The Nigerian government is upset with a new (internet only?) commercial for SONY’s PS3 video game console. The government’s ire is reserved for the character who says 8 seconds into the ad: “You can’t believe everything you read on the Internet. Otherwise I’d be a Nigerian millionaire by now.”

Here’s the ad.

So the Nigerian government is upset about the reputation of 419 scammers?

If you wondering what a 491 scammer is, here’s the very reliable Urban Dictionary. First what is 419: “… the name ‘419’ actually said [out] as ‘four one nine’ derives from the section of Nigerian law that con artistry and fraud comes under. Hence the association with Nigerians.”

As for the scam associated with 419, the same site defines it as a “… [s]cam that originates in Nigeria, usually sent out via mass emails. The scammer pretends to be a millionaire CEO and tells a fake story about having assets seized unfairly by the government, and needing somebody to help stash millions of dollars in a secret account. A 20% cut is promised as a reward, but only if you give the scammer an up-front fee, or your bank account number. Something gullible people fall for.”

In a press statement, copied on the popular Naijablog, Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili, claimed that the ad “.. is designed to portray Nigeria in bad light in an effort for Sony to market her products.” Minister Akunyili also charged that the ad creates “… the impression that Nigerians hardly do genuine business. This insinuation is in bad faith and unacceptable.”

Anunyili ended her statement with a flourish: “… While Nigeria accepts or concedes that there are few criminal minded people within her population just like any other country including Japan the home country of Sony Corporation. The Federal Government of Nigeria has as a matter of policy put in place institutions and mechanisms to rid the country of any form of fraudulent practices. Nigeria therefore does not see the basis to single out the country as an example in that infamous advertisement.”

She demanded a public apology from Sony.

In the comments, some Nigerians supported the Minister:

I am so happy that someone is beginning to stand up for Nigerians when they are being collectively libeled as such. I think the reason why the stereotype is growing is that nobody counters it.

Others couldn’t keep a straight face.

A load of hot air! This venom should have been focused early on on Nigerian internet scammers when they were running riot. Crying foul now when we have allowed things to get out of hand as they have done, is like trying to lock the gates after the horses have bolted. People abroad are within their rights to cast aspersions on our intergity. Its our bloody fault!

…

I just dont know what to say….
Our spam, or so-tagged-our-spam is all over the place.
Dora herself is a disaster of a minister; a sugar-coated-liar.
We have a dead-president, who is in charge of the most corrupt elites the world’s ever seen;
Yet, the idea that a corporation can 140M+, with such derison stinks; You feel as tho you should grab a gun and shoot….except! really it should start from the Dora’s of this world in all their dubious glory.
Bottomline; There is really no “Nigeria”. Its gone…

The problem for the Nigerian state is that the people know what the government’s 419 scam is.