₦airaland Forum

Is This Education?

In the Nigerian context, it becomes really hard to define what education is sometimes.

Is the essence of education in the fact that you can now wear suits instead of your traditional attire or in the fact that you have your mind’s horizon truly and positively broadened?

Today, for many Nigerians, education has become anything that depicts a disconnection from our core values as a people. It has become a gravitation of our people towards something essentially not our own; a gravitation towards other people’s cultures, norms and ways of life at the expense of our own uniqueness and individuality.

I grew up in a Nigeria where living in the city and being fluent in your local language meant you were a 'country-side', 'village-bred', 'unexposed' kid.
The 'stigma' has gotten worse since then.

Not being able to speak your native language or pretending not to be able to speak your native language, even while your battle with English Language remained evident, makes you really cool.

Some of our guys travel overseas for a couple of years and they are back with a fake and funny accent. They have 'forgotten' how to speak the native language and they laugh at you for being so 'backward' because you still flow well in the local language. They are proud of themselves because they have had ‘better’ education and ‘exposure’ and we celebrate them for being so ‘refined’ and ‘better’.

But then again, do you blame the Nigerian society for out rightly walking over their own values on the way to ‘wanna-be’? Do we as Nigerians truly know what it is that makes us beautiful as a Nation and why it is worth the while to preserve our language, culture, dignity, pride and essence?
Do we know our history? Where we come from? How we are more than a geographical location but a people united by a fascinating story of destiny?

History, as a subject, was officially removed/made 'optional' by the federal government of Nigeria since around 1996 and the subject has literally fizzled out of the educational system since then.
A handful of private schools have the subject still being tutored while more than 80% of our schools (primary and secondary) probably have never had history taught within their walls in the last 2 decades.

Written by:Akindamola Daniel
Finish reading here:http:///f6SVmg

Is This Education?

In the Nigerian context, it becomes really hard to define what education is sometimes.

Is the essence of education in the fact that you can now wear suits instead of your traditional attire or in the fact that you have your mind’s horizon truly and positively broadened?

Today, for many Nigerians, education has become anything that depicts a disconnection from our core values as a people. It has become a gravitation of our people towards something essentially not our own; a gravitation towards other people’s cultures, norms and ways of life at the expense of our own uniqueness and individuality.

I grew up in a Nigeria where living in the city and being fluent in your local language meant you were a 'country-side', 'village-bred', 'unexposed' kid.
The 'stigma' has gotten worse since then.

Not being able to speak your native language or pretending not to be able to speak your native language, even while your battle with English Language remained evident, makes you really cool.

Some of our guys travel overseas for a couple of years and they are back with a fake and funny accent. They have 'forgotten' how to speak the native language and they laugh at you for being so 'backward' because you still flow well in the local language. They are proud of themselves because they have had ‘better’ education and ‘exposure’ and we celebrate them for being so ‘refined’ and ‘better’.

But then again, do you blame the Nigerian society for out rightly walking over their own values on the way to ‘wanna-be’? Do we as Nigerians truly know what it is that makes us beautiful as a Nation and why it is worth the while to preserve our language, culture, dignity, pride and essence?
Do we know our history? Where we come from? How we are more than a geographical location but a people united by a fascinating story of destiny?

History, as a subject, was officially removed/made 'optional' by the federal government of Nigeria since around 1996 and the subject has literally fizzled out of the educational system since then.
A handful of private schools have the subject still being tutored while more than 80% of our schools (primary and secondary) probably have never had history taught within their walls in the last 2 decades.

Written by:Akindamola Daniel
Finish reading here:http:///f6SVmg

ou watch a Nigerian movie, and 10 minutes into the movie you’re already getting angry and bored. The mediocre acting, poor technical quality and dumb story line can make one back off totally from watching Nigerian movies .But there some exceptional new movies that one can be proud of, these are movies that show creativity..Unlike other Nigerian movies the story lines are just going to wow you.

HERE ARE 10 MUST WATCH NIGERIAN MOVIES :
You can watch some of these movies for free or pay to watch at irokotv.com

1. Inalé 2010

2. The Meeting 2013

3. Half the yellow sun 2013-

4. October 1

5. Ije 2009

6. Phone swap
7. Last Flight to Abuja-

8. Maami 2012-

9. The Figurine-

10. Confusion Na Wa

Read details here:http://www.tlkdrum.com/10-must-watch-nigerian-movies/

Count your blessings, Instagram them one by one. Oh yes that’s the new saying now. If you still don’t have an Instagram account you missing a lot.Infact you’re most likely to be lost in this post.so go download and signup on instagram smiley. 

Here are The 10 kind of Nigerians you find on Instagram:

1. Team Kfb –
These are the most annoying group of people on Instagram, they post kfb on almost every post. Well for those that don’t know what kfb means, it means you’re not on Instagram, go sign up and find out what it means lol. Begging for a follow after every comment or post you see is rude and not polite, he will follow you if he/she wants too. I saw people posting kfb on Beyoncé Instagram page, Beyoncé doesn’t even follow Jay z so why will she follow you.How do I know this, check her Instagram page, she has 19 million followers and she following nobody(following zero)

.

2. Filter Lords-
I sometimes use filters when necessary but there are these group of people that can’t just do without filter on any pictures they post call them the Instagram Dencia(Her royal majesty of skin tonning,nah that sound too nice, bleaching queen I mean).You now see the Dolapo,a.k.a walking shadow, your old secondary school crush all of a sudden looking so light skin on Instagram, and you start wondering isn’t that Dolapo ,omo iya alamala ?

3. The Selfie Duck-[/b]
It’s not only girls nowadays that takes selfies infront of a mirror even boys do also,yeah even me sometimes. All this group of people do on Instagram is post selfies of themselves,mostly in front of a mirror ,then add hashtags like #selfie#meAlone#mirrorselfie etc.



4.Mr “like all pictures”-
This group of people are mostly guys, they don’t post or comment that often, all they do is like any picture posted.You check your news feed are you see Obinna liked 90 pictures(20 seconds ago),nna when will Oga Obinna post his own pictures? .

5. The Comedian-
The chief obi class of people, this group of people are the ones that truly make Instagram all way fun, they’re always posting short funny videos that would make you laugh your Bottom off. If you don’t have the likes of chief obi, funny Africa pics,iamdulo,oluwakaponeski,crazeclown on your instagram list then you’re missing out a lot of laughter. They are the ones that have gotten fame and cash through Instagram, gone are those days when you have to be seen on TV to be popular, these days just post funny videos ,get more followers are you can sign autograph on beautiful excited female fan’s bosom lol.



6.Mr.”Na me gym pass”-
He his always in the gym, posting pictures of his “8 packs”.You wonder if he got a day time job



7. The fashionista-
#floraljumpsuit #sundayRedandWhiteAnkara #iroAndBuba #newlook,these are the kind of hashtags you see on their daily fashion post. It’s always about the cloth they wore on Monday or the iro and buba they wore to church last Sunday. They have the most colorful Instagram page,’cos it’s always about the right color worn.I like this group sha smiley!

