Video: Genevieve Nnaji tells CNN's Pedro Pinto what she likes and dislikes about Nigeria | Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog

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Friday 25 March 2011

Video: Genevieve Nnaji tells CNN's Pedro Pinto what she likes and dislikes about Nigeria

32 comments:

Myne said...

Genevieve has stolen my heart!

"I cannot diss my country,"

That was classic!

But sha if I were me, while I won't diss naija, I will mention our politicians and their wack government.

Good one....

Anonymous said...

i love u gen....knew u were not just another pretty face

Anonymous said...

good, like the way she answer...no dissing naija answer.....ride on genny

Anonymous said...

Who ever makes her up, needs to chill on the make up....Too much always, maybe for a fashion evening, or soiree but not for an interview...she should have gone more natural especially since the camera showed only her top half which was all print material...But beautiful as usual!

VIEN BLOG said...

lovely have faith in my babe anytime anywhere thats how to represent your country i doubt 'omo sexy' would have pulled this off instead she is busy going for Grammy well goodluck to her

Geny love keep doing your stuff God bless you

pls if you don't like my comment keep it too yourself.

Anonymous said...

Genevieve clap 4 urself...nice 1!

Dith said...

I love this interview compared the other one. she looked a lot more poised and confident. the environment was more conducive I suppose but at the end of the day, d whole " I never diss my country thing" is utter crap.

Admitting your country has flaws does not mean you are dissing the country. U are only stating the obvious and someone like her who has been blessed with such an opportunity to be the voice of the public has to speak up on these flaws and not sugar coat things in order to please the masses.

Naija gets a bad rep cos of individual mistakes and like she rightfully said, each individual should be judged as individuals but the nation as a whole is indeed flawed.
Nigeria should not only be for the gbo gbo bigs girls and boys.

Every Nigerian citizen deserves to enjoy the country.

Other than that, great interview.

Naija is indeed FUNNNN.
Love that place man. 1ce u allow yourself get past the madness, u'll see its beauty. I think that's d hardest part really.
Most inbreeds kinda had to adjust to the situation cos well, we had no other choice but can u imagine how hard it would be for a foreigner to adjust especially if they do not know anyone?

Ahh well. Guess that's our reality.

Na me said...

as an individual or ''collective nation''...............She was not very articulate in this interview. She looked kind of nervous or should i say jittery and this reflected all over. In terms of appearance, she represented well.

Anonymous said...

I love Genny.I love my Country.GOD BLESS NIGERIA EVEN THOUGH THE GOVT IS SILLY.I JUST LOVE NIGERIA

Anonymous said...

Pls u leave her alone na

Anonymous said...

that's a sweet answer about what she doesnt like about naija i mean what was d presenter expecting to hear???? mscheeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwww

Anonymous said...

theres a repeat on right now on cnn
9.30am saturday
if you are interested in watching

Anonymous said...

God help Nigeria!!! OMG, d interview waz a complete failure. Wot r u guyz saying "trying to sugar coat" d rubbish Genny (Ambassador) did on World TV. I cover my face in shame!
1. She lacks confidence (A Screen Figure???)& she really hammered on d word confidence!
2. What kinda grammar in God's name is "Nigeria in a whole" Baaaaaaaaaaad grammar,
3. whats with d "You Know" she kept repeating? If Pedro knew, he won't b asking her! Hellooooooo?
4. "DISS" OMG, why din't she stick to d words she is familiar with, instead of making a fool of herself trying to impress with new words???
5. D icing on d cake Genny --"Grow up in Lagos", my darling I tot its smthing like dis "grew up in Lagos"??? Just asking o!
Genny U have made money, please do urself d favour of getting a lil bit of education, my dear it helps, please for d sake of d people u represent! Good line though " Judge people Individually" atleast Pedro won't say all Nigerians speaks like U!

Suuisaidl said...

@Anon10:41 Mr/Mrs Grammar Inspector, see what you you wrote "Good line though " Judge people Individually" atleast Pedro won't say all Nigerians speaks like U!" Speaks like you? whether it was a typo or not, remove the log in your eye first. Yes, she made some common mistakes that some Nigeriaans make with prepositions, big deal. If you weren't so prideful, you would have pointed out her errors "matter-of-factly" like the other people who said she could have said she didn't like out bad government. Genny tried jare. So next time, give props when you should because I'm sure even you do not speak perfect English - when even some oyinbo sef dey destroy their own language, talk more of a Naija pesin. Calm down!

naso said...

whenever i see this girl i just wonder she is still doing nollywood...to me she is one actress that can rep us wella in hollywood...i suggest she auditions for one of them tyler perry movies...she deserves more than nollywood

Anonymous said...

Big ups Genie,May God continue to lift you higher.@the last anon,jungle fever no go kill you.Tyler Perry movies indeed.I'd choose my Nollywood anyday,His last movie,for coloured women,was a massascre of d original play n it flopped,you wld know dis if you read d reviews.But too u,as long as it's American,it's got to better than Nigeria's.I respect what Tyler is doing,trying to give voice and respect to his fellow black Americans.You'd better come home and do something for ur country like Genie is or u'd wake up one morning and find u're d only Nigerian left in yankee still scrubbing toilet floors.

Lillian said...

