Questions For Those Who Live In Or Have Visited Nigeria

Hi y'all.

So in my English class, i have been reading the book "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe, and now i get to research about any particular aspect of Nigerian Culture. This is actually how i came across this website. So i was wondering if anyone would be willing to answer some questions i have about it, because well I know nothing about Nigerian Culture.

The aspect i chose to research was about religion in Nigeria, but I have questions that aren't necessarily about the religions in Nigeria because as I said before, I know nothing about Nigerian Culture. If someone, or multiple people are willing to answer questions i have, just say so, and i will start asking questions. Thanks a bunch!

@abbey, it is a good thing that u want to know more about Nigerian culture and beliefs. We at nairaland are very good people that are willing to help out in whatever way we can( Seun, isnt it?), Please feel free to ask any questions and i can assure u that u will get loads of comments from me and fellow nairalanders as well.

Thank you.

My first question, is about something i read in "Things Fall Apart". In it, the author mentions that they 'throw twins away', so they kill twins by leaving them out in like bushes or something. My question, is why do/did they do this? What is so bad about twins?

My second question is, (remember i have NO idea what Nigerian culture is like) do you all Still live in villages. In clans? And if you do, do you guys live in houses? Or do you live in obi's? Are men still permitted/encouraged to have more than one wife?

What is the main religions in Nigeria right now? How important are these religions to you?

Another thing that i read in "Things Fall Apart" was about the lords of the village titles. that there are four different title that you can achieve. So, how do you get these? Does someone higher up decide? Does the previous holder of the title choose in case of their death? Are women allowed to hold these titles? Is there a vote of who deserves to have it? Do people still even HAVE the titles?

How are women revered in culture? Are there some clans that allow them to have power? Are they still treated more as objects?

Do you still have Evil Forests? like Umfioma (sp?) in "Things Fall Apart" does?

Do you still have trials, held by the 'gods/spirits' of the forest?

To those of you whom have visited Nigeria. What is it like from an tourists viewpoint? What is the most rememberable thing about Nigeria?

i think that's enough questions for now... oh and if anyone knows of sites that tell statistics about Nigeria, I'd love it if you could tell me them.

oh and that would be greatly appreciated if you could put your first name in your first comment (if you have more than one), because i might quote you in a power point presentation. If you object to, or are not comfortable with being quoted, tell me and i will not quote you. thanks agian

AbbeyMarie:

My second question is, (remember i have NO idea what Nigerian culture is like) do you all Still live in villages. In clans? And if you do, do you guys live in houses? Or do you live in obi's? Are men still permitted/encouraged to have more than one wife?

Sure there are still villages and people live in those villages. Something like our "hometown". Yes, people live in houses. Lots and lots of people, plus there are house even in the village.
Men are still permitted to have more than one wife. I don't think that'll ever change.

AbbeyMarie:
What is the main religions in Nigeria right now? How important are these religions to you?

the main religions in nigeria are Christianity and Muslim. Although some people still believe in the 'gods' of their land. How important the religions are, varies due to individuals. Personally i don't believe in the "gods of any land". I believe in GOD (and im a christian).

That's all i can say for now. Hope u find it helpful.

l

Thank you all So Much! All ready, i'm getting information that i need. Um, i have a few questions on things said in previous posts. Even if that was NOT your post, i'd still love feedback on those questions. So more questions....(i had 8 grouped questions in the first so i'm starting on 9, so i don't get confused when reading your answers)

9. Many say that Nigerian Culture is 'rich'. What exactly is it you mean by this? What even, would a normal day look like in Nigeria.

10. If you could change one thing. Anything, but only one thing, about Nigeria, what would it be?

11. Do the people generally look the same, or is it a moshpit of differences?

12. What are the clothes like? Do you have like, Abercrombie and Fitch, Holister, Hot Topic etc...? Or is the style completely different than in America (or any other contry?)

13. Child Soldiers. Do you know anything about them? tell me everything.

14. So do you call the area you live in like a town, village, city, etc...?

sbucareer:

No, we do not kill our twins anymore, thanks to our well educated Nigerians home and at Diaspora has informed us that it is a wonderful thing.  Note, things we do not understand yet in our lives are considered as treat, you should know that.

