3 Things Most Nigerians Don’t Know About Nigeria

3 things Nigerians have no idea about. Nigeria may not be thriving as much you’d expect given the amount of things we’ve been through. We may still be facing economic hardships & insecurity. But nothing can take away the fact that we continue be a whole world wonder on our own

Check out these three facts about Nigeria.        

1. The Walls of Benin 

Before now, the only other famous wall you might have ever heard of is “The great wall of China”. Well, I’m here to tell you about “The wall of Benin”. There used to be a wall located at the southern border of the ancient Benin kingdom which served as protection for the  villages against external forces. It was built out of Moat which is now estimated to have taken an estimated 150 million hours to dig.

Yes “used to be ” because although it stood for whopping 1,200 years,this historical masterpiece no longer stands. Just the relics that serves as a reminder of what used to be the pride and sweat of the people of ancient Edo.

The wall was constructed over a period of six hundred years starting around 800 AD and ending mid-1400s. However, the wall came crashing down in 1897. All thanks to the British expedition led by Admiral Sir Harry Rawson along with 1,200 British soldiers. Causing years of history go up in smoke, just like that.

2. The Jos-Plateau Indigo bird(Vidua Maryae)

The Jos Plateau Indigo bird is 12cm reddish-brown bird that is found only in Panshau Paaa, Tabaru Hill near Jos,Plateau state, Nigeria. Sights of this bird has never been reported in any other part of the entire planet. Interestingly, they were initially discovered in 1968 and has gone far in marvelling Nigerians and others alike as to why this specie of bird is only present here.  

One distinctive feature of these birds is their inability to incubate its eggs by themselves. It lays its eggs in the nest of the rock finches (another specie of bird), steals away the exact same amount of eggs to avoid suspicion. By the time the rock finches eggs hatches. It shows dominance over the new hatchlings even going as far a mimicking it sounds. Quite obviously, the total number population of the birds is unknown but it is estimated at an unimpressive 10,000, sounds like an endangered species if you ask me.

3. Oldest civilization in the world.

Research shows that Nigeria may have been the home to one of the oldest civilizations in the world. The NOK culture is the earliest known civilization in the world and was settled in Nigeria(9000BC) based on archaeological findings. It’s reign lasted from approximately 9000 BC — 500 AD during the Iron Age.

However, pieces and relics of destroyed structures were scattered due to erosion & weren’t stumbled upon until as early as 1928 by Colonel Dent Young. A co-owner of a mining partnership, near the village of Nok in Kaduna State, Nigeria.

Some these  almost life sized human headless bodies with stylish features, jewelry and a headpiece.  Experts from Cleveland Museum of Art, explains that “Most Nok ceramics were shaped by hand from coarse-grained clay and subtractively sculpted in a manner that suggests an influence from wood carving”.