₦airaland Forum

Are you sure? If you hear Yoruba and Chinese they sound nothing alike apart from the use of high, middle and low tones, and Hausa sounds absolutely nothing like Japanese.

I can't think of any Nigerian language Chinese sounds like, and Igbo sounds like Japanese when it is written. Hausa sounds like Arabic and all the other Afro-Asian languages.

Yoruba

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CPQLC3xklpA

Chinese

http://youtube.com/watch?v=789he-8T_-E

Hausa

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rxUPWeA7i_8

Japanese

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KrS6NTiDz7s

I don't see how this is the problem of the moderators, you didn't really point out why. This section has been dying since at least last year, and I'm also one who signed up particularly because of Culture (no offense, but you can get better discussions on everything else except politics on any other forum). I once joked that the Politics section killed the Culture section, but obviously this isn't completely a joke. Many of the posters and frequent thread openers of Culture started migrating towards Politics after the popularity of that section started to outshine culture because many of the threads there promoted to the front page were clearly supposed to be from this section. I think it's the issue of raising awareness of this section through the front page that is the issue. The people who run the site are more interested in promoting political/financial threads than cultural ones.

[quote author=ndu_chucks]Our Kano indigenes of Igbo etraction are represented in this protest.

I await the spin which our very own Eze Ndigbo Gburubguru of NL, Onlytruthprotester, will put on this one. Igbo Kwueze nu!!


[img]https://www.nairaland.com/attachments/829605_kano_-_5_jpg4511c06e1afa7a204b97ff8f2d9b32e3[/img][/quote]https://starcasm.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/oprah_laughing_animated_gif.gif

ChinenyeN: lol It's funny how Igbo just took over this thread. It's as if other groups don't know their own numerals.

I think Igbo people have become the most enthusiastic about language because of all the somewhat justified paranoia.

ezeagu: Not necessarily, the word for a thousand now (Ijeri, Ijeli) comes from the same word meaning eight thousand.

Oh, wait, puku is a thousand right? Sorry.

What's zero, in any language?

pazienza: Wasn't that town named brass because the people used brass to make salt from sea water?

Yes, it was, I can bring up a source, but it's not worth it. My advice is just.....just don't get into this argument it's a long gruelling hell of a trip to nowhere but the irrelevancy of nairaland's archives.

As far as I know some Anioma towns.

ChinenyeN: 400. This is where traditional count stops, before million, billion etc. became recently introduced.

Not necessarily, the word for a thousand billion now (Ijeri, Ijeli) comes from the same word meaning eight thousand.

In an Onicha dictionary, 400 is nnụ (low tone on 'u')

Too much audience given to that which does not warrant it.

They can be followed from the airport, the best thing is to arrive to Nigeria in the daytime and to make sure you have people meeting you at the airport. That's the best that an everyday person can do. If they are leaving the state of the airport, they should leave in the morning and find a hotel until they can if it is not possible on the same day since armed robbers ambush people at night. They should also ensure that they have some naira with them to bribe the customs. Harsh, but true. Keep all belongings in a safe place closed near your body and make sure you keep an eye on your ID when they are being handled by airport personnel. Also keep a good eye on those rummaging through your belongings. Do not follow anyone that isn't part of airport staff or is leading you out of the airport, unless they're police.

By the way, why did he randomly start talking about disintegration?

dasparrow: You are so scared of what? Shouldn't you be happy instead? By the way, that must have been a very long dream to see this dream of yours go from when you were a bachelor to becoming a husband, then a father and then your son growing up. Are you sure you did not go to bed with malaria fever the night before? lol

If you imagine what it would take to get there, then it's scary.

legallyCJ: Nigeria must not divide,for we are strong in unity,therefore politicians seeking division should go nd set down for nigeria is not going to divide

Which type of unity, do you have any example?

nyameke: how is it not a black African problem.. Even if those statistics are true because I doubt the 63 percentage ..

What's the culture and occupation of these Africans that live on these riverbanks.. how important is the rivers to their livelihood and survival.

Also how many people in the Caribbean live on river banks and have their livelihood /occupation and survival tied to the water.

Been surrounded by the sea does not guarantee that you will know how to swim.. if you have a lifestyle where you're doing 9- 5 and a culture where the people don't really care much about water. They are not going to go that much near the water to swim..

Lagos is pretty much surrounded by water and the sea but I can assure you that the majority of the people do not know how to swim.. They are out there rather hustling to get a living than worry about going for a swim ..

