in England was the Queen, so the evident deference here is interesting. 

7 Reasons Why Nigerian Sites Have Bad Grammar

I visit a lot of Nigerian-produced news and entertainment sites, blogs and forums, and unfortunately a lot of the writing there leaves a lot to be desired. It's disappointing when a fascinating subject is ruined by bad grammar, the hyper-zealous use of a thesaurus or grand, convoluted sentences when simpler phrasing would do.

I wish I could 'red-pen' websites...

As an avid wordsmith who has studied the art of writing, sentences like Yes, i understand; 90's CD's and DVD's or Am in love irks me. (If you see nothing wrong with these sentences, then I envy the ease of your daily reading experience!)

And the habit of writers to use twelve words when three would do is also bothersome, so that a sentence like:

"Little five-year-old Ayo Azeez's mother had left his biological father after irreconcilable misunderstanding which led to their separation. The boy then became gravely ill and was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital but he gave up even before any medication could be administered on him."

Should be edited to:

"Five year old Ayo Azeez's mother had separated from his father before he fell ill. He was then rushed to a nearby hospital but died before receiving treatment."  

It sure does

Here are 7 reasons why I believe many Nigerians employ verbose, unprofessional English:

1. Sub-standard University Education

All Nigerians that can afford it go to university because education is a matter of pride and necessity. But the education many receive is often of low quality due to the lack of government funding and rampant teacher strikes caused by the non-payment of salaries, which turns a three-year degree into a six-year interrupted struggle. Inconsistent electricity also interrupts the use of computers and other technologies vital for a thorough education. Eventually poor students become poor teachers and the cycle is unbroken.

2. Journalism is an Unpopular Degree

Law, accounting and medical degrees are popular choices for Nigerians, but journalism is not. This is due to the little attention paid to literature and the lower pay journalists expect. The country's children are not encouraged to pursue a writing career and the majority of the country's journalists today began their careers in a completely different profession.

In my case, my father was a broadcast journalist and I read all the books on our bookshelf (my mother was once an avid reader though she no longer cares for books). My favourite was Enid Blyton's The Adventures of the Wishing Chair and I wanted to be a children's writer before deciding on journalism. I was neither encouraged nor discouraged to pursue it, and growing up I'd never heard of any Nigerian print journalists.

3. Poor Reading Culture

It is a sad fact that Nigerians don't value reading. Things Fall Apart by Nigerian Chinua Achebe is the most famous book written by an African, yet the ratio of Americans to Nigerians who have read it is probably 3:1. The more one reads, the better their grammar, and Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie set up The Farafina Trust to encourage reading and creative writing stating that::

"...If my novel had been first published in Nigeria...I would not have had an editor or publicity or marketing. The newspapers would have taken scant notice... [and] I would expect only family and friends to buy the novel because we are a country of people who do not regard and do not read literature. Many Nigerians say...we are too poor to read. Literature is, after all, a middle-class preserve and... reading has been put aside for the pursuit of basic survival."

Nigerians should encourage their children to read

4. Bribery

Institutional bribery means that the least intelligent but wealthy students often get the best grades above the intelligent but poorer students, so that those that get the writing jobs in the end are unqualified having only bought their grades.

5. Nepotism

To get a good job in Nigeria, who you know gets you further than ability or education. Many under-qualified people become 'Features Editor' or 'Reporter' because their aunt or brother-in-law is the Editor or Publisher. So someone with friends in high places, a degree in Forestry and a disregard for proper sentence structures can have their work published in the country's most popular publications.

6. English as a Second Language

English is the official language but all Nigerians have a different mother-tongue and many are only familiar with pidgin-English. This means that the level of acceptable spoken and written English in many arenas is lower than in western establishments, and the errors prevalent in using imperfect grammar is ignored or not even noted.

7. The 'More is Best' Thinking

Nigerians are often extroverts and this follows into their writing where the 'posher' the words sound, the better the writer is regarded. I remember reading a letter from my grandfather to my mother and being perplexed by the formal tone, along the lines of  "it is with the utmost trepidation that I hasten to..."

This contrasts with Western writing where simplicity and succinctness rule, and industry standards mean that British articles have a particular flow unlike Nigerian articles. Of course there are Nigerians trained in universal journalistic principles from the country's best universities, and quality publications like Thisday are thankfully well written, but Nigerians desecrating the English language abound all over the web.

Some of the websites I visit leave me shaking my head in disbelief or giggling at the unintentional humour of the more ambitious sentences.