8. The Hashtag Assassins-
The Chuck Norris and James Bond of hashtags. Let me first confess, I was also a member till I understood what hashtags are meant for. Hashtags are used so Instagram search engines can find and categorize pictures with same tags.For instance, if you type #puffpuff in one of your pictures, any user anywhere in the world looking for “puffpuff” can find your picture. How can someone type an hashtag looking like a page from Edet and Simbi English Textbook and expect that another user somewhere to find his picture .Biko don’t string too many words together with a single hashtag



9.The Instagram Columbus-
Today she is posting a picture of herself with burj khalifa in the background ,hashtag #Indubaichilling.Tomorrow another picture of her with the london bridge ,next she’s posing with the colosseum in Italy.You start getting jealous and wondering if she’s a pilot or an air hostess,’cos where does such money for that kind of travel falls from?



10. Madam Multiple Photos(MMP) –
This group is dominated by mostly girls ,I find them really annoying. You mirror the same single image in 2 or four squares using those insta apps, Girl did you missed the Physics class on “reflection” in your High school??



So which group do you belong too? If you like my post follow me on Instagram @mayorblades tongue
Source:www.tlkdrum.com

why do hav to steal my write up,without a single credit?
You stole that article from www.tlkdrum.com

Only God can “George ” me
The quote above was painted bodly on a petrol tanker that just drove pass our car, I kind of wonder if he was talking about The George from the movie –George of the jungle or first President of America-George Washington. Well grammar aside, he passed across his message, it was simple, don’t judge him or judge his reckless driving, only God should.

It’s very hard this days to see a car pass by, without seeing a sticker or some write up on it’s wind shield. Infact the next thing after getting a new plate number for your brand-new or tokunbo car is to find the right bumper sticker that would pass “the message” across.The message on this stickers comes in various forms to express different meanings,an ARMY sticker plastered on any car, be it a scrap means “don’t dare mess around this car”.

Thees stickers are mostly religious, motivational or some portraying the status of the owner. These trends goes across all classes of people in the society, from the “God bless my hustle” you see on the small keke marwa to the” I am a winner” you read on the Big jeeps, everyone is trying aspire a future which transcends the present.

Before I bore you with my story,from my short trip to Nigeria I was able to categorize these sticker users into 7 groups:

Bumper Stickers you find on Nigerian Cars
1. The Religious stickers:

Someone said Nigerians are very religious and yet ungodly people, well that’s for you to agree or disagree upon, but the religious aspect is evident going by the kind of stickers you see around on car windscreens. “My year of anointing, “My year of un common grace”, “Real men love Jesus” , “The lord is my shepherd”, “Glory to God”,”Ye must be born again ,”No mosquito in heaven” Like seriously no mosquito in heaven?? Ogbeni have you been there before??.

2. Foreign Universities Stickers:

Whether is just a two weeks online course you took at Harvard,or it’s a two years diploma course you just finished in Bangladesh,a foreign degree is what you have just gotten, and adding that to your car sticker “resume” is a Big plus. As small as the sticker might look, a sticker saying “Havard Alumni” will boost the respect you get from people exponentially.

3. The Motivational Stickers:

“Who knows tomorrow”, “No food for lazy man”, “Givers never lack”, “No condition is permanent”, and all these you just read are for some sort of Hope for a better future that surpasses the owner’s present .Or you think the danfo driver don’t want to sit at owners corner in a prado jeep ,with a driver driving him? More reason he has “no condition is permanent” on his danfo.You can’t blame these people,we live in a society in which people constantly need their self-belief restored since they can’t explain the slow pace of progress in what they do.

4. The Professional Body Sticker:

Not uncommon for you to see “CLERGY”, “Doctor on Call” or “ARMY” bodily written on car stickers. This informs the incoming person who the owner of this cars might be.And I tell you, this works like magic, my little experience says it all. I was once travelling with my uncle some time ago, it was a sanitation day and cars were not allowed to move till after ten. But we forgot it was,not untill we got to the express way,and before we could say Taribo West , the police stopped us. As soon as they came towards our car and saw the “Doctor on call”sticker, they just greeted: oga Doctor,you get patient abi ,oya dey go and we left freely,shikena!

5. Stickers to my Haters:

They paint or inscribe something on their car that disses a group of people they call “HATERS”or “ENEMIES”.Just like every Nigerian musicians has Haters,and always want to diss them in their songs,car owners don’t spare their haters too.Na u get ur mouth, na me get the car, meaning screw you haters I own this car.(I sticker I saw on an old rickety lagos taxi)

6. The Music Followers:

In Lagos, hardly you find a danfo around places like Bariga,Yaba and Mushin just to mention a few without seeing Pasuma also known as arabambi or some other very popular musical icon plastered on their windschield. They also go further to add quotes from songs by this same Artistes on their car, quotes like jeun soke,arabambi ,gbagbe oshi ,no look uche face,pakuromo, etc

7.The football fans :

I need not talk much about this kind of stickers,80% of Nigerians are football lovers,ok I made that figure up,but you get what I am saying here.We Nigerians love football,so it shouldn’t be a surprise when you see a blue Stamford Bridge Chelsea Football Club sticker on Emeka’s car.

Source:http://www.tlkdrum.com/bumper-stickers-you-find-on-nigerian-cars/

Hot dogs is to Americans as Jollof rice is to West Africans.I find it annoying typing and seeing my spell check recognizing hot dog and not Jollof rice .Jollof rice is very peculiar to we West Africans, The recipe is quite simple,Rice+Orange paint=Jollof Rice (Just a joke lol).

Nigerians, Ghanaians and Senegalese,Liberians,Cameroonian all have this food in common. The method of cooking might be slightly different but the outcome always look the same

I read on BBC how Africans reacted to Jamie Oliver’s “jollof rice”, the dude tried to reinvent the recipe of our dear Jollof rice and trust we Africans we didn’t take it lightly,a lot of angry comments. This is Jollof rice don’t mess around Bro!

There is no Nigerian ceremony or party without Jollof rice, that’s what makes a true item 7. I won’t even like to attend a wedding or an occasion of that kind.Infact the reason you’ve still not found that African Mr Right,is ‘cos you can’t cook Jollof rice lol.

So how did Jollof rice became so popular among West Africans.As diverse as Nigeria might look, Jollof rice bounds us together, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, we all love to eat and cook Jollof .The motto is:

United we are,Jollof rice we eat!
The very interesting thing about Jollof is, each of this countries I mentioned earlier all claim to have invented this food,the Ghanaians will say charley we originated Jollof, Nigerians are like Tah na we get am!.So who invented this food? Sir Martin Luther Jollof?? Hehehe!

