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Nigeria
The importance of national flag of Nigeria lies in the fact that each color represents the rich cultural heritage of the
country. As the green color represents the fertile land and agricultural diversity of the land while the white stands for peace and unity at the same time representative of the Niger River that passes through the whole country and is invariably a part of its geographical identity.
The national flag of Nigeria truly reflects the Nigerian nationalistic fervor and sentiments.
The name Nigeria is taken from the Niger River, which plays an important part in Nigerian lives. Not only is it a transportation highway, it is an excellent source of fish, including carp, Nile perch, and catfish. It also provides the water needed to cultivate crops.
Nigeria is located on the west coast of Africa at the inner corner of the Gulf of Guinea (part of the Atlantic Ocean)
An area of mangrove (a type of tropical tree) swamp forest lines the coast of Nigeria. Beyond the forest lies a wide tropical forest, then a plateau that leads to the Shebshi Mountains (on the eastern side of the country). The extreme north borders on the Sahara Desert. Nigeria is mostly in a tropical zone. On the coast, it is very humid, and the nights are hot. Inland there is a wet season from April to October and a dry season from November to March.
Nigeria has the second largest newspaper market in Africa (after Egypt) with an estimated circulation of several million copies daily.
Food in Nigeria
Trade was largely responsible for changing the flavors of African cuisine. Before trading between continents began, main staples included rice, millet (a type of grain), and lentils. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach Nigeria. There, they established a slave trade center around the 1400s. Portuguese explorers and traders introduced cassava to western Africa (including present-day Nigeria) through their trade with the African coasts and nearby islands.
European explorers and traders introduced several food staples to western Africa, such as beans, cassava, and maize. These foods were introduced to the explorers while on journeys to America; they, in turn, brought the foods to western Africa. Asian seasonings such as pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg were also brought back, and are still used to flavor dishes.
Nigeria is one of the world's most ethnically diverse countries. The Hausa and Yoruba make up around 21 percent of the population; the Igbo/Ibo, 18 percent; the Fulani, around 11 percent; and Ibibio, 5 percent. Various other groups make up the remaining 23 percent.
Nigeria has such a variety of people and cultures that it is difficult to pick one national dish. Each area has its own regional favorite that depends on customs, tradition, and religion. The different foods available also depend on the season: the "hungry season" is before the rains arrive in March, and the "season of surplus" follows the harvest in October and November. Fruits, however, are enjoyed year-round. A large part of Nigeria lies in the tropics, where many fruits are available. Some of the popular fruits are oranges, melons, grapefruits, limes, mangoes, bananas, and pineapples.
The Hausa people of this region also like to eat meat in the form of tsere or suya (kebabs, which are chunks of roasted, skewered meat). Muslims love to drink tea, making coffeehouses popular places to socialize.
The people from the eastern part of Nigeria, mostly Igbo/Ibo, eat gari (cassava powder) dumplings, pumpkins, and yams,as well as luxurious stews of fish,shrimp and lobster,rice and vegetables. Yams are usually eaten in place of potatoes and are an important part of the Nigerian diet.
Yoruba people,enjoy stewed meats but divide on whether to serve mashed yams or mashed cassava alongside.
Food from the Nigeria
Moyo-Nigerian tray
The tray will be presented on the table ,consisting of two main dishes – a chicken, meat or seafood Maafe (stew),smaller bowls of accompaniments such as:
Mini suya kebabs
Jollof rice
Egusi
Moi moi
Pouneded yams
Okra
Korkora (corn on a stick)
Dodo (fried plantains)
DESSERTS/Sweet things
Puff puff
Chin chin
Funkaso
Kuli kuli
Suya
Nigerian cuisine, like West African cuisine in general, is known for its richness and variety. Many different spices, herbs and flavourings are used in conjunction with palm oil or groundnut oil to create deeply-flavoured sauces and soups often made very hot with chilli peppers. Nigerian feasts are colourful and lavish, while aromatic market Roadside snacks cooked on barbecues or fried in oil are plentiful and varied.It's a cuisine that relies heavily on meats (in Nigeria, that's often goat), chicken and fish along with legumes such as groundnuts (peanuts) and beans and starchy vegetables such as cassava, rice and yams. Green vegetables, especially okra and spinach (or other cooked greens)
A choice of Soups:
obe ata (pepper soup) /obe eja tutu (fish pepper soup)
: thick sauce made by boiling ground tomatoes, ground pepper, meat or fish, meat broth or fish broth, onions, vegetable oil or palm oil, and other spices.
efo (vegetable soup): similar to the above except that different types of leaves are added to it.
obe egusi (plain): This is made by grinding melon seeds, and then cooking it with the meat and spices. It usually ends up being yellowish-orange in color.
Starter
Rice-based Entrees:
Jollof Rice, involving tomatoes, onions and spices
Pate is made with grounded dry corn or rice or acha. Mostly combined with Vegetable (Spinach), tomatoes, onions, pepper, garden egg, locust beans, Ground nut, biscuit bone and meats minces.
