100 Interesting Facts about Africa – Part 2

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1Zobi

Zobi

Sesame Street in Nigeria has a version of Cookie Monster named Zobi the Yam Monster. Since not many Nigerian children have access to cookies, the producers decided to give Zobi an insatiable craving for one of the country’s staple foods. He often shouts out, “Me eat yam!”


2. A London couple named Emmanuel Edet and his wife Antan kept a man named Ofonime Inuk from Nigeria as their slave for 24 years before he finally escaped. After their arrests, they were sentenced to 6 years in prison.


3. French mercenary Bob Denard participated in conflicts in Indochina, Algeria, Rhodesia, Yemen Iran-Nigeria Benin Gabon Angola Zaire & The Comoros. In 1968 he invaded Katanga with 100 men on bicycles. He led 4 coups in the Comoros including once taking control of the country in 3 hours with 30 men


4. In Nigeria, there are scam artists who sell you houses by pretending to be the owners and get paid a considerable deposit by deceiving buyers. As a result, "This house is not for sale" is painted on many homes in Nigeria


5. Nearly half of the world’s twins are born in Africa. The small West African nation of Benin has the highest concentration of twins in the world while Japan has the lowest rate of twinning.


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6Guinness

Guinness

Nigeria has overtaken Ireland in Guinness sales and is the number 2 consumer of Guinness worldwide


7. The Nigerian prince scam is so popular in Nigeria there was a hit song praising it.


8. Shell had a peaceful non-violent protest leader murdered by Nigeria because they wanted oil on the land of the protester. Shell was sued and settled the lawsuit for millions.


9. A person from Niger is called a Nigerien, but a person from Nigeria is called a Nigerian.


10. A goat was once arrested in Nigeria after vigilantes claimed it was an armed robber who turned himself into a goat with black magic.


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11Yoruba twins

Yoruba twins

In Nigeria's Yoruba culture, the second born twin is the elder twin. The first born twin (Taiwo) is kicked out of the womb by the second born twin (Kehinde) to 'test' the world. Kehinde knows it is safe once Taiwo starts crying.


12. Paul McCartney was mugged at knifepoint in Lagos, Nigeria. The thieves made off with all the demo tapes for the album Band on the Run, that he was down there to make. McCartney had to re-create the demos entirely from memory before the album could be made.


13. There are over 150 regional "kings" in Nigeria, and that one of them used to be a Professor Emeritus at University of North Carolina


14. The British outlawed the worship of Sopona, the god of smallpox, in Nigeria after a doctor infiltrated a powerful cult of the god's priests and discovered they were deliberately spreading the disease in a plot to increase their power.


15. The main genetic ancestry of most Black Americans and Black Caribbeans is Yoruba from modern day Nigeria (and surrounding countries)


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16Google Trader

Google Trader

Google has started a beta in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Thailand and Uganda called 'Google trader' where locals can contact sellers of anything from chicken egg incubators to entire houses.


17. In 2005, in Northern Nigeria a group of Muslim leaders declared the polio vaccine to be a conspiracy to sterilize the true believers. Subsequently, the disease began to spread again


18. Nigeria has the 3rd largest film industry in the world in terms of earnings. It is nicknamed 'Nollywood'.


19. Teenagers in East Baltimore rate their communities more negatively than 15-17-year-olds living in Nigeria and New Delhi.


20. Bangladesh has more total English speakers than Canada and that Nigeria has more total English speakers than in the UK.


21Emmanuel Nwude

Emmanuel Nwude

In 1995, scammers based in Nigeria defrauded the director of a Brazilian bank out of $242 million, including selling him a fake airport.


22. Nigeria has one of the biggest space programs, and already have 3 satellites in orbit


23. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Switzerland is the best place where to be born, with Nigeria coming in the last place


24. In Nigeria, it's common to send money to another business in cash, on a 12-hour bus ride. This is currently the cheapest way to move money.


25. The largest man-made structure in history were the Walls of Benin in present-day Nigeria. They were 4 times longer than the Great wall of China and contained a 100 times more material than the Kheops pyramid.

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