The first time I tasted the Senegalese Jollof rice,it was made by a friend of mine from Dakar ,it was a bit different from what we Nigerians called Jollof rice, though the look was just the same, and I was like nah Mustapha this isn’t Jollof, come learn from we Nigerians, we make the best Jollof (though sincerely that was the best Jolof I have ever eaten) and he laughed replying, we Wolofs invented Jollof don’t you see they sound alike ,WOLOF,JOLLOF.And in my mind I thought that was a point he just made but in my defence I told him that’s just a coincidence, it’s a Nigerian food, period!

In case you wondering or didn’t know what Wolof is ,Wolof (also spelt Wollof) is major tribe in Senegal.So I got home and made little research and yes according to Wikipedia they truly did invented my dear Jollof rice. The food was probably named after the Wolof’s kingdom, The Jollof Empire.They also call Jollof rice, Benachin, meaning “one pot” in the Wolof language.

So ladies don’t let your boo treat you like a white rice, you’re tasty looking Jollof rice and don’t forget to spell Jollof rice with J,’cos it’s not just a food it’s a feeling and a concept(just kidding)

If you like this article,you can also read similiar articles from same author at www.tlkdrum.com

Count your blessings, Instagram them one by one. Oh yes that’s the new saying now. If you still don’t have an Instagram account you missing a lot.Infact you’re most likely to be lost in this post.so go download and signup on instagram . 

Here are The 10 kind of Nigerians you find on Instagram:

1. Team Kfb –
These are the most annoying group of people on Instagram, they post kfb on almost every post. Well for those that don’t know what kfb means, it means you’re not on Instagram, go sign up and find out what it means lol. Begging for a follow after every comment or post you see is rude and not polite, he will follow you if he/she wants too. I saw people posting kfb on Beyoncé Instagram page, Beyoncé doesn’t even follow Jay z so why will she follow you.How do I know this, check her Instagram page, she has 19 million followers and she following nobody(following zero)

.

2. Filter Lords-
I sometimes use filters when necessary but there are these group of people that can’t just do without filter on any pictures they post call them the Instagram Dencia(Her royal majesty of skin tonning,nah that sound too nice, bleaching queen I mean).You now see the Dolapo,a.k.a walking shadow, your old secondary school crush all of a sudden looking so light skin on Instagram, and you start wondering isn’t that Dolapo ,omo iya alamala ?

3. The Selfie Babe-[/b]
It’s not only girls nowadays that takes selfies infront of a mirror even boys do also,yeah even me sometimes. All this group of people do on Instagram is post selfies of themselves,mostly in front of a mirror ,then add hashtags like #selfie#meAlone#mirrorselfie etc.



4.Mr “like all pictures”-
This group of people are mostly guys, they don’t post or comment that often, all they do is like any picture posted.You check your news feed are you see Obinna liked 90 pictures(20 seconds ago),nna when will Oga Obinna post his own pictures? .

5. The Comedian-
The chief obi class of people, this group of people are the ones that truly make Instagram all way fun, they’re always posting short funny videos that would make you laugh your ass off. If you don’t have the likes of chief obi, funny Africa pics,iamdulo,oluwakaponeski,crazeclown on your instagram list then you’re missing out a lot of laughter. They are the ones that have gotten fame and cash through Instagram, gone are those days when you have to be seen on TV to be popular, these days just post funny videos ,get more followers are you can sign autograph on beautiful excited female fan’s breast lol.



6.Mr.”Na me gym pass”-
He his always in the gym, posting pictures of his “8 packs”.You wonder if he got a day time job



7. The fashionista-
#floraljumpsuit #sundayRedandWhiteAnkara #iroAndBuba #newlook,these are the kind of hashtags you see on their daily fashion post. It’s always about the cloth they wore on Monday or the iro and buba they wore to church last Sunday. They have the most colorful Instagram page,’cos it’s always about the right color worn.I like this group sha !

8. The Hashtag Assassins-
The Chuck Norris and James Bond of hashtags. Let me first confess, I was also a member till I understood what hashtags are meant for. Hashtags are used so Instagram search engines can find and categorize pictures with same tags.For instance, if you type #puffpuff in one of your pictures, any user anywhere in the world looking for “puffpuff” can find your picture. How can someone type an hashtag looking like a page from Edet and Simbi English Textbook and expect that another user somewhere to find his picture .Biko don’t string too many words together with a single hashtag



9.The Instagram Columbus-
Today she is posting a picture of herself with burj khalifa in the background ,hashtag #Indubaichilling.Tomorrow another picture of her with the london bridge ,next she’s posing with the colosseum in Italy.You start getting jealous and wondering if she’s a pilot or an air hostess,’cos where does such money for that kind of travel falls from?



10. Madam Multiple Photos(MMP) –
This group is dominated by mostly girls ,I find them really annoying. You mirror the same single image in 2 or four squares using those insta apps, Girl did you missed the Physics class on “reflection” in your High school??



So which group do you belong too? If you like my post follow me on Instagram @mayorblades
Source:www.tlkdrum.com

Trillyonaire:
Sounds like something a certain Brian Botts posted on linkedin a whileago

,Yeah that's the same post.He posted the same on this website too www.tlkdrum.com,that's where I lifted it from.

No matter where you are in the world, a high percentage of new businesses don’t make it. They close down for a variety of reasons. The story that I’m going to write you in this post will be about a Nigerian Company that just closed. And the reasons why it closed are all too common in Nigeria. I know this owner very well, and out of respect, I will not disclose the name of the Company or any of those specifics. All of that is irrelevant. However, the story of how it got started and why it ultimately failed are important to discuss. The reason is because what happened seems to be a familiar theme in closed businesses in Nigeria.

First, let’s go over some basic numbers. In Nigeria, over 90% of start up companies will not make it to 2 years. And after that, almost 100% will not make it to 5 years. This leaves you with just a very small percentage of businesses that last and are sustainable.

This story starts with the owner. He already had owned several businesses in multiple countries. He had an ambitious idea for Nigeria. It’s services and products had not been introduced in that region of the world, so it was a solid idea. He decided that he wanted to use his own money to get things started. He had never owned a business in Nigeria but because he is Nigerian, he felt that he had a good grasp on how things run over there. I believe this initial decision to use his own money was ultimately the reason why it failed. He could have easily acquired capital to get this company started because of his past success of other businesses and he had a number of assets he could have used as collateral.

Either way, in the beginning, he did all the right things. He invested on infrastructure, inventory, over 20 employees, top notch training for the employees, and office space in Lagos. Before any revenue came in, he was set up and had everyone ready to get business and then satisfy that business with excellent customer service support. The first year there was hardly any revenue. The second year, revenue averaged close to 2 million naira per month. By the third year, revenue totaled 25 million naira per month. By this time there were over 100 employees on the payroll and there were offices nationwide in Nigeria with clients nationwide. It was turning into a true success story.

