This is Ramsey Nouah and Genevive Nnaji.
They are two of the most popular African personalities in the world as far as film goes (and ).
They are Nigerians. They embody everything about Nigeria: hard work, tenacity, sheer power of the will, and extroversion.
Now, these two Nigerians helped bring Nigeria to the rest of Africa. Their movies penetrated national borders and were shown in nearly every TV on the continent. Just by dubbing their tapes and reselling them for a dollar on the streets, bootleggers in Nairobi and other cities made enough money to live on.
Individually, Genevive, 40 years old, has starred in 80 movies spanning 30 years of acting, concluding with Lionheart in 2018, which she also wrote and produced (acquired by Netflix for $3 million).
Ramsey Nouah, 48 years old, has starred in about 50 movies spanning 2 decades. Of course, both of them have won the AMA and shattered other records in Nollywood.
They made other Africans take to Nigeria like an infant takes to suckling…
At their peak in the 1990s and 2000s, Ramsey and Genevive were more famous in Africa than Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were. They brought us the Nigerian romance. Every man wanted to be a Nigerian lover and every girl wanted to be loved like a Nigerian queen.
Then something went wrong…
Nigerians got wind of their popularity across the globe. A tiny bird whispered into their ears that the whole world is in love with them.
True to form, they committed to share their love with the rest of the planet. Like manna from heaven, they came in troves to America, Canada, Europe, even Asia. Those who could not find a way out of the continent settled in other African countries. Kenya, South Africa and Gambia are among the top destinations.
But even those who remained in Lagos swore to spread the love the best way they know how: the Internet. If you had an email, you were going to receive at least one love message from a Nigerian Prince or princess, with promises of love like no other.
Americans started complaining that the Nigerian Prince was asking for money too frequently without ever actually coming to see them ().
South Africans started complaining that Nigerians are stealing their jobs ()
In many countries of Europe, they made it impossible for Nigerians to gain entrance, and those who claimed to be visiting as tourists were carefully monitored and aptly sent home as soon as their visas expired. But being Nigerians, they wooed and married the European women, thus becoming part of the team.
But most impressively, in Kenya, the youth started rioting, saying Nigerian men were spoiling Kenyan ladies with too much romance, making it impossible to get a lady to date without money.
Afraid that Nigeria is taking over the world, all nations panicked and schemed to find a way to overcome the looming monopoly. The world united against Nigeria.
South Africa chased them away. Kenya chased them away. America unleashed the FBI after them. Nigerians arriving in Europe were looked at once and stamped with “back to sender.”
But Nigerians are holding no grudges against anyone. They have assured us that every evil deed charged against them was the act of but a few misguided individuals (.)
A lot of people do not like Nigerians because of generalisations and misconceptions founded on the bad experiences they have had with a few Nigerians. There are scammers and thieves and loudmouths and deadbeats and cons from Nigeria. But so are there such scoundrels in every country.
It is mostly based on stereotype. Millions of Nigerians don’t deserve the hate they get.
Source: Quora.
