Hi Out there, i knows really been a while since i wrote some thing for the internet audience, my apologies. Nigeria turns 50 in 2 days time, many media house will be running various documentaries and features on what makes Nigeria so great or the opposite. Anyways, in the spirit of the celebration, with a little push from the radio geeks at Keffi street, I have taken my mind on a magical journey of Nigeria and produced 50 of my greatest memories in Nigeria. Remember, its about how I feel, but feel free to reminisce and let me know your own memories; and if by any chance you don't find any memory what smiling, laughing, giggling, frowning or hissing about...then you are permitted to enjoy this flight as we fly Nigeria in the Ocharlyie mind airline.....Thanks.....
..
________________________________________________________________
MY FAVORITE - 50 GREAT MEMORIES OF NIGERIA
1. Atlanta 96, when our Olympic team defeated Brazil in the semi finals of that competition. The whole of Lagos when crazy at the early hours of the morning.
2. Death of Abacha:- The 8th of June 1998 was one weird day, when they announced the death of the then head of state, Gen Sani Abacha...people were literally dancing in the streets, I saw two police greet each other heartily.
3. Checkmate and Fortunes: I miss the days when we had those Nigerian soap opera’s, Checkmates aired on Thursday’s while Fortunes aired on Sundays. The likes of Ann hasstsrup Kunle Bamtefa, Regina Askia, Alex Usifo, Richard Mofedamijo were the faces we all ran to see on the 8’oclock belt of the NTA.
4. New Masquerade:- For me this was Nigeria’s best comedy.....I really enjoyed seeing Chief Zebudiah alias 4:30 do his thing with grammar.
5. Beat Fm:- When beat fm hit the waves, they hit us hard, an online presence and interaction with their audience using other media than telephones, and their presenters off the chain..
6. Living in Bondage:- Nollywood has this movie to thank; for being brave to be shot on video and resold to the public, though in Ibo, it was a hit.
7. Lagos Na wa:- This is one movie I can watch over and over again, Okey bakassi at his very best in film.
8. Bata -Sandals:- Remember the days when Bata was the only shoe you had to wear to school, if it wasn’t Bata, our parents would not hear the end of it.
9. Cadbury’s breakfast television:- What happened to this program, we had to wake very early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons and movies before we even said good morning, now it’s one news program or the other.
10. Rainbow Colors of Television : Can’t forget when Television stations had to start at 4pm and just before that, came the rainbow colors after which was the national anthem and the pledge, then Television came alive.
11. The Real News line:- Remember our Sunday Sunday tonic, when the whole family would sit in front of the television and hear the latest gist in various places of Nigeria. When Yinka Craig, Patrick Oke, Frank Olidze and even Abike Dabiri held us spell bound with stories; remember the 58 year old woman who gave birth to Mary.
12. Exercise Books of Old (2A, 2B, 2D), Olympic exercise:- i remember our note books of primary school, the Olympic range. 2A for English, 2B for mathematics and 2D to learn how to write straight.
13. Brighter Grammar, Imperia English, Lacombs:- I haven’t seen these text books in a while but they made learning easy back in the days.
14. Molue’s of Lagos:- I know we still have Molues, but do you remember when they were everywhere, if you couldn’t afford a bus, just wait for your molue. The Molue’s were the best place to market your products, it was your moving trade-fair complex and every marketer took turns to sell their products.
15. Clapper Board—First private station:- It didn’t last too long but clapper board was it, we watched movies all day long, thats where I watched pop eye the sailor man, we missed that station big time.
16. Junior and Pretty:- I remember these ones, their songs were the bomb Monica and Bolanle was just too hilarious.
17. Every Cocacola Ad for the Holiday:- What happened to all those chassis cocacola adverts for the holidays, children singing in an orchestra, Santa clause visiting people at home. Every Cocacola advert was worth the length.
18. Obasanjo as President(The comic Side):- Love him or hate him, he always made you laugh, He would climb cars to make addresses, he would remind press men he knew their ages. He could never wear a suit and best of all, his cough that introduced his speeches.
19. Nollywood’s science fiction ---Eucharia Anunobi:- Not many people remember this movie, but I watched; we attempted to show aliens come to Nigeria. People painted themselves in green pain and ran in front of the camera as aliens, it was comedic to the bone
20. Kenny and D1- :- At a time, I wondered if they owned the entire television broadcasting rights, they were ever where, showing us their travelling exploits, sometimes annoying but always entertaining.