10 Reasons Why Hausa Nigerians Riot

Northern Nigeria has a long history of religious and ethnic violence, with Hausa/Muslim men the main perpetrators.

In 2002 the Miss World Contest was relocated from Abuja, Nigeria to London because of violent deaths as Hausa-Muslims protested against the competition; in 2005 200 people were killed in Northern states after a Dutch newspaper published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad; In 2007 a Christian teacher was burnt alive by Muslim students after rumours spread that she had dropped the Qur'an, and in 2011 houses were burnt and people killed by angry Hausa/Muslim protesters following the election victory of Southern President Goodluck Jonathan instead of the Northern presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari.

Rioting Youths in Kano

So are Hausas too aggressive? Does Islam promote violence? Here are 10 reasons why I think there is so much unrest in the North.

1. Easygoing But Serious-Minded

As stated in my previous post 8 Reasons Why You Meet Few Hausas in the UK, Hausas are primarily laid-back people who are more reserved than the exuberant Southerners. But though they have calm personalities, they are very serious-minded about honour and religion. They are easy to get along with but the one thing they never joke about Islam.

2. Strict Nature of Islam

The fact that most Hausas are Muslims also explains their serious personalities and inability to compromise. Islam, as opposed to Christianity, is very strict about its customs which have to be fully obeyed without excuse. Whereas not every Christian fasts for Lent or covers their head when they pray, and Christianity tolerates criticism and casual observance from its followers, Muslim leaders demand total obedience and questioning authority is highly discouraged.

So as Islam has been a major influence in Hausa communities for centuries, it has shaped the Hausa man's strictness and intolerance of dissent. This intolerance is also evident in other Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan where other religions are surpressed.

3. Religious Leaders

The Imams in the Hausa community have a lot of power in influencing the way the people think. But certain Imams, armed with the knowledge that their people are highly intolerant of Islamic disrespect, often provoke Hausa youths to violence to further their own political or economic interests. Most Hausas never even saw the Dutch cartoons, but at the instigation of their Imams they committed murder when told that so-and-so insulted the Prophet.

The Qur'an

4. Lack of Family

The culture of poor Hausa parents sending their young sons off to Islamic boarding schools miles from their homes is a major factor to the prevalence of millions of unsupervised youths (Almajiris) terrorising the streets of Northern Nigeria. These youths grow up with no parental care and are desolate, desperate and unskilled. The lack of moral guidance coupled with the neglect and abuse from their Imams (the kids have to beg for food and money) leaves the almajiris suseptible to criminal activities including murder and vandalism.

5. Islamic Education

Hausa-Muslims despise state education (which they deem western and Christian) and insist on only an Islamic education for their youth, which isolates them from other Nigerians (and the world) in terms of understanding science, maths, writing and other information vital to knowing how the world works. The singular curriculum of a Qur'anic education not only blinds almajiris to universal truths but also disables their ability to deal efficiently in the professional and business arena, and so they remain poor and dependant on Imams who use their ignorance and idleness for violence.

6. Lack of Jobs

A Hausa man with a full time job does not have the time to riot. But many Hausa youths are just as jobless as their Southern counterparts and they can be paid or easily pushed to violence in relation to their religion because Islam is all they know and all they have.

7. Pack Mentality

The Hausa/Fulanis are less likely to inter-marry or mingle with other ethnicities in Nigeria, which means that they remain closely-knit and fiercely defensive of their culture; when you attack one you attack all. The mixture of views and backgrounds in the South makes it harder for people there to come together under one ideology, but the unambiguity of Islam and cultural cohesiveness of the Hausas makes it easier for them to unite to defend their religion.

8. Religion vs Money

Hausas are more religion-conscious than money-conscious. They would rather be thought of as good Muslims than rich men. That is why religious disrespect (also linked to cultural honour) is the only thing that will bring a Hausa man to shout in the streets, whereas in areas like the Niger Delta it is the desire for more oil wealth that gets the youths rioting.

9. Ethnic divisions

The difference between Hausa/Fulanis and other Nigerians is more pronounced because of the influence of Islam. Whereas Yorubas, Igbos and other ethnicities in Nigeria share Christianity, language origins and cultural similarities, the Hausa/Fulanis are distinct, which means issues are easily turned into an 'us' vs 'them' situation.

