Nigerians in Cambodia - it's tough to remove stereotypes.
Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 12:58 am
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
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