This is when things turned very bad. The reason most businesses don’t make it 5 years is because they do not finance their growth. So ultimately the rapidly added growth closes down the business. I advised this owner as a friend to seriously consider getting investors or to get financed for the next stage of growth that he was already in. He needed a serious capital injection. This business is a service oriented business. They get a client, they sign a contract and then they start the services. The client pays 30 days after services rendered. So the first month of every contract yields zero revenue. As he was pushing the marketers to get new business, he was not prepared to handle the added costs. In this type of business, if you are using your own money and relying on existing revenues to handle costs, you will not see profit for a very long time. It doesn’t mean that the profit doesn’t exist. It simply means that as you look at the numbers on a daily basis, you don’t see it physically because so much is going out to cover daily costs.

His existing business had daily costs and unplanned costs not to mention monthly costs such as payroll. Remember, as he continued to get new business, the first month gets no revenue so his company incurred all the initial expenses to satisfy the first month of the contract. When unplanned costs came up for existing clients, he started to refuse to inject his own money to cover the costs. He insisted that existing revenue should cover all the costs. And with that mentality he crippled his business. He started to feel that is wasn’t profitable enough so he laid off employees and cut salaries all the while the company was growing. So what happened? They no longer could do the services they marketed.

In this type of business you need to finance your costs and sales. If he did that, he would have seen his profit daily. He would have seen the picture clearly and this would have allowed him to make non emotional decisions and also continue to grow the company.

Over time many employees quit and these were really awesome employees. He couldn’t make payroll on time. He stopped paying insurance and health insurance. He stopped paying pensions. He stopped paying the 13 month bonus. He stopped paying rents on the offices in other states. His new clients cancelled contracts because they weren’t getting good service. His long term clients cancelled contracts because what they had been doing for so long they stopped doing. When he said that he would no longer send money to cover costs, he started this domino reaction. And it didn’t take long. He made that decision 18 months ago. Last week he closed the doors on the business.

It’s very sad because this was a great idea and when he was funding it, the services were upscale and clients loved them. Not only that, their clients referred them to new clients. They started with zero revenue and in under 3 years they were making 25 million naira per month. If he were to do the right thing and acquire capital for the second stage of growth, I have no doubt that his company could have been making over 100 million naira per month. I think it’s safe to say that he would have seen a lot of profit at that point.

Let this be a lesson to all of you ambitious Nigerians. When you are planning your company, you can’t just plan how you will get started.
You need to anticipate how long it will take to grow to another level and you must be ready to acquire another round of funding to grow it. If you are satisfied with any level you reach, you can just run your business with budgeted costs and predicted sales. But if you are the kind of owner that wants to grow and grow and grow, you must realize that with each growth stage you must finance it. Walmart in the United States makes billions of dollars in revenue per month. But you can bet that they absolutely finance all of their costs. Same thing for Apple and Virgin Atlantic. All of these companies have billions of dollars in loans. It’s the only way to grow and the only way to make proper decisions. Also, consolidating your costs into a monthly debt makes it easier to run your operations.

Lastly, not everyone is supposed to be an owner. If that was the case there would be no employees. Some people have that purpose while others have a purpose to just be great at what they do or what they have a passion for. Do not go out on that risk until you are totally ready to do so.

Wishing you success

Source:http://www.tlkdrum.com/

We all seem to use the word “OK” a lot both in speech and in writing. Although, many have abused it. Please, its not “k” or the more annoying “kk” (which a lot of these folks don’t realize stands for “kuli-kuli” ), its plain ol’ “ok”. I wonder how “ok” became “kk” . Ok sha.
You see, “OK” can be spelled “okay”, “ok”, or “O.K.”, ok? Not “k”, or “kk”, ok??
Throughout this piece I shall spell it anyhow I choose, its my piece not yours.
Ok is a word denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, or acknowledgment and `I bet you already knew all that. But wait, you probably didn’t know that this “OK” is likely to have originated from Africa. Yes, we formed it at the time humongous yam tubers were forming. Ok, let me gist you.

A West African etymology has been argued in scholarly sources, tracing the word back to the Wolof and Bantu word “waw-kay” or the Mande phrase “o ke”.
But what about the Yoruba, “hoke”? Hehehee!Well, you didn’t know all that right? It’s Ok, thank me later.

A certain David Dalby first made the claim that the particle “OK” (particle ke?) could have African origins in the 1969 Hans Wolff Memorial Lecture. His argument was reprinted in various newspaper articles between 1969 and 1971. This suggestion has also been mentioned more recently by one Joseph Holloway, who argued in the 1993 book The African Heritage of American English that various West African languages have near-homophone discourse markers with meanings such as “yes indeed” or which serve as part of the back-channeling repertoire. One Frederic Cassidy guy like that challenged Dalby’s claims, asserting that there is no documentary evidence that any of these African-language words had any causal link with its use in the American press. Ehen, ok na! There’s always that one guy that will just come and do over sabi.

The West African hypothesis had not been accepted by 1981 by any etymologists (imagine! ok o), but nevertheless has since appeared in scholarly sources published by linguists and non-linguists alike. Ok, better.
There’s a verifiable written attestation of the particle ‘kay’ from a North Carolina slave who didn’t want to be flogged by a European visiting America in 1784:

“Kay, massa, you just leave me, me sit here, great fish jump up into da canoe, here he be, massa, fine fish, massa; me den very grad; den me sit very still, until another great fish jump into de canoe;…”
Eeyaa, i don laff die. The guy tried, spoke better than many of our graduates today. Ok, I’m tired. Let me stop here right? Ok, thanks.

Oh, by the way, I just copied all this from Wiki and pasted it here, is that OK too?

Read the next article-Why Begging is Profitable http://www.tlkdrum.com/begging-is-good-businessprofessional-beggars/

I‘m an American and I love the United States of America. I’m proud of where I was born and raised. But this post isn’t going to be about that. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to many places throughout the world. I have fond memories of so many people I’ve met and so many instances I’ve been a part of.

Nigeria isn’t just a place I’ve traveled to. This has become a home away from home to me. I lived there off and on for many years and it is a Country that I not only care about, but a place where I want to see it’s potential reached. And I have committed myself to being a part of that solution in the years to come. As you’ve seen from my prior posts, Nigeria is always on my mind and there are so many topics I could talk about. But this post is going to go over the 5 main reasons why I love Nigeria. And it’s not only a privilege to share this, but I believe it’s mandatory.


Reason #1:March, 2011



In March 2011, I was in Nigeria. I was in the middle of a trip that would keep me there for a 4 month stretch. I was staying on the mainland in Lagos at the time at a lovely little hotel in Mushin. My wife who is Nigerian and her family that were in Nigeria thought I was crazy for staying there. My wife hasn’t been back to Nigeria in over 15 years so her opinion on Mushin is based on 15 years ago, not currently. And her parents haven’t really been to Mushin in a quite a while. So I appreciated their concern, but I enjoyed staying in Mushin. This could be another post all on it’s own so I will stay on topic.

I was working on the Island this particular day. I worked late. It was around 9 p.m. when I left. We had to stop over in Ikeja before I went to the hotel so we were on the Third Mainland Bridge heading there at that time. A small car hit something in the road and flipped on it’s side. The car was packed with people. 4 adults and 4 little kids. Since it was on it’s side, they were crushing each other. I had my driver pull over to the side and when I got out of the car, what I witnessed told me what Nigeria can become. And this moment will stay with me forever and has been my inspiration in regards to Nigeria.

