Tis the season...

its not just the season to be jolly, its the season for naija bashing. This time it's stateside where ABC did a feature on "Nigerian scams", featuring some gullible Americans and of course some Nigerians caught in the act on camera.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2705157
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2712350

its unfortunate that honest hardworking naijas like myself have to share a country with some of these people but i can only hope that we're getting to a point where we all realise that the actions of a small minority is gradually defining the national character of all Nigerians.
That realisation will hopefully lead to a major change in how we perceive these crimes in our society.

But what about the so called gullible "innocent victims" (who are usually white), with all the noise made about 419 frauds why do they still fall for these scams ? I suppose the answer to this question lies in the recent report by chatham house on Nigerian-Related financial crime which suggests that:
"scam victims are led by a conscious or subconscious white Western sense of racial superiority. The fraudsters play on the enduring myth of African infantilism and simplemindedness: a European who believes in this might find it unremarkable that a Nigerian holding tens of millions of dollars would be clueless about what to do with it. In such circumstances, what could be more natural than to turn to the clever white person for help?"

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50p for a dollar

ok i'm not a currency speculator but as a correct ijebu man (who can smell a good bargain from a mile away) i am caught up in the 'excitement' of the dollar hitting the 50p mark (i suppose £1 for $2 sounds much better)

anyway whats my own self, its not that i can hit NYC this xmas for some serious retail therapy. (i hate shopping but there must be something in the air in New York that turns me into a shopping freak).
I want to go but wifey no 'gree as she wants to go too, which means jr goes. My argument that it is not a 'holiday' but a 'shopping trip' did not convince her. Whats the point of spending so much money on accommodation (as wifey will never stay in a cheap hotel/hostel), when we could spend it in Macys.
Abi its not as if we haven't been to New York before, but as the experts keep saying marriage is all about compromise, so i have compromised..

so here i am on a soggy tuesday afternoon reminiscing about New York while every man and his dog is heading over there...