For anyone who has seen the hit film District 9, it’s no surprise a Nigerian minister would be upset by it.

The science fiction film, set in South Africa, is an allegory on segregation and xenophobia, with alien life forms cooped up in a township of the type that grew up under apartheid and victimised and despised by humans of all descriptions.

No section of human society comes across particularly well, but the Nigerians are crudely caricatured as gangsters, cannibals, pimps, prostitutes and dealers in guns and addictive drugs (in this case cat food). The gang leader’s name sounds exactly like the surname of Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

It’s just a film of course and the slurs needn’t overly detract from the entertainment. (They didn’t for the Nigerian half of my family anyway).

But this does raise a question as to why Nigerians should be seen as fair targets and casually turned into comic book gangsters? Would the film makers have got away with showing other nations or groups in this way? Would they have feared the backlash?

It also raises the question as to what Nigeria can do about really changing its image – beyond rebranding and advertising campaigns.

It could be argued that the immense and undoubted talent of law-abiding Nigerians, the vast majority at home and abroad, does not get the recognition it deserves in the rest of the world despite the acclaim for the greatest Nigerian writers, musicians, footballers and athletes.  Nor may the sacrifice of Nigerians who have given their lives as peacekeepers in Africa and elsewhere.

But we can’t forget that there are still plenty of Nigeria’s 150 million people who have no qualms about giving their country a bad name.

What about the Nigerians imprisoned in Asia and Europe for smuggling drugs? The ‘419’ fraudsters with their email appeals? The kidnappers and oil thieves of the Niger delta? Those politicians who rig elections with fraud, intimidation and bribery? Those officials who see their positions merely as a chance to fill their boots and may be all too ready to subvert the courts or obstruct people struggling to do business fairly?

And how can Nigeria’s image improve while it cannot regularly light up the homes of its people - despite enormous energy resources and billions of dollars spent?

Does Nigeria suffer unfairly from an image problem or will it improve its image once it deals with its problems?

Toxicology reports for celebrity disc jockey Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein, who died of an apparent drug overdose in New York on Friday, aren’t due back for a couple of weeks. But addiction-medicine specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky is in no doubt about what killed his friend. He told listeners of his syndicated “Loveline” radio show Sunday that Goldstein — a long-time recovering addict who was serious about maintaining sobriety — was battling a terminal illness with a worse prognosis than cancer. 

Goldstein was likely — and appropriately — put on prescription medications to help him deal with post-traumatic stress disorder following a fatal plane crash last September, said Pinsky. 

The Board-certified physician and author is pictured at left in an undated photo taken from his MySpace page with Goldstein (center) and Los Angeles radio DJ Ted Stryker (right). 

“I don’t know how severe his symptoms were, but sometimes it’s reasonable to take a risk with that if somebody is in real misery,” Pinsky said. “Our job is not to make people miserable. But he stayed on those medicines, and I cannot tell you how frequently I see that take people out. 

“No one sits down and tells them, ‘As long as you are on that medicine your disease is active. I know you feel like it’s under control. But you can’t stay sober when that part of your brain is being massaged.’ 

“I’ve seen it so many times … maybe thousands of times, now. I just wish I’d been able to have that conversation with him, and he may or may not have listened. 

Celebrity gossip Web site TMZ said DJ AM developed a dependency on Xanax and related anti-anxiety drugs as a result of the South Carolina plane crash that left both him and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker with burns and killed four others.

“If you’re taking an opioid or benzodiazepine, you will go out on your drug of choice,” Pinsky said. “You can’t stay sober and return to a flourishing life when that part of the reward system that is activated by addiction is pharmacologically enhanced or activated. It just doesn’t work.”

In paying tribute to Goldstein, Pinsky described him as “one of the most solidly recovering guys I’ve ever met … he taught me about selfless acts of giving.” Indeed, Goldstein had just finished taping a new MTV reality show, “Gone Too Far,” in which he helped young people overcome their own addictions. No decision has been made about the future of the show, which was due to premiere in October.

Punk rock icon Iggy Pop and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, no strangers to drug and alcohol abuse, will perform at a fundraiser in Los Angeles next month for musicians struggling with their addictions.

Pop, who turns 62 later this month, will be a “special guest” at the fifth annual MusiCares MAP Fund dinner/concert at Club Nokia May 8.

Wood, 61, also is scheduled to perform at the 2,300-capacity venue, as are the Red Hot Chili Peppers rhythm section of Flea and Chad Smith, Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein, the Mars Volta and Ivan Neville.

Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis will receive the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award for his charitable endeavors, according to a statement. The event is alcohol-free, so it could be a long night for those who don’t bring along their own.

Pop succumbed to heroin and other drugs during the 1970s, and ended up in a mental institution in Los Angeles. Wood has long battled alcoholism, with his bandmates reportedly telling him to clean up his act if he wants to tour with them. His personal life seems to be in some flux now that he has split with his second wife and taken up with a woman one-third his age.

Individual floor seats for the event are priced at $1,250 and preferred balcony seats at $100, sold through the Recording Academy. Ticketmaster is selling general-admission balcony seats at $50.

British popster Lily Allen has issued a statement addressing remarks she made in a magazine interview about illegal drugs which caused a bit of a brouhaha in the media over the last 24 hours.

Speaking to “The Word” ahead of the launch of her new album “It’s Not Me, It’s You”, on the EMI label, she said: “The only story is that drugs are bad and they will kill you. You will become a prostitute or a rapist or a dealer. But that’s not true. I know lots of people that take cocaine three nights a week and get up and go to work every day, no problem at all.”

Some readers would think the comments fairly harmless, but a handful of voices expressing shock and outrage were enough to get the 23-year-old’s publicity machine grinding into action.

“At no point does she say that drugs are a good thing or that she condones drug use,” said a statement from the singer. It later adds: “Lily Allen would like to state unequivocally that she does not condone illegal drug use and has every sympathy with individuals and families whose lives have been blighted by drugs.”