Nigerian Quotes & Sayings

There is also work to do in the evolution of a stable family life and values, and in ensuring that the Nigerian family is built on core values that will form the bedrock of the future society. We must showcase the ideals of family life and be models of family values. — Ibrahim Babangida

She was tall and dark-skinned and looked like a Nigerian sculpture. She moved like a lioness, her every step bristling with suppressed violence. — Bonnie Greer

I've come across a novel called The Palm-Wine Drinkard, by the Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola, that is really remarkable because it is a kind of fantasy of West African mythology all told in West African English which, of course, is not the same as standard English. — William Golding

Gratitude is here presented as more than a feeling, a virtue, or an experience; gratitude emerges as an attitude we can freely choose in order to create a better life for ourselves and for others. The Nigerian Hausa put it this way: Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot. — David Steindl-Rast

I was born in 1966, at the beginning of the Biafran-Nigerian Civil War, and the war ended after three years. And I was growing up in school, and the federal government didn't want us taught about the history of the war, because they thought it probably would make us generate a new generation of rebels. — Chris Abani

My parents lost everything, all their savings, because we had to run from the Nigerian side to the Biafran side. We were Igbos. — Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The average Nigerian person has come to reconcile himself with the fact that his or her social progress remain essentially in his or her hands in collaboration with other fellow Nigerians and not merely relying on what government alone could provide for him or her. — Ibrahim Babangida

We must "Bring Back Our Girls" and support Nigerians working every day to create change. Please donate now to support Nigerian organizations educating and standing up for girls — Malala Yousafzai

I think I'm ridiculously fortunate. I consider myself a Nigerian - that's home; my sensibility is Nigerian. But I like America, and I like that I can spend time in America. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

It was never a deliberate decision to make films about the 'woman experience'. Having said that, we are all many things - for example I'm Igbo and Nigerian, a director, a filmmaker etc., but I feel what affects me the most, especially the way people/society view or treat me, is the fact that I'm a woman, and I'm fascinated by that. — Chika Anadu

And we are understanding - we're beginning to understand that the Nigerian military is now better on. And also, probably even more importantly, Michel, morale is higher amongst the military. I mean, you had Nigerian soldiers being accused of cowardice, running away from Boko Haram and not having the will to fight. — Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Every Nigerian must begin to raise their voice against our societal failures and call them as such at every juncture. In this way we could all bring about a modern, progressive and civilized society. — Sunday Adelaja

Youths are our arrows to the future. — Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

How does the saying go? When two locusts fight, it is always the crow that feasts.'
Is that a Luo expression?' I asked. Sayid's face broke into a bashful smile.
We have a similar expression in Luo,' he said, 'but actually I must admit that I read this particular expression in a book by Chinua Achebe. The Nigerian writer. I like his books very much. He speaks the truth about Africa's predicament. the Nigerian, the Kenya - it is the same. We share more than divides us. — Barack Obama

I was my class playwright and I wrote plays set in villages with kings and chiefs.My plays were about treason and betrayals. If they were influenced by Macbeth, they were also influenced by Nigerian plays I had seen and Village Headmaster, a television drama series I had watched as a child. — Sefi Atta

One in four sub-Saharan Africans is Nigerian, and it has 140 million dynamic people - chaotic people - but very interesting people. — Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Nollywood is a genre, and not the entire Nigerian film industry. However none of the 'New wave' of directors in Nigeria would know what was possible without the Nollywood model, so I'm grateful to them for showing us that our stories are of interest to people other than Nigerians. I would describe myself as a filmmaker, period. — Chika Anadu

I am hearing a more resounding voice in the spirit saying,God is changing the guard in the Nigerian church. — Sunday Adelaja

I'm not sure where I'm from! I was born in London. My father's from Ghana but lives in Saudi Arabia. My mother's Nigerian but lives in Ghana. I grew up in Boston. — Taiye Selasi

