Work Culture Clash

The worst thing you can do to yourself professionally is work your entire professional career in an advanced progressive country such as America, for some of the best companies, some of them in the top tier, and then leave that to come to work in such an obtuse, regressive, opinionated 3rd world country such as Nigeria. 

First of all, the bar has been set so fucking high that nothing even comes close to the innovation achieved in America. Even some small countries in Europe cannot compare. Then, Nigeria. They don’t even try to come close. They instead insist on maintaining their low standards and want to crawl towards progressiveness and when they finally find it several years later, after chastising you repeatedly for daring to introduce to them these advanced concepts, they tout its value and start writing long list on its values. At this point you're left wondering, "I did mention the values when I subtly and sledgehammer approach tried to introduce these concepts to you, don't you remember?" The same applies for small local companies as well as multinationals doing business here as well. At first I thought it was just the local companies but multinationals lower their standards just so they can do some type of business here. It's almost troubling when you think of it, like, I know you cannot understand me when I speak to you as an adult so let me speak the childish gibberish that you might possibly understand. Before you know it, that childish jabber becomes their "means of doing business in Africa."

Secondly, there's this inert pride. The pride of not wanting to learn, not wanting to be told how things ought to be done. 

I grapple with that every day, with the few jobs I have managed to get in Nigeria, I struggle to even set my standard low, like how low can I go, how low before I swiftly forget how business is supposed to work, what is common place, what is modern and advanced and innovative? Do I have to condescend toward the gutter? Do they even want to be elevated? Tell me…let me help you get to where you need to be, this pedestrian settle-for-less mentality will not make it, on a global scale. Yes, you have Oil and several untapped natural resources but don’t you want to build on yourself. 

Overall, I just find myself experiencing the worst absolute despicable emotion professionally. I find it hard to forgive whatever it is that got me in this mess. That this is my life now. That, this is my new reality.