igerians could sit within the confines of their living rooms with their heads down about the reports from CNN, ABC and any other local TV Stations; or continue to bash on some visionless Nigerian Leaders who brought shame to the country through their selfish ends, and bringing some stigma to Nigerians Abroad. Nigerians could continue to jubilate with the reports coming from CNN, ABC or any of such media because of our dislikeness of Obasanjo for stepping on the toes of some corrupt Nigerian leaders; and Nigerians could continue to rot within, forgetting that they have children who have no other place to refer to as their ancestral home except Nigeria, regardless their dual citizenship. Americans are very patriotic. Regardless their dislikeness of their Government policies, they consider America as the best in the world. Nigeria is the Heart of Africa.

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One thing Nigerians Abroad should note is that they reside in the communities that made them whatever they are. They work, dine, socialize, and fellowship with their communities, 24 hours a day. Whatever stigma, either from the not too-good some Nigerian leaders, or from Media outlets on Nigerians, it affects every aspect of their life. In effect Nigerians are the ones to shake-off the stigma. Government comes, government goes, and Nigeria remains a country. Looking at the other side, Nigerians should be focusing on their image, especially those that live Abroad. They reside where their image matters.

The Media is all right to air events that make news that viewers want to hear. That is how the media get their ratings which affect their revenue as well. Whatever they publish or air about Nigeria are salient facts. However, if they refuse to profile good Nigerians, who are the majority, Nigerian Abroad should start doing that. This could be done through their various organizations at the end of the year or in summer by recognizing prominent Nigerians in their communities. They should endeavor to invite their neighbors, non-Nigerians especially, to these events. If you do not tell people who you are, they would never know, and whatever name they give you would be all right for their consumption.

No one expects a patriotic Nigerian to be happy about the negative publications, such as Medicaid fraud in Houston, the clever way of robbing a bank in Houston, the Internet scam, the 419 and to agree that all Nigerians are scammers. I do not dispute the publications about Nigeria for a second. If and when the Media refuses to tell Nigeria positive story, it is left for Nigerians to respond and tell their neighbors who they are.

My short research shows a long list of Nigerians that are making tremendous contributions to the economy of their communities, through their professions. The list by far, surpasses those that were being reported, with the blanket report, as scammers. Nigerians should start liberating themselves from the stigma for the sake of their children.

One of the Household names that quickly come to mind is Akeem Olalekan Olajuwon, "Hakeem the Dream." The 7 foot, 255 pounds Basket Ball player for Houston Rockets from 1984-2002. He led the Team to back-to-back championships in 1994 and 1995. In the 1993-94 season Olajuwon became the only player in NBA history to win the NBA's MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Finals, MVP Awards in the same season. In 1996, Olajuwon assisted in the gold medal-winning performance of the United States national team and was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, and NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team 1997. He was born in Lagos Nigeria. He credited his parents for instilling virtues of hard work and discipline into him and his siblings; "They taught us to be honest, work hard, respect our elders, believe in ourselves." He is a Nigerian. "Hakeem the Dream."

Another Nigerian in Houston is Kasey Lawal, the unassuming 51-year-old CEO of a modern-day oil magnate, Cameroon-American (CAMAC), with offices in London, Johannesburg, and Lagos and Port Harcourt in Nigeria. CAMAC routinely moves, produces or trades about 100,000 barrels of crude oil every 24 hours. An extremely private man, very reserved, yet dignified. But in business, Lawal's bravado comes through. He was born in Ibadan, Nigeria, to a politician and a mother who was a textile store merchant. He started CAMAC in 1986, first as an agriculture and commodities company that took tobacco from the South and made cigarettes to be sold overseas, but later decided to use his knowledge of the energy industry to get into the field of oil exploration. He is a commissioner on the Port of Houston Authority, the largest foreign tonnage port in the United States, and as vice chairman of the Houston Airport Development System Corporation, the sixth largest international airport system in the world. In 1994, he was a finalist for the United States Business Entrepreneur of the Year and also served on the President of the United States Business Advisory Council. He was awarded the US Africa Business Person of the Year, US Africa the Newspaper, 1997. He is from Nigeria, The Heart of Africa.

Another re-known Nigerian in the oil industry is Kenneth Yellowe. He is the CEO of Houston-based Global Energy, Inc. His Company became the first indigenously owned liquid petroleum gas processing plant to operate in Nigeria. Kenneth Yellowe spent 10 years developing the plant capable of producing LPG out of gas previously burned off in air-polluting flares. With no previous experience in oil and gas, he brought in some industry executives as consultants. That is a product from the Heart of Africa.

