This weekend, on October 1, the more than 1,000-strong Nigerian community in Cambodia will come together to celebrate their country’s Independence Day.

Abayomi “Austin” Koledoye, the president of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation in Cambodia (NIDO), has lived in Cambodia since the early 1990s. He came here because he was looking for an opportunity to work as an educator and to travel the world; a friend told him about Cambodia, and he decided to take a chance.

“I came here seeking adventure,” he says, as well as “the opportunity to build something”. His work at Northbridge School and his role in building and coaching Cambodia’s national basketball team are just two areas where he has accomplished that. But in his time here and at the helm of NIDO, he, like others in the diaspora, have had to deal with negative perceptions of black Africans.

And when it comes to crime, the fact remains that – according to figures from the Department of Prisons – Nigerian nationals comprise less than 5 percent of the foreign prison population.

Department spokesman Nuth Savna denies institutional racism is at work, though he does not shy away from generalising the Nigerian community as being involved in criminal activity.

“We don’t have racism against them, but the reality is that they are involved in drugs and fraud. This is what we see, most of them,” he says, adding: “Some countries around us don’t welcome them.”

In his more than 20 years in Cambodia, NIDO president Koledoye has seen the community grow from just a handful to nearly 1,500 who are currently registered with his organisation – though he believes the true number of Nigerians here is higher, because many individuals do not register with NIDO. (The Department of Immigration declined to make its statistics available to Post Weekend.)
Full article here: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weeke ... erceptions

1,500+ Nigerians? Hell, that is a lot of drug pushers!

Just kidding and not stereotyping in any way; I have a good buddy and fellow Hasher that works as a teacher and he would certainly agree that most Nigerians are being unfairly tarred black.

I know that president guy, he is a good bloke. No a real one. I have always felt sorry for anyone black from whatever country who is smeared by the aresholes.

I know a few good ones myself, the really good ones usually have wives. The single ones: trouble waiting to happen (black women are too smart for that guy!)

But that's a bad statistic in the article, irrepresentative of the true problem.

If Nigerians currently present in Cambodia is about 1,000 (not just coming and going registered Nigerians), and their prison presence is about 5%, then they are about 750 times more likely to be in jail than a Cambodian! About 75000% more!

With a population of about 15M Cambodians, Nigerians represent just 0.00667% of the population. That's a far cry from 5%!! That's huge for their tiny population!

Cambodian press & their statistics are a joke. They pull numbers out of a

Those numbers seem right to me ... 1,000-1,500 Nigerians in Cambodia, as per the association.

The article seems to be proud of the fact that less than 5% of the prisoners are Nigerian ...

Whatever the exact number, a disproportionate amount are from that country. I bet you 99% of them are single, too. Just a hunch.

750x more likely to be in jail than a Cambodian? Give us a break.

''I bet you 99% of them are single, too. Just a hunch.

I double down & bet they all have bitch now.