Your Top Ten CultureClues for Doing Business in Nigeria.
Nigerians just went to the polls, and Africa, and the world, is watching. Sooner or later, you find yourself doing business in Nigeria. Here are your Top Ten CultureClues to get you started!
Africa’s most populous, crowded, diverse, and complicated country presents challenges for anyone doing business there. But fundamental to the economic, environmental and political issues, are the cultural ones. Get a grasp on these first, and you’ll survive the rest a lot more easily.
#10. As is the case for many nations in Africa whose borders were drawn by Europeans at the end of the European colonial era, Nigeria is a country in name only, a nation-state made up of conflicting ethnic, linguistic, religious groups, often competing for control over the resources of this vast nation. Nevertheless, there are specific aspects of Nigerian culture that are critically important for non-Nigerians working in the country to understand, beginning with a recognition and respect for this complicated diversity. There are four major ethnic groups, each very different, speaking different languages and representing different religious, social and economic interests. Your Nigerian colleagues will probably not identify openly to westerners as members of these groups, but you can be sure their association with their group powerfully influences their interests and behaviors.
The four major groups are:
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