I would guess that 40 cars pulled over on both sides of the bridge when this happened. At least 40-50 people ran over to the car. They were all there in less than 30 seconds flat. People latched on to each other to make a “ladder” so other people could climb on top of them. One guy positioned himself to be able to reach in the car. Then in consecutive fashion, a person latched on to his feet to give him stability and strength and another person at the bottom was grabbing the other person’s foot to give total stability. Everyone was rescued from the car and were not injured because of how quick the rescue was. Then, about 2 minutes after the rescue, the car caught fire. Without that quick response and everyone working together, 8 people would have died.

At that moment in time, there weren’t any Yoruba’s, Igbo’s, or Hausa’s. At that time, there was just simply Nigerians helping out fellow Nigerians. I believe what I saw could be incorporated into every day things not just emergencies. A society where people look to help other people. Slowly as the future generations are getting older, the cultural and religious stereotypes that people in Nigeria have been mentally enslaved to are going away.


Reason #2: The Food!…..Oh the Food.
I love Nigerian food. The good thing about the various tribes is that they have their own take on Nigerian cuisine. And it is delicious. Personally, I love Efo. And I can cook it too. My Nigerian friends and my Wife’s family are always shocked at how I can cook Efo. When I first ate it, I had to learn how to make it. The key I believe is to fry the onions with the palm oil first. And if you can find the perfect juicy tomatoes and red peppers to blend then you are going to have a good dish.

I don’t know if I’m spelling this correctly, but Kokoro is also one of my favorite snacks. And I believe you can only get this snack in Abeokuta. For those who do not know or are not Nigerian, Kokoro is corn that is blended and then fried into corn chips. They are unbelievable. Every time I go to Abeokuta, I buy a large amount of this snack.

Lastly, Suya is one of my favorites. I don’t like it spicy though. So when I head over to the Suya stand on the side of the road in Ikoyi, I always ask for Suya without all the pepper. I get extra tomatoes and onions on the side. Since the guy is Hausa, I ask for “fala fala tomatoes and onions”. Suya has gotten me through many nights when it was too late for me to get dinner.


Reason #3: The Parties



Nigerians know how to party. Not only do they know how to party, they can find any excuse to throw a party. Just had a kid? Have a party. Just got promoted? Have a party. Just retired from your job? Have a party. Just had an anniversary? Have a party.

These parties are usually scheduled at 2 p.m. but since this is Nigeria, everyone starts to show up around 7 p.m. and the party goes on through the night. Lot’s of food. Lot’s of music. And I believe 40% of the guests don’t even know who the party is for. They just heard about it and came along. So at these parties you meet a lot of new people.

There was one trip where I believe I went to a party on 5 consecutive Saturdays for some reason or the other. By the sixth week, I was exhausted.


Reason #4: The Music



Whatever kind of mood you are in, you can find some kind of music in Nigeria to fit your mood. Nigerians are excellent at using existing genre’s and adding their cultural flair to add sound to the music.

Whether it’s Hip Hop, Gospel, Rock, Reggae, Jazz or Rhythm and Blues, there are so many talented Nigerian artists that are enhancing these genre’s.


Reason #5: The Street Vendors



We all know how bad traffic is especially in Lagos. This is a place where you could be going only 30 miles and take over 3 hours to get there. It’s infuriating and highly stressful.

But when you are stuck in traffic, everything you may need will be available to you through the street vendors who walk in between the cars on the street. Thirsty? Get some soda or juice. Hungry? Get some popcorn, peanuts, banana’s, ice cream, fruits, or gala. Don’t have time to get to the malls? No problem. You can get CD’s, DVD’s, Shoes, Sandal’s, Home Décor or really anything else. All of these things can be bought while you’re in traffic.

I got stuck in traffic one day and I was late to dinner meeting. When I finally got to the meeting, I didn’t order anything to eat. Because while I was in traffic, I had a Coke, Banana, half a bottle of peanuts, and Ice Cream.

Some people might say that it is these very same street vendors that cause the traffic to begin with. But I don’t care. I love them any way.

God Bless Nigeria.

Wishing you Success,
Brian Botts

culled from http://www.tlkdrum.com/5-reasons-love-nigeria-americans-perspective/

https://media.licdn.com/media/p/2/005/017/2f9/24a258a.jpg

15 signs you’re a Typical Nigerian

Here are 15 things that shows you’re a typical Nigerian:

1.You Shout Up NEPA.

Power is still a big problem in Nigeria,if you’ve lived or still living in Nigeria you know what I am talking about.So you get excited and scream Up Nepa when the electricity comes on?My friend you’re a Nigeria.

2.You wear Special Outfit for Sundays or Fridays.
We Nigerians are very Religious people and very few of us are Godly,sad truth.We don’t joke with our Religious activities.Most Nigerians reserve the best of the best clothes for Sundays (for the Christians) and Fridays(for the Muslims).In fact offering time in churches are like fashion shows with everyone trying to cat walk and show off their beautiful dresses .

3.You don’t ask people their age and you don’t like to tell people your age.


Except it’s something official we don’t like to tell or ask people their age.We Nigerians see asking someone’s age, especially if the person is older than you very disrespectful.



Continue reading here:http://www.tlkdrum.com/15-signs-youre-a-typical-nigerian/

Why hate a brother? lol

publicenemy:
In ur dreams....



This stvpid write up.

Don’t be surprised if you receive a wedding invitation that reads something like the following statement:

“Bisi and Tunde invite you, and only you, baring your kith and kin, dependents and assigns, and you must come accompanied by only your shadow.”

The prevalence of uninvited guests at social functions, especially, weddings and funerals has reached frightening proportions. A friend’s uncle’s sister’s daughter’s brother organized a function recently. When it was time for the cake to be cut, the host swept a perplexed look across the floor. Not only were there more people than he had invited but also there were too many unfamiliar faces than would be expected at that function.

Continue Reading Here
http:///bmZyGj

Don’t be surprised if you receive a wedding invitation that reads something like the following statement:

“Bisi and Tunde invite you, and only you, baring your kith and kin, dependents and assigns, and you must come accompanied by only your shadow.”

The prevalence of uninvited guests at social functions, especially, weddings and funerals has reached frightening proportions. A friend’s uncle’s sister’s daughter’s brother organized a function recently. When it was time for the cake to be cut, the host swept a perplexed look across the floor. Not only were there more people than he had invited but also there were too many unfamiliar faces than would be expected at that function.

Continue Reading Here
http:///bmZyGj

When Heraclitus—whose sobriquet was, The Weeping Philosopher—said that, “You cannot step in the same river twice,” he reckoned without the déjà vu phenomenon.

