LONDON DIARY: Good Nigerians In The Diaspora
Today, I will conclude my recent series of articles on my trip to the United Kingdom of Great Britain by writing about the Good Nigerians in the Diaspora.
Someone once said that if you go to any city in the world and you did not find one Nigerian there, you should run…
After my very interesting visit the previous week to Cardiff, Wales, the next big city for me to explore was Manchester. Thousands of Nigerians live in Manchester and are doing very well there.
The trip from Leicester to Manchester lasted nearly eight long hours by coach, with many stopovers in Birmingham, Coventry and Stansted Airport, among others. When I arrived in Manchester on Thursday, March 6, the bitter winter had long abated. Spring had arrived and the temperatures in Manchester, even in the usually colder northwest, were hitting nearly 18*C.
By the time I checked into my room at the Manchester Holiday Inn, I was simply, simply, tired – and hungry. A Mexican food house a few blocks away on Hyde Road provided spicy rice and kebab (meat) for the weary traveller – and I returned quickly to my room. It was already around 11pm.
The next day, my kinsman, Chief Nwabugo Ubochi, came to pick me up at the Holiday Inn and we hit the City of Manchester – visiting some of its major landmarks, including the ETIHAD Stadium, the Old Trafford area and the Old Trafford Stadium…
Then we had dinner in his home with his family – and Nwabugo drove me back to my hotel room. But more about Nwabugo later…
Due to Nigeria’s very strong socio-cultural, economic and political connections to Britain as her former colonial master, The United Kingdom is, indeed, like a second home to many Nigerians – who are pursuing their legitimate engagements in business, education, medicine and healthcare, engineering, technology and other activities.
More than 215,000 Nigerians reportedly live in the United Kingdom as of 2024. This is the second highest number of Nigerian Diasporans living in any one country in the world – next only to the number of Nigerian Diasporans in the United States of America, said to be about 380,000.
And Manchester is home to thousands of the Nigerians living in the UK. According to the 2021 UK census, the number of Manchester residents born in Nigeria rose from just over 6,400 in 2011 (1.3% of the local population) to just over 10,300 in 2021 (1.9%).
Indeed, I saw a considerable number of these good Nigerians in the City of Manchester. This time around, unlike in Cardiff, Wales, I had a lot of time to engage with many of these Nigerians – and time to eat Nigerian food. One of these Good Nigerians in the Diaspora is Chief Nwabugo Ubochi…
The story of Nwabugo Ubochi is a story of grass to Grace – like many such success stories. Once upon 20 years ago, or so, a young man came to my office in Abuja to request a Reference Letter from me to support his application to go to the United Kingdom for graduate studies.
I was so happy to write the letter – and I testified to the fact that I had known Nwabugo since he was a young boy – and he has grown up to be a very brilliant, responsible and ambitious young man working very hard to succeed. I saw the courage and steely determination in his eyes. I had no doubt in my mind that he would go very far in life.
All I could afford to give him were words: Words of encouragement and motivation. I typed and signed the Reference Letter, bid him farewell and Good Luck. And he thanked me and left. What a young man…
I was still thinking about him until someone knocked at my door – bringing me back to reality. Yes, what a determined young man, I kept thinking…
Nwabugo did all kinds of part-time menial jobs including working as a “megad” (security man) to support himself in England while pursuing his Masters’ degree – with the assistance of his elder brother, my good friend, the late Sir Ishmael Ubochi.
For Nwabugo, the journey was certainly not easy. “I went through hell,” he recalls.
Today, Nwabugo is a successful professional engineer and has made a home for himself in Manchester, England – with his wife and three lovely children. Nwabugo and his family are a remarkable example of the Good Nigerians in the Diaspora who are engaged in their legitimate studies, businesses and professions, living a decent life – and contributing to the welfare of their extended families and communities back home in Nigeria.
I am sure you know of one or two such Good Nigerians in the Diaspora, as opposed to the narrative of the ugly Nigerians who drag the name of the country – and their families – in the mud abroad.
On Saturday, Nwabugo picked me up again from the hotel and we further explored Manchester. Then we had lunch at the Eagle Restaurant and Bar in Greater Manchester, a very successful Nigerian restaurant and bar owned and operated by more Good Nigerians in the Diaspora who are also keeping the Nigerian flag flying in Manchester.
I was amazed at the number of young Nigerian men and women working in the restaurant. Every imaginable kind of Nigerian soup and swallow was on offer: I settled for afang soup with stockfish and wheat – after a starter of goat meat pepper soup. The meal was deliciously homely…
From Manchester, Nwabugo and I decided to explore further north – to Liverpool – and we hit the highway. Nwabugo drove smoothly, efficiently, cutting through the broad Motorway – without yielding to her temptation to overspeed. I sat there in the passenger’s seat, taking in the sights and sounds of some of the great cities of the United Kingdom.
We got to Liverpool, a historic city of England which played a major role in facilitating the infamous Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. We went to the Liverpool Docks, the major landing port for the ships bearing slaves from Africa. Watching the Liverpool Docks of the infamous slave trade, I had an eerie feeling – and goosebumps flooded my skin…
I could not go to the International Slavery Museum situated at the Liverpool Docks. The Museum, dedicated to the history and legacy of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, was closed for repairs.
Thousands of tourists, visitors, residents and sundry sightseers flocked all around the Liverpool Docks and its environs. It was like a carnival.
Then it was time to drive back to Manchester. Time for me to go back to London. Then time for me to return to Abuja, Nigeria, Good Old Naija…
For me, although I had some scheduled engagements in the United Kingdom, my recent tour of some of the great cities in England and Wales was the holiday I never had in many years – as I was totally engrossed in work.
Work is a stern and jealous god…
Dr Onyemaobi is the Chairman of the Editorial Board of The Nigerian Voice.