15. What is Diaspora?

16. What do you mean by 'things we do not understand yet in our lives are considered as treat,'?

sbucareer:

I bet you live in a government flat whereever you are as you system provides all the infrastructure for you.  Here in Nigeria we live in Mansions, duplex and yes we live large.  A reference to my claim would be for you to go and borrow some Nigerian Movies, Especially the ones with actors like Newm Owo, Kanayo. O. Kanayo, Zack Orji, Jim Ike, etc, maybe you should ask Wesley Snipes when he came to Nigeria whether he slept in the Village?.  Obi is a palace.  It is NOT a house.  Every man must build a place at his house.

17. You ALL live in Mansions and duplex's? How is this possible? Is Nigeria, as a whole, rich in money?

18. Do you know any titles of Nigerian Movies that would be a good example of Nigerian life/conflict?

19. Who is Wesley Snipes? Is he someone here on Nairaland?

20. You said, "every man must build a place at his house" i say, "huh?" what do you mean by this?

sbucareer:

Nigeria is a very religious country, thanks to British for teaching us.  We have three major Languages in Nigeria today, The Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa.  Hence three religions, Christianity practice by some middle belt region of Nigeria to the South of Nigeria.  The other one is Muslim practice again from middle belt region up the Northern Nigeria.  We have had our differences but now the Nation lives in harmony.  The only problem in Nigeria is our political system.  The third religion is the atheist, they have many ways the practice they religion.

21. Are you glad, or reproachful or some other emotion towards the British for coming and teaching you? What is the emotion Nigeria as a whole, would you say, feels towards them?

22. What is wrong with your political system?

sbucareer:

I cannot say much about this.  I stand to be challenged; mind you Things Fall Apart was taken from just one cultural part of the Nigerian the Igbos.  Don't assume Things Fall Apart speaks for all the Nigerians.  It is only taken from and Igbo kingdom.  I don't know about the titles.  That was the problem of Igbo man we do NOT regard title, till today we do not have an Igbo leader.  Anyway like the Yorubas they have Oba, the Hausa have Emir but the Igbo only have a family or kindred leader called Igwe.  We also have Eze, the leader of large community.

23. What is the Oba? The Emir? The Eze? Are they politicions? Are they like the kings/presidents of each different part of Nigeria? If so, how do they make desisions for Nigeria?

sbucareer:

In the bible God created Adam and ask him to Look after Eve.  How could you revere that?  Since liberation by Nightingale women around the world today wants equal power, I don't blame them.  But know this, Nigeria women are the most rigorous and persistent women on earth.  Intelligent, industrious and many men in Nigeria are becoming scared.

WOW!

24. How are the women the most rigorous/persistent women on earth? What are actions that show them be this?

sbucareer:

I wish it could be re-introduced.  I wish we could have studied gods/spirits at our universities and learn more about it.  No knowledge is a waste, so they say.  Our court system is not perfect like many around the world today.  If it is possible to make magic when someone is guilty their face goes red for few minutes, I think that is a good justice for me don't you think?  But our colonial masters told us that that was evil.  Evil that has kept us alive for billion years back.

25. People can do magic in Nigeria? Is magic practiced alot, or only by few?

26. You said, "colonial masters" what does this mean, and why must you obey them? (you say that they told you that it was evil, so you no longer do it anymore)

sbucareer:

You can put my name on your research.

Mr Valentine Obih

Thank you Mr. Valentine Obih, i greatly appreciate it. (Your name rocks by the way. it's totally cool)

gbengaijot:

When the slave trade was abolished in Nigeria, mary slessor came and she discovered that twins were still being thrown away. she put an end to it and throwing away of twins was abolished.

