Let's face it, I can wear the colourful dashiki (derived from Hausa language which means 'shirt'), put on a kufi, fila, or mahadu abanki (all are skull caps.... I have to check with Zaharan), wear the Super Eagles football jersey...speak in Yoruba or even fluent Pidgin like Petros (A Greek descent, but born in Nigeria)..I can tell you the state of Kogi with Lokoja as its capital is adjacent to 10 other states in Nigeria...But with my skin colour..I am but an Oyibo (not local, not Nigerian)
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| At Lake Como (Lago di Como) |
Worse still, I am pretty sure that there is no Yoruba name begins with the letter 'Z' (I think) much worse when it's "DZ" in my case. So I get the stares. To pronounce my name is even worse than the tongue twister.
My friends from the North mostly have Muslim names (Zaharan, Yahaya...even the President, Muhammadu Buhari) You either will correctly identify them as Hausa (here muslims are the majority), a Muslim or they originally comes from the north of Nigeria.
From the East, names like Amaka, Chibuzo, Chukwuemeka, Ozumba Mbadiwe, Nnamdi Azikiwe or Ngozi (the list goes on and on). But I noticed, a healthy dose of 'Z' and the sort of name where consonants combine could be a dead giveaway of the origin of the person.
Lagos (pronounced as Lay-goes) the melting pot of various sort of people around Nigeria and Africa, a Yorubaland. You would find names that begins with Olu (ooh-lu, which means God), Oba (means King), Ade (crown/royalty..hmmmm the footballer Adebayor seems a likely match), Akinwunmi (current Governor of Lagos), Babatunde (name given to a son which has the similar trait as his forefather, Babatunde Fashola...previous Lagos Governor's name, now Minister of Power, Works and Housing), Taiwo (name given to a younger set of twin) and some named their children according to the day of birth. Sunday is quite famous. Each day has its qualities according to them
Good names makes person, naturally. Parents give good names to their children which hopefully, will aspire them to greater heights in life or a higher purpose. To a foreigner like me, pronouncing the names here is another matter and worse, not pronouncing it properly. I remembered Anthony (a friend of mine in Abuja) mentioned that they know you are saying their name, but they most probably would not respond to you because of how you say it.
And since name is important..and I am beginning to miss the point regarding this particular posting, my friends at Madams workplace had given or rather bestowed me with one. I am humbled by it, felt given a batch of honour by them.
You can call me, Femi (which means, love me..)
Oh my!..I was gobsmacked when I heard it. I was studying about the names of the main tribes of Nigeria when the news came. I guess, if it's easy for them...easy for me too. Aheh!!
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| at Lake Atter (Attersee in Austria) |
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