Happy anything!

Ibrahim wishing "Happy Valentine's Day" / "Vote for me"

Proximity building

The most awaited Valentine's Day happened yesterday. Lovers had good reasons to cheer about it. There would be celebration in the course of the day. Actually one politician thought he could make use of the opportunity to wish everyone "Happy V Day / Vote for me" which is an interesting way to hijack the event.

Is he speaking to my wife? Then I shall be worried and will definitely not vote for him!

Is he bringing Valentine's day on par with Halloween, Christmas, New Year, Easter, Eïd etc…? In any case this was a colorful and smiling message from an expert in circumstantial greetings (he has already ventured into happy neighbor, happy new Year, Happy Xmas and is perhaps busy preparing happy Easter in case the elections are postponed again?).

That was a good way to stand out!

Serious Valentine's Gift

Last Friday, with some colleagues a discussion broke out on what to offer for Valentine's. I suggested flowers. Forget it, they said unanimously, if we do that, our wives will beat us with the bunch of flowers. Nigerian women need something more serious like a smartphone, a dinner in a nice restaurant, etc…

In any case avoid roses with thorns ;-)

Tips for a long-distance Valentine's day celebration

For those who do not belong to the blessed ones with their partner around the corner, or the ones having multiple partners, long-distance celebration tips can come very handy. Internations put a few ideas on how it could be done.

JO's green face continuing moving

Continuing moving

Troubling poster of the current president in black and green. Green is certainly on of the colors of Nigeria. Is that supposed to make him look like a venerable uncle or perhaps like Lionel Ritchie?

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The Ogiamien family in Benin City: about wood and history

Roland Ogiamien in his wood-carving workshop Wood Roland Ogiamien is a renown wood carver. He is now retired in his home town of Benin City and is now in his 80s. We met him in his simple workshop, a barn opened on the surrounding greenery. A part of the studio is used to store wood pieces and make sure they are well dried. He is using a collection of german ustensils to carve and polish the wood. He spent most of his career working out of Lagos before relocating to Benin. Roland was explaining that the wood he uses today is different that the one he worked on in his early days. Ebony has become rare and wood carvers have had to switch to other types of wood. Traditional heritage is a large part of his inspiration which he translates on wood with his own particular style, exploring various techniques for the finish of his pieces. Roland Ogiamien and two of his favourite masks History Ogiamien is the name of an important royal family in Benin Kingdom. Towards the end of the ...

Iragbiji, the town of Chief Muraina Oyelami

running up the hill Iragbiji is a small but lively town, in Osun state, surrounded by hills made of curvy rocks emerging from the plain and partly patched with green. It is part of Yorubaland, about sixty kilometres East of Osogbo . The heart of the town is the palace of the Oba (King of the area) next to a yellow multi-storeyed central mosque. The Oba is a muslim. the Oba of Iragbiji Chief Muraina Oyelami , a versatile artist born in 1940, is residing in Iragbiji. He is both a talented talking-drum player and a painter. He welcomed us in his house for a talk on Yoruba culture especially about the talking drums which evolved in shape overtime to the modern form of goat skin cylinder whose sound can be altered by squeezing the ropes that are tied along the circumference of the drum to produce tons and therefore allows to emulate the Yoruba language through rhythm and tonality. three sets of Yoruba drums There are actually three types of drums each playing a specific ro...

Lagos Island - Balogun market

hot sales Lagos urban area is said to count around 20 million inhabitants. 1 million additional everyday. People say Lagos is like a giant market and one of its epicenter is Lagos Island. Besides former colonial administrative buildings and the banks and insurance who built skyscrapers along the Marina, there is a large area devoted to trading and markets. The densest one is probably Balogun market which is located between the central mosque and Tinubu square. Three or four floors of shops, people, goods all so tightly packed that cars are not welcome and motorbikes have a hard time moving. pick what you need During the day 4 million people are coming to Lagos Island to do business. They will rent a space for an hour, half a day, a day or longer and trade. hen lost in the clothes section One can find pretty much everything, one needs only know where things are. But generally organised by specialized clusters. There is so much happening that one can only get a small glimps...

Nigeria, the land of plenty

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