The majority of Lagos inhabitants haven't been settled there for hundreds of years, so it isn't really comparable to any city in any Caribbean nation, that's with ignoring geography. It's the Awori and Ilaje, who have been there for hundreds of years who work with water. If people have been on an island for hundreds of years, the sea and swimming would be integral to their whole lifestyle and culture, despite a job. Barbados and the other Islands can only be compared to Islands in Nigeria, and these are only found in the riverine areas.

[quote author=*Kails*]wtf are you talking about? [/quote][quote author=*Kails*]http://mnatjegs..com/2012/07/80-of-nigerians-cannot-swim.html[/quote]"The survey, carried out in 20 Nigerian states found 80% of respondents saying they don't know how to swim while 71% have never attempted swimming.

The report although indicated that 63% of those from the riverine areas, mostly from Southern Nigeria can swim, most respondents say they are concerned about water safety and cited general safety measures as a discouraging factor why they either do not or cannot swim."

[quote author=bbpreye.]“I think those who are thinking that way want to be kings in tiny islands, because I believe from the little I know that Nigeria is still rated as a country to look at globally. It’s not because we produce oil and some people think it’s because of our oil.

President Goodluck Jonathan

“One small country with less than 10 million population produces more oil than Nigeria. So it is not the oil, it not the vast land. What is the land space of Nigeria compared to Sudan?

“The population, yes, we have the population, but I think the key thing is actually the size in terms of the human beings; it’s not the oil that we think we have.

“So any person who feels that they just want to stay as one nation, just want to be king without hard work. They will not get it, because Nigeria will not divide.’’[/quote]Can anybody explain what this means?

It can't be more preposterous than assuming that this is a black problem, especially when it's a significant event that has shaped the culture of the Caribbean islands.

[quote author=*Kails*][size=38pt]op just got SLAYED!!!!!![/size] [/quote]You helped the thread by bringing in info about the amount of riverine people that could swim which showed that this was not a 'Black-African' problem.

HAH: Do you know why BBC,VOA,DUTCH WELLÈ, radio Beijing etc all have Swahilli and Hausa service?

Many that speak Hausa and listen to the radio don't understand English as well as the rest of African people.

nyameke: ^^^^ Cmon son I know you're intelligent so don't disappoint me. The Harewood guy acknowledged that the problem seems not to be just not an African American or Caribbean thing but Africans as well. He even cited his observations and experiences in west Africa and east Africa to back up his postulations however true or not..

So
1. if the assertion, based on observations from blacks in the diaspora is that , blacks in Africa seems to have the same problem
2. The enslaved diasporian blacks came from blacks in Africa
3. Blacks in Africa were not enslaved or forced to cross the ocean

Therefore its safe to say in this case that it is a " black" problem and not just diasporians. So then why the infatuation with linking the problem to slavery ? .. the guy you quoted from even said he jokingly attributes it slavery. Yet instead of dwelling on the main message he was making which is; its a " black" problem, you rather for whatever reason dwelled on his mundane point connecting it to slavery. Which was a joke to begin with..

Over 63% of people in riverine areas of Africa can swim. Caribbean nations are full of water and most can't. The person from Barbados made that statement "wondering", this thread was opened four years ago wondering the same thing. A few comments ago people were arguing against many people in the Caribbean being unable to swim and having a fear of water until I quoted the person from Barbados and Antigua that made the situation seem even worse. None of you understand what the discussion is about. That's all.

Okay, let's just pretend that the majority of people of African descent on the islands of the Caribbean's have an ability to swim and forget that the majority of Africans don't ever get to see a lake, let alone a sea. It's just because of 'lifestyle' that over 60% of Africans living in riverine areas of Africa are able to swim and boat. Hundreds of people of African descent drowned in New Orleans because of a chosen lifestyle, despite being bayou people.

This phenomenon is not only African American. Believe it or not, we have the same problem in the Caribbean. Although we are surrounded by sea, many children of African descent in the Caribbean just cannot swim. There is some initiative lately, especially in Antigua and Barbuda, but it is not ingrained in black culture.

Ernest Merrill, Antigua and Barbuda

I agree with Ernest's comment above. It is a Caribbean and African problem too - I am in Barbados and many of the blacks on the island (including myself) like to be where our feet can touch the ground. While I can do most strokes, I have a fear of being really far out - this is something I have tried working on with many swimming classes but I haven't gotten there yet - I will not give up, I'm not yet 30 and I don't think you are ever too old to learn. I noted the same phenomena in West Africa when I was there earlier this year, all the people swimming in the ocean were the white tourists and visitors, the blacks stayed close to the shore, and one of my friends noted it is the same in East Africa - while the comments noted above issues such as segregation etc. I am really fascinated about this widespread trend across the globe amongst blacks. I jokingly tell my friends our fear of the ocean is ingrained in the "boat trip" our ancestors faced during the slave trade. I am not one to harp on slavery and its impacts but I honestly really wonder sometimes.