Al Gore could keep his Oscar Award, being a former United States Vice President, for his 'Internet invention,' and 'discovery of the planet.' The better news is that Philip Emeagwali, a Nigerian, is the first man on earth, in 1989, to perform the world's fastest computer computation - a staggering 3.1 billion calculations per second. Emeagwali's achievement also helped solve one of America's 20 Grand Challenges --- understanding how oil flows underground so companies could extract the most of the "black gold." Tim Berners-Lee could have been credited for discovering the Internet. The power and speed of the Internet could not be understood without the pioneering work of Philip Emeagwali with the supercomputer. Philip, an Igbo, born at Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria, dropped out of school in Onitsha where he grew up, at the age of 14, because his father, James, (a nurse) could not pay his school fees. In the words of the American Magazine, Michigan Today, Emeagwali is "one of the world's fastest humans." The bottom line is that Emeagwali's greatest achievement to date is his 1989 breakthrough in making scientists better understand how oil flows underground. Good work from the Heart of Africa.

Bayo Ogunlesi, based in New York City, built Credit Suisse First Boston, CSFB, project-finance business into the world's best, in part, by encouraging corporations and governments to tap public debt markets in addition to commercial lenders. That strategy allowed the debtors to borrow for longer periods and reduce their short-term costs. For First Boston he worked in project finance, brokering deals in which lenders finance assets like oil refineries and mines and are repaid with revenues generated by those enterprises. When Ogunlesi's project-finance group absorbed several other divisions, a colleague produced T-shirts that read, "I've Found Happiness in the Bayosphere." Bayo clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall-who, unable to pronounce his name, dubbed him "Obeedoogee." (Most friends and colleagues today call him Bayo.) Jumoke Akin-Taylor would say, "I am Nigeria, the changes starts with me."

We have Professor Sunday Fadulu, a medical researcher on sickle cell anemia. His emphasis is on Medical Mycology, Sickle Cell Anemia, and Clinical Trial of Hemogenol. A drug to cure Sickle Cell Anemia/Thalassemia has earned him very high reputations in the field of science. Professor Fadulu was able to isolate the anti-Sickle properties as a medicine for sickle cell. One of his works is of the Orin Ata, Chewing stick. Nigerian Government has signed an agreement with a US-based pharmaceutical company, Xechem International Incorporated to produce sickle cell drugs utilizing the facilities of the Gateway Pharmaceutical Company, Ikangba, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. The company is employing the use of locally sourced herb, Orin Ata, in the production of sickle cell drugs locally and has the international rights for its commercial distribution. To my readers Sickle cell anemia is genetically inherited disorder afflicting millions of Afro-Asian people worldwide. Experts say that 40% of all sickle cell disease (SCD) sufferers are Nigerians. Fadulu is a Nigerian Abroad.

Dr. Nelson Oyesiku is a board certified in Neurological Surgery and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Oyesiku's clinical interests are pituitary and brain tumors and stereotactic radiosurgery. His laboratory has identified unique aspects of pituitary tumor gene expression and is developing a new modality for imaging and targeted therapy of pituitary tumors. He is also Professor of Neurological Surgery and Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Neurosurgery and Biotechnology. Dr. Oyesiku received his medical degree from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He completed his Neurosurgical residency training at Emory, where he also earned his Ph.D. in neuroscience. He is the President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) and President of the Georgia Neurosurgical Society.

Olufunmilayo Olopade is an oncologist who translates her basic research on individual and population cancer susceptibility into an effective clinical practice for treating breast cancer among African and African-American women. She was trained in clinical oncology and cancer genetics, her early research led to the identification of a tumor suppressor locus on the short arm of the 9th chromosome. Her more recent work focuses more specifically on the molecular genetics of breast cancer in women of African heritage. Olopade first described recurrent BRCA1 mutations in extended African-American families with breast cancer, and reported BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in pre-menopausal breast cancer patients from West Africa. She is a founding director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics at the University of Chicago. She oversees a coordinated, multidisciplinary, clinical program that includes oncologists, primary care physicians, genetic counselors, sociologists, and psychologists and provides free access to genetic services for local, at-risk populations. She is a Nigerian of substance.

Chinwe Chukwuogo-Roy is an accomplished Nigerian artist based in London. As a sought after artist, she was commissioned to paint Queen Elizabeth II, which has become part of the Royal Family collection. Regarded as one of Africa's foremost artists, Chinwe is renowned around the world for her portraiture, her work promoting Africa and her tireless promotion of Art education.

