I sat on my chair and surfing the net to gather as much info as i possibly can before lunch time, and m y colleague decides to engage me in a discussion about Nigeria, on a normal day, i don't like to discuss the country, because lets face it, everyone already knows 'there is always killing in that country' but for the 'informed', 'Boko haram is at it again in Nigeria' those are the kind of opening discussions i get all the time when people want to talk about Nigeria, but he is my colleague and he is expected to have at least 50% knowledge of sub-Saharan African countries, because that is his division here at work anyway, so i was happy to be intrigued by his knowledge on my dear Nigeria.
So we talked and then he asked how i get to identify people from Nigeria, considering the fact that we have so many ethnic regions and language, (let me tell you this, i was already impressed, because he knows some of the ethnicity that people don't care to know, i know i don't.) so i explained about the Yoruba tribal marks, the accent which you must depict when any one speaks, the fact that every region has an alphabet deficiency and with that you can know who are speaking with... blab bla bla.
Then we went into the most notable people or significant people from Nigeria, he named a guy from my tribe, who is now a Swedish citizen, but he is famous in Estonia as he comes often for concert and stuff, i don't even know the guy, (thanks to google)i did a quick search and learnt what i ought to have known 'as a Nigerian' lol. it was interesting as he talked about so many people, i then told him a very famous writer would be coming to Tallinn sometime in June , i have this information because her book is been translated to Estonian language, and some parts where she used phrases from my native dialect, i 'm helping to get that translated. he was so elated and would like to read her book and maybe get to meet her when she comes.
The conversation took a downturn when he asked about sports, (i should have known this was coming) he talked about how famous my national team is, and that so many of the players are in some major European leagues, i affirmed because this is basic knowledge, but i have no idea who is who, and what football league they play for, (as we say in Nigeria, ''i don fall hand'' which means i disappointed him), he went ahead to name names, and which league they play or played for, and that he went to the UK once to watch and got an Autograph from Kanu Nwankwo, lol...
This reminded me of when i visited Riga and i was engaged on a conversation about Nigerian football players and i didn't know most of them or their names just skipped my mind, i had to literally apologize to the dude and promised him that i would learn more about them in case someone ever asked me, (i obviously didn't)
Well, having said all this, i will go back and get acquainted with my roots and get interested on things that seem irrelevant to me, but are of worth to others, i mean with all the bad press, it is welcoming to hear that some people have faith in other aspects of Nigeria apart from its political bullshit and terrorist activities.
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