Conducting field studies in Nigeria can sometimes be a daunting,
nightmarish and fascinating enterprise. As soon as you introduce yourself, the
first inkling of an average Nigerian businessman is to regard you with deep
suspicion. As he stares blankly into your face, his mind probes your inner sanctum,
scanning and reading you with the intent to verifying whether you are really
who you claim to be or one of ‘them’. He surveys your dressing, the style,
quality and worth of the fabric, your footwear. Then switching to himself, he
searches his inner self to seek answers to a variety of questions bugging him:
what could be your ‘real’ or ulterior motives for wanting to meet with him? His mind would race round a plethora of possible
options: may be you are one of the 419 youngsters who go about duping innocent
people of their hard-earned money? ‘No, I think he looks more like a representative
of the government, may be from the Inland Revenue, coming to probe into my
accounts?’ ‘No, I think he looks like a spy trying to find out and steal my
trade secret. Or is he a nosy journalist?’
Some entrepreneurs however do not have the patience, time and
decorum to engage in such mental exploration and investigation. Which reminds
me of Francis Egi, the hardworking and exuberant art director of Egi Creativity
Ltd a crafts producer and dealer based in Lagos, Nigeria. When I visited his
workshop and showroom at the Cane Village in Lagos in the course of my field
study, I noticed an air of somebody who was determined to defend his corners by
whatever means possible. So hostile and ebullient was his visage when I
introduced myself to him that I thought my face would be reconfigured the next
instant with his clenched fist and possibly with some of his craft equipment
like chisel and hammer. He belongs to
the group of traders who have had enough of the ‘inclement’ business horizon
being experienced by some young Nigerian entrepreneurs. “Look here young man”,
he exploded, “I do not have time for fraudsters in whatever shape or form they
appear!”
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| Picture 1: Interviewing Mr Egi in his Lagos Studio |
I looked over my
shoulder to see if the bespectacled man before me was addressing somebody else.
“Yes, I am talking to you!” He muttered in a more deafening voice than before.
I allowed some smile to dance around my mouth. Then extending my right hand with
my face glittering from the sweat of hot June afternoon in Lagos, I told him
that I have come from London to share some information with “intelligent and
progressive-minded people like you” on how to help small businesses like his benefit
from modern technological tools to make them, borrowing a popular cliché, face
the challenges of the 21st century.
Again, he studied me from the comfort of his dark sun shade. My hand
was still hanging. He heaved a heavy
sigh of relief then grabbed my hand with his massive right hand. I felt the
squeeze and strain of his unwelcome through his grip. No, I neither bulged nor screamed;
just a pretentiously friendly smile. “Are you a journalist or a tax-man?” he
sought to know, still clutching my hand. I am neither, I assured him still
wearing a fake smile. “Your works are beautiful” I complimented trying to
diffuse the rising tension in his countenance, “may I come in please?” He
stepped sideways and gestured me inside with his left hand.
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| Picture 2: Posing in Egi's Showroom. |
As our discussion grew warmer and more friendly, I sought to know
why he appeared somewhat hostile to me initially. He smiled broadly and
apologized for being ‘a little bit unfriendly’. “The problem in this country”
he explained “is that some Nigerians are working hard to make a decent and
genuine living while some others want to reap where they have not sown through
fraudulent means.” He told me that the 419 scourge is infesting a lot of lazy
youngsters. “419”, for the untutored, is the term used in describing the
practice whereby some people try to defraud others or cheat the system using
all sorts of methods. “Some of them send you all sorts of emails, faxes and
phone calls claiming they are managers of banks asking you for your bank
details so they can transfer huge sums of money often in American dollars, left
in their banks by a dead person who has no next of kin, etc, etc” Francis
explained with a dint of anger and frustration vividly noticeable and palpable
in his expression.
The 419 scam is so widespread and so disturbing and so vehemently
loathed in Nigeria that the government banned any such activity under section
419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code. It was not only this scourge that was
worrying Francis and millions of other sincere, hardworking and law-abiding
Nigerian small business operators. They also bemoan the level of bribery and
corruption in all segments of government from the local authority tax collector
who would promise to ‘wipe out’ your tax burden from the records for a fee to
the federal government official who would insist on a ‘tip’ before giving you
access to have a scheduled meeting with his boss.