27. How important would you say Mary Slessor is, to Nigerian culture? Like do schools have history lessons on her?

gbengaijot:

To answer your questions, we live in houses. i personally lived in a 5 bedroom bungalow my dad built.( i know a lot of people who live in such houses)

28. The other person said that Nigerians live in duplex's and mansions, and you say you live in a 5 bedroom bungalow. Is a 5 bedroom bungalow considered a mansion? Or, are there different 'rich', 'well-off', 'not so well-off', 'poor', 'broke', parts of Nigeria?

gbengaijot:

4. concerning the titles as well, they are obsolete( some small villages still do that, but trut me they r very very few). The one i know of is kingship. there are towns that are governed by kings. Queens are not allowed to rule a town or a city. Allthough a princess is allowed to be "adele"  when there is no heir to the throne( Adele means, a princess who rules until a prince is found for the throne). concerning clanship, i don't think they still exist and if they do, they r in minute proportion.

29. How does Nigeria work if there are more than one kings that are ruling parts of it?

gbengaijot:

i might post pictures for u at later date for your project. Also i don't mind u quoting my name if u want to. Call me "olu" or "gbenga", whichever one. i hope i answered some of your questions.

i would love pictures, my project is due this friday, so i'd need them before then. Oh, and remember i live 7 hours in the past. woaw, i'm talking to people in the future... freaky....

what do 'olu' and 'gbenga' mean? Are they like nicknames? Or what? and yes you did answer some of my questions thanks a bunch

nigeria has a "rich" culture meaning we're made up of many different people.
for example that book you're reading has to do with the ibo (east) culture which is very different from other cultures we have in Nigeria. i'm Yoruba (west) for example and we also have the Hausa (north). there are also many other minor ones

Nigeria has about 250 languages (so i heard)
so i guess that's what they mean by "rich culture".


i would change the poverty and corruption in Nigeria. it's way too much!


he meant "Diaspora" as when you move to another country like from Nigeria to the US.


we don't all live in mansions and duplexes. trust. me there's poverty in nigeria and wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few.



what's wrong w/ the political system? CORRUPTION!! tons of it.

when i was in Nigeria, i learnt about mary slessor at school but i really don't remember much about her.
http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/bioslessor2.html (it also mentions a little about how twins used to be killed because the calabar people thought they were cursed or something.)

yes there are tons of kings in Nigeria. they don't rule Nigeria. they rule on their lands.
let's say there's the USA. there'll be a king of Illinois, a king of Maryland e.t.c some are even more divided so that there can be a king of some little village or king of an area in a city. but there's no king of Nigeria.

When I said palace I did not actually meant everyone should have a palalce it is optional. But kings and queens must have a palace.

Definition of a palace, the governing group of a kingdom; "the palace issued an order binding on all subjects"


Reference
=============

1, http://www.google.co.uk/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=deskbar&q=define%3A+Palace

thank you all for giving me this information. i am not going to put any more questions on tongiht.... or i guess it's tomorrow already in Nigeria... i will wait for more people to respond. thank you all though.

Question 21
===============

Civilization brought good things as well as bad things.  The bad things are still-hunting us today.  Could you tell me any country colonization has help today?

10. If you could change one thing. Anything, but only one thing, about Nigeria, what would it be?

Providing efficient Electricity

13. Child Soldiers. Do you know anything about them? tell me everything.

They are more in the war-ridden areas like sierria leone, Democratic republic of congo etc.( as far as i am concerned, i dont know of any child soldier instance here in Nigeria since the last war was in 1973)

16. What do you mean by 'things we do not understand yet in our lives are considered as treat,'?
It means, before the advent of colonialism, whenever issues comes up about new things, instead of an average person to think about why it is happening, what exactly it is, where it comes from, they'd rather consider it as a threat rather than think about its origin..

14. So do you call the area you live in like a town, village, city, etc...?
I live in a town
18. Do you know any titles of Nigerian Movies that would be a good example of Nigerian life/conflict?
U can check www.nollywood.com , www.naijamovies.com and www.ebay.co.uk

19. Who is Wesley Snipes? Is he someone here on Nairaland?
Wesley snipes is an actor in hollywood. he is well known for his action packed movies

25. People can do magic in Nigeria? Is magic practiced alot, or only by few?
Yes, in NIgeria it is called black power( completely different from magic), coz magis is tricks. blackpower is actually real and its only practised by few

26. You said, "colonial masters" what does this mean, and why must you obey them? (you say that they told you that it was evil, so you no longer do it anymore)
Colonial masters means the british who came to invade nigeria long time ago. They deprived us of our freedom and gave us relion by force.they exploited our naivety as well as our illiteracy and make us think everything about our culture and religion was bad.