Déjà vu is one of a number of commonly-occurring phenomena that are often given a superficial thought, but which I find to be as diverting as they are fascinating. Whereas most people I know either brush these phenomena aside as mere curiosities or ascribe preternatural reasons to them, I am genuinely enthralled by their seeming scientific inexplicability.

One of these is the Talk-about-the-Devil phenomenon. Sometimes, a group of persons (or a person) might, without any premeditation, discuss (or think about) an acquaintance they have not seen, heard of, or heard from in donkey’s years. As they discuss this acquaintance, poof!—well, not ‘poof” exactly—that person shows up. Was it the mention of the person’s name that summoned him/her as necromancers are reputed to summon wraiths from the netherworld, as some suggest? Was it the proximity of that person that, perhaps, induced the mention of his/her name? Scientifically analytical minds will arrive at less speculative reasons, such as—err, sheer coincidence. The uncertainty about its cause notwithstanding, the Talk-about-the-Devil phenomenon occurs frequently enough to discomfit chatterboxes. Take a cue and glance over your shoulders before you gossip about that ex-schoolmate you haven’t seen in half a decade.

The second of these phenomena is one that I had a classic memory-etching experience of in my second week as a resident of Unity hall, KNUST. I had a dream in which my repeated response to the queries of my Junior High School’s Music and Dance teacher was “Pax Romana”—a phrase I had never heard before I had the dream. My eyes fluttered open, and as I lay on my bed in the first seconds of wakefulness, I heard a resonating voice outside in the corridor, repeating in stentorian tones, “Pax Romana! Pax Romana! All Pax Romana students . . .” It was then that I realized that reality had seeped into my dream. I’m sure you’ve had a similar experience when you woke up to realize that your dream had echoed or mirrored reality to alert you to an urgent stimulus in real life; such as your bladder begging to be emptied or someone trying to wake you up by calling your name. If there is a name or phrase for this phenomenon I stand to be enlightened. Now though, let’s say that it is the subconscious interpretation of reality relayed in dreams.

There is another phenomenon which some people purportedly call the Noonday Devil (see, another “devil”). The Noonday Devil is an inexplicable feeling of sadness, envy or resentment at an event where or a time when happiness would have been the more natural emotion. Others supposedly associate it to the Hour of the Wolf—that period between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. when there is deathly silence. My acquaintances prefer to relate it to the perambulation of a specter through the midst of a crowd, and this is why. There are periods in any day—these periods come unannounced—when a gathering of people become rather garrulous. They’d be talking at the same time at the top of their voices, and then when their voices have reached a crescendo, as if on cue, they all hush up suddenly for no reason. Usually, a lone voice trails the rest. A deafening silence descends on all of them, as well as a feeling of foreboding. For a few seconds thereafter no one dares—and I mean dares—to speak. Then, again, as if on cue, everyone resumes talking. Often, it takes a “brave” soul to break the ice before the others venture to talk. When I was in Junior Secondary School (Junior High School for those born relatively recently), my habitually talkative class attributed the daunting silence that sometimes befell us when we were at our loudest to the promenade of a ghost through our midst. Whether at such times a ghost does pass by or whether it is the Devil himself is anyone’s guess.

Nevertheless, the most fascinating of these phenomena, which is almost eerie, is a quirky feeling that leaves one wondering whether one is featuring in an episode of The Twilight Zone. There are rare times when one is able to predict one’s next actions or the actions of others to the minutest detail and with a sense of familiarity, as though one was watching a replay of a previous moment. One has a strong feeling that one has literally lived through that particular action. Everything, from the people present, through their attire and the words spoken, to the smallest twitch are familiar to you. After a few seconds, your seeming prescience ceases, likewise that feeling of reliving the past. This phenomenon is what is called the Déjà vu, French for “already seen.”

So, what is déjà vu? Don’t confuse the word with rendezvous.
Déjà vu was coined by a French psychic researcher, Emile Boirac in his book L’Avenir des Sciences Psychique (i.e. The Future of Psychic Science) for paramnesia. Most authorities on the subject identify three distinct forms of déjà vu.

First, there is déjà vécu (already lived) which is the form of déjà vu described two paragraphs above. It is the most commonly experienced.

Second, there is déjà senti (already felt), which is a feeling that passes quickly, but which you think you have felt before. You can’t place a finger on when you had felt like that or what had caused that feeling; but you just know that you have felt exactly like that before.

Third, there is déjà visité (already visited) which is an uncanny knowledge of a place you’d never visited. For instance, you visit the White House for the very first time in your life. Then, to your utter surprise, you are able to recognize the furniture, tell which passage leads where, know the number of windows there are . . . everything. It has been suggested that it is triggered when a person visits a place he/she has read minutely about or heard much detail about.

Now, what causes déjà vu?

Some claim that it is a result of, and proof of reincarnation. They claim that at such times one is merely doing an activity that one had done in a previous life. Thus the déjà vu is a reminiscing. However, even granting reincarnation as a reality—and I’m not granting that it is, we must concede that according to the principles of reincarnation no one reincarnates into the same person, with the same family and associates, living in the same place. By my arbitrary mathematical conjecture the probability of one doing the very same action in the same setting in two lifetimes is one in a quadrillion zillion.

Some also claim that there are parallel universes. To wit, There is another Milky Way out there somewhere with a solar system and earth like ours with think-alike, look-alike, do-alike alter egos of us on it, experiencing what we are experiencing. These parallel universes overlap sometimes due to a disruption in the space-time fabric.

Puh—lease! I may not be a nerd or an ingenious scientist but I would eat my non-existent hat if there were another me in a parallel universe doing what I’m doing here on this planet and probably writing this very article!

More plausible reasons have been suggested by scientists. There is a school of thought that sometimes there is a possible overlap of short-term and long-term memory i.e. at such times your brain interprets what you are experiencing as though it had already happened; making you literally recall what is actually happening presently. Short-term memory lasts for a maximum of 60 seconds or so and holds 5 to 7 items at a time. Long-term memory persists for minutes or years.

Others have attributed déjà vu to a mismatch of the brain causing confusion of past and present events. However, if you cannot remember whether you have brushed your teeth or whether you are yet to brush them, that is definitely not déjà vu.

Yet, others say it could be due to a disharmony in neural firing (it has got no link to either guns or dismissals). It has been suggested that sometimes in storing an event a neuron or a single area in the brain lags behind other parts for an instant causing a miscommunication of the cerebral hemisphere. The sense of familiarity is created when that “lazy” neuron or spot catches up with the rest, processing what other parts have already recorded. The déjà vu feeling then dissipates.

Theories on what causes déjà vu are various, some being ridiculous. This article is by no means an exhaustion of the proposed reasons for the cause of, an authority on or an in-depth expatiation of the déjà vu phenomenon. Its purpose is to pique your curiosity. You can research further into this befuddling phenomenon—or alternatively, concoct reasons for its cause. Until the global scientific community agrees on what causes déjà vu, I’ll authoritatively say that it is caused by . . .

Hey! Haven’t I written this before?

