The Nigerian-ess in us

Many might wonder how I came about this but I bet you wouldn't want me to launch  into a monologue about how in my bathroom , with the water cascading down my head, the thought exploded in my brain?

Hehehe...okay,  you can see right through my act.



Maybe it was seeing lagos through the eyes of Ifemelu; a character from the book Americanah and then the thought settling firmly  in my head, clasping my membrane and taking root as a tree  root would furrow deep into mother earth after I had a chat with my friend about my blog.

The ease at which she typed "don't worry, your blog will start pulling adverts" made me smile at the Nigerian-ess in it.
It is only in Nigeria you will find people saying "I'm strong" when crippled with an illness that is so glaring, a blind man could spot it.

I marvel at how easily the words come to us, without even questioning its authenticity or do we lack lucidity?  Am I the odd one out of the lot, or am I rambling because I have watched too many Africa magic movies for the past three  days than I have in all my years watching cable tv?

My mum is very Nigerian, I remember back in my university days, whenever I had to travel back to school after the long vacation, she would say " if anyone should ask when you are leaving, make sure you don't tell them the exact date," this was stemmed from the fear that I might get involved in an accident. As if the buses we rode in were safe.

Nigerians are a crop of people who never loses hope, who in spite of the untold hardship, still smile and laugh at mundane things, have faith that with saying only positive things every thing will fall into place, who only after going to church to swear unwaveringly to uphold the commandment would attribute every hardship to the occult chasing them from their villages, who believes strongly in kinship and would reassure their kinsmen with these words " don't worry, God is in control"
This is the Nigerian - ess that I have grudgingly come to love.