23. What is the Oba? The Emir? The Eze? Are they politicions? Are they like the kings/presidents of each different part of Nigeria? If so, how do they make desisions for Nigeria?

Emirs, Obas and Ezez are thesame translation as King. Nigeria has three different tribes merged together. in igboland a king is called Eze, in yorubalad a king is called Oba, and in Hausea land a king is called Emir. Theirfunction is just like the queen of England but the difference there is that they rule over a part of the land not the whole of nigeria together.

I quickly read through the posts here and I discovered some wrong statements from some of you guys above.

But in the first place. "Things Fall Apart" was written over ten years ago and as we all know, culture is a dynamic phenomenon is it is wrong for you to have used that book as a yardstick in looking into the present Nigerian culture. ------> My advice, read new Nigerian books or take that book as an historical refrence.

Two, you guys are still making statemens like. Xtianity and Islam are the only religions we practise. How about IFA?? IFA has the largest number of followers in Nigeria..tho not official And again, most of our ancient cultures like killing of twins and other gruesome ones was just normal for humans....it was like that everywhere, but the logic is that when the westerners and others was living like that, there was no advanced race at that time to document it.

And as per polygamy...its nothing bad, infact if not for economic reasons polygamy should be encouraged these days...CAN ANYONE GIVE ME ONE REASON WHY POLYGAMY IS BAD??

Anyway AbbyMarie...Nigeria today is one advanced country like the UK today and you know what? Our fanshion sense is the best in the world! Tho we no longer use those beauiful leaves like Mr Adam and Mrs Eve did....

NaijaGuru don talk!

9. Many say that Nigerian Culture is 'rich'. What exactly is it you mean by this? What even, would a normal day look like in Nigeria.

Nigerian culture is rich because there are so may tribes and languages with their own unique identity, like someone said about 250 of them

10. If you could change one thing. Anything, but only one thing, about Nigeria, what would it be?

Stable electricity and Security

11. Do the people generally look the same, or is it a moshpit of differences?

I don't know if you mean like the chinese, if that's the case we don't look the same. But if you're talking about race then yeah we're all black.

12. What are the clothes like? Do you have like, Abercrombie and Fitch, Holister, Hot Topic etc...? Or is the style completely different than in America (or any other contry?)

The best way for you to know about the clothes is to see a Nigerian movie.

13. Child Soldiers. Do you know anything about them? tell me everything.
Nothing! Try watching CNN

14. So do you call the area you live in like a town, village, city, etc...?
I live in a city, Not too many people live in the villages these days


15. What is Diaspora?
When someone says nigerians in diaspora, it means NIGERIANS not in nigeria, e.g Nigerians in Togo, China, U.S, U.K etc



17. You ALL live in Mansions and duplex's? How is this possible? Is Nigeria, as a whole, rich in money?

Not true at all, though a rich minority do. I can say safely that Nigeria is a rich country but the leaders are just too corrupt stashing our money in foreign banks.



19. Who is Wesley Snipes? Is he someone here on Nairaland?

You mean you don't know Wesley Snipes , For christ sake he's a hollywood star and he's an American



21. Are you glad, or reproachful or some other emotion towards the British for coming and teaching you? What is the emotion Nigeria as a whole, would you say, feels towards them?

I sure don't have any problems with the British Colonising Nigeria, cos they brought development to country,the railway built in the early 1900's by the British is still the one we have now, I have a feeling that we would have been like the asian tigers by now if the Bristish were still ruling us, our leaders are just too corrupt.

22. What is wrong with your political system?
Corruption

23. What is the Oba? The Emir? The Eze? Are they politicions? Are they like the kings/presidents of each different part of Nigeria? If so, how do they make desisions for Nigeria?