Liesl Harewood, Barbados

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11172054

Lies!

I don't even know why this discussion was resurrected.

[quote author=*Kails*]again, those who cant swim do not have interest or have a natural fear of water (deep end).
it has nothing to do with slavery.

its the same in africa. I can guarantee you most continental africans cannot swim or do not have interest.

what kind of flawed logic that? oh "their ancestors have been swimming for centuries but they can't so its bc of slavery"? gtfoh

http://mnatjegs..com/2012/07/80-of-nigerians-cannot-swim.html[/quote]I can't think of any other reason why people who live near the sea or some other bodies of water are not mostly able to swim. If you look at ancestry as well, you'd find that it was the riverine areas that many of the people taken as slaves were captured from, the same area the site claimed 63% could swim. There has always been attitudes in societies as a result of the past. An example can be seen in Sicily where people are very family orientated because of the distrust caused by centuries of invasions, and so on.

I'm not implying that people in the Caribbean look at water and start running because they remember slavery, no, it's more of something passed down like 'don't go near the sea where you can be recaptured and taken off to another island' or if they were stopped from swimming for obvious reasons and this passed along and just stuck. But I find it to be too much of a coincidence that all the descendants of enslaved Africans have this problem, from an island with surrounded by beach, to a city built on a swamp in front of a gulf.

[quote author=*Kails*]And fyi i know plenty of continental africans who cant and some dont want to learn how to swim lol.

Its all about the individual.[/quote]That's different to people who live in Nigeria or in rural areas where they have access to water or the people who have lived on an island since birth. You can say you know many that down't know how to cultivate yam. I understand it doesn't apply to everyone, but the problem is worse among people of African descent in the Americas wether they are near water or not. It's also less about fear, than being cautious about learning to swim or entering water.

nyameke: what's the total population of Africans who live in coastal areas? And out of those who live in coastal areas, what percentage actually knows how to swim. Because I know living in coastal areas alone does not give one an affinity or inherent knowledge of swimming..

Cmon son your contention albeit interesting is flawed and you know it.. Majority of the population in the world don't know how to swim period. The inhumane treatment of Caribbeans during slavery has nothing to do with their disdain and knack for going days without dipping in or touching water

It's not about being flawed, is about finding the cause of the problem of many people of African descent in the America's not being able to swim. The reason I suggested, which can be argued, and the problem, which is real, are different. There are millions of people living on the coast of Africa, although many of these are migrants from the interior. There's a infamous stilt slum in Lagos. The most revered indigenous coastal groups include the Kru, and the Ijaw, and then there are subgroups of other larger ethnic groups.

I can vouch for Nigeria and say that the majority of the indigenous people of the coast and river banks know how to swim, and are very experienced with boating and fishing. Apparently, the same can't be said with people in Caribbean nations surrounded by water. There's also a war canoe tradition all over the coasts of West and West Central Africa, you can't be warring in canoes for centuries and not have knowledge of swimming.

These people below live miles away from any coast, but you can see them swimming in the river (Imo River) without any aid.

[img]http://4.bp..com/-CQ8RJ8EfjBs/TqSbHlgnNgI/AAAAAAAAAq8/lOPxxsKBDP0/s400/AN00059327_001_l.jpg[/img]

nyameke: Exactly.. Most people do not know how to swim period.. jamaicans just have a higher percentage that's all

Why?

nyameke: how did you know majority of Africans aren't afraid of water. Any idea or statistics how you came about that?

You can be the one to prove that majority of Africans are afraid of water. As for me, I've never heard of Africans on coastal regions not being able to swim, along with that many people in Nigeria for example take baths, wash, and fish in rivers, lakes, and streams.

nyameke: Ok so then what do you link to with the majority of Africans afraid of water?. Is it also due to colonialism? Or What do you also link the majority of caucasians also afraid of water to? Perhaps due to Roman colonization?

Why do people always find ways to connect and link the unlinkable.

The majority of Africans aren't afraid of water. This is actually a problem in the United States and Caribbean:

This phenomenon is not only African American. Believe it or not, we have the same problem in the Caribbean. Although we are surrounded by sea, many children of African descent in the Caribbean just cannot swim. There is some initiative lately, especially in Antigua and Barbuda, but it is not ingrained in black culture.