10. Christianity vs Islam

The New Testament emphasises love for your neighbour, and the statement by Jesus that if someone wrongs you 'turn the other cheek' is well known amongst Christians and non-Christians so that violence is discouraged. But Islam is more tolerant about fighting for your religion ("Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it" Surah 2:216), and the concept of jihad, infidels and matyrdom leading to paradise is encouraged by Imams.

Islam is also male-dominated and women are separated so that their gentler influence on the religion is absent, as opposed to Christianity where it is often the mother that exemplifies the religion and women fill the church.

?SOLUTION?

Ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair once said the UK's main objective should be:

"Education, Education, Education"

It is also true for Northern Nigeria. I know Hausa men whose natural inclination towards intolerance has been quelled by mainstream education or Christianity. Education elevated the primitive, barbaric and superstitious European into reasoned men who instituted laws based on fairness and justice and not an ancient book, and it can do the same for Northerners.

Someone once said:

"With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil — that takes religion"

This is true of Hausa Muslims. But with a decent state education their religion will stop being a hindrance to their humanity.

6 Reasons Why Rap Music is Bad for Nigerians

I used to like rap back when it was poptastic and artists like Mase, JaRule and Nelly were making hits. But now (maybe because I'm older?) I think the popular forms of the genre is detrimental to Black people's achievement because it encourages a culture that:

1) Turns ignoramuses into millionaires that buy $50 million cars, huge necklaces worth more than houses and a full set of diamond teeth
2) Encourages middle-aged men to dress like teenagers who wear caps, hoodies, jeans and trainers to corporate events
3) Reduces beautiful women into willing sex-objects (video vixens) valued for nothing more than their fat behinds
4) Funds and fuels violence by making violent rappers rich
5) Glorifies and promotes promiscuity, greed, revenge, hate and other shameful vices
6) Turns would-be doctors and lawyers into education-less layabouts with delusions of grandeur who spit boastful, violence-ridden lyrics that get them nowhere, until they wake up one day aged 40 and discover that they have wasted their youth chasing pipe dreams of becoming the next Jay Z.

Yes, rap music has given Black people a voice, can be a force for good and a source of enlightenment and has provided an avenue for many to attain wealth and influence. But for every 50 Cent there are a thousand more who never make it and lead unproductive lives because they wasted their best years chasing a fruitless dream and end up bitter because of it.

I'm putting aside the entertainment value of rap music and looking into its societal effects.

Thank God Nigerian parents still demand that their kids to go to university and become accountants and engineers and that many young Nigerians chase professions. Although some born and bred in the West are lost to the Music Monster, a lot more excel in jobs that will actually feed their families long term.

It could be argued that the music genre itself cannot be held responsible for leading countless people astray. And the fact that many youths prefer to get rich through the relatively simplistic art of rhyming rather than the discipline of education and apprenticeship has more to do with our skewed culture than rap itself.

I don't know.

All I know is that I'll be a typical Nigerian mother who will discourage my child if they tell me they want to rap. I want to stop them from becoming a stereotype because the industry is over-subscribed with countless black boys and girls hoping for music superstardom. I'll tell them that they must earn a degree otherwise I will cut them out of my will, and if they continue to have a passion for music, I'll encourage them to learn a musical instrument which would actually earn them money in the future when their lyrical flow doesn't.

8 Reasons Why You Meet Few Hausa/Fulanis in the UK

I have met few Hausa people in all the time I've lived the UK, but I have many Yoruba and Igbo friends and have met hundreds of others.

I know we're all one; ever since the British decided to bring these three distinct peoples together under one nation called Nigeria, we have shared a destiny and a future. But the Hausa and Fulanis- two distinct groups united by Islam, inter-marriage and history- remain mysterious to many Nigerians abroad due to their relative invisibility. Below are some reasons why I think this is so.

(WARNING: These are wild generalisations. They are based on some facts but it is in NO WAY conclusive, there are lots of exceptions to every rule!)

1. Private People

Hausas are private, reserved people who mind their own business. They are often, in very Islamic states, not as exposed to Western influences as other groups which means that emigration to the UK or the US is not the 'great ideal' they've dreamed about as a result of consuming Hollywood movies or music, as it is to others. Because of their Muslim religion, Islamic countries like Dubai and Saudi Arabia are also more attractive.

2. Simplicity

Hausa people are known for their simplicity (rich Hausa men have been known to walk everywhere and wear the same clothes even though they can afford cars and expensive clothing) so the bright lights of Hollywood or the golden streets of London doesn't hold the same appeal. They are modest and unmaterialistic and don't have the need to obtain expensive things from abroad.

