"How To Be A Nigerian" by Peter Enahoro

I discovered this piece during one of my trips back to Abuja, early this year. It was standing on a shelf and beaming at me from a bookstore inside the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja (Local Arrival Wing);

Its price was a bit on the high side compared to other "story books" of its size and category. But I've learned that no amount of money is worth the value of knowledge, so I bought.

"How To Be A Nigerian" by Peter Enahoro was first published in 1966. For the sake of people like me, who were too busy with heavenly installations back then, it was republished in 2013.

"How To Be A Nigerian" is an 88-page book written when Nigeria had just 5 Universities (now we've 141), population was just 55.6 million (now we're 185+ million) and the currency was Great Britain Pound (GBP) but now it's the Nigerian Naira (NGN) and Kobo; Even with the population and economic explosions, the specific natures of the Nigerian hasn't changed that much.

Apart from being a renowned journalist and a one-time Editor of the popular Daily Times Newspaper, Peter Enahoro is also a well-read and well-traveled individual;

I found out some very strange but true facts about Nigeria and Nigerians; I also discovered the roots of many odd things and anomalies we experience in our society today. Interesting enough to me is the Then-Now contrast of our statistical figures;

While I enjoyed and learned reading this, I do not agree with all the scenarios painted in the book. Given my over 2.3 million minutes experience of being Nigerian, I feel some of those scenarios could be best described as over-generalization;

I recommend this for Nigerians and foreigners alike, but unfortunately after reading it you wouldn't have become a Nigerian; At best, you'll have just been introduced to somethings to expect from a Nigerian.

The big take away for me is that, a good book always remains good and would continue to make IMPACT generations after generations, long after the author had forgotten he ever wrote anything.

A PERSONAL DISCLAIMER:
If you actually wanna be a Nigerian, this book wouldn't help; You'll have to marry someone from Nnewi or Okene or Ogbomoso or LASSA or Kano or Ijaw or Chibok or Oshogbo etc (contact me for consulting😇).

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