And of all its money-making rip-offs, the selling of indulgences must surely rank among the greatest con tricks in history, the medieval equivalent of the Nigerian Internet scam but far more successful. — Richard Dawkins

Four years in England had filled Obi with a longing to be back in Umuofia. This feeling was sometimes so strong that he found himself feeling ashamed of studying English for his degree. He spoke Ibo whenever he had the least opportunity of doing so. Nothing gave him greater pleasure than to find another Ibo-speaking student in a London bus. But when he had to speak in English with a Nigerian student from another tribe he lowered his voice. It was humiliating to have to speak to one's countryman in a foreign language, especially in the presence of the proud owners of that language. They would naturally assume that one had no language of one's own. He wished they were here today to see. Let them come to Umuofia now and listen to the talk of men who made a great art of conversation. Let them come and see men and women and children who knew how to live, whose joy of life had not yet been killed by those who claimed to teach other nations how to live. — Chinua Achebe

Why we cannot build a system like El Al to be proactive. Why do we have only to react? The shoe bomber - reaction? Take off your shoes. The Nigerian - the body scanner is a result of the Nigerian guy. — Isaac Yeffet

I've always been a fan of Nigerian artist D'banj. He's now signed to Kanye West's Good Music label. — Estelle

As far as being an African artist, my inspiration has been the fact that I'm a part of the generation that will put Nigerian African music on a global scale. It's been a long road for us, but I believe we're finally at that point where we can showcase our music to the world and get international recognition. — Iceberg Slim

A religious person without no job is a dead person. (Iigbagbo ti koni ise oku ni. - Yoruba proverb) — Habeeb Akande

By the end of World War II Great Britain was financially and politically exhausted. This weakness was exploited by Mohandas Gandhi and his cohorts in India during their own struggle against British rule. Nigerian veterans from different theaters of the war had acquired certain skills - important military expertise in organization, movement, strategy, and combat - during their service to the king. Another proficiency that came naturally to this group was the skill of protest, which was quickly absorbed by the Nigerian nationalists. — Chinua Achebe

I'm grounded in who I am, and I am a confident black man. A confident, Nigerian, black, chocolate man. I'm proud of my heritage, and no man can take that away from me. — John Boyega

The Igbo culture, being receptive to change, individualistic, and highly competitive, gave the Igbo man an unquestioned advantage over his compatriots in securing credentials for advancement in Nigerian colonial society. Unlike the Hausa/Fulani he was unhindered by a wary religion, and unlike the Yoruba he was unhampered by traditional hierarchies. This kind of creature, fearing no god or man, was custom-made to grasp the opportunities, such as they were, of the white man's dispensations. And — Chinua Achebe

I take a lot of pride in being Nigerian — Brendon Ayanbadejo

My dad is a minister, and my mum is a worker with the less fortunate and the disabled. They're Nigerian natives. Their first language is Yoruba, and their second language is English. — John Boyega

Today, the witch theory of causality has fallen into disuse, with the exception of a few isolated pockets in Papua New Guinea, India, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Tanzania, Kenya, or Sierra Leone, where "witches" are still burned to death. A 2002 World Health Organization study, for example, reported that every year more than 500 elderly women in Tanzania alone are killed for being "witches." In Nigeria, children by the thousands are being rounded up and torched as "witches," and in response the Nigerian government arrested a self-styled bishop named Okon Williams, who it accused of killing 110 such children. — Michael Shermer

Friends, since when has irresponsibility become a Nigerian factor? — Sunday Adelaja

Part of the creative journey for me was not to come up the conventional route. I didn't go through drama school. I chose not to. I came from a very working-class area, a child of Nigerian immigrants. — DeObia Oparei

My family is first-generation Nigerian, and we grew up in a very small, suburban town in New England, Massachusetts. So I do understand what it feels like to be an 'only' in that regard. — Uzo Aduba

The relationship with my people, the Nigerian people, is very good. My relationship with the rulers has always been problematic. — Chinua Achebe