I agree with @10:41 about "trying to sugar coat things." Genevieve Nnaji have her reasons for not saying what was on her mind about what she dislikes about Nigeria. Genevieve do not want to be "crucified" by some Nigerians if she said what was really on her mind. Remember how some Nigerians reacted when those Nigerian couples said South Africa is the "giant" of Africa in a TV commercial? Genevieve do not want to take that risk, especially that she is in the public eye. Saying what is wrong with the country does not mean you do not like your country and that is where most Nigerians get it wrong. In fact saying what is wrong with your country shows that you really love your nation and you want the things that are wrong to be corrected. Genevieve is living a comfortable life that's why she think it's necessary to say about what she dislikes about Nigeria by saying "I cannot diss my country" but if they were to asked a woman who spend 24 hours in the hot sun selling fruits in order to sent her kids to school, a man who do not have a job to support his family, a young man who just got his degree from the university but cannot find a job, a young girl who sleeps under a bridge because she do not have a home, i do not think they would've answer " i cannot diss my country" if they were asked the same question. People just do not get it. It is things like this our leaders see and believe the citizens/nation is in a good condition therefore they do not bother doing anything for it citizen instead busy stealing from us.....smh

Tamilore said...

Oh Genny, I cant believe you used the word 'diss' too.. Girl, u know speak better than dat on a good day.. As for the make.. 'mehnnn', like she said during the interview hersel.. no comment! LMAO.. Love you Genevieve, you are our National Treasure, so we love you 'just the way you are'

Hey Linda......
lol.. :)

Alicia says... said...

Nigerians.....smh. always quick to criticize. i guess they expected her to be a robot up there. seriously, lets see you go on CNN with a thousand bright lights glaring in your face and 3 cameras pointed right at you and having to answer questions on the spot. i like how she said "mehn" and some other stuff because it shows how down to earth she is. some people are always saying this that and the other, as if they wanted her to be a boring bag of rice sitting up there. mtchewwww.
genny, you did a good job and you represent Nigeria well.
and for people saying she should have outlined Nigeria's problems? seriously....we know how CNN is when it comes to anything Nigerian. they will always want to outline Nigeria's problems. i think WE ALL KNOW (them included) our problems so why insist on repeating them? yes we our government is corrupt yada yada.... we have heard the negative enough, its time to face the positive.

Chilling said...

Speaking publicly and in front of cameras can be quite unnerving. I just watched it on CNN and she extremely tried. She loosened up as the interview went on. Kudos to her! Was she born in Lagos? I thought i heard she was born and lived in Mbaise, Imo State for a while before she came to Lagos.

Ada said...

I love her charisma and composure, amazing the folks on here criticizing her. Pls upload a video interview of yourself talking, so we can compare you, since you supposedly are the standard!!

OK said...

@Ada..good suggestion to d criticizers...Make dem no even upload video...make dem use their fone record der voice hear wetin them talk....

@Anon 10.41am....considering the fact u are a grammar specialist...u would have at least typed your "heart felt grievance" in clear well typed/spelt English.....

....n did u say..."...all nigerians dont speak like her"?.... like seriously.....Abegi o jare....make u dey use person accent dey form ....no go make peace with ur mother tongue!

Anonymous said...

''everybody needs to be treated as an individual and not as a collective nation''


Grammar.....from an A list actress

Anonymous said...

I love u Genny but diss Naija, c'mon we need to tell the world whats wrong with the country

Femiluv said...

Genevieve strikes again.....AMAZING!!

Anonymous said...

Love d babe die anytime,and all of u saying she shld ve started listing our woes to d world just dont luv the country enuf,if for instance u have a child or sibling 9God forbid )who s an armed robber wld u sit in front of an international audience and something like." my child is a thief o,but i love him" come off it pple,and our grammerians,pls help me correct mine too .------------ Sad pple all.

passing by said...

I disagree with you DITH, about saying it's utter crap. she did well.

Anonymous said...

I watched the interview twice
Genny I love you but it was painful to watch
well then again,I am not as star-struck as most
I was actually disappointed.
I think I expected more confidence and better oration skills
If you are reading this Gene there plenty room for improvement
I couldnt even finish watching the whole interview lol

naso said...

@ 2:14...abeg shraaappp ur dirty mouth..i said tyler perry movies cus they look like something genevieve will be comfortable with...he makes movies that are like home videos if u get what i mean...i dint want to call steven spielberg or something cus i cant picture genevieve in all dem action movies...and yeah...if she suceeds in hollywood..it just goes to show that their is talent in naija..and that will shed some light on nollywood...for example..see dem jackie chan,jet li and bruce lee...cus of these guys some people watch chinese movies...cus of how good they are...so abeg no dey tell me d girl should remain in nollywood...she deserves better than nollywood

na u jungle fever go kill...oshi..back to sender

Anonymous said...

lol at last anon, d boy/girl talk true nah, e be like say e pain you well well, next time you people will think before talking. Always ready to think that anything outside Nigeria is better than Nigeria. Even China is starting to feel superior to us because we have encouraged them.
But this is about Genie,and the girl has done well. One day hopefuly, we will gather to talk about you, perhaps as the best toilet floor scrubber. lol.

Anonymous said...

She should be used to camera, lights and all that. All d same she is good, God has been on her side. keep it up girl!

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much Genevieve, you have made me proud to be a Nigerian again! I don't care if people attack your accent or your English grammar but I love you all the same anyway, Gen! Beautiful too- rightly called the Julia Roberts of Nollywood!

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