'soup extras': ila: okra cut up into small pieces, and boiled in water
Nigerian Cooked Eggplant Appetizer
Mains:
Wolof Rice (Steak stew with rice)
Ewa dodo (seafood, plantains, and black-eyed peas)
Roast Chicken
Maafe - a stew made from lamb, beef or chicken and cooked with a tomato and Groundnut- or peanut-based sauce.
Jollof Rice, involving tomatoes, onions and spices
Fried Plantains
Dessert:
Puff Puffs- spheres of lightly sugared fried dough that resemble doughnut holes.
Chin Chin -It is a sweet, cookie-like fried batter of wheat flour and eggs, which may also contain
Other:
Efo (Greens Stew)
Efo (Fish Stew)
iresi (rice
white: rice cooked or steamed in water, then usually covered with soup. (Eaten with ) beans, plantains, meat)
ollof rice: rice cooked (or baked) with ground tomatoes, peppers, sometimes meat and vegetables, other spices, and comes out reddish in color.(Eaten with beans,plantains,meat.)
fried rice: rice cooked in oils, vegetables, meats, and spices. (Eaten with beans, plantains, meat)
ewa (beans)
regular: the beans are cooked with ground tomatoes, ground peppers, and spices. Sometimes cooked in combination with maize, or rice, with or without soup.(Eaten with rice, plantains, yams, ogi, bread)
eaten with alone, with rice, or at breakfast time with ogi
Moimoi is a steamed bean pudding made from a mixture of washed and peeled black-eyed beans, onions and fresh black pepper wrapped in a moimoi leaf (like a banana leaf Moin moin.The beans are skinned and ground, then mixed with ground tomatoes and ground peppers, meats, vegetables, eggs and spices, then put in either aluminum foil or aluminum cans, steamed in a large pot, then taken out and cooled.
Moin moin served in London
akara: the beans are skinned and ground, then mixed with ground tomatoes and ground peppers and spices, then fried in vegetable or palm oil.( usually eaten at breakfast time, sometimes with ogi)
isu (yam):
Iyanbis: (pounded Yam) made from pounded yam, similar to mashed potatoes but all mashed with no yam chunks left.
boiled plain: White or yellow yams are peeled, sliced up, usually into pieces about 3 centimeters, and boiled in water with salt
fried: White or yellow yams are cut up into long thin squares and fried in vegetable oil or palm oil.
ojoj o: Water yams are cut up and fried in vegetable oil or palm oil.
asaro: White or yellow yams are peeled, sliced, and diced into small cubes, then cooked with ground tomatoes, peppers, sometimes meat, other spices, and comes out reddish in color
.
amala: dish made from yams, but first, the yams are ground and dried to form a powder. This powder is then put into boiling water, and stirred/beaten until it has a thick smooth structure. The cooked product ends up being very dark brown in colour.
Cassava-base
Eba also called gari is, like amala, a very thick paste, rolled into balls and 
made from cassava (manioc).
Cassava is a firm root vegetable with a shiny white skin and creamy white flesh. West Africans use it to make flour, called gari. Fried plantain sellers
dodo: sliced or diced plantains, fried in vegetable oil (Eaten with rice,beans,eggs)
ogede (plaintain)
boli: plantains baked whole in the oven(Eaten with rice,beans,eggs)
maize (yellow corn)
boiled: the corn is still on the cob, and boiled in water and salt
roasted: the corn is still on the cob, and it is roasted in the oven, or on a grill until it is brown
adalu: the corn is off the cob, and boiled with beans
aadun: the corn is ground, and mixed with ground red pepper. Then oil is added, and it is put in ewe (those green leaves that things can be cooked in) and cooked or baked. It ends up being very spicy (hot) in nature.(as a snack)
kokoro: the corn is ground, then mixed with some ingredients, then rolled into long (about 30 cm) thin (about 1 cm) sticks and fried in vegetable oil.(as a snack)
Suya:
Pieces of meat are spiced up, and then baked over a grill on a stick with vegetables (like kabob, but it's usually much hotter) Suya is generally made with skewered beef fish or chicken often served with delicious ground pepper and onions.
puff-puff
snack made from deep frying a dough mixture into circular balls
chin chin
Some dough is kneaded, then rolled flat, then cut up into small squares, and fried in oil.
scotch eggs
a mixture of some ingredients are put together, and then hard-boiled eggs are rolled up into them, and the eggs are baked.
Funkaso:
A dish of millet pancakes containing millet, butter and sugar. It is served either as a accompaniment to a main meal or as a snack with honey or chutney
Groundnuts
shelled peanuts
Kuli-kuli: is a Hausa food that is primarily made from peanut. It is a popular snack in Nigeria and often eaten with meals such as Garri, Kamu, and sometimes ground and put into salad.
DRINK DESCRIPTION
Kunu a popular drink made of either millet, sorghum or maize palm wine a drink made from the juices of palm trees –
Ogogoro (Ogog') is a west African alcoholic drink, usually brewed locally. It is most popular in Nigeria, where it is known as the country's homebrew. It is also known as akpeteshe (often shortened to tesh), Sapele water, Kparaga, kai-kai, push-me-push-you, and/or crim-kena, Sonsé("do you do it ?" in Yoruba language).
