Class in Nigeria
It's often said that Nigeria has a simple class system based around money. If you have it, you are a big man/woman, and you are given the licence to parade your wealth in the face of the less fortunate. Along these lines, it is also said that in marked contrast to somewhere like Britain, there are no cultural grounds for class difference in Nigeria. Rich or poor, been-to or stayed-here, Nigerians eat pretty much the same food, listen to the same music etc. This is sharp contrast to my country, where everything from breakfast cereals, to tv programmes to flowers and interiors are heavily inflected by class distinction.
However, I'm not sure this simple analysis is entirely true. It seems to me that the main non-economic class vector is whether one has been educated and has worked abroad. This admits of degrees. The lowest rung of the 'haves' ladder would be say, a degree at Buckingham University (I'd never heard of the place until I started hanging round with Nigerians) and a job working the counter at the local Barclays Bank. The highest would be PPE at Oxford or Cambridge and/or something opulent in the City. In between lie all the red-bricks and ex-polys and the gamut of American/European options, and jobs hither-thither - a middle manager at FedEx, or a corporate lawyer or whatever.
No matter the university overseas, as long as the accent is at least neutral/mid-Atlantic, or at best, has an English pukka twang to it, doors on Victoria Island will surely open. It is much the same in the UK still if you went to Oxford or Cambridge. You may not be the brightest in the bunch, but Oxbridge still means you can afford to be a little lazy and the jobs will come to you.
This latent culturally-based class distinction has economic consequences. Nigerian decision makers and employers are perpetually fooled by the oyinbo Nigerian returnee syndrome, preferring to pick 'one of us' over somewhere with less polished, 'local' attributes. The specific locus of distinction is of course accent. No matter how smart the stayed-at-home, a thick Nigerian accent will scupper many a chance of a job. Until decision makers and employers learn to get over their internalised prejudices, they will continue to miss out on hiring talent that would have served them better. One day, I'll be able to tell stories of specific people with myaw-myaw accents and no substance, and what a corporate disaster they turned out to be back home...
I'm not sure how quickly this disruption of culture and class will take place however. Elites always have the tendency to reproduce themselves, quite literally.
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It's not just the fact that someone attended an overseas university, but the obsession with academic qualifications, paper that in most cases means nothing.
"as long as the accent is at least neutral/mid-Atlantic, or at best, has an English pukka twang to it, doors on Victoria Island will surely open"
I wonder how I'll fare though... I have been in the UK for 10 years, got 2 degrees from UCL and I still have my thick Nigerian accent. I can't bring myself to speak any differently. I have fared very well in the employment market here, even with my accent. Are you saying that if i were to return 'home', my accent could count against me?
No, anonymous 11.29pm, that's not what he's saying :)
I find that people who attended schools/colleges in the UK (as opposed to just University) and/or worked non-graduate jobs on the way up, especially in places that were not necessarily packed full of other Nigerians are more likely to be guilty of speaking without a thick Nigerian accent (or being fake, blowing fone and whatever else).........the private schools they attended in Nigeria might also be to blame.........whatever the case its not a matter of "bringing yourself to speak differently", its simply a matter of improving your diction and pronouncing words properly. It's something that happens gradually over time (not at Heathrow!) as you interact with different people and are exposed to new things/ideas.
Of course, it is important to maintain your sense of self and your culture - let's face it nothing is more annoying than a fake Cockney accent (cor Blimey) or Brooklyn Meeehhnnn!
On the flip side, speaking properly has never made anyone popular and the easy option would be to preserve your thick Nigerian accent (I must commend you for keeping it real all these years) and keep yourself in a vacuum where you only interact with other Nigerians and try as much as possible not to absorb anything going on around you in your immediate environment, but instead entertain yourself with tales of yonder and convince yourself that you/your way are/is better than everyone else/else's........
Call me sour, but I don't see how the number of degrees factored in........I only have a bachelor's degree from a non red-brick uni, so my two cents probably ain't worth sh*t to you (lol), so I'll probably take my fake accent and move off!!
