10 things I love about Nigeria

Happy independence Nigeria!

I thought about all the things I love about Nigeria and Nigerians and I came up with this list. When I started, I thought it'd be hard to get to ten but it was so easy and I even got more than ten!

1. Nigerian music: I am not referring to Nigerian  music that sounds foreign, I'm referring to "afro-pop, fuji, high-life, etc - Nigerian music that sounds indigenous. One of our greatest exports as a country in recent times is our music! I love Nigerian music, there's something special about it, something happy, something unique! 

(I said music not lyrics because I can't for the life of me understand what "ske ske robo ske" means)

2. Food: I love Nigerian cuisine!  This might seem ironic because  I don’t eat much but that’s because I have small stomach. 😆 Nigerian food is the best in the world!  Do you want to argue about that? Then you haven’t tasted ewa agayin, pounded yam, egusi,  efo riro, moin moin, ogbonno,  suya, ikokore, banga,  ofe onugbu, afang,  suya, black-soup, owo, asun, (insert any thing)  peppersoup, akara, puff - puff, dodo...abeg leave matter for Mathias.

**Picture by Dooney of dooney's kitchen

3. Attire: my favourite Nigerian attire is the edo attire, (not because I'm from edo state 😊). Then I love that of the Yoruba people. I love the way geles look on women but that thing is STRESSSSSS! 

Former Miss Osas Ighodaro

4. Movies: gone are the days when watching Nigerian movies would make your IQ drop by 30%, Nollywood is doing a great job and I commend them for it.

5. Nigerian churches: I just had to go there! No one does "church" better than Nigerians.  If you're a christian you must have the Nigerian church experience. During prayer sessions there is always that one Bro. Paul that is sweating profusely, and spitting on people because Pastor told everyone to shout at the top of their voices and command the east wind to blow blessings their way. Sister Patience is always slain in the spirit even before "laying of hands" start and Sister Nkiru the choir mistress will always sing through her nose. What of the "Wassup Jesus" (as someone put it on social media) churches? Ha, everything is always on fleek! #ChurchFlow #Onfleek. What about the Sunday-Sunday daraprim people? It is only on  Sundays they remember to be Christians. Posting scriptures and motivational quotes on social media. Making statements like "today is Sunday, let's all be truthful, don't get me angry, I don't want to fight". So it's okay to fight every other day of the week. Ok.

"Today is Sunday, I don't want to use the "f" word"

On a serious note, a lot of Nigerian Christians are DEVOUT! Regardless of how we go about it, we love God and will not hesitate to shove it down the throats of whoever cares to listen.

6. Weddings! : Oh my gosh, how could I forget! I'm so sorry Aunty Bella. This should be at the top of the list. Nigerian weddings are sooooo colourful! Lord! The party scene (weddings et al) in Nigeria is "turnt" (forgive me for using that word Esther). Shalla to all the Yoruba people, no tribe does it better when it comes to owanbe.

7. Language: About 510 languages are spoken in Nigeria but my favourite are Esan (beacuse I'm Esan) Yoruba and Igbo. I love the way those languages sound. They sound...special. I'm always awed by the fact that within a one hour driving distance, you will find groups of people that speak different languages and there are no similarities in the languages whatsoever! Case in point Edo state. Nigerian languages are beautiful, forget the fact that some sound like a stainless steel plate bouncing off the floor several times.

8. Our sense of humour: who remembers "political twitter?" I died from laughter that time. Nigerians are not just the happiest set of people in the world we have the best sense of humour...ever!

9. Our "political activism": have you ever seen a newspaper stand in Nigeria? Those stands news paper vendors display the dailies to sell or allow people read any paper they want for a certain amount? Ha! If you see the way people gather round to argue about news headlines? They won't but any newspaper o, they won't even pay to read it, they'll just peep at the headlines and start arguing. Serious arguments for that matter before you know what's happening, people will start hurling insults at each other. I remember one particlar scene, a man was shouting at the top of his lungs and the veins in his temples wanted to pop out! His eyes were so red, as if someone put hausa pepper in it. There's one close to the building I work and the only time you won't see them there is when it rains. Every Nigerian is a political analyst and activist and I love that, it is our "activism" (however misguided it may seem) that got us to this point as a country. 

10. Nigerians are fighters: Nigerians are the most resilient set of people in the world. No electricity? we find a way to generate it ourselves. Bad roads, we find a way to navigate or find alternate routes. Another angle to this is that Nigerians are everywhere in the world! This is a fact. A friend recently relocated to "one county like that", a very remote place that you hardly hear about the country and I thought he'd be the only Nigerian there. Story! 

If I hadn't set the limit at ten, I would have said more. I didn't get to mention that I love the way Nigerians dance and our dance styles, I love the fact that Nigeriansa are beautiful people or that we have very beautiful places in this country.

I love Nigeria!

Nigeria is beautiful and blessed!

God bless Nigeria.

Please share to every Nigerian you know and add to this list in the comments section!

xoxo.