The Oba is the title given to a ruler in Yorubaland (southwestern Nigeria), the Emir is given to a ruler in Hausaland (Northern Nigerian), the Ibo's have several titles for their rulers, Eze, Obi, Igwe.
Mind you there are also other tribes in Nigeria, like the Urhobos (Midwestern Nigeria) have titles like Orodje, Ovie for their rulers, the itsekiris call their ruler Olu. And many other titles from smaller ethnic groups(remember there are 250 tribes!).


25. People can do magic in Nigeria? Is magic practiced alot, or only by few?
There's so much Voodoo in the land, Nigerians believe so much in magic I guess that's why there are so many churches. Somepeople when they are going through bad times think that their great grandmother or grandmother in the village is after them.

26. You said, "colonial masters" what does this mean, and why must you obey them? (you say that they told you that it was evil, so you no longer do it anymore)

Check the dictionary for the meaning of Colonial


27. How important would you say Mary Slessor is, to Nigerian culture? Like do schools have history lessons on her?

She sure is important especially to the Calabar people in eastern Nigeria, she is in the history books cos i learnt about her in social studies in primary school. There is even a Mary Slessor day in Calabar

28. The other person said that Nigerians live in duplex's and mansions, and you say you live in a 5 bedroom bungalow. Is a 5 bedroom bungalow considered a mansion? Or, are there different 'rich', 'well-off', 'not so well-off', 'poor', 'broke', parts of Nigeria?

In every city in Nigeria there's always the 'rich' areas and the 'broke' areas

29. How does Nigeria work if there are more than one kings that are ruling parts of it?

The same way America works with 50 governors, Lots of Mayors



Odafe

Erm excuse me what year are u in @ school? are u in high school,college or what?

remember ur reading a book/novel not exactly an history book ...is Harry Potter and his magic real

"An american student" asking who Wesley Snipe is ? ?

Let me start by saying I leave, work and school in an environment that is called the University of Port Harcourt.


9. Many say that Nigerian Culture is 'rich'. What exactly is it you mean by this? What even, would a normal day look like in Nigeria.

Like America has blacks, hispanic, spanish, chinese, french, italian, arabs, jews etc so and even Nigeria many times over, am urhobo, my mom's isoko and my grand mother is itsekiri, there are yorubas, hausas, ibos, efiks, kanuri, fulanis, annang, ikwerres, ijaws, etches, tiv, ibibios and the list goes on till u reach 250.

10. If you could change one thing. Anything, but only one thing, about Nigeria, what would it be?

It will be our large reserves of oil and gas. It has made a lot of our political leaders and top military officials lazy, corrupt and yet extremely wealthy. So much that will cause Bill Gates to be very sober.

11. Do the people generally look the same, or is it a moshpit of differences?

We don't look alike at all, our country has different weather conditions, up north is very hot and almost desert like with a lot of dust. the air is very thin and it can be very cold about twenty degrees some times; the people there are thin, darker and tall with narrow faces and are mainly hausas, other nigerian are fare and stocky. It varies a lot. Do you know that snow falls in some places in Nigeria while in some others rain hadly falls yet in others like where i leave, it rains almost every day.

12. What are the clothes like? Do you have like, Abercrombie and Fitch, Holister, Hot Topic etc...? Or is the style completely different than in America (or any other contry?)

We have our traditional clothes but a lot of us also deck what you peeps use over there

13. Child Soldiers. Do you know anything about them?

Nigeria is not at war with anybody. Even during inter community disputes we do not use our children as they are our future, our hope, priceless, never to be bought with any kind of money.

14. So do you call the area you live in like a town, village, city, etc...?

The University of Port Harcourt is in an area of Port Harcourt called Choba which has grown from a village to a town. We are home to at least 3 industries, The makers of Indomie in the entire Nigeria has their base. An American Oil and Gas company called WILBROS also has a base here. The Federal University is here and there is also a research institute dedicated to Fisheries too.

15. What is Diaspora?
When someone says nigerians in diaspora, it means NIGERIANS not in nigeria, e.g Nigerians in Togo, China, U.S, U.K etc


17. You ALL live in Mansions and duplex's? How is this possible? Is Nigeria, as a whole, rich in money?

Not true at all, though a rich minority do. I can say safely that Nigeria is a rich country but the leaders are just too corrupt stashing our money in foreign banks.