I'm sure you'll hold your own in Nigeria :)
p.s. your accent is probably not as thick as you like to think.......I mean do you say "mashes" or "matches"? "pourshoe" or "pursue"?.....think about it.......I mean you talking about "how you've fared".....that quite butter (or should I say bota?)...........
No, anonymous 11.29pm, that's not what he's saying :)
I find that people who attended schools/colleges in the UK (as opposed to just University) and/or worked non-graduate jobs on the way up, especially in places that were not necessarily packed full of other Nigerians are more likely to be guilty of speaking without a thick Nigerian accent (or being fake, blowing fone and whatever else).........the private schools they attended in Nigeria might also be to blame.........whatever the case its not a matter of "bringing yourself to speak differently", its simply a matter of improving your diction and pronouncing words properly. It's something that happens gradually over time (not at Heathrow!) as you interact with different people and are exposed to new things/ideas.
Of course, it is important to maintain your sense of self and your culture - let's face it nothing is more annoying than a fake Cockney accent (cor Blimey) or Brooklyn Meeehhnnn!
On the flip side, speaking properly has never made anyone popular and the easy option would be to preserve your thick Nigerian accent (I must commend you for keeping it real all these years) and keep yourself in a vacuum where you only interact with other Nigerians and try as much as possible not to absorb anything going on around you in your immediate environment, but instead entertain yourself with tales of yonder and convince yourself that you/your way are/is better than everyone else/else's........
Call me sour, but I don't see how the number of degrees factored in........I only have a bachelor's degree from a non red-brick uni, so my two cents probably ain't worth sh*t to you (lol), so I'll probably take my fake accent and move off!!
I'm sure you'll hold your own in Nigeria :)
p.s. your accent is probably not as thick as you like to think.......I mean do you say "mashes" or "matches"? "pourshoe" or "pursue"?.....think about it.......I mean you talking about "how you've fared".....that quite butter (or should I say bota?)...........
> No matter how smart the stayed-at-home,
> a thick Nigerian accent will scupper
> many a chance of a job. Until decision
> makers and employers learn to get over
> their internalized prejudices, they will
> continue to miss out on hiring talent
> that would have served them better."
Being based abroad, I don't have a read on how widespread this practice is, but your account suggests that it's quite widespread, regardless of position or industry. Is this really the case?
I can understand employees favoring "foreign-sounding" or previously foreign-based candidates in customer-facing positions where businesses might see it reinforcing the "international" flavor to their brand...
or perhaps where the international experience (wether work or educational) is an asset on the job. But hiring based on accent at the expense of qualifications is sheer folly. If this is indeed occurring, it's a testament to the (poor) quality of the hiring managers... and a business risk that should be taken lightly.
Jeremy, on this one I have to agree with you. There was a similar situation here where we hired a woman based on her accent rather than the quality of her work. Two women were shortlisted. One was a 'homegrown' candidate and the other one was a British trained and accented. The Oyinbo man who was part of the team prefered the naija trained while the rest of the team went for the British trained one. The Oyinbo man argued his face red and none of us could see that we were making a bad, a very hire. We were all dazzled by her voice, her percieved experienced. In the end we hired both of them 'cause this Oyinbo man would just not let it go. 5 months down the line, we sacked the British trained woman and promoted the naija one to her position. The oyinbo guy said he doesn't understand why we couldn't see that the woman was fake in terms of her experience. We didn't care. Now reading this blog, I realise that we were all taking in by her. We wanted 'one of our ow' and we failed woefully. I am afraid that is the reality of corporate Nigeria. After 6 years of living here, I am meeting some amazingly bright Nigeria. But you know what I always equate their accents with stupidity and equate the British accent with knowledge and experience. My Oyinbo boss couldn't really articulate the rationale for our hiring mechanism in the way that you have articulated it. But he said one thing to us 'why are you guys so obessesed with foreign trained Nigerians even though they have disappointed us so many times?'.
