02/07/2026
Dear Emeka,
Thank you for your feedback. Perhaps it is not a good idea to judge people based on their race, ethnicity, or region. These are traits that we have no control over. Such behaviour is known as prejudice, and it will make you hate people even before you get to know them.
When you think this way, you limit yourself in life, because, often, many of those who can help you will be people outside your primordial circle.
A better idea is to gauge people using their character as a yardstick.
On the specific issue you raised, are you aware that Statista, the Berlin-based top data firm on Earth, has posited that, based on available statistics, the Southwest is the most heterogeneous part of Nigeria, especially Lagos and Oyo states?
Emeka, don't you think that if the indigenes of the Southwest were as you described them, such characteristics would repel people from relocating to these areas?
Recently, on a televised interview, which I can share with you, the renowned author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, noted that some of our brothers and sisters, fellow citizens, feel more at home in the Southwest and Abuja than in their own native home region and would rather do their weddings, burials and other social events in the SW than in their hometowns.
I could send you that video, Emeka.
Don't you think that that could only occur because those who choose that option have found a refuge amongst their fellow Nigerians?
Would you, Emeka, seek refuge amongst deceptive people?
Lukumi Yoruba people are like people everywhere. Amongst the Lukumi, you will find the good, the bad and the ugly. But as a people, Lukumi are known for diplomacy and tolerance, not for deception.
If your parents taught you that, perhaps you may want to reparent yourself in line with reality.
Finally, I spoke the truth. Nigeria is an oil-producing nation, but not an oil-rich one. We generate $36 billion annually from oil and gas. Divide that by our population of 242 million, and you get $150 per citizen. That is poverty. Meanwhile, when you divide Saudi Arabia's $350 billion annual oil and gas income by its population of 35 million, you get $10,000 per citizen. That is wealth!
I do hope my explanation suffices.
Thanks again, and may God bless you.
Reno Omokri
Ambassador Designate to Mexico
