AfricaIs aCountry

’10 things you can learn from a Nigerian’

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

’10 things you can learn from a Nigerian’

By
Sean Jacobs

Fela Kuti.

“One in five Africans is Nigerian and they certainly represent throughout the Diaspora. Much of the time, however, the over 150 million Nigerians in the world are unfairly associated with 419 email scams,” reported The Atlanta Post last month. So to counter this stereotype–and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence this year , The Post listed ten things you can learn from a Nigerian. Like: “How To Make Art A Weapon for Revolution” (that’s the guy above); “How to Own a Major Airport In The Country That Colonized Yours;” etcetera. You get the drift.

The Atlanta Post (Via New School Thoughts on Africa)

Further Reading

Progress is exhausting

Pedro Pinho’s latest film follows a Portuguese engineer in Guinea-Bissau, exposing how empire survives through bureaucracy, intimacy, and the language of “development.”

The rubble of empire

Built by Italian Fascists in 1928, Mogadishu Cathedral was meant to symbolize “peaceful conquest.” Today its ruins force Somalis to confront the uneasy afterlife of colonial power and religious authority.

Atayese

Honored in Yorubaland as “one who repairs the world,” Jesse Jackson’s life bridged civil rights, pan-Africanism, empire, and contradiction—leaving behind a legacy as expansive as it was imperfect.

Bread or Messi?

Angola’s golden jubilee culminated in a multimillion-dollar match against Argentina. The price tag—and the secrecy around it—divided a nation already grappling with inequality.

Visiting Ngara

A redevelopment project in Nairobi’s Ngara district promises revival—but raises deeper questions about capital, memory, and who has the right to shape the city.

Gen Z’s electoral dilemma

Long dismissed as apathetic, Kenya’s youth forced a rupture in 2024. As the 2027 election approaches, their challenge is turning digital rebellion and street protest into political power.

A world reimagined in Black

By placing Kwame Nkrumah at the center of a global Black political network, Howard W. French reveals how the promise of pan-African emancipation was narrowed—and what its failure still costs Africa and the diaspora.

Securing Nigeria

Nigeria’s insecurity cannot be solved by foreign airstrikes or a failing state, but by rebuilding democratic, community-rooted systems of collective self-defense.