19. Who is Wesley Snipes? Is he someone here on Nairaland?

You mean you don't know Wesley Snipes Shocked, For christ sake he's a hollywood star and he's an American



21. Are you glad, or reproachful or some other emotion towards the British for coming and teaching you? What is the emotion Nigeria as a whole, would you say, feels towards them?

I sure don't have any problems with the British Colonising Nigeria, because they brought development to country,the railway built in the early 1900's by the British is still the one we have now, I have a feeling that we would have been like the asian tigers by now if the Bristish were still ruling us, our leaders are just too corrupt.

22. What is wrong with your political system?

Corruption

23. What is the Oba? The Emir? The Eze? Are they politicions? Are they like the kings/presidents of each different part of Nigeria? If so, how do they make desisions for Nigeria?

The Oba is the title given to a ruler in Yorubaland (southwestern Nigeria), the Emir is given to a ruler in Hausaland (Northern Nigerian), the Ibo's have several titles for their rulers, Eze, Obi, Igwe. Mind you there are also other tribes in Nigeria, like the Urhobos (Midwestern Nigeria) have titles like Orodje, Ovie for their rulers, the itsekiris call their ruler Olu. And many other titles from smaller ethnic groups(remember there are 250 tribes!). They are now forming a league with the corrupt politicians to amass wealth. Sooner than later they will become ceremonial and


25. People can do magic in Nigeria? Is magic practiced alot, or only by few?
There's so much Voodoo in the land, Nigerians believe so much in magic I guess that's why there are so many churches. Somepeople when they are going through bad times think that their great grandmother or grandmother in the village is after them.

26. You said, "colonial masters" what does this mean, and why must you obey them? (you say that they told you that it was evil, so you no longer do it anymore)

Check the dictionary for the meaning of Colonial


27. How important would you say Mary Slessor is, to Nigerian culture? Like do schools have history lessons on her?

She sure is important especially to the Calabar people in eastern Nigeria, she is in the history books because i learnt about her in social studies in primary school. There is even a Mary Slessor day in Calabar

28. The other person said that Nigerians live in duplex's and mansions, and you say you live in a 5 bedroom bungalow. Is a 5 bedroom bungalow considered a mansion? Or, are there different 'rich', 'well-off', 'not so well-off', 'poor', 'broke', parts of Nigeria?

In every city in Nigeria there's always the 'rich' areas and the 'broke' areas. A 5 bedroom bungalow is not a mansion. A former Nigerian president has a 300 room mansion that will take the shine out of your white house.

29. How does Nigeria work if there are more than one kings that are ruling parts of it?

There is separation of powers so there is other

Hey y'all FYI my friend from my class has just made an account and she is doing this same project, her account name is Butterflye and she will be posting questions on this too....

Abbehy marrie, no shaking. waiting for the questions

This link could answer some of the questions you asked here that you did not get a straight answer.

http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/pictures.html


NOTE
============

Most of this pictures and answers you get from the web link are old or outdated, changes in Nigeria is contemporary as many people come to invest in Nigeria.

I would like to point out that the Obi,Emir and Oba's are ceremonial heads.We have states just like in the US and these states are divided into regions,each state has its own governor and all these leaders are synchronized in such a way that they dont get in each other's way.Some of them do though!

gbengaijot:

Abbehy marrie, no shaking. waiting for the questions

Sorry, i posted durring class i didn't have time to post more questions.....

LoverBwoy:

Erm excuse me what year are u in @ school? are u in high school,college or what?

remember your reading a book/novel not exactly an history book ...is Harry Potter and his magic real

"An american student" asking who Wesley Snipe is ? ?

I am a freshman (age 14-15) in Highschool, but i'm doing what next year's sophomores (age 15-16) are doing.. (i'm in honors, and the requirements are changing, and my class are the guini-pigs....)

