Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie free essay sample

English was taught in the schools as the official language so that Nigerians could communicate better with England and other world powers. Early in Nigerias history, English was introduced through trading and the slave trade market. Those that spoke English were Nigerians who were looking for a better way of life. Religious : Overall statistics indicate that about 50% of the population are Muslims. About 40% are Christian and about 10% practice traditional African religions or no religion at Religions Ntgena Religions Percent Islam 50. 0% Christianity 40. 0% Traditional beliefs 10. % There are actually three categories of Nigerians in the Diaspora. We have the Diaspora Alumni, who have lived abroad for several years, attained definite heights in their professional or academic pursuits and chosen to return to Nigeria. They are never fully divested of the vestiges of abroad. On the other side of the palisade are the Substantive Nigerians in Diaspora, the mainstream Nigerians in Diaspora who live and work abroad, speak all the refined oyinbo phonetics, almost lost their dialectical accent, and come home for occasional funerals, marriage of some distant elations they havent seen for 35 years and for Christmas every other leap year! Their children hardly speak a word of their Nigerian dialect. Straddled delicately on the picket, are the Passive Diaspora Nigerians who have chosen to combine the better of two worlds, straddled across the aisle, and who eat their cake and have it, as it were. They have homes in Nigeria and abroad, live a few months in the homeland, a few in the hostland, maintain family abroad, retain business interests in Nigeria and sustain corporate and family presence across the aisle. How did we get to this point? A cursory analysis is helpful here, of the hypothesis of emigration, nicely dubbed Brain Drain to have a better perspective of why Nigerians check out like Andrew! Is it because of bad Government? Not at all. Is it because the economy is so bad? Not particularly. Is it because of family pressure? Nay. Is it because there is no Job after graduation from College? Nope. These are social factors not peculiar to Nigeria. Thus, it is self-defeating to summarily blame the government, blame the economy, the healthcare system, and the educational system as the reasons why Nigerians sojourn to other countries. No, we are not ignoring the fact that several sectors of the economy are in bad shape The concept of Nigerian identity is nebulous to define. A strong national identity builds a sense of belonging. Basically, identity is an individuals or a groups sense of self over time. The Nigerian identity is therefore a composite concept that has multiple components such as economic status, cultural customs, political institutions and religious tenets. Nigerian National identity is not something the government invents. It is more a feeling than an opinion and not a policy statement. Identities row from the things people feel proud about, and if enough Nigerians agree on them for long enough, identity is formed regardless of multiculturalism. External Nigerian identity is how Nigeria presents itself to other peoples and countries. A strong external identity helps us to have a strong diplomatic presence internationally and to advance national economic interests. Major export-oriented industries, such as education and tourism, rely for their success on a positive external image or Nigerian-Americans will know less than their parents know about our history and founding ideals. And fewer Nigerian Americans are aware that what unites us is more than of what divides us. We are in danger of becoming a lost nation in Diaspora. Several Nigerians hold travel passport of their country of residence and would rather present these for identification purposes. They feel like what is there to be proud of about Nigeria? Indeed there is. OIL Yes, there are two kinds of persons living in Nigeria 1 . The poor 2. The rich The African continent has abundant natural resources, minerals and also rich oil reserves. A good example is Nigeria, which has seen increased GDP growth rates due to oil discovery. Some people even believe that the widespread oil presence in Africa is a means to securing development and unlocking growth in the continent. Nevertheless, several oil rich nations like Sudan and Nigeria are still very poor despite their wealth in this highly sought after resource. In fact, these countries tend to represent less economic development than nations with smaller quantities of natural resources. Currently in Africa, Nigeria has the third largest economy, mostly because of the high share of oil exports. During the year 2000, 98% of Nigerias earnings were gotten from the exportation of gas and oil. Furthermore, the urchasing power of the nations GDP also doubled from 2005 2010. Nevertheless, the general standards of living and human capital are still dragging far behind. This simply because wealth created by revenues from the oil industry has not reached the common citizen of Nigeria, because more than 46% of the citizens live in poverty. Nigerian emigrants to the United States Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Born in the town of Enugu, she grew up in the university town of Nsukka in southeastern Nigeria, where the University of Nigeria is situated. While she was growing up, her father was a professor of statistics at the university, and her mother as the university registrar. Adichie studied medicine and pharmacy at the University of Nigeria for a year and a half. During this period, she edited The Compass, a magazine run by the universitys Catholic medical students. At the age of 19, Adichie left Nigeria and moved to the United States for college. After studying communications and political science at Drexel University in Philadelphia, she transferred to Eastern Connecticut State University to live closer to her sister, who had a medical practice in Coventry. She received a bachelors degree from Eastern, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2001.