Yes, I am trying to really listen and not be duped by accents and apparent good 'breeding'. But it is hard. But thanks for highlighting this issue. It is going to get worse.
@adeyemi
^^ After 6 years of living here, I am meeting some amazingly bright Nigeria. But you know what I always equate their accents with stupidity and equate the British accent with knowledge and experience.^^
Wtf... Are you for real?!?Shut your dirty mouth. I am sure you are one of those selfhating nigerian idiots.Adeyemi or whatever you call yourself ...is English your language?...rubbish....I feel very sorry for you.
Dear Iheoma,
Perhaps you're right and I self-hating, so are so many people I know in Lagos corporate world. The point I was trying to make is that I agree with Jeremy's statement and I see that bias in me. Unlike many people who unconsciously fall into that situation, at least I am open about it and recognise now that that thinking is totally faulty and irresponsible.
I guess this is the violence of colonialisation as it operates in practice. I do not claim this thinking is right, but it is an unconscious programming that I along with millions of Nigerians must daily fight to reject.
You accusing me of self-hatered I do not take personally because I feel that I live in a country where self-hatered is the norm, in fact a national past-time that shows itself up as mastery and arrogance over other African countries. Growing up in the UK, I never had issues with Nigerian accents or thinking I was better than other Nigerians. However, moving to Nigeria makes me realise the deeply unconscious prejudice I have about my people. This is actually made worse because people like me are made to feel like we are god's gift by our 'home grown Nigerians', it is us Nigerians who decided to employ an inexperienced woman over a more qualified woman because of speech and manner. It was an Oyinbo who told us the folly of our ways. My dear sister, there is no need to insult me, with time I hope myself and all those millions of self-hating Nigerians will decolonise our minds so that we can accommodate our diverse accents.
Adeyemi
I admire your humility and capacity for introspection. Decolonising the mind is the name of the game. Its a long time coming!
Dear Jeremy, great post, but I'm afraid that you're pissing in the wind on this one. Ain't gonna change anytime soon as the perceptions are ingrained too deep. As long as we keep hearing stories about how bad our schools are, and from the mouths of Nigerians, that mentality would remain intact, hence the mad rush (myself included) to leave Naija and acquire the 'golden fleece' in the UK.
My sister in the Imperial College, and a lot of her classmates keep questioning themselves for paying £16k for something that according to them they could have gotten either in Naija or in cheaper institutions. Personally, the only thing I think I took out of my own Masters is studying under Glen Mapp, a world renowned Operating Systems person. Other than that, I sometimes wonder...
By the way, Simon was dead right about the insistence on paper qualifications. Major draw back which helps prop up the current system...
Leke Alder, Fela Durotoye, Fola Adeola, Funmi Iyanda, Aliko Dangote, Tony Elumelu etc etc do not speak with foreign accents and Nigeria has not treated them too badly. These guys represent to me the power of focus, determination and being grounded in who you are. The accented people may get a headstart but ultimately if they have no substance their growth will be stunted but folks with substance like those above will always lift the lid and continue to rise.
Last anonymous: that is rather simplistic. Just as class acts as a barrier to who gets to which university and gets the good jobs in the UK, so too does accent play a restrictive and unmeritocratic/stigmatising role in Nigeria.
No matter which honourable exceptions you might mention, the corporate culture in Nigeria is as it is - filled with been-tos lording it over their peers. Time for a reality check on any belief in Darwinian organic processes: it doesn't work like that unless, like Adeyemi above, serious introspection leads to active intervention.
Society shouldn't be modelled on ants finding every which way to food; active conscious struggle and political/organisational engagement with the issues is the essence of change.
Nigerians love accents. Fake o, Posh o, southern drawl & so on. Look at our Honourable Speaker now- he has such a beautiful and posh English accent.