Dr. Elizabeth Ofili's job entails a myriad of responsibilities and keeps her moving ahead to the latest research, education, mentoring and patients. Born and raised in Nigeria, Ofili's father worked for the U.S. government; her mother was in the nursing field. Though working to cure and treat infectious diseases was her first choice of fields, during her residency, she spent a great deal of time working in cardiology. The intricacies and challenges fascinated her. One of her colleagues remarked,

"She works with patients, devotes time to research, is active in her profession, mentors students and teaches. It would probably overwhelm anyone else, but she somehow has the capacity to make it all work."

Dr. Joseph U. Igietseme is a Scientist to the core, which made me referred to him, the first time I met him at a meeting, as 'crazy man'. He is Professor in the Department of Microbiology/Biochemistry/Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine Atlanta, Georgia. Joe's research interests are focused on the role of T cell-mediated immunity in chlamydial genital and ocular infections; T cell cloning; characterization and mapping of T cell epitopes on proteins involved in chlamydial immunity and/or immunopathology. He is nuts when it comes to T cells and their cytokines in the immunity and immunopathogenesis of chlamydial disease. Specifically, these studies evaluate the role of IFN-?/TNF-?-induced epithelial function in the immunopathogenesis of fallopian and conjunctival damage in chlamydial disease. I do not want to misfire in describing his works in the science field. However, he built biomedical research programs at Morehouse School of Medicine and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta that involves the employment of several Nigerian and non-Nigerian scientists and professors.

Another Nigerian in the Science Field is Dr. Charles O. Olaiya, an Industrial Hygienist/Environmental Health Scientist currently with the US Department of Energy Hanford in the Environmental Safety and Quality Division. His research study, entitled "Enhanced Extraction of Hexavalent Chromium for Radwaste Slurries," was conducted to enhance methods for oxidizing Cr+³ to Cr+6 as the first step in removing chromium from radioactive high-level waste (HLW) stream. His research indicates that the application of mixed-oxidants, such as peroxynitrite-permanganate or ozone-peroxynitrite as compared to permanganate will increase the extraction of chromium from 70 to as much as 90 percent and reduce the amount of permanganate and hydroxide required, thereby inhibiting the release of plutonium. This reduction in time and mass of waste reduces the cost required to treat and vitrify the high energy radwaste stored at the Hanford site in Washington State, by as much as two billion dollars over the life of the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) facility. Removal of chromium is an essential processing step in the US Department of Energy Hanford (nuclear) radwaste treatment because it can precipitate during glass production which can result in a poor quality glass and even short the melter electrodes. The radwaste treatment process is complex and failure to divert chromium from the HLW vitrification system would require substantial dilution of the waste, resulting in several years of extended processing.

Dr. Augustine Esogbue, an Advisory Board member of NASA, Member, NASA's senior panel: Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel earned NASA Public Service Medal in 2006. He is a Professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests include dynamic programming, fuzzy sets, decision making and control in a fuzzy environment, and operations research with applications to socio-technical systems such as health care, water resource management and disaster control planning. He is also the Director of the Intelligent Systems and Controls Laboratory which is currently investigating a hybrid approach to intelligent control via fuzzy sets, neural networks, and reinforcement learning theories as well as its application to various large-scale, nonlinear and uncertain dynamical systems. He is the first Black Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a Nigerian.

We have other Nigerians that make enormous contributions to their communities in their respective areas of discipline. Professor Anthonia C. Kalu developed the Black Studies program at the University of Northern Colorado. She received Distinguished Scholar awards from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana and Spellman College, Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Tony O. Elumelu, MFR, is a research economist with honors degrees at both graduate and post graduate levels in Economics. Dr. Segun Thomas - NASA, is Lockheed Engineering and Sciences, in Houston. His specialty is the Dynamic analysis of the Space Station truss structure based on a continuum representation.

Alani Ogunlade and his African Group would say that he and his group have been entertaining the World positively for over 25 years. Victor Mbaba with his Children charitable work across the African Continent would have some positive things to say about Nigerians Abroad, while my own Abosede Aladuke would say, "Around a successful man is a woman of substance". Nigerian women's support for their spouses to reach their levels, are the key to the successes of Nigerians Abroad.

Nigerians, start singing your praises and appreciate yourselves for what you have done for your communities and in your life. Invite your neighbors to your appreciation dinners for your fellow Nigerians. If you don't tell your story, no one would. When they do, it is to their own advantage.

My Readers could log on to www.theblacktelevision.com, and click on "Nigeria This Week", for a discussion on "The Nigerian Image". Visit this site each week for discussion on Nigeria.