3. Laid-Back

Of course they enjoy the finer things in life, but both Hausa Christians and Muslims don't often go to the great lengths others do to secure a visa to the West. The rigmarole of waiting in line under the hot sun for the whole day outside the US Embassy, the thousands of Naira necessary to secure your tickets out and the paperwork and often dodgy means of acquiring visitor status to enter these countries is not something they pursue. It could be said they lack drive and ambition, which is untrue. A Hausa man's home is his castle and he's able to be content with the little he has as long as he provides for his family.

4. Less Education

Northerners are also less educated than their Southern counterparts. Indeed, many eschew Western-influenced education for traditional Islamic schooling, so going overseas to study and embark on a career is not open to them. They may also prefer travelling to Arab and Islamic countries because they see the West as Christian-influenced which puts them off coming here.

5. Docile Women

Hausa/Fulani women are even less likely to be university-educated than their men, and are sometimes married at an early age, thus their aspirations are stunted and their opportunities for exploring the world limited by their tradition and home lives.


6. Knowing No One Abroad

Another limiting factor to Northerners going abroad may be the fact that they don't know many of their kinsmen living in other countries. If you know people in Mongolia the thought of going there could appeal, otherwise you might choose to stay home instead. Yorubas and Igbos have large communities in many areas around the world so stepping off the plane they have the name of an 'Uncle' or a church to go to.

7. Wealth and Poverty

There are many wealthy Hausa/Fulani Alhajis who do travel abroad, send their children to study in Western universities and conduct business in different countries, but they don't always live amongst other Nigerians. There are also many poor Malams who cannot afford to travel even if they wanted to and learn to make do with the little they have.

8. You Have Met Them But Didn't Know...

Some Fulanis don't 'look' Nigerian. You may also know or have met Nigerians but didn't know they were Hausa/Fulani. So next time you meet an African with a Muslim name, you might be talking to a Hausa or Fulani person; a minority amongst Nigerians in the diaspora.

My Muslim and Christian Past

My father was a Fulani Muslim. He went to the mosque most Fridays, wore a Hula and Babanriga and prayed on his ornate prayer mat. I had a muslim name, went to muslim classes and spoke Hausa. Although educated in London, my father retained his Islamic identity and brought us up in his faith, although it was never imposed on us.

Example of a Hula and Babanriga

My mother converted to Islam when she and my father were married, but she still retained her Christian belief and even took us to church sometimes.

Now I'm a Christian. Looking back at my childhood, being a Muslim was easy, and converting to Christianity even easier: one day, in my teens, I was convinced about Christianity after a talk with a family friend. Actually living and making decisions as a Christian hasn't been easy, but religion to me in the past was a simple matter of preference and conviction.

However, the ongoing religious conflicts between Muslims and Christians in places like Jos and other predominantly Muslim Northern states like Kaduna often surprises me. From my family's experiences of living in Kaduna,  the tension prevalent between both faith groups was markedly less obvious until maybe the mid-90s.

A cousin told me of how she and the other neighbourhood kids - both Muslim and Christian - used to all queue up to have a turn on the one swing in their area, which was owned by a wealthier family who allowed the neighbourhood kids access to it most days after school, and walking to school with both her Muslim and Christian friends, and of watching Indian movies with her Muslim next door neighbours. No religious problems there. That was in the 80s when Ibrahim Babangida, a muslim, was Nigeria's president.

President Ibrahim Babangida (1985 - 1993)

I guess today things will be different. I hear of churches being burnt and Christians being beaten, killed and buried in mass graves. The Christians are retaliating too, with Muslims being hunted down and killed en masse. I hear Christians are moving out or being driven out of northern towns and of the general unrest amongst the two religions.

The violence perpetuated in the name of God (although ethnic and social differences are behind a lot of the violence too) is atrocious, widespread and upsetting. But I always remember the harmonious stories of Kaduna, a time when muslims and Christians lived side by side in peace, shopped at the local markets and queued up to buy kose from the same woman seated behind a huge Wok placed on massive stones in which was frying the popular delicacies made from Black-eyed Beans.

A mass grave of Christians killed in religious violence in a village near Jos, Nigeria

Perhaps this is an idealised version of a time long gone, but it's still sad to think that, as a legitimate product of parents and extended family who lived in Kaduna happily for years, I may not receive a warm welcome if I was to visit now because I am a Christian.