As I write this I am sitting in London. I always find it more difficult to find the inspiration when I am away from the heat and noise of my adopted city. There is always some wahala or other, emotion – positive or negative – being played out in front of you in Lagos. Even getting stuck in the go-slow can be like sitting in a living documentary. Looking out at the daily street hustle you never know what’s about to go down. London, of course, is still a bustling metropolis but after Lagos I find the pace slower. The crowds on the Tube are that much less frantic and walking on the street one can be a notch down on the vigilance level.
Nevertheless, there are still opportunities to engage with Naija when in Jands. Amazingly, Nigerians seem to have a relatively low profile compared to the numbers that are here. No one knows quite how many but some put the total number of Nigerians in the UK (legal and illegal) at up to two million with a million in the capital. This is a serious percentage of the population. There are areas where our people congregate. Peckham in South London probably has the highest conglomeration, reflected by the number of Calabar kitchens and shops selling yam along the high street. Many also run night businesses, like my friend Kayode who distributes Nigerian beer in the UK, and I have sampled the odd ‘lanku’ there. Nigerians with money tend more towards the affluent parts of North London and keep to themselves. In fact, despite the reputation to the contrary and a significant influence in the arts and music, medicine and seemingly now, politics, Nigerians do tend to keep a low profile (except when shopping of course!).
I am smiling as I remember some of my encounters. One such was one late evening trying to find a cab in the West End to take me out to a suburb. It was theatre kicking-out time and taxis were scarce. Suddenly I heard the ubiquitous “Ssssss” from a doorway.
“Boss, you need a cab somewhere?” Not one but two young black guys stepped out from the shadows.
“Maybe,” I said and, recognising the accent, added, “Where you from?”
“Kenya,” said the first.
“You’re not Kenyan, you’re Nigerian,” I retorted.
“No, we’re Kenyan, from Nairobi.”
“Oh!” I replied. “So which part of Nairobi?”
This was clearly too much too far and one of the guys was forced to admit he was Nigerian. Later on, in his rather dilapidated Nissan, having negotiated my fraternal discount, I asked why he pretended, so badly, that he was not Nigerian. He admitted that Nigerians have a ‘bad rep’ and they found it easier to get business in their elicit, uninsured, car hire business if they pretended to be from elsewhere in Africa. I, having lived in Aba for two years, knew how to negotiate my discount ‘for a brother from another mother’. Needless to say I managed not to disclose I was the CEO of Guinness Nigeria or I would have found another ten brothers waiting outside my office on return. My poor sister, working in the Health Service, made that error when she told a Nigerian colleague that her brother was the Oga. She changed her phone number within the week!
This is all, of course, quite light-hearted. However, the whole topic has grown more serious recently. Immigration and so, by definition, race relations, are on of this year’s major UK electoral issues. The rise of the xenophobic UKIP party has brought out ‘the elephant in the room’. African immigrants have not been the focus as much as Eastern and Central Europeans who are seen as taking many jobs from ‘indigenous’ Britons.
There is also a sense that property investors buying up the many new up-market apartments in London have caused the price of housing to escalate. The blame for this has been put at the feet of Chinese and Russian nouveau riche. So, while the British can pretend not to be at the ‘front line’ of the Mediterranean boat people problem, Africa has not been as much of a focus for the current political debate. That the Conservative-led government has steadfastly refused to accept any real numbers of the suffering refugees landing in Italy has been mostly swept under a collective carpet in the UK. Almost everyone wants this to remain someone else’s problem rather than accept it is ultimately caused by colonial legacies, particularly the inept and biased handovers to favoured elites throughout the independence process.
One interesting question will be whether, following a successful and historic election, Nigeria is seen as rebuilding its moral authority and should take a more prominent position as a major voice for Africa within the wider international community. I think this is possible but it will take more than one act of political wisdom to recover years of diplomatic ineptitude. There is currently a vacuum at the head of Africa’s leadership and consequently its communication. Kenya is absorbed with its own security problems. South Africa’s political decline and recent xenophobic slaughter have tarnished the goodwill it had, thus Nigeria has an opportunity to step up. Who knows? Maybe soon entrepreneurs and taxi drivers in London might soon be able to step out of the shadows and be genuinely proud to be Nigerian.
Keith Richards
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