Happy Nigerians?

Dick Hancock writes: "In regard to Nigerians being a happy people, I had an interesting experience when I was working for the University of Oklahoma foreign student office in the early 1980's. All foreign students were required to purchase health insurance from the University or to hold an equivalent policy from another source. It fell to my lot to evaluate policies that were not issued by OU.

Much to my surprise, I found that perhaps 20 or more Nigerian students were working for the state health service organization. This was at a time when the Nigerian government had many students studying abroad under government scholarships. The government had run out of money and all these Nigerian students were stranded abroad without resources.

The U. S. immigration looked the other way when these students sought illegal employment. What started out as an evaluation of insurance coverage of these Nigerians employed by the state, turned into an astonishing testimony as to the quality of Nigerians as health-service employees. In every instance when I called about an individual Nigerian's health-coverage insurance, his or her supervisor asked in great alarm, "Oh, I hope that we are not going to lose ( the Nigerian employee), he or she is the best care-giver that I have ever known." I received this response without exception regardless of whether the Nigerian worked with seniors, young people, the disabled, children or whomever.

I have never been to Nigeria but have always wondered what caused these Nigerians to function so well as care-givers. Remember that these students were not of the servant class but were from the ranks of the Nigerian elite. I know of no other ethnic group that uniformly produces individuals that would have functioned at the high level of these Nigerians".

RH:
This may in part be a tribute to Oklahomans who are generous in their praise of the help they receive. Is there such a thing as a Nigerian? There are 250 ethnic groups, the most important being the Fulani and the Hausi in the north, the Ibo in the southeast and the Yoruba in the southwest. In 1967, the Ibo, reputedly the most educated group, tried to secede and form the Republic of Biafra, and many in the West thought that the Ibos should be given their independence. However, maintaining Nigerian unity was thought to be more important. The rebellion failed, and tbe Ibos outside their native area were slaughtered mercilessly. Recently there was the much publicized case of a woman in northern who was condemned to be stoned to death under sharia law. I do not have the impression