21. Evergreen Comedies on Television:- Remember the days we had foreign comic programs on television. Sometimes we couldn’t understand them but they still made us laugh...Remember
Some mothers do have them (Frank Spencer) Allo Allo Faulty Towers Family Matters (Steve Auckle) Rent a Ghost The Cosby Show Brush Strokes
22. Nite Shift on DBN:- This program kept everyone awake all night, we had to pick movies democratically that we wanted to watch. It was always unfair that only a set of people controlled the movies we watched, thank God now for GSM.
23. The 1993 elections:- You don’t forget this in a long while, the adverts, the parties (NRC,SDP), the celebration of a winner, and the annulment by a presidential aspirant.
24. The Death of Dagrin:- Some of us are still recovering from the news, but the crowd that came out to bid him farewell showed his importance in the entertainment industry. I hope the movie they intend to make about him will be of class like HIM.
25. The transition of Parks:- I remember when I was younger, children all wanted to go to the - Amusement Park to enjoy special holidays and then came Water Parks, because now we could jump into water, and currently it’s the Cinemas and the large shopping Halls & Malls.
26. Baba Suwe:- I am not a Yoruba speaking guy (not fluently anyway), but it was always interesting to see one guy make everyone laugh, if he wasn’t in your movie, no one would buy it. The comical unscripted Baba Suwe.
27. The Nigerian Kings of Comedy – Late Mohammed Danjuma, Adeyinka, Ali Baba, NKem Owoh, Sam Loco Efe.
28. Fuel Scarcity—Nigeria has really improved whether we choose to say it or not; when he had fuel scarcity, you remember the long queues and I mean the Guinness record length of queues, when souls walked the third mainland bridge like they were crossing the red sea.
29. The Action Flick movies :- Before these cinema business, we were forced to buy or rent those one man action movies; Commando, Rambo, Delta Force, Eraser, Terminator...and I’ll also remember one of my favourite movies “THE RETURN OF CHUCKY”
30. Children Television Network & Cartoons :- Sometimes I wonder what children watch nowadays, family guy, the Simpsons. Those days were sure different, the children belt was entertaining and yet educative. Let me refresh your memory- Remember
Voltron Super Ted Thunder Sub Ovide Video Sesame Street Square One Bright Sparks Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin Little Prince
31. The Old Oshodi :- I miss the Old Oshodi where we pushed each other to get to where we were going to, Lagos own jungle.
32. The market called “Yaba”:- Do you know it’s hard to find someone who has never shopped in Yaba, so popular this market that if your cloth didn’t cut it, people quickly assumed where you got it from. YABA!
33. The Wrestling Era:- There was a time that everyone loved wrestling, from Kabuki to the Von henricks. Now its entertainment and movies in rings.
34. Tom and Jerry !!! :- I know I mentioned cartoons earlier, but this one stands in a class of its own. You didn’t need to hear what they said, you just enjoyed the show. Ever watched it with your Grandparents from the village and see then roll their teeth in laughter and defend Jerry like he was always innocent.
35. The day I watched Jeniffer
36. Charly Boy Show:- I miss the “This is not the news”
37. Bar Beach:- There are so many beaches now, but remember the days when it was just bar beach, and if you had not been there, you were a boring lagosian
38. Mr Biggs:- As a kid who grew up in Lagos, you had to have been to Mr Biggs, it was the default name for any restaurant.
39. Tales by moonlight and Storyland:- One of Nta’s best program for kids, stories that had moral lessons and parents could make reference to characters to correct their children.
40. Straight from the heart- A program on Saturdays by 11 am in one of the radio stations. Drama that wasn’t watched but heard.
41. Adverts :- Remember the old adverts (Dano, Dano, Super Visco, Tandi Gurana, Limca)
42. The Real NTA 2 Channel 5 :- At those times, this station could compete with any private station, with programs like Matlock, Jake and the Fat Man, Tele match, disco rally etc
43. Soap Opera’s and Telelnovela (Wild Rose, Lady of the Rose, Rich also cry, Roots)
44. Agbani Darego’s Announcement as the most beautiful girl in the world
45. Toys of Yester years :- When we had to create our own toys not looking for Ben Ten wrist watches (Counters, Kite, St Louis sugar pack Truck, Paper Wrestlers)
46. Nitel Call Booths and the cards you could put in a fridge to recharge themselves.
47. Akpoche Era (A clothing fabric that looks like the one used to envelop chairs)
48. The Ajegunle dance steps of Suo and Galala
49. USA 94-Nigeria’s Exit-:- I remember when we lost to Italy, i couldn’t eat, that’s how bad it was.. Now the story is different, when we loose we celebrate that we lost early in the competition.
50. The Day A Police Man Slapped Me For Smiling while questioning me for carrying an un-receipted Laptop.
No comments:
Post a Comment