READ MORE OF SUCH interesting ARTICLE http://www.tlkdrum.com/

Walking is one way to get the body living again. A lot of people have subjected their bodies to a sedentary lifestyle making them completely without bodily activity…until the stipulated day at the gym. Sitting infront of the computer, sitting in the car and sitting in the house in front of the TV is all there is. But with a bit of walking every now and then, and I do mean long distance walking, the body will be in shape at all times. Will save you some gym money. Just don’t go buying junk food with that money.

Walking helps where running or jogging is a no-no. Everybody can walk, except those without feet. All I’m saying is walk longer for a healthy body. Walking is good, even the late Nelson Mandela used the phrase “Long walk to freedom”. Ok, maybe I got that part wrong, but you get my drift.
Now walking is often times called trekking, this is like a bad term that few people want to be associated with in Nigeria. This is the problem. There are many benefits of tre…I mean walking. Like the photo below shows.



So you see? Walking is the best thing that ever happened to man! I think. Anyway, you should try it sometime.

Try walking from Ikoyi to Obalende after the close of work. From the island to the mainland.
Walk across the Third Mainland bridge. This is good. Asides that traffic would be considerably reduced if an increasing number considered and tried this out, we’d have more healthy people all over. Yes, there will be casualties, people indeed will slump by the way side, may be fatal too as some will also walk their way to the other side. But let’s look at the bright side, reduced traffic!

CONTINUE READING http:///XndoOa

1.Abandoning friends and family

Some women not only forget themselves when they hook up with a new guy, but they also forget their friends and families too. When the ultimatum is given to choose between the men and their families, many women choose the men. Friends help define who we are, and we need in our lives. Do you give up good friends or family members because you are in love or married? Do you turn your back on people who are important to you rather than risk the loss of a man’s love? Why do some men try to separate you from the family and friends you loved? Some men are insecure within themselves and thus they try to cut you off from your support system. When you are getting less support from these people, you will depend more on the man for love and support, even when he isn’t there for you.

2. Declaring your love for your boyfriend on face book while none of his statuses are about you.

I see this all time. Everyday it’s “I love so and so forever!” or “Can’t wait to be Mrs. So and So”. its his big picture you see on her face book and blackberry profile and you go over to his profile and his updates are “i love this game’ or “Going to the Bar after work, cant wait to hang out with my guys”, there is no single picture of the lover girl in his Facebook picture album! You wouldn’t guess he was in a relationship with ‘Miss Clingy pants’. In fact if you didn’t know any better, you’d assume he was single.



3.Live together before marriage



Yeah, this sounds old school, outdated and crazy. Couples who live together before marriage are one third more likely to break up within 10 years. Wait until the two of you know, love and respect each other, then get married. Make a commitment, and then move in. Do not move in without the commitment. If he loves you as much as you love him, he would marry you and not just ask you to move in with him to be his cook, sex slave, washer woman etc and at the end of the day, fling you out of his life for another tooth pick legged girl.

4.Saying you’re cool when you’re not

Ladies, you need to learn to be honest about your stuff. If you meet a man and he tells you he has a lot of female friends, you can’t say you’re cool with that and then start freaking out and getting jealous every time you see him with a woman. If you say you don’t mind a man with children, please do not throw a temper tantrum if he can’t see you on the weekend because he’s spending time with his child. If he says he wants to keep seeing you but also see other people, don’t say it’s cool and then freak out because he’s seeing other people. This is so obvious to me that I can’t even believe someone needs to point it out

5.Spend two hours in front of the mirror so that you look adorable.

You can never let him catch you without wearing a makeup, Pony tail in the morning, hair draping over your shoulders in the afternoon, hair up in the evening! There is nothing wrong with wanting to put your best face forward, but never allowing him to see your blemishes or hair mussed only proves that you believe beauty is only skin deep. If it is love you are after let him see you natural sometimes. Loving eyes see no imperfection.

6.Empty their bank accounts

hmm mm, this is for the rich babe, from getting him the flashiest car, to buying him the latest designs, some women have been extremely generous when it comes to bearing their men gifts. Some even go further than that and give the men complete access to their bank accounts, without any guarantee that the men will be committed to them for a lifetime and at the end of the day, the get dumped when the money is out

7.Get a tattoo of his name

We’re sure you’ve heard that love can be painful, and this has never seemed more true than when we consider a woman who will tattoo her partner’s name on her body. Sadly, these tattoos often outlast the relationships.

8.Allow themselves to be punching bags

In some circles, a man is still expected to show his love by beating his woman. Unfortunately, some women still hold strong to this view and will give the men the benefit of the doubt when they profess their “undying love”.

9.Have a child to keep him

Some women still believe that bearing a child for a man is the best way to keep him faithful or to make him marry her. Even while not feeling prepared for a child, some take the plunge into motherhood for the sake of their man
Read more http:///1Zv0EL

Eko Eko Eko!, Eko Idumota Eko
Enter with your change.
1000, 500 I no get change.

The danfo Conductor kept shouting.I jumped into the front seat quickly, and with the loud Fuji music playing in the background, the conductor voice was completely inaudible.So I picked my diary and began writing about this wonderful city called Lagos.

Eko oni baje ooo, as they always say, which is quite true. Lagos can’t be damaged or spoiled, the people in it are capable of keeping it going. Lagos, the most populous city in Nigeria with a population of about 17.5 million, is the second fastest-growing city in Africa and the seventh in the world. Here everyone is strong, everyone is talented in their own way and an entrepreneur by default.

Saying “no place like Lagos“, is not just true but real. Where else can you find that high spirit of entrepreneurship in the world which makes every Lagosian want to make money? Even the bus conductors have that skilled voice and a touch of madness you can never find in any place. It’s called Hustle!
The mainland and the island dividing the very rich and the poor, yet the spirit and energy is the same, the struggle and bustle is written in the eyes of the people, “make the cash or die under bridge is the spirit”.
Lagos is not just a city, it’s a reality show.You can’t feel the real Lagos till you take a ride in its public transport especially the yellow buses called danfo.These buses are more like moving metallic scraps with tires. The vibration alone when you sit in one can give you a free massage.
Lagos is a crazy city and everyone has that touch of craze, but it’s even crazier than you can imagine if you haven’t lived in it and when I say live in it I am not just talking about sitting in some air conditioned car moving just around nice places in the island. For you to really experience Lagos you must commute around it in the danfo buses.

The beauty commuting in danfos is that there is always a drama each time, is it the entertaining fight between the conductor and his driver whom he calls pilot or the fight for change (20 naira) between the passengers and the conductor, or the sudden break down of the bus in the middle of traffic, where you the passenger have to come down and push the bus.There is always something entertaining!

Lagos is the symbol for the word for Hustle, everyone is out for the cash and the end here doesn’t justify the means. Every Lagosian carries this enormous energy that is easily communicable, you don’t know it till you leave Lagos for somewhere else.
As I was about to conclude this article and close my diary, someone tapped me, it was the Well -suited guy sitting next to me, He was like, “Bros I dey go cms and my money no complete you fit help me complete am?”