You know, I don't think of myself as anything like a 'global citizen' or anything of the sort. I am just a Nigerian who's comfortable in other places. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

My political ambition
is not worth the blood of any Nigerian — Goodluck Jonathan

Nigeria was a blank on the map - there weren't even any maps. The US State Department, everyone said don't go there. It was courageous of Harvard University: the notion was that we would match Harvard students with Nigerian students, so that every student would have a guide, creating a guarantee of intimacy with the city. — Rem Koolhaas

The United Nations was the thing I wanted to work for. Like the United Nations Commission for Refugees is what I was interested in. And then people said if you do that you'll hit glass ceilings all the time, because you are not Ghanian or Nigerian and that's the way to progress though a multinational organization like that. In any event, they said do five years' legal experience and come back. And after five years I decided to stay where I was. So I am really an accidental lawyer. — John Gimlette

I recently spoke at a university where a student told me it was such a shame that Nigerian men were physical abusers like the father character in my novel. I told him that I had recently read a novel called American Psycho,and that it was a shame that young Americans were serial murderers. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I've always felt very much from a mixed culture - mainly English and French, but also Nigerian, Thai, Mexican. Everything's had its influence on me. — J.M.G. Le Clezio

There's a Nigerian adage that says 'no matter how long an okra plant grows it can never be taller than its owner'. — S.A. David

Perhaps he found it strange being accompanied by a Chinese-Nigerian arms trafficking pirate, but the Irish priest had just followed me silently on board the covert government transport. — Dayo Ntwari

Nigerian nun Bernadette Duru says the African church hierarchy is indifferent to people in rural areas. — Sylvia Poggioli

My earliest vivid memory would be my Nigerian mother. She would wrap me on her back. I remember being on her back a lot. It felt like a ride, like I was riding a dinosaur; going everywhere and seeing everything. — John Boyega

I'm of Nigerian descent, from the Yoruba tribe. Names are very significant in that culture. It basically states your purpose in life. — Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

A Nigerian acquaintance once asked me if I was worried that men would be intimidated by me. I was not worried at all - it had not even occurred to me to be worried, because a man who will be intimidated by me is exactly the kind of man I would have no interest in. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Names are powerful and are prophecies of the future. The name you are called is a sign of what you are and what you would become. — Jude Idada

So many times I've encountered people who are just kind of like, 'Yeah, Nigeria,' and, you know, thump their chest and seem very sure of, like, being Nigerian. And I'm just kind of, like, I wish I could be that sure. — Helen Oyeyemi

Nigerians are everywhere. There's an old joke, particularly about the Ibos, that when you finally land on Mars, you're going to find a Nigerian there who has a shop that is selling Coca-Cola
who took a speculative trip 20 years ago and has been waiting for everyone else to arrive. — Chris Abani

I sort of consider myself a Nigerian who spends a lot of time in the U.S. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I identify myself as a Nigerian because that is where I was born and raised and where my family still lives. — Toks Olagundoye

We define masculinity in very narrow way. Masculinity is hard, small cage, and we put boys inside this cage. We teach boys to be afraid of fear, of weakness, of vulnerability. We teach them to mask their true selves, because they have to be, in Nigerian-speak
a hard man, — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The U.S. should support the Nigerian government to stay in Sierra Leone under the ECOMOG umbrella. The U.S. should also support other countries, including Ghana, in ECOMOG until stability is established. — Ed Royce

Ledisi means to come here, to bring forth. It's a Nigerian word and it's from the Yorubu culture, I believe, and my parents named me, my dad and my mom, and really my dad, and I had no choice in that. That's my real name and that's what it means. — Ledisi

Being Nigerian is a strong part of my identity. Being American is a strong part of my identity. And there are important parts of who I am that really have nothing to do with my national connection. — Teju Cole

We must stop calling corruption a "Nigerian factor". — Sunday Adelaja

Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression. There are no 'Nigerians' in the same sense as there are 'English,' 'Welsh,' or 'French.' The word 'Nigerian' is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do not. — Obafemi Awolowo