Yes, i do know that "Things Fall Apart" is a fictional book, not a history book, but it is absolutley my only frame of reference on Nigerian Culture, i asume that all of it could still be true and all of it could now be false. If you had asked me what i knew about Nigeria before reading "Things Fall Apart" I could have told you that it might be in either South America or Africa. That's how little i knew, and that's why i said several times to remember that i know absolutely NOTHING about Nigeria.

As to Wesley Snipe.... i don't know lots of actors/actress' names, but... i still have never heard of him.....

Ok, another question.

30. How do you worship or celebrate, or perticipate in the different relgions? If you have experianced one, please describe it in detail. (This is a very important question)

31. What are different Holidays that Nigeria as a whole celebrates?

32. What is unique to the Igbo culture? Specifically about their religion...

33. What is unique to the Yoruba culture? Specifically about their religion...

34. What is unique to the Hausas culture? Specifically about their religion...

35. What is unique to Nigerian culture? Specificallly about their religions....

36. What is different about Christianity and Islamic (and other religions too...) relgions in Nigeria opposed to Other places.

37. How modernized is Nigeria? One person mentioned earlier that some places in Nigeria remind them of the buildings and such in like the UK and London... I am trying to get a feel of what Nigeria is like, what electric/gas/etc... conviences do you have... don't you have...

38. For those of you who have visited places like the USA, how does daily life in Nigeria compare to daily life in the USA (or similar places...)

that's all for now. THANKS! Please remember to put your name on at least one of your responces, and any and all websites and pictures would be greatly appreciated. Now that i mentioned it, does anyone have a picture they could give me of Like the inside and/or outside of a Nigerian Masc (SP? mah-s-k) or Church or Temple? Or People from Nigeria? Like, even just random photos of people walking down the street would be great....!

treat ---- threat
masc---mosque

very interesting! i just thot i'd send a few contributions to this post. you've got a whole lot of interesting questions to ask but sadly it exposes the complete lack of information or do i call it misinformation that the western media has deliberately chosen to portray about africa. I live in NY, USA but find it very hard to watch the news cos it's always about some death or disaster that has just befallen my dear Africa that the white man chose to despoil!

To your questions:
19. Who is Wesley Snipes? Is he someone here on Nairaland?
What? Wesley Snipes is a black American actor. Did you watch the movie blade and blade II?

21. Are you glad, or reproachful or some other emotion towards the British for coming and teaching you? What is the emotion Nigeria as a whole, would you say, feels towards them?
i am one of those who will gladly carry up arms if ever there was a war against the british! What? Teach us? They came, raped our lands, killed our people and made them slaves in their own land and then made the worst mistake in history of amalgamating strange bedfellows in southern and northern nigeria in 1914! The name nigeria was given to us by Flora Shaw, Lord Frederick Lugard's girlfriend! Sacrilegious!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_Shaw#Naming_of_Nigeria

The british set the stage for Nigeria's present rot today by handing over power to a retrogressive north to undermine the resourcefulness of the highly intellectual south. A so-called firstworld country that will recieve over $1.7bn from a thirdworld nation in the name of dubious foreign debts is not worthy of my respect.

22. What is wrong with your political system?
Ask the british!
The major problem till date remains the bundling together of politically, economically, culturally diverse people into one forced union. Imagine Germans and Jews in the same nation! The south wants a federal system while the north will favor a unified political system with a strong federal government which benefits them since they are financially heavily dependent on the south's abundant oil resources.
The north have however used their "supposedly" larger population to suppress any constitutional ammendment to move the nation in the direction of a federal system of government as is practiced in the USA.

28. The other person said that Nigerians live in duplex's and mansions, and you say you live in a 5 bedroom bungalow. Is a 5 bedroom bungalow considered a mansion? Or, are there different 'rich', 'well-off', 'not so well-off', 'poor', 'broke', parts of Nigeria?
With 70% of the population living below the poverty line, it would be utter naivety to assume all nigerians live iin mansions. Only about 1% of nigerians can afford decent housing, slums are the major housing opportunities for the poor, all the news of mansions and 5 or 10 bedroom houses exist only in the major cities like Lagos and Abuja. It might interest you to note that there are villages today where people still live in thatched houses. A 5 bedroom bungalow would under no circumstance be considered a mansion, it would probably be owned by a middle class (do they still exist?) family in nigeria. Class distinction is very prominent in nigeria as there are areas for the "rich", middle class and the poor.

