₦airaland Forum

Over the last 3 years, I have noticed a trend in Nigeria on the 1st of October. This trend is that quite a number of people have their Mothers celebrating birthdays on October 1st. I can remember counting more than 7 people on different social media platforms celebrating their mothers on the first day of October.

Something comes to mind at this trend, was it that in some supernatural way something happened that led to a lot of women being born on this day between the years 1960 - 1970, or it’s just a weird coincidence (by the way I do not believe in coincidences, I believe everything is divinely ordered)?

I think it’s none of the above but rather as a result of Nigeria’s independence. Here’s what I mean. In those days not a lot of people were literate and few had access to calendars or even knew how to record dates, so when a child was born, events (like Christmas, Easter, Wars, New Governments etc.) were used to mark their birthdays.

While this may sound true, the next question that comes to mind is; so why are they all females? Maybe you have an answer for us, please let us know.
We end by wishing everyone a Happy New Month and Happy Birthday to everyone celebrating today.

“Womb wellness oil, penis enlargement cream, skin whitening solution, spot removal oil etc.” these and many more are now becoming common products advertised on the statutes of Whats App vendors. If you have contacts on your phone who always have waist-bead like statutes every 24 hours, you would probably have come across one of these products.

My concern is that these are medicinal products and they should not be freely sold. More so, in the event there is an injury as a result of using these products, it will be difficult to seek for damages as they most likely conjured by a quack who cannot be easily traced.
Another concern is if these products actually work. All vendors will say they work but we hardly read customer reviews for such products largely because of these two reasons.

1. People who were disappointed after using this product often cannot call out vendors because buying it means something is not as ‘big, tight or white’ as they want it to be of which no one wants to publicly admit.
2. For people who used these products and it worked for them, they next question they have to answer is ‘what are you using it for?’

Our weird disposition towards sexual related issues in this part of the world is another reason. We are ‘okay’ with sellers of these substances but raise a brow at ‘users’.

If you are a Vendor, please ensure you sell products that are marked as safe for use by regulatory agencies. If you are a user, be really careful with these substances you use. If you are an observer, drop your sentiments. Whether big, tight, fair or not, we will all see God.

It is interesting how things change with time! Things that were strange or popularly not the general way of doing things in a few years later become the norm.
Just over a year ago, the first (to the best of our knowledge) publicly announced Nigerian wedding without a reception received a lot of attention especially on social media. Whether it was because that meant no free food or for other reasons best known to the attendees, we really cannot say. It was however evident that the bold words ‘NO RECEPTION’ written on the invitation card was not a good sight for many.

Fast forward to today, the new normal for Nigerian weddings is not to have a reception largely due to the pandemic. You’ll probably not know the cost of hosting a wedding reception until it’s time for yours or you’re actively involved in planning one.
To start with is the cost of renting a hall/event space at a location not far from the church, easy to locate and large enough with parking space for your guests, paying for decoration, cost of feeding an unknown number of persons, music cost – either getting a DJ or a live band and then getting a funny and not so expensive MC.
Other non-financial cost include deciding who will be the chairman/chair lady of the organization, who’s to seat on the high table, who’s to anchor the cutting of your cake etc. Thanks to Coro, no more headaches making all these decisions.

While this may be a blessing in disguise to couples as they get to save a whole of money, it’s however a loss of income for others. One important thing to learn here is this, nothing man-made lasts forever. Every norm today can be totally despised, rejected and unsafe tomorrow. Don’t hurt yourself in a bid to fulfill ‘today’s normal’.
So in all of these we ask, who is most hit by this new norm?