₦airaland Forum

More.

Some repreentatives.

Some of the attendees.

Here are the portraits of the victims.

First.

The other day, I attended the wake keeping of the Nigerian family that perished in the NYC car crash. The wake keeping was hosted by an Arondizuogu organization (which's name I can't recall right now).

The ceremony began with testimonials written by people who personally knew the family. After that, representatives of several organizations (including Arondizuogu Patriotic Union Houston Branch, Nzuko Arochukwu NY/NJ/CT, All Aro USA, Igbo Catholic Community, and the Nigerian Nurses Association) each donated large sums of money in order to help send the bodies of the victims back to Nigeria for burial. After that, they all paid their respects.

Here are some of the pictures I took.

Unu lekwa egwu m choputara. Egwu a na agbari m obi


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKVl5GVfuUY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Igbo by Igbo ekele m unu. Happy survival maka o dii nfe.

toshmann: Ndi iro m abiala

Odumchi, a wu m akwaa-akwuru. Nothing mega

O bu gi jikwa onu gi si na m wu onye iro gi. O buru otu a ka i si choo ya otu a ka o ga adi.

Antivirus92: odumchi, ina akwado ihe ojoo

Kedu ife o wu? Wo ekula gi?

It's the beginning of herding season, so it's not a surprise. He's probably en-route from Sokoto to Aba.

toshmann: Onye Gwara gi na Ify wu nwunye gi? Ify wu Ada di Ora mma
Ify o .
Ifylacious HOTifytic ifynkwa . Ify bia kuo m nkwa Biko. Ahu ebidola mewe m irukwuru-irukwuru

LOL .

Toshmann jiri ya nwayo. Obere oge ugbua nwunye gi akuwa gi okpo ka Mike Tyson

Chetakwa na mpa o boro gi alabeghikwa o.

Preselect, gawa n'ihu. Eso m gi na azu.

I agree that the Yoruba are generally a warm and inviting people, however I don't subscribe to the thought that they are an exception when it comes to hospitality. I also don't believe that, as the author put it, "more Nigerians have been successful in the Western part of the country than inside or outside of Africa." Location is only one of the several factors that result in success. Living in western Nigeria doesn't mean that one will be more sucessful than someone living in the North or East.

The real catalyst for "success" in western Nigeria is Lagos; a seaport; Nigeria's main commercial doorway. In the modern context, the main reason why people are attracted to the west is because of this particular port. It offers people a place to do business that would be otherwise difficult to do in other parts of the country. When the first traders settled in Lagos, they brought with them their different attitudes, beliefs, and perspectives. However, they were united under the common aspiration to succeed. This resulted in a blend of cultures that made Lagos a multi-ethnic city open to diversity and liberalism.

The Westerners were among the first to experience colonial rule in Nigeria, thus their early exposure to foreigners. I believe this is the reason why the South (as a whole) is generally more liberal than the North. Since the South was exposed to foreigners while the North was generally untouched by the Europeans, the North's traditional conservatism is still with it politically, religiously, and socially. I believe that it is this unfamiliarity with change that has resulted in the violence in the North. That being said, it now seems clear (at least to me) that the West (with its combination of liberalism, hospitality, and commercial significance) is generally a place where people succeed.

However, that doesn't mean that success (or hospitality) is not found in other regions or places. The same thing written about the Yoruba in this article could also be written about the Ijaw or Igbo. The Eastern Ijaw people believe that a man's origin and history are not important when deciding his destiny. According to them, every one (whether born a slave or a prince) is able to achieve great things irrespective of their pasts. It was this same mentality that allowed Jaja Jubogha, an Igbo slave, to rise from servitude to royalty and establish his own Ijaw trading town.

The Igbo subscribe to the following ideologies: "live and let live" and "one's ability to succeed is firmly entrenched in the strenght of his/her aka Ikenga (right hand)". The Igbo believe in offering hospitality and warmth to outsiders such as was displayed by the people of Mgborogwu to Omenuko in the novel Omenuko. In this novel, the people of Mgborogwu allowed Omenuko, a foreigner, to succeed and thrive in their land even to the extent of serving as their Chief. The difference between this philosphy and that of the Yoruba is that the Igbo are generally not alright with allowing their visitors to exceed them to the extent of threatening them, hence the Igbo proverb that no matter how long a visitor stays, he must always return to his homeland.

What I'm trying to say is that success and hospitality are not unique to the Yoruba, as the author made it seem. However the truth must be told that, like many other peoples, the Yoruba are generally warm and accepting of foreigners (as in the case of Lagos).

Hm.

Since you want my opinion, I'll give it to you.

afam4eva: Gaming is very addictive. I used to go 24 hours non-stop. I even don't eat most times.

Afam, you too follow am?

brainchild78: Video/Computer gaming is a very addictive activity. Its as if a demonic force beckons you to continue once you start. I wonder if these games manufacturers sublimally cast a spell on the user of their products. Whatever may be the true cause of this unquenchable behaviour, the truth will come to surface one day.

LWKMD!

I haven't played that game since January. It's fun but it gets boring quickly.

I hope the mother introduces the kid to sports.

CAMEROONPRIDE: ohh i see ...that's not cool i'm not even sure if we have a regular flight from Yaounde/Douala to lagos ....

It all depends on your motives for living in Nigeria and what you can afford. Finding a decent place in Lagos isn't cheap, however it has Nigeria's largest international community.

Calabar, on the other side, is cheaper and more serene than Lagos and is 30 min away from the Cameroonian border.

CAMEROONPRIDE: are they Cameroonians?

Cameroonians, Senegalese, Togolese, Beninese, Ivoiran, etc.

The only drawback is that it's on the other side of Nigeria. If you plan to move back and forth between Nigeria and Cameroon, you'll have to either drive for over 15 hours, or fly.

Thanks for the suggestions, Anonymous.

Lagos seems like the place you're interested in. There are many francophone peoples living in it.

Culture >>> Travel

tpia@:
^^is your mama included?

should i describe her?

Take am easy o. No be me say you go dey vex all the time.

Thanks, Ify.

Pidgin Phrases

http://www.ngex.com/personalities/babawilly/dictionary/pidgins.htm

afam4eva: It will be record breaking to tell someone that your name is "Chinedu Amaechi" but you're not Igbo.

That's the time when (as our ancestors out it) nwanne agaghi ama ibe ya.

The kind of confusion that would erupt then would be disastrous.

tpia@:
explain better, thanks.

Excuse me?

tpia@:
^ what's hilarious about it?

The truth.

igbo2011: What school do you go to?

I'm still in high school.

Lol, this is hilarious.

One thing that I'll like to ask is this: what is the relationship between the Ngwa (and other Igbo groups on the Akwa Ibom border) and the Ibibio/Annang?

Most of the time when you hear Igbo-Ibibio relations, it's around the Arochukwu axis. However, the case of Ala spreading into Ibibioland via Ngwa Ogbom music suggest that there are extensive cross-ethnic relations between the Igbo and the Ibibio in that area.

Is this true?

Thank you all for your responses. I appreciate the quick replies.

Chinenye, I appreciate the in-depth explanation. The reason I initially labelled it as a cultural similarity was because I wasn't sure if there was any relationship between the deities or if they were worshipped independently.

As Obiagu pointed out, this particular question involves most (I am not saying all because I don't know whether or not there are any Igbo subgroups that don't worship Ala) of the Igbo peoples.

Here's a video I found in the Ogba dialect.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wQYvIJuL-U&feature=youtube_gdata_player