Africa: A Culture of Begging and Beseeching Handouts

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Africa, a culture of armsgiving, begging, and hand out. When you arrive at port in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, and many other African countries, you are often greeted by people soliciting handout. This includes immigration officials, custom agents, taxi drivers, and people simply loitering or looking for opportunities to beg or offer to do subservient errands for small tokens in return. This situation is pervasive and can make foreigners feel uncomfortable.

[00:00:32]Even many members of the African diaspora are increasingly frustrated with this prevalent lifestyle among our people. It's easy to associate the culture of begging in black Africa with poverty. But I don't fully agree with that conclusion. The begging lifestyle in this region has various layers. It ranges from individuals begging anyone to perceive as well off to those in public office who request handout to perform their jobs properly. There's also a noticeable trend of inflated prices for people with lighter skin, including Europeans, East Asians, Arabs, and Indians. Essentially, anyone with white skin pays more in black Africa.

[00:01:16]This phenomenon has become ingrained in our culture and reflects a widespread belief in freebies and gratuitities. The situation is more pronounced in some black African countries than in others.

[00:01:29]Nations like Nigeria, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon exhibit this behavior to a greater degree while Namibia, Botswana, Kenya and South Africa display it to a lesser extent. In many black African countries, businesses often refrain from displaying prices because they prefer to assess potential buyers first, allowing them to haggle and extract more than the actual price. Upon arriving in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, and several other black African countries, newcomers will often encounter immigration and custom officials at the airport who solicit handout. It can be a disappointing experience for foreigners to see a grown-up man or woman after handing a passport actively seeking ways to beg for money. They don't even care about age. Even a teenager who is clearly still in primary school faces the same begging from the officials at African port. My daughter was confused when she came to visit me in Nigeria. A teenager is being confronted by a grown-up official putting her under pressure by begging. This is disgraceful. In Sagal at Dhaka airport, an immigration officer held me for an additional 30 minutes by inventing a fictitious rule to extract an extra 10,000 CFA of France from me.

[00:02:50]He glanced at my passport and perhaps noticing my accent assumed I wouldn't understand French. He quietly conferred with a colleague to direct me to the ATM so I could get cash to give him. This was done openly. In Ghana, the approach was similar to Nigeria's. Officials don't invent rules, but instead they beg for money directly. It felt as if they were begging from the same people they were meant to serve and protect. In Congo, Brazville, an officer literally searched me and took off my money and returned whatever was left. There was little I could do about it. In Angola, even at the airport, staff members were soliciting monetary handout. I encountered similar situations in Chart and Cameroon. In South Africa and Kenya, the requests were more subtle. At the airport toilet in Cape Town, people there would like hang around, treat you as if you didn't know how to operate the tap to wash your hands. After all that, they would beg for tips, almost as if they were harassing you. In Kenya, police stopped me on my way to the airport. At the final check-in, the military officer even solicited for handout when I had to come out of the car and walk. Africa, this has to stop.

[00:04:01]Throughout the continent, there seems to be a tendency to beg and emotionally manipulate people who appear better off in parting with their hardearned money.

[00:04:13]However, I must be honest, no country exhibit this behavior on the same scale as Nigeria. From the people working for you to local shops, schools, police station, petrol station, public offices, and everywhere else, people beg left, right, as if it were ingrained in them from childhood. The belief in freebies has contributed to a sense of laziness among some black Africans. Many Nigerians and black African immigrants living in the West share a similar experience. Upon returning home, they are often visited by extended family members, friends, acquaintances, and neighbors, all looking for handout or ways to take advantage of their financial success. This situation is further feuded by the perception that they are limitless opportunities in the west. Those who return from abroad are typically well-dressed, wellfed, and articulate, presenting a stark contrast to their life before they left Africa.

[00:05:18]This is a serious issue that requires immediate attention. It discourages tourism and paints us in a very poor light. Begging has become pervasive and the wealthy benefit from this system, often resulting to small bribes to get what they want in business or daily life. In Nigeria, it's common for the rich to take advantage of those who are poor. They might even go to extremes for convenience and comfort. The treatment the affluent Nigerians inflict upon the less fortunate is shocking. No one treats other black people more poorly than other black people. compared to what black people in the west call racism or the treatment they claim to receive from white people. I wish they could go and spend one month in Africa and see how black people treat each other. In decent countries, people who are raised with the belief that everything must be earned, that nothing is free and nothing should be given out for free. For example, a typical 10-year-old German child would likely refuse a€ 10uro from a stranger on the street, feeling it like this is socially awkward. In contrast, in some parts of Africa, there is a prevailing mindset that some blessing or someone will come to assist. Many believe that the government should take care of all their needs. Unfortunately, the only type of help they consider valuable is financial freebies and gratuitities. They don't want to work for it. They want it for free. They often overlook the importance of learning skills such as farming or receiving advice that could help them navigate a capitalist environment. This reliance on handout can lead to a sense of mental laziness. As a result, issues such as fraud, deception, and various forms of crimes, both petty and serious, are prevalent across several African countries. Political candidates often rely on giving handout to win elections.

[00:07:22]Without this payment, they'll struggle to secure vote. Many people live in severe poverty largely due to neglect by their local government officials. Yet on election day, they'll vote for the same candidate who gave them a handout barely enough for a single meal. This issue is prevalent in many countries across Africa. The culture of handout and dependency has significantly hindered the continent's progress. This situation also highlights a perversive short-term mindset. It presented with a choice between receiving €1,000 immediately or investing in a year-long project with an 80% chance of success that could lead to a permanent job with a €1,000 monthly salary. Many would opt for the immediate €1,000 euro only to find themselves back in the same difficult situation within just a few weeks. Running a country involves more than just signing documents in air conditioned offices and giving speeches. It requires changing a broken culture and reintroducing a system that aligns with current realities. Our culture is failing. Our system is dysfunctional. And our future appears bleak. Yet these issues remain unressed. Africa's challenges are largely self-inflicted. Passing laws in a society where adarance to the rule of law is below 20% is ineffective until the culture embraces lawfulness. When I was growing up, I remember coming home with a significant amount of cash that I'd found on the street. My mother was furious. She questioned me asking where I got the money. I answered honestly. I said, "I found it on the street." She took my hand and woke me back where I found it. Once we arrived, she took the money from me and kept it until my father returned from work. Today, this sort of accountability no longer exists in Nigeria. Parents now watch their children beg, engage in criminal behavior, and even encourage such actions. A lack of accountability, discipline, poor parenting, and a culture of expecting free handouts have poisoned the fabric of society in black African community. If you think we're wrong, if you think we missed anything, please leave them in the comment section below. And also don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. Thanks for watching.