Is Lack of Confidence To Blame?

I stumbled across this post at African Executive and I just had to repost it. Does he have a point?

Pardon me for saying “Blacks have low self-esteem.” I am repeating a cliché, a truism that is evident in every Black enclave I have ever observed. I am speaking of a typical Black man and a typical Black leader. Both have a low sense of self. A Black man does not think much of himself. He does not consider himself worthy of anything. He has no regard for his family, his community and even his country.

During (former Nigeria’s) President Obasanjo’s first term in office, he genuflected; he bowed constantly and shakily before Western leaders. This was a war hero, a bona fide military general, a former head of government, a prospective UN Secretary General, a Chief a dozen times over; yet, he was a yes sir, yes ma, pardon me, forgive-me, no vex, nothing spoil kind of a leader. At home, he was a deity, the Asiwaju and the Alafin before whom everybody must bow and seek permission. But he was impotent abroad. Most Nigerian big-big-men are like that. But once they leave the shore of the country, they take on a different persona: looking dull and limpid. Boring, actually!

I take pleasure in watching some Nigerian big-men acting “big” at home but “small” in the US. Ministers, governors, local government chairs, commissioners, and all types of advisers and special advisers fall into the same group. In the wider pool, you will also find very many bankers, engineers, chiefs, lord of lords, pastors, and imams and all shades of ex-this and ex-that. In Nigeria, they are the rainmakers; but in the United States, the rain and snow fall harshly on them. In Nigeria, you can’t even look some of them in the face; but in the US, they want to hug you — as though you are their drinking buddies.

Have you noticed how members of the armed forces and police officers, customs and immigration officers, and even security officers and any one with real or perceived power treat fellow Nigerians? They physically and mentally abuse Nigerians. They treat fellow human beings like rats and houseflies. The same Nigerians, who, in a heartbeat will beat up fellow Nigerians, will lie flat in the gutter for the White man to walk on.