A view out of Ghana: Neighbour Nigeria

I have been thinking for some time that I would like to date a Nigerian man. The majority of Nigerian men I have come across are entrepreneurial, hard working and driven. What would be most ideal would be to date a Nigerian man living in Nigeria. He could fly over to Ghana on a Friday night to visit me, we could chill the whole weekend and then he could fly back on Sunday. This would give me the best of both worlds. I could be single on weekdays and “coupled” on weekends.

I shared this thought with a Nigerian friend who was quick to point out that if I was to date a Nigerian man there would be cultural differences which could cause problems in the relationship. He was speaking from personal experience as a Nigerian man who has dated Ghanaian women but is now with a Nigerian woman.

I don’t know if I buy this argument about cultural differences. As far as I am concerned there are always cultural differences. I define culture simply as “a way of life” and once you have not had my experiences then you will always be culturally different from me.

What are your thoughts? Should you aim to only date people who are culturally similar? Is a Ghanaian and Nigerian couple a good combination? Are you a Ghanaian dating a Nigeria? A Nigerian dating a Ghanaian?

P.S: I am a Ghanaian blogger. This post is my contribution for our universal posting day

On Dating, Sex and Relationships: Younger Men versus Married Men

“You shouldn’t have a problem” says a fairly new male acquaintance to me, “Where were you like a year ago?” We have been talking about relationships and sex...his assumption is that I’m an attractive woman and so should not be single. The comment about where I was a year ago is referring to his new status as a father and a fiancé hence no longer an eligible man. “That’s the thing”, I respond, “All the men I meet are either married or younger”...okay I can hear what some of you are thinking, “What is wrong with dating a younger man”. Hmmm, where shall I start from?

1. Men have issues when you earn more money than they do or are in a higher position at work – chances are if I date a man younger than I am then I will have to deal with those issues.

2. I have (thankfully) reached a stage in my life where I can afford to treat myself to some of the good stuff in life. A younger man in my life may not be at that stage yet (this point is directly related to point number 1).

3. If I was a 50 year old woman dating a younger man that would be so cool. A 31 year old woman dating a younger man? Okay it depends on the age gap but somehow not as cool.

Now to the issue of married men, can all married men stop "chasing" me please? Seriously, I have had enough. You are married, it is nasty, I fear to think what diseases you carry home to your wife and all your paramours. Enough already!

This is my challenge some of the time. I believe in networking. If networking can be considered a hobby then that is one of my hobbies. I love to meet people, hang out with them, get to know them and help them out when I can. I love to have a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. The challenge is this, “How do I convert older married men who fancy me into acquaintances who can form a valuable part of my network?” I can’t exactly say what I wrote in the previous paragraph, can I? Instead I laugh off their advances or say “Yeah, I will call you” and never do...somehow that works better than totally blowing them off. If you ever do need to contact that person and they say “how come you never called”, you can always blame MTN. Okay that’s a joke but you see how ridiculous the situation is...

Oh by the way, if I have to make a choice between dating a younger (single) man or an older married man, the younger man wins hands down!

Your thoughts?