13. Child Soldiers. Do you know anything about them? tell me everything.
And no ma'am, there are NO child soldiers in nigeria. Thanks to CNN and the likes, every one thinks all of Africa is a war zone.

10. If you could change one thing. Anything, but only one thing, about Nigeria, what would it be?
Excise northern nigeria from the ridiculous geographical contraption called "Nigeria"!


For facts and figures about nigeria, you can check these webpages;
http://www.iss.co.za/AF/profiles/Nigeria/Politics.html
http://www.photius.com/countries/nigeria/geography/index.html

31. What are different Holidays that Nigeria as a whole celebrates?
nigeria is a multicultural and multireligious (note not a secular) country. Typical nigerian holidays include general holidays such as new year (jan 1), muslim festivals such as Eid el Fitri and Salah (after ramadan) are also national holidays, christian holidays such as easter and christmas are also national holidays. other national holidays include children's day (may 27), democracy day (May 29) etc. A complete profile is listed here http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/holidays.html

37. How modernized is Nigeria? One person mentioned earlier that some places in Nigeria remind them of the buildings and such in like the UK and London... I am trying to get a feel of what Nigeria is like, what electric/gas/etc... conviences do you have... don't you have...
Nigeria is a typical third world nation like some third world south american countries. As much as nigeria has improved in terms of telecommunications and other modern infrasctructure, there is no denying the fact that electricity, water supply, good roads are all priviledges of the rich and corrupt. Decaying social infrastructure, poor maintenance culture (by successive governments) and a "me and my family only" mentality still keeps us at the rung of the ladder in terms of development.

38. For those of you who have visited places like the USA, how does daily life in Nigeria compare to daily life in the USA (or similar places...)
But for the conveniences, educational and career opportunities that exist in the USA, i'd rather be living in nigeria right now. Nigeria may not be the best place to live but she makes up for it in having some of the world's most dynamic, smartest (if in doubt ask those who have been conned by nigerian fraudsters!), and happy easy going people inthe world. Quite unlike america, typical nigerians have a friendly disposition to people and strangers. The typical daily life in nigeria is a potpouri of activities depending on your status in society or career. Weekends probably are the best days for a nigerian, friday night is the best time to hang out with friends at various clubs, bars and beer palours. Saturdays are never complete without the never ending wedding, burial or other birthday ceremonies. sunday is a day of worship for almost everybody, both christian and muslim.

OH MY GOSH! I so HAVE to visit Nigeria before i die... preferably sooner the better....

@davidylan do you by any chance know where you got the stats for your answer to question 28?

thank you so much for putting websites... i appreciate those A LOT....

you might want to check economic facts and figures on this webpages;
http://www.geographyiq.com/countries/ni/Nigeria_economy.htm
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ni.html

the cia fact book is the most recent and probably represents the most accurate data.

wait a minute, did we just help you to write your term paper?

davidylan:

you might want to check economic facts and figures on this webpages;
http://www.geographyiq.com/countries/ni/Nigeria_economy.htm
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ni.html

the cia fact book is the most recent and probably represents the most accurate data.

wait a minute, did we just help you to write your term paper?

well no. I'm creating a power point presentation in the first place, not writting a term paper, and once i found this website i thought.... who could teach me more about Nigerians than Nigerians themselves? And extremely smart Nigerians at that (for instance that word you once used once: amalgamating, i mean WOW what a word!) So i'm asking you questions, and you are answering them. YES, i am going to use LOADS of this information from this thread for it, but so are my friends for which i am printing off copies of the thread for. Actually its the websites that help the most (other than your personal feed back of course ) because i can site those. and i am the world's most horrible researcher... and you guys all know tons of different websites it seems, so, hey, WHY NOT? why not ask you guys yourself? And don't worry, i have to use a stupid 6 word 7 line thing... so although i will quote you all alot, i won't like plagerize this or anything.

plus, i totally love Nigerian culture now... after talking to you guys, how could someone not?