[X-Ray]

The sadness of this story almost overwhelms your great writing and story-telling ability. It seems like it came straight out of a great story-book.

I must admit I read it with a bit of a tear in the eye and the regret that human beings continue to stigmatise others and undermine the basic principles of courtesy and humanity. Your piece also sadly demonstrates the subservience many black people still have for their white counterparts to the notable detriment and irritation of their fellow blacks. It happens everyday all over the world - from Africa, the Carriebean, to the United States. It's all a residue of slavery and how black people were treated as inferior species.

That said, this special negative treatment Nigerians experience is undeniably due to the way we have projected ourselves in the last 20 years or so. Our image just got progressively worse, though I feel the situation is being reversed somewhat. Still there is bit of a way to go. Every Nigerian must play his/her part in improving the country's image, which has been so *******ised by a few, government officials and citizens alike.

Father Kukah, I have to commend you on the way you handled both situations. I guess your deep faith and spiritual nature were vital tools to fall back on. In the end you left a good image of yourself and Nigeria. We will need to get our house in order to earn the respect we deserve. So the next time they see a Nigerian coming they'll be rolling out the red carpet. It is not an impossible dream, just requires a fresh new mindset and determination to change our ways of doing things for the better. Become a great and civilised nation and others will be forced to respect you.

One more thing Father Kukah, I believe you can easily add story writing to your list of talents. Very well done indeed and naturally, God bless.