The misappropriation of resources provided by the government for weapons means the Nigerian military is unable to beat Boko Haram. — Muhammadu Buhari

Since when has grafts, bribes to get your children into the higher institution become a Nigerian thing? — Sunday Adelaja

The Nigerians have been very instrumental in preserving stability in Sierra Leone. They have done this at considerable cost in dollars and Nigerian lives. The US should encourage Nigeria to stay in Sierra Leone. — Ed Royce

There's no such a thing as American, Belgian, or Nigerian blood. There's only one kind: human blood. — Ben Tolosa

In response to the question "Do you favor or oppose making sharia law, or Islamic law, the official law of the land in our country?" the nations with the five largest Muslim populations - Indonesia (204 million), Pakistan (178 million), Bangladesh (149 million), Egypt (80 million), and Nigeria (76 million) - showed overwhelming support for sharia. To be precise, 72 percent of Indonesian Muslims, 84 percent of Pakistani Muslims, 82 percent of Bangladeshi Muslims, 74 percent of Egyptian Muslims, and 71 percent of Nigerian Muslims supported making sharia the state law of their respective societies. In two Islamic nations that are considered to be transitioning to democracy, the number of sharia supporters was even higher. Pew found that 91 percent of Iraqi Muslims and 99 percent of Afghan Muslims supported making sharia their country's official law. — Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I mean you think about the guy, the Nigerian guy, who was going to blow up the plane. He was wearing a pair of Fruit of the Lunatic ... Guy was not too bright. He said that the reason he became a suicide bomber was to work his way up in the al Qaeda organization. — David Letterman

Dear Non-Black American,
when you comes to the United States, you become black.No matter of your origin. Stop saying you are Liberian, Jamaican, Belizean, Nigerian,
South African or Ghanaian. White America doesn't care about all that bull, that's why on the work application it doesn't give you the option to say Ghanaian or Jamaican, it says "African American. — Henry Johnson Jr

If you are a Nigerian professor and your professorship cannot be felt practically in the Nigerian society; then to hell with your professorship! — Tony Osborg

So, no, this conversation is about gender. Some people will say, "Oh, but women have the real power: bottom power." (This is a Nigerian expression for a woman who uses her sexuality to get things from men.) But bottom power is not power at all, because the woman with bottom power is actually not powerful; she just has a good route to tap another person's power. And then what happens if the man is in a bad mood or sick or temporarily impotent? — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership. — Chinua Achebe

I like to be called a Nigerian rather than somebody from the Third World or the developing or whatever. — Buchi Emecheta

When the mouse laughs at the cat, there's a hole nearby. — Nigerian Proverb

You cannot come to a Nigerian restaurant without having pepper soup. — Ben Okri

I've always affirmed, nobody's ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian. — Goodluck Jonathan

Brethren let's face it. What we practice in Nigerian Churches and in most parts of the world today is more of religion than Christian faith. — Sunday Adelaja

I'm very proud of my Nigerian heritage. I wasn't fortunate enough to be raised in a heavy Nigerian environment, because my parents were always working. My father was with D.C. Cabs and my mother worked in fast food and was a nurse. — Wale

It is my name for you. Amaka is a Nigerian name and it means beautiful. — Tami Egonu

The universe does not work in phrases; don't focus on the commas; just wait for the full stop. — Jude Idada

...a Nigerian couple visiting from Maryland, their two boys sitting next to them on the sofa, both buttoned-up and stiff, caged in the airlessness of their parents' immigrant aspirations. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

My accent has changed my whole life. When I was younger, it was very Nigerian, then when we went to England, it was very British. I think I have a very strange, hybrid accent, and I've worked very hard to get a solid American accent, which is what I use most of the time. — Toks Olagundoye

The unity of Nigeria will only come if we overcome and overgrow tribe, materialism and selfish human nature. — Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

