East Africa offers a vantage point for observing one of the great surprises of the continent: Nigeria, till now famous for its conmen, is becoming an African and world economic superpower right under our eyes.

Although it is stuck with the reputation of being the base of the world’s leading Internet scammers and cheque forgers, and home to one of the world’s most corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, Nigeria has done something no other country has managed since the colonial era. It has studied sin and learnt from it how to be competitive.

Nigerian companies are busy snapping up insurance businesses in East Africa, are into banking, and most notably, in Kenya recently, Nigeria’s Silverbird acquired Nu Metro. Formerly a South African franchise, Nu Metro is East Africa’s most prestigious entertainment company.

Outside the continent, especially in Europe and North America, Nigerian companies advertise more on TV than those from any other African country.

We didn’t see the Nigerians coming, because of the popular prejudice that every one them is either a former or current military dictator, a tycoon who has stolen oil money, or a fraudster. Therefore, we didn’t take them seriously.

So Nigerians could end up owning most of Africa, and we might be beating and burning them as the South Africans did with the African immigrants last year.

While some Nigerians are hustlers and can be loud and in your face, underlying that is a self-confidence rare in Africa, and an abundance of traits necessary for success.

When South African criminal gangs were roasting immigrants over bonfires, the only group that did something about it was the Nigerians.

Near Witwatersrand University, as the mobs approached a residential area populated by Nigerians, the West Africans didn’t hide or run.

They emerged with AK47s and told the South Africans that they had every right to be in South Africa, because they fed, housed, educated and gave critical diplomatic support to the ANC and other anti-apartheid groups during their struggle. The South African mobs fled.

In a world where Asian and Western businessmen bribe African officials and politicians left, right and centre, only the Nigerians who know how to hustle on the international stage can match them. In this way, they have been able to keep a slice of the African cake at home.

Fortune has also handed Nigeria a good hand. With a population of between 120 million and 140 million, there are more Nigerians than East Africans.

That is frequently seen as a source of instability, because there are too many poor, hungry and angry Nigerian mouths.

With its horrid cities, especially Lagos, no regular businessman who isn’t half crazy would want to set up shop there, right? Wrong.

Lagos is one of the toughest training grounds on planet Earth.

If you can survive Lagos as a businessperson, there is no city in the world you can’t conquer.

Small wonder, then, that the Nigerians are the most dominant group of Africans outside the continent — with the dogged Somalis hot on their heels.

Also, 140 million people can be a boon. A Kenyan, Tanzanian, or Ugandan politician who steals $10 million will most likely buy stocks on the exchange, purchase a local mansion, a flat in London, send the kids to a British university, and take a new mistress.

A Nigerian governor who steals that amount of oil money, can invest it in toothpicks or mobile phones, and by the end of two trading cycles he has sold so many, his $10 million has multiplied into $30 million.

He gets on a Kenya Airways plane, lands in an East African capital, and he is the richest man in town.

Warts and all, our Nigerian brothers and sisters are the stuff of champions.

Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group’s managing editor for convergence and new products. E-mail: [email protected]