Ernest Merrill, Antigua and Barbuda

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11172054

Port Harcourt isn't a dispute territory, but just in case we didn't know where everything stands:

Frederick Lugard's love letter to Lewis Vernon Harcourt, 18 August 1913.

I have the honour to enclose for your information charts of the estuaries and rivers in the neighbourhood of the proposed port and terminus of the Eastern Railway at [size=15pt]Diobu or more correctly Iguocha[/size]... In the absence of any convenient local name, I would respectfully ask your permission to call this Port Harcourt, and I anticipate, that, in the future, it will be one of the most important ports in the coast of West Africa...

Just in case:

[img]http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jlsqAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA74&img=1&pgis=1&dq=iguocha&sig=ACfU3U1wKi7JFMWVz-QQoE-OHDpn24Qu3A&edge=0[/img]

[img]http://books.google.com/books?id=jlsqAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA74&img=1&pgis=1&dq=iguocha+diobu&sig=ACfU3U3aw3MMOe81wOCKtX-b5PB_duM62w&edge=0[/img]
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jlsqAQAAMAAJ

Just in case in case:

Port Harcourt, established in 1912, was a creation of the port developed there in the vicinity of the Iguocha cliff.

Nigerian Cities (2004) by Toyin Falola
http://books.google.com/books?id=JPJmCcZyxmYC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=iguocha

For those who don't speak English:

http://books.google.com/books?id=fv7Cy4ZT2w8C&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=iguocha

One more time.

Iguocha was accordingly selected as the future eastern railway terminus. In 1913 Lord Lugard visited [size=18pt]Iguocha[/size] and opened this port under the name by which it is known today — Port Harcourt.

The Nigerian field, Volume 42 (1977) Nigerian Field Society.
http://books.google.com/books?id=J2ZAAQAAIAAJ&dq=iguocha+harcourt&q=1913

Last one:

Hughes found that the creek opposite Okrika Island was the continuation of the Bonny River and following it up he came to the literite cliffs on which was established a village Iguocha, and so Port Harcourt was born.

http://books.google.com/books?id=qqkuAQAAIAAJ

Forgotten heroes of Grand Bonny (2001), by Gentle Finapiri

Ngodigha1: Baboon, shut up your smelly mouth. You should be concerned with his claims of Kirikiri, Apapa, etc in Lagos as Ijaw towns and people. How about his claim of a third of Yoruba state of Ondo as Ijaw. Get a life, plural fool.

Please remind all of us of Atlas Cove!

Killayut is single-handedly offending every African group, in the diaspora and in Africa, with his kind-of-Ijaw Kalabari nationalism. I don't know what emotion I'm feeling.

killayut: And what about Egbema in Edo and Bayelsa states ? Are they Igbos too ? Know the history of a people before you argue. Do you even know what Egbema MEAN ?[size=18pt]There is OKOLOMA in Ndoki land[/size] and OKOLOMAis not an Igbo name but Ibani - Ijaw. Even Okrika people has a settlement near Oyigbo and we all know it and there is no dispute about it too. So learn about the true origin of the Egbema people before you argue.

Chaaaaaaiiiiiiiiii!

Moved to the forum omambala[dot]com

https://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_maavpkiZg51qjh37to1_500.jpg

"Uratta-Igbo Mbari shrine. A. A. Whitehouse, 1904. [Imo State, Nigeria]."

FSU: Thanks, however you answered one-half of the question. The other one-half you did not answer: which ethnic group is Ika? Is there an ethnic group called Ika in Nigeria or do they belong to a larger ethnic group?


Keep in mind there are only 22 thousand Ika people according to available information


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ika_language_%28Nigeria%29

It depends on who you ask, most will loosely identify with Igbo (many Ika fought in the Biafran Army), others wouldn't. The problem is, the ones who don't identify as Igbo are the most vocal and belligerent. Why is it a problem that they do not want to identify as Igbo? Well first of all, they can be whatever they like, but they usually make blanket statements that imply every Ika person is against an Igbo identity (these people are usually anti-eastern-Igbo and hurl insults and derogatory stereotypes), they also ignore the fact that Nigeria, and the rest of Delta State in particular, view all of the Igboid speaking peoples west of the Niger as Igbo, and deal with them accordingly.

As to what makes them Igbo, their culture is Nri-Oka based, with other Igbo influences, and their language is at least 60% Igboid.