Outsider Inside: by Keith Richards
Price: N4000
Product Code: 1366980117
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Number of Pages: 287
Binding: Paper Back
Publisher: BookCraft
Edition: 2009
ISSN: 9789788135265
Availability: Available within 8-12 working days
Summary: Being a Nigerian is abysmally frustrating and unbelievably exciting - Chinua Achebe. Keith Richards Outsider Inside is a glittering paradox of the Nigerian story. A collection of the author's column in Business Day newspaper, the book is laced with humorous stories, a popular cultural artefact that connects with anyone who has lived in Nigeria. However, it also reflects the exasperating experience of living in this country. Outsider Inside is an appropriate title for the book. Taking the premise cited by the author: as a foreigner, I would always be an outsider, even though I had spent enough time and been a keen observer of the life around me to have been given a glimpse of Nigeria from the inside. Though garnished with the spice of unacceptability, the book shows once more the huge gap between Nigerians and their leaders. The essay portrays a fondness by the author, a Londoner, for his adopted country. Nonetheless, it is fact that the author may continue to be just a welcomed guest. Did this wall of integration prevent Keith from loving and living the Nigerian life, hell no! On the contrary a swim through the 300 pages of Outsider Insider reveals the author s attachment to this country. Most expats in Nigeria live in cages , high walls, security arrangements that will make prisoners glee with jealousy. Not entirely their fault, because white skin in this country is an automatic attraction for kidnappers. Nonetheless, there are those who get immersed in the mélange of the Nigerian social life and culture. These according to the author, usually seek invitations to Nigerian homes, wedding ceremonies and parties...hanging out with their Nigerian colleagues and building friendships that would outlast the time of their stay. Keith falls into this category. Nigerians like talking business, and anything that will aid their progress normally catches their attention. Keith in Laugh your way to the Bank finds a middle course between work and humour in the office. I advice those prone to cardiac disorder to avoid reading Travel Guide to UK for it will only trigger a bout of laughter that may precipitate a heart attack. This article was Keith s rebuttal to the xenophobic and holier than thou tone of What Foreigners Coming to Lagos Should Expect an article published in the Economist. He pokes irresponsible corporates who take advantage of photo-op CSR projects yet do nothing as regards their immediate environment. Lagos Conundrum typifies the spirit of a city which many love to hate. Nonetheless, it is startling that this haze of madness is what inspired most articles in the book. The poverty, the incredible driving habits, the rubbish, the traffic girl and others constitute these pages. In the concluding chapter, he castigates the West for stealing Nigerian doctors; dramatises the 2007 elections in a fictional flight from UK to Lagos; and dismantles 2020 as an illusion. Nonetheless, the book ends in a cheerful note with 2020...Nigeria in 2025 , Keith dreams about the future of Nigeria in beautiful prose. Outsider Inside is a delight, though individual essays yet it has a unifying core. I must also commend the publishers Bookcraft for doing a good job. Save the discord of the title of section 8 (Lagos Conundrum) with that on the title page, the brilliant editing is obvious and the editor deserves a thumbs up for that. The non-chronological presentation is not really noticed but reading through triggers a feeling of déjà vu. The remarkable sweet-sour taste of the book will make Achebe s dictum quoted in the beginning of this review to read as follows: Living in Nigeria is abysmally frustrating and unbelievably exciting . --Nwachukwu Egbunike, Editor- Fast Edition
…Outsider Inside offers a unique perspective on our Nigerian society and offers one of the more intelligent analyses of our culture and economy. Keith successfully demonstrates the idiosyncrasies and frustrations of our daily life, the pervasiveness of corruption in our society, while maintaining an optimistic and complimentary analysis of our people and our country… his book tells stories that all of us can relate to, whether we admit to it or not… …Keith's book is absorbing, accurate, funny and unfortunately for me, depressing. Keith knows our country as well as we do, his perspective is in line with our own. I hope that when our political leaders read it, they will recognise the work that they need to do in order to ensure that future such books can record the progress our country is making, rather than being forced to commentate on the issues that we accept, but should forcefully object to. --Patrick Dele Cole, M.A Phd (Camb.)