It was always a delight to see Hakeem Belo Osagie being decidely Nigerian when he was Chairman of UBA. Always in his simple kaftan and he spoke English like a Nigerian despite the fact that he studied PPE at Oxford, Law at Cambridge and an MBA at Harvard. Yet Ojukwu who was in Oxford many years before Keem has still not let go of his Oxford accent.
Jeremy this thing is a vicious cycle. In the 70s those who ran corporate Nigeria were people like Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, Henry Fajemirokun, Adeyemi Lawson, Odutola Brothers etc etc. Most of them came from poverty but they and their wealthy friends sent their kids abroad and when these kids came back, they had better jobs than us ....
In the 80s, the men above had declined and it was now folks like Abiola, Chris Ogunbanjo, Sam Adedoyin,Ibru, Bank Anthony etc etc who all came from poverty but were now running corporate Nigeria. They did the same for their kids and folks like Kola Abiola, Oskar Ibru, Bank-Anthony kids all came back and had top jobs ahead of their peers.Although most of these kids had the best education money can buy, most of them have not really risen in corporate Nigeria and now there is a new elite again and its made of these so called local talents(UBA CEO, First Bank CEO, Shell CEO) and they are the ones running corporate Nigeria.
My point is if you are a local homegrown talent in Nigeria, dont give up! Continue to be determined and persevere, you will get there. If you are one of the returnees, work hard too and dont sleep on the fact that you studied overseas. You may get a headstart but really sustainability is the key.
It is simplistic to speak in terms of accent and better to talk about articulate(ness).
The beauty of 'oyibo' is the ability to bullshit your way through a situation in which you haven't got a clue. This is the true benefit of a stint abroad.
Most of the armies of foreign 'Consultants' in Nija haven't got a clue, but they speil their way to megabucks.
The Nija 6 year old is grilled in maths and complicated tables. The oyibo child's early education is focused on stimulating creativity and articulating ideas. This builds self-confidence, whereas omo-nija feels pressured, and is easily deflated by failure. So wheras the Nija kid may (or may not) be 'cleverer', the oyibo always comes across as superior.
Its not the accent, its the ability to bullshit that matters, as well as all the soft skills (body language, manner, non-verbal skills etc).
When I started working as a doctor in the UK I was always getting caught out on ward rounds and apologising to the Consultants when they asked if something had been done for a patient. My oyibo colleagues never fell into this trap. When questioned about something they had neglected to do, they simply looked the oga dead in the eye and said 'its in hand, Mr Smith'.
Mr Smith knows that the lazy s.o.b. forgot, but the s.o.b. has dodged looking like a lazy s.o.b. in public - brilliant!
i guess it is the same with the "white mans ice is colder" syndrome amongst blacks in the states who according to this statement know that both the white and black shop owner are selling the same ice, but because of deep-seated internalised prejudices, would think that the ice of the white man is even better. anyway, i have seen this too many times, especially in the case of when groups of white and black Americans go travel to Nigeria for like medical missions projects etc. in that case, a nigerian would prefer to be seen by the white nurse than the black medical doctor. it is a dangerous mentality.
i also agree with the last anonymous...i feel that my education so far has been an expensive exercise in the art of bull-shitting...under the guise of becoming a "creative thinker"....
I think these comments have been really constructive. The advantage of the British Public (i.e. private) School system was that it bred confident people.
It was not mainly to do with creativity since some schools squashed it enthusiastically but it was about articulacy. The inarticulate would be mocked without mercy and learned to do better.
The Public Schoolboy grew up to be someone like Jeremy. Very confident of his own judgement but socially skilled enough to admit his own foibles and wear his superiority humbly. (I am not being snide, that is my style too.)
What do we do about it? Who knows.
Personally, I am glad that megacorps nearly usually appoint the wrong people. If Microsoft hadn't put Steve Baulmer in charge they might own the world now.
All the power seems to be in the hands of the transnationals but their habit of putting useless posers in charge confirms my belief in God's good providence.
yes u do have some dumbasses that equate the whole "foreign stuff " with being " better than ". But there are still a lot of folks that havent bought into that.