WATCH OUT FOR MY NEXT ARTICLE –The Lagos Big Boy
Long Live Lagos! Eko ile, ilu ogbon…

MEANING OF YORUBA TERMS USED:

EKO=the Yoruba word for Lagos
CMS,Idumota=Areas in Lagos
Danfo=Yellow Public Transport Buses
EKO O NI BAJE=Lagos will not spoil (a popular slang in Lagos)
O BAJE TI=It won’t get spoilt forever
Naira=Nigerian Currency

Read more interesting article by same author on
http://www.tlkdrum.com/lagos/

Once you can survive Lagos hustle,you shouldn't be afraid of any where in the world

Eko Eko Eko!, Eko Idumota Eko
Enter with your change.
1000, 500 I no get change.

The danfo Conductor kept shouting.I jumped into the front seat quickly, and with the loud Fuji music playing in the background, the conductor voice was completely inaudible.So I picked my diary and began writing about this wonderful city called Lagos.

Eko oni baje ooo, as they always say, which is quite true. Lagos can’t be damaged or spoiled, the people in it are capable of keeping it going. Lagos, the most populous city in Nigeria with a population of about 17.5 million, is the second fastest-growing city in Africa and the seventh in the world. Here everyone is strong, everyone is talented in their own way and an entrepreneur by default.

Saying “no place like Lagos“, is not just true but real. Where else can you find that high spirit of entrepreneurship in the world which makes every Lagosian want to make money? Even the bus conductors have that skilled voice and a touch of madness you can never find in any place. It’s called Hustle!
The mainland and the island dividing the very rich and the poor, yet the spirit and energy is the same, the struggle and bustle is written in the eyes of the people, “make the cash or die under bridge is the spirit”.
Lagos is not just a city, it’s a reality show.You can’t feel the real Lagos till you take a ride in its public transport especially the yellow buses called danfo.These buses are more like moving metallic scraps with tires. The vibration alone when you sit in one can give you a free massage.
Lagos is a crazy city and everyone has that touch of craze, but it’s even crazier than you can imagine if you haven’t lived in it and when I say live in it I am not just talking about sitting in some air conditioned car moving just around nice places in the island. For you to really experience Lagos you must commute around it in the danfo buses.

The beauty commuting in danfos is that there is always a drama each time, is it the entertaining fight between the conductor and his driver whom he calls pilot or the fight for change (20 naira) between the passengers and the conductor, or the sudden break down of the bus in the middle of traffic, where you the passenger have to come down and push the bus.There is always something entertaining!

Lagos is the symbol for the word for Hustle, everyone is out for the cash and the end here doesn’t justify the means. Every Lagosian carries this enormous energy that is easily communicable, you don’t know it till you leave Lagos for somewhere else.
As I was about to conclude this article and close my diary, someone tapped me, it was the Well -suited guy sitting next to me, He was like, “Bros I dey go cms and my money no complete you fit help me complete am?”

WATCH OUT FOR MY NEXT ARTICLE –The Lagos Big Boy
Long Live Lagos! Eko ile, ilu ogbon…

MEANING OF YORUBA TERMS USED:

EKO=the Yoruba word for Lagos
CMS,Idumota=Areas in Lagos
Danfo=Yellow Public Transport Buses
EKO O NI BAJE=Lagos will not spoil (a popular slang in Lagos)
O BAJE TI=It won’t get spoilt forever
Naira=Nigerian Currency
http://www.tlkdrum.com/lagos/

Eko Eko Eko!, Eko Idumota Eko
Enter with your change.
1000, 500 I no get change.

The danfo Conductor kept shouting.I jumped into the front seat quickly, and with the loud Fuji music playing in the background, the conductor voice was completely inaudible.So I picked my diary and began writing about this wonderful city called Lagos.

Eko oni baje ooo, as they always say, which is quite true. Lagos can’t be damaged or spoiled, the people in it are capable of keeping it going. Lagos, the most populous city in Nigeria with a population of about 17.5 million, is the second fastest-growing city in Africa and the seventh in the world. Here everyone is strong, everyone is talented in their own way and an entrepreneur by default.

Saying “no place like Lagos“, is not just true but real. Where else can you find that high spirit of entrepreneurship in the world which makes every Lagosian want to make money? Even the bus conductors have that skilled voice and a touch of madness you can never find in any place. It’s called Hustle!
The mainland and the island dividing the very rich and the poor, yet the spirit and energy is the same, the struggle and bustle is written in the eyes of the people, “make the cash or die under bridge is the spirit”.
Lagos is not just a city, it’s a reality show.You can’t feel the real Lagos till you take a ride in its public transport especially the yellow buses called danfo.These buses are more like moving metallic scraps with tires. The vibration alone when you sit in one can give you a free massage.
Lagos is a crazy city and everyone has that touch of craze, but it’s even crazier than you can imagine if you haven’t lived in it and when I say live in it I am not just talking about sitting in some air conditioned car moving just around nice places in the island. For you to really experience Lagos you must commute around it in the danfo buses.

The beauty commuting in danfos is that there is always a drama each time, is it the entertaining fight between the conductor and his driver whom he calls pilot or the fight for change (20 naira) between the passengers and the conductor, or the sudden break down of the bus in the middle of traffic, where you the passenger have to come down and push the bus.There is always something entertaining!

Lagos is the symbol for the word for Hustle, everyone is out for the cash and the end here doesn’t justify the means. Every Lagosian carries this enormous energy that is easily communicable, you don’t know it till you leave Lagos for somewhere else.
As I was about to conclude this article and close my diary, someone tapped me, it was the Well -suited guy sitting next to me, He was like, “Bros I dey go cms and my money no complete you fit help me complete am?”

WATCH OUT FOR MY NEXT ARTICLE –The Lagos Big Boy
Long Live Lagos! Eko ile, ilu ogbon…

MEANING OF YORUBA TERMS USED:

EKO=the Yoruba word for Lagos
CMS,Idumota=Areas in Lagos
Danfo=Yellow Public Transport Buses
EKO O NI BAJE=Lagos will not spoil (a popular slang in Lagos)
O BAJE TI=It won’t get spoilt forever
Naira=Nigerian Currency
http://www.tlkdrum.com/lagos/

http://www.tlkdrum.com/lagos/http://www.tlkdrum.com/lagos/

Eko Eko Eko!, Eko Idumota Eko
Enter with your change.
1000, 500 I no get change.

This is Lagos!
http://www.tlkdrum.com/lagos/

Eko oni baje ooo, as they always say, which is quite true. Lagos can’t be damaged or spoiled, the people in it are capable of keeping it going. Lagos, the most populous city in Nigeria with a population of about 17.5 million, is the second fastest-growing city in Africa and the seventh in the world. Here everyone is strong, everyone is talented in their own way and an entrepreneur by default.

keep reading at:http://www.tlkdrum.com/lagos/