Nigerians Home and Abroad and service delivery. I have to write this to make my fellow Nigerians in the diaspora know they are not really different from Nigerians at home. I am an importer of finished and semi finished goods into Nigeria basically from the United States, in doing my business, I engage the services of freight forwarders in the US to enable me ship my goods home. I have been involved in this business now for over four years and initially engaged Nigerian freight forwarders at the inception of business. My experience with this set of human beings is crazy to say the least, it starts with excuses that the problem actually emanates from Nigeria with our so called very corrupt customs department. Another problem is charges where you never know what your goods weigh as they keep bringing in technicalities that only they understand. The time factor is another issue, in most cases you need to give yourself at least 4weeks between the time your freight forwarders receive your goods in the US and when you receive it in Nigeria.Why most Nigerian business men and women always see business from a myopic point of view, I will never understand, Nigerian business men home and abroad never believe in building solid and long lasting business relationships. Recently, I came in contact with a non Nigerian freight forwarder and the situation changed dramatically, I now receive my goods not more than 2weeks after my freight forwarder receives same in the US, I never hear the excuses given me by my fellow Nigerians from the perfect gentleman citizen of another country, the guy updates me about the position of my goods frequently and even when the goods arrive the Nigerian port, he doesnt stop giving me updates about its position unlike the Nigerian forwarders I dealt with in the past, the best part of it is that the man charges me far less than what my fellow country men charged me in the past.And wait for this;The man has never been to Nigeria before! If not for this man, I would never have known the meaning of full service delivery, to cap it up, the last time I was in New York, this man came to pick me at JFK, lodged me in a hotel and later in the Night took me out for dinner. No Nigerian freight forwarder ever treated me like this throughout the time I did business with them, they would rather want me to think they were doing me a favour with my money. When I read postings of Nigerians in diaspora about the happenings at home, I am forced to believe they are no better than Nigerians at home, I wonder what is it in our blood that even the societies we find ourselves do not have any significant impact in our conducts and behaviors. So, please my foreign Nigerians, whenever you make any derogatory remarks about happenings at home, know that you are not really different from we Nigerians at home. Thank you!
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 22:41:00 +0000