Sounds like the work of someone with an MBA

[kiwigeo]

One thing ya cant teach at uni is common sense:

"Russian energy giant Gazprom has inadvertently walked into an online racism debate with the announcement of its new joint venture in Nigeria - Nigaz.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Nigerian counterpart last week agreed the $US2.5 billion venture to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Africa's most populous nation.

The name is meant to be an amalgamation of Nigeria and Gazprom, pronounced "nye-gaz", but can be read phonetically as an offensive term for people of black African origin.

"How more derogatory can it be...let's join forces in making our government rename this JV," said the creator of Nigerians No Nigaz, a group set up on social networking website Facebook.

Other bloggers took a more mocking approach.

One African-American blogger recommended a playlist of songs from US hip-hop artists including 50 Cent and Tupac Shakur for the Nigaz launch party.

But many comments about the branding blunder on the Twitter and other social networking sites were from white bloggers.

"White people are making too much of this. As long as the Russians pay us, they can call it what they like," said one Nigerian in the commercial hub, Lagos, asking not to be named.

[Nick]

an unfortunate coincidence.
It's one thing that puzzles me to this day though, people (us white folk of European descent) get into to big trouble in America (or anywhere on the globe for that matter) for calling a person of African heritage that word, yet the rap (black) artists are calling their fellow African Americans that all the time in their songs & on the streets as a term of recognition, what's with that? I did raise it on an American forum I used to belong to (it was a music making related site) and was told that when used like that, it's spelt with an 'A' at the end instead of the 'ER' so was therefore it was non-derogatory and OK to use (for black people). My answer to that was that it was hard for me to hear the different spelling in the songs.
Go figure.

[Dennis Leahy]

Go figure.

Don't you mean, "go figga?"
Disclaimer: play on words only!

Dennis

[Nick]

Don't you mean, "go figga?"
Dennis

Can't say that sort of thing Dennis.....It might upset all the Figs in the world.

[Localele]

"fug em"