Local traditions and culture in Nigeria

If you come to Nigeria on business and visit some official authorities, be prepared that your meeting will be filmed! I was actually surprised, and maybe they were not really filming our meetings, but whenever we visited a more or less high official person, there were always boys with professional video cameras filiming the meeting. At first it looks strange, but then you get used to this and don't pay attention.

Also, be prepared to wait long hours for every meeting, even if you believe it was scheduled.

1 more image

Everywhere in Nigeria, almost everyday, we saw a lot of herds with cows, goats, or sheeps.

There were also very often mixed herds. We saw them not only in the rural areas, but also near roads with a lot of traffic and in towns, even in Abuja. I liked especially the wide horned cows.

1 more image

In Nigeria three primary religions are practiced: islam, christianity and animism.

In the north islam dominates and in the south christianity. In the south you can find the most practice of animism, sometimes combined with christianity.

In the north-east of Nigeria we saw a lot of these small mosques in the towns and villages.
Also some petrolstations have their small mosques, mostly in the same yellow-green colours as the petrolpumps.

1 more image

In Nigeria you can see - as in many West African countries - buildings constructed of mud. I like this mud- or adobe-architecture. You can make wonderful organic forms.

In the traditional villages you can see many round huts made of mudblocks. Also the Kano Wall and its at full-scale reconstructed replica in the Museum of Traditional Nigerian Architecture in Jos are made of the local red mud.

The people working at this replica in Jos were very willing to explain me about their work. For strenghtening the material for example, they mix the mud with grass. And every 2 or 3 year they have to repair the mud buildings, to keep them in good shape.

One of the crops you can find in Nigeria is sugar cane. People like to eat and chew the sweet sugar cane. So in the villages and markets along the road you will find very often people who are selling pieces of sugar cane. It's cheap and tasty.

I had my first piece of sugar cane in Cuba in the 70s. So it was nice to try it again here in Nigeria.

It is simple, but complex! Do a close up, and you get the whole gist. What I have here is a conglomerate of the Diversity of culture and way of life of the people of Nigeria. Depending on the place you visit, the culture are unique and very divers.

Do a close up, and you get the whole gist. In this picture also is a unique traditional dress from the Central part of Nigeria. The people are influenced in thier ways by the weather and ancensory tradition that is very unique in Niegeria and to a large extent in Africa.

In this picture is the Minister for culture and Tourism. He was accompanied by some dignitaries from Nigeria and some high ranking officials from UNESCO Paris office at the occasion. Also present were mebers of the diplomatic coerps. The exibition lasted for about a week.