The challenge as we saw in the Nigerian project was to restructure the economy decisively in the direction of a modern free market as an appropriate environment for cultivation of freedom and democracy and the natural emergence of a new social order. — Ibrahim Babangida

My black friends in America don't believe me. I said, 'Dude, I'm Nigerian American.' 'Word? We thought you were, like, regular black.' What the hell is 'regular black'? Crayola coming out with colors I don't know about? — Godfrey

'419 scams,' named for a clause from the Nigerian penal code, are such a part of the white noise of the digital age that we no longer notice them. — Evan Osnos

The work of Nigeria is not complete for as long as there is any one Nigerian who goes to bed on empty stomach. — Ibrahim Babangida

Since when has corruption everywhere, homes, streets, offices, become a Nigerian factor — Sunday Adelaja

I was born to a Nigerian dad and a Kenyan mom, and coming to the States was really academic. — Dayo Okeniyi

Since when has outright denial of truth become a Nigerian factor? — Sunday Adelaja

Don't touch my junk, you airport security goon
my package belongs to no one but me, and do you really think I'm a Nigerian nut job preparing for my 72-virgin orgy by blowing my johnson to kingdom come? — Charles Krauthammer

Nigerian politics has been, since the military dictatorships, largely non-ideological. Rather than a battle of ideas, it is about who can pump in the most money and buy the most access. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Since when has irresponsibility and lack of accountability in public service become a Nigerian factor? — Sunday Adelaja

With a name like Cush Jumbo, you never get forgotten. The 'Jumbo' is from my father, who is Nigerian, and 'Cush' was a king in ancient Egypt. It's a name that took a few years to grow into, but now I feel it was meant to be. It's absolutely who I am, and I love it. — Cush Jumbo

Is it my fault if I do not look like an English girl and I do not talk like a Nigerian? Well, who says an English girl must have skin as pale as the clouds that float across her summers? Who says a Nigerian girl must speak in fallen English ... ? — Chris Cleave

Oh, I love labels, as long as they are numerous. I'm an American writer. I'm a Nigerian writer. I'm a Nigerian American writer. I'm an African writer. I'm a Yoruba writer. I'm an African American writer. — Teju Cole

Some of my reactions are very Nigerian. I still believe that words are things. — Ben Okri

He put out a hand for Dave to shake.
"You're the only new friend of Tom's I've met. And you're just what I expected."
"Yup," Dave said. "I wear three-hundred-dollar suits and drive an eight-thousand-dollar car. Mr.Taylor-stop measuring people that way."
"It's American," Taylor said defensively.
"And Nigerian. And Bolivian," Dave said. "It started in Sumer. — Joseph Hansen

Many Nigerians believe that Babangida 'institutionalized corruption', yet few admit their own complicity in creating the situation where corruption became the norm. The citizenry are simultaneously victims, accomplices and active participants in their own corrupt downfall. Corruption in Nigeria is not just an offshoot of collapsed social and governmental institutions, nor is it the result of a hostile economic environment. The roots go much deeper and are more symptomatic of a residual breakdown of Nigerian societal values and morality. It is the result of a nationwide refusal to condemn dishonesty... While the government must take blame for not cracking down on corruption, the public deserves its share of blame for encouraging it, and letting the government get away with it. — Max Siollun

Since when has bringing stolen money to churches for Pastor's blessings become a Nigerian norm? — Sunday Adelaja

Since when has cheating in examinations become Nigerian? — Sunday Adelaja

My point is that the only authentic identity for the African is the tribe ... I am Nigerian because a white man created Nigeria and gave me that identity. I am black because the white man constructed black to be as different as possible from his white. But I was Igbo before the white man came. — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I am the daughter of Nigerian immigrants. My mother is a survivor of both polio and of the Igbo genocide during her country's civil war in the late 1960s. — Uzo Aduba

As far as the constitution allows me, I will try to ensure that there is responsible and accountable governance at all levels of government in the country. For I will not have kept my own trust with the Nigerian people if I allow others abuse theirs under my watch. — Muhammadu Buhari