I was persuaded to attend the Nigerians living in Hyderabad meeting which took place on Nov 27th, 2 Saturdays back a day before the scheduled meeting. I ran into some Nigerians at an Ugandan Intern's farewell dinner and they sha will not let me rest until I agreed to come for the meeting. Instead of me to have jejely continue my sleep after the marathon, I carried my legedis benz to the Nigerian quarters here in Hyd.

The meeting was supposed to discuss the issues Nigerians face here in Hyd and particularly to elect new representatives for the state of Andhra Pradesh. Lets just say Nigerians been Nigerians, no election took place, in short nothing was achieved. All we had was people ranting, and people trying to beat each other up.

A couple of weeks ago, it was in the newspaper that some Nigerians were caught with fake credit cards and it was written that most of the scammers come into India disguised as student when they are actually  committing crimes. Investigations revealed that the guys caught were actually Cameroonians who were in possession of the Nigerian passport. Their records at the FRRO (Foreigner Regional Registration Office) brought this part of their actual citizenship to light, but no one came back to correct the mistake in the newspaper.

Whenever a crime is committed in Hyd, in India in general by a black person, Nigeria is the first name on their lips. I read of a case where some female student accused a Nigerian of introducing her to drugs in a party. I am not saying my people are entirely innocent, but really proper investigation needs to be done before making such accusations. The Indians are refusing to rent their flats to Nigerians. Black Boys are getting stopped on the road by the police and if you do not have proper documentation on you at moment, especially if you now happen to be a Nigerian, drugs is the first thing you' re are searched for.

I have really never encountered any of this harassment before, but this was one of the issues which was supposed to be trashed out at the meeting.

The week before, someone called for a meeting and few people showed up, infact 80% of the people who showed up on the 27th were not at the previous meeting. Election was held that day and some people were selected. The election was annulled because some people complained that there was no proper representation. I heard ish such as the Hausas were not represented, the Yorubas dominated the meeting, people from some areas were not present, bla bla bla.

There was also the issue of the past executives, of which the erstwhile president was silently been accused of embezzlement or should I even call it mismanagement of funds. The disputed amount is said to be 27350 INR which is 90255NGN on a exchange rate of 3.3NGN to 1INR.

According to the agenda prepared which was shared for everyone, election was suppose to take place first then every other business. They sha dabarued everything and we all sha found ourselves discussing issue number 2. I swear I have never seen any magomago like this before. The erstwhile president who has practically done nothing for long time, said he was resigning and by the power vested on him, handed over power to his Vice President. The Vice President too, feeling power hungry was so happy to be wielding his power anyhow. Everyone started arguing left, right, centre. Some wanted the election to hold, majority did not even understand what the hell was happening and I was one of them. 70% were there to make sure no election takes place. I swear the meeting felt like an SUG meeting. Everyone wanted to talk, some people were shouting others opinion down. This our yeye habit of nobody is better than me, nobody can tell me what to do was very much in display.

After 4hours of ranting, meeting was adjourned till last Sunday with nothing achieved. Thank God, I did not waste my energy to attend the meeting this last Sunday because I was informed it was still same crap and still no election or way forward for anything.

All I can say is Nigerians, I hail thee.

N.B: I got my visa extended, I have not had internet for the last 2weeks and also just moved flats....everything  has been crazy lately but all settled now.

♥ Lara  from Incredible India