There is a sea change. Serious players in Naija look down on many returnees as failures. Let's stop pretending we are still in thrall to anyone who has ever been on a plane!
These class and accent issues require some detailed thought but it was a bit of a howler generally:the post and the comments!!
Kept cracking up in public:)
Hey Jeremy! Bokritov!u r absolutely right! i once at a Nigerian Liason Office had a very engaging discussion with a certain fellow i came across! He also happened to be the head of the said place, and after we exchanged hellos, the discussion turned to politics and American politics specifically! Nancy Pelosi had just been sworn in as House Leader and someone jokingly said she was the fourth in line to the office of the President! i told em that she actually is third in line, explaining the fine points of how the President is followed by the Vice President,who is followed by the Speaker of the Senate who happens to be the Vice President and then Nancy Pelosi and not Condi!!I also reminded them that someone who does not have an elective post cannot come before someone duly elected by the American people! Do you know what they said? "Put your hand down! U R a Nigerian Boy!! U don't know anything!!! Well i didn't! i pulled out my Blackberry and Wikipedia'd it!! of course i also told them they were ignorant Old people who think Young Nigerians do not know anything! Mumu Old people!!
I think the advantage of a foreign accent is really overrated. I mean in a country of 150 million people how many have foreign accents? The percentage must be miniscule.
I have a complete english accent and it isn't really considered anything special when I'm in nigeria. In fact I find it a hindrance. I find people consider me naive and easy to exploit e.g. charging you far higher prices for taxis, okada etc.
In fact I'm embarrassed of my english accent in Nigeria and usually disguise it to sound more local when dealing with people.
@Adeyemi
I really admire the fact you can objectively see the error of that particular form of 'colo mentality'
Thanks Jeremy for a thought provoking article, and to the many thoughtful comments everyone is making. Adeyemi in particular your response was very humbling and really powerful vs the ridiculous attack you got
I do think the internationally educated/ experienced get too much universal "respect" and i do agree with Jeremy that they see themselves as the "upper class", rather than just equivalent to others albeit with a different background. To me it doesn't neccessarily mean those who accord them this "respect" have a colonial mindset. I see it more as people not having sufficient context/ understanding to properly evaluate the quality of the education/ experience of our "diaspora". And hence getting overly enamoured by any indication of it. e.g. We can get easily impressed by two people who say they are "Hollywood actors", and not be able to see that one has being starring in Hit movies and the other is in an extra in straight to TV dramas, big difference. I also don't think its a particularly nigerian thing, the other way round I frquently meet people in the UK who on hearing I am nigerian say "oh, do you know so and so? He's a Prince and his dad is a Chief"; clearly they think royalty works in the same way/ has the same status and have elevated some random person into a public personality. We all need to develop our ability to truly understand what someone represents and not lazily rely on qualifications/ myth
At the same time, to be fair to our internationally educated/ experienced colleagues, they do tend to be better communicators. I really believe that an ability to communicate well and show some independent thought is a critical skill in business and valued by many "bosses", on top of technical skills. It also gives you confidence and self assurance, which to some people makes you look more competent, and it certainly increases comfort that they can believe what you are saying. (think of the hesitant mechanic telling you what is wrong with your car, you immediately suspect you are being ripped off). International education I believe helps develop this much much more than the typical Nigerian education, which focuses on rote learning and high examination scores. I think it also starts early in the way children interact with adults. To illustrate this, my experience is if you tell an average nigerian child "don't touch that thing" they will probably look at you and nod (and maybe still touch it anyway, so I'm not saying we are meek and subservient). However, in my experience the same nigerian kid raised in the UK/ US context will usually say "Why?"... This small difference I think gets amplified over the years in the way we engage with authority and present ourselves. So I do think the "home-grown" talent need to invest a bit on the communication front to place themselves on a better footing
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