My host was visibly angry as he narrated his frustration at trying
to receive payment for the art works he had supplied to the government. “You go
to their offices today, they would tell you the man who is supposed to sign
your cheque is not on seat. You go tomorrow as they requested, you are told he
has traveled out of the country. But if you give them bribe you will be ushered
into the man’s office. Then, for the man to sign your cheque, he would demand a
percentage of the money (usually ten percent) paid upfront. Even when the
cheque is raised, the clerk who would register it before you sign for it
insists on his own cut or else the ‘register’ will not be found”.
In all fairness, my host’s experience is not unique to entrepreneurs
alone. All through my visit to three Nigerian cities of Abuja, Lagos and Enugu
for the field study, I noticed that some respondents to my questionnaire would
insist on being given ‘something’ for their effort. “What is there for me?” one
of them boldly asked me once. When I demanded to know what he meant, he
retorted: “You are looking for the information I have, but I am not going to
give it out for free. This is standard business practice, isn’t?” I kept quiet
for a short while, quizzically probing his face. Then I reiterated that my
effort was purely an academic exercise, not business-oriented venture and that
I would be willing to share the result of my findings with him if he wished. “And
how would that put food on my table?” he retorted. Well, he ended up completing
my questionnaire without receiving the ‘something’ he asked for.
Fortunately,
it is not all doom and gloom doing research in Nigeria. A lot of entrepreneurs
are very friendly and hospitable, willing to share every bit of information
with you. In the course of this field work, I came across a lot of people who
renewed my faith in the decency and trustworthiness of the vast majority
of Nigerians who are determined to
retrieve the battered image of their country from the hands of the
infinitesimal minority of rogues (in government and in private business) who
are destroying the country. There was Mustafa Kidama for instance who after I
made three fruitless attempts to track him down at his workshop in Abuja,
promised to visit me in my hotel room to save me the trouble and the costs of
coming to his studio. He not only kept his promise, but also completed my
questionnaire and very willingly discussed the various problems and issues
surrounding the practice of arts and crafts in the country. Mustafa who was then
the chairman of the African Arts and Cultural Heritage Association of Nigeria,
an Abuja-based arts and crafts dealers’ body, also helped me in administering
some copies of my questionnaire to some of their members.
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| Picture 3: A pose with Mustafa in his Abuja studio |
Also in Enugu, I met a lot of decent, hardworking and resourceful
people who contributed immensely to the successful completion of my field study
in that part of the country. The members of the various arts and crafts groups
like OKANGA and AKA not only shared their expertise and knowledge about their
professions, they also helped in giving copies of the questionnaire to others
not readily accessible to me. Some members of the AKA GROUP OF EXIHITING
ARTISTS like Chris Afuba and Obiora Anidi (both also full-time lecturers at the
Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu) participated actively in the
study. They also offered to take part in the subsequent part of the project. We
had some good time during one of my visits to their studios when I was taken to
Afuba’s home and treated to some of the most sumptuous Nigerian delicacies I
have ever had.
Sometimes however, my experience was not that delectable. There was,
for instance, a visit to Cosmas Enegwu of the OKANGA group of artists who is
also the director of Cosann Art Gallery, Enugu. On the day I came to keep an
appointment after series of cash-guzzling phone calls, he had, as promised,
assembled some members of the group in his gallery. Unfortunately, some armed
bandits had their own menu. As soon as I arrived his studio that fateful Friday
afternoon at their Upper Chime base, we heard three gun shots from some streets
opposite his gallery. He grabbed my laptop and asked me to dive for cover. We
all quickly made our escape through a rear window to a small room behind the
gallery. I was sweating profusely, terrified with fear. “Don’t worry Dili” he
tried to assure me, “we are used to this type of incidents.” Later, news came
round that a group of robbers had snatched a brand new Range Rover vehicle at
gun-point. Well, the rest of the session was conducted with one eye on my hosts
and the other on the exit door.
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| Picture 4: Sharing some points with Cosmas in Enugu |
That is also part of what one sometimes experiences while conducting
field studies in Nigeria.
Generally, Nigeria’s bourgeoning small businesses, particularly those
in the arts and crafts industry have the creativity and quality to capture the
global market. They need however to embrace Electronic Commerce (e-Commerce)
technologies in order to facilitate this migration from the current
face-to-face transactions that generally characterize their business philosophy
and practices to a more modern business model as prescribed by e-Commerce.
(This piece was published in the Sun Newspaper on Saturday October 12, 2013, pp. 36 & 37)
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