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Nigeria: West Needs Re-Orientation on Nigeria - Ex-Envoy
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This Day (Lagos)
COLUMN
13 May 2008
Posted to the web 13 May 2008
Lagos
Those who are pessimistic about Nigeria and Nigerians have been urged to have a re-think, because most of what they are exposed to in foreign media about Nigeria are mostly not correct.
Former Consul-General, American Embassy in Nigeria, Mr Brian Browne, said this while announcing his yet to be launched book, "Scratch the Sky," to the media in Lagos.
Married to a Nigerian, Browne, a career diplomat who was raised in southern Florida and had spent most of his profesional life on the African continent, said "though some people are pessimistic about Nigeria, I want to be part of those that will re-orientate the West on Nigeria," and urge the pessimists to instead, see the light at the end of the tunnel, because, " I am here to live and to work in Nigeria and Africa, to create a bridge between Africa and the West."
While speaking on the book made up of two fictions, Browne said "the first story, 'No Beauty in a Song Unsung,' is a dramatic account of the battle of love against envy, which is set against the divergent background of the idylic environs of Plateau State, Nigeria and the grinding bustling city of Chicago.
It is the story of a couple in love, Olisa and Lania and how their love for each other is tested by time, distance, but most of all, by the evil manipulation of a false friend.
"It is a story of a person who becames unmoved and disillusioned, because he is unprepared for the hardships that life can bring. This tale runs the gamut of human emotions as it takes Olisa and Lania from the brink of utter despair and ruin, to the light of redemption and hope.
It is a story of how a person can regain himself with a little help from his friends and from the hand unseen," he said.
Browne, who currently resides in Nigeria, devoting his time to writing and working on issues of African development, said his interest in Africa, especially Nigeria began in his college days in the United States, leading to his main thesis to be based on Nigeria.
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He said "back then, I saw Nigeria as the key to world development and the fulcrum on which African development is balanced," he said, and expressed the hope that "if that progress is made during my lifetime, I would like to be part of it."
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