Kunu (also known as kununzaki) is a popular drink consumed throughout Nigeria, mostly in the north. It is usually made from a grain such as millet or sorghum, although it can be made from maize as well. The variety of the drink made from sorghum is a milky light-brown colour, whilst that which is made from millet and maize is whitish in colour.
Music of Nigeria
Nigeria has been called "the heart of African music" because of its role in the development of West African highlife and palm-wine music, which fuses native rhythms with techniques imported from the Congo,Brazil and Cuba for the development of several popular styles that were unique to Nigeria, like apala, fuji, jùjú, highlife, and Yo-pop. Subsequently, Nigerian musicians created their own styles of United States hip hop music and Jamaican reggae.
Some famous musicians that come from Nigeria are Fela Kuti, Adewale Ayuba, Ezebuiro Obinna, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, King Sunny Adé, Ebenezer Obey, Femi Kuti, Lagbaja, Dr. Alban, Sade Adu, Wasiu Alabi, Bola Abimbola and Tuface Idibia.
Popular music
Palm-wine and the invention of jùjú
palm-wine originally referred to a diverse set of styles played with string instruments, characteristically, guitars or banjos) with shakers and hand drums accompanying[15] This urban style was frequently played in bars to accompany drinking (hence the name, which is derived from the alcoholic palm wine beverage).
JuJu music which is percussion music fused with traditional music from the Yoruba nation and made famous by King Sunny Adé.
AFRICAN SONGS & KSA: FORWARD TO THE PAST
King Sunny
Juju music enthusiasts, especially those living in the Diaspora, are most likely to give the early records of legends like King Sunny Ade a rousing welcome.
King Sunny Ade, born 20th September, 1946, is a living prodigy of our time whose dexterity on the guitar coupled with his masterly composition has earned him unparalleled encomiums around the world. With his trademark guitar fireworks, KSA has been riding high on the crest of popularity for over four decades.
The Sunny Ade story is as yet to be fully told. Someday, the meteoric success story of this wonderful performer who gave zest to Juju music at a time the onslaught from the exotic Soul music was becoming great will be told in full.
Fuji
Yoruba percussion style
fuji is a mixture of Muslim traditional ajisari songs with "aspects of apala percussion and vocal songs and brooding, philosophical sakara music"; of these elements, apala is the fundamental basis of fuji. The first stars of fuji were the rival bandleaders Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and Ayinla Kollington[25]
Fuji has been described as jùjú without guitars
FUJI MUSIC, AYINDE BARRISTER AND THE 'WERE' FOUNDATION
Sikiru Ayinde Barrister is popularly credited with the emergence of what has now evolved to be known as Fuji music.
'Alhaji Agba', otherwise called 'The Fuji exponent' and now in his mid-50s, started playing music at the tender age of 10. The music called WERE was a variant of religious chant employed by young Islamic faithfuls to entertain and wake up adherents of Islamic faith during the Ramadan period.
Barrister consistently improvised on this music form until 1967 when he came up with the 'Fuji' music, which was an improvement on the WERE music of his teeny bopper years. He waxed his first record in 1967 and stamped his trademark of Fuji music firmly on the musical landscape for all time.
Sikiru Ayinde Barrister enlisted in the Nigerian Army in 1967 and trained as a stenographer. Before coming back into full-time music, he had had a brief spell of action as the civil war was on in Nigeria then
Yo-pop and Afro-jùjú
Afro-juju was a combination of Afrobeat and fuji
Apala
Apala is a style of vocal and percussive Muslim Yoruba music. It emerged in the late 1930s as a means of rousing worshippers after the fasting of Ramadan. Under the influence of popular Afro-Cuban percussion, apala developed into a more polished style and attracted a large audience. The music required two or three talking drums (omele), a rattle (sekere), thumb piano (agidigbo) and a bell (agogo).
Afrobeat
Afrobeat is a style most closely associated with Nigeria, though practitioners and fans are found throughout West Africa, and Afrobeat recordings are a prominent part of the world music category found throughout the developed world. It is a fusion of American funk music with elements of highlife, jazz and other styles of West African music. The most popular and well-known performer, indeed the most famous Nigerian musician in history, is undoubtedly Fela Kuti.[8]
Fela Kuti began performing in 1961, but did not start playing in his distinctive Afrobeat style until his exposure to Sierra Leonean Afro-soul singer Geraldo Pino in 1963
A brief period in the United States saw him exposed to the Black Power movement and the Black Panthers, an influence that he would come to express in his lyrics. After living in London briefly, he moved back to Lagos and opened a club, The Shrine, 
which was one of the most popular music spots in the city. He started recording with Africa '70, a huge band featuring drummer Tony Allen, who has since gone on to become a well-known musician in his own right. With Africa 70, Kuti recorded a series of hits, earning the ire of the government as he tackled such diverse issues as poverty, traffic and skin-bleaching. In 1985, Kuti was jailed for five years, but was released after only two years after international outcry and massive domestic protests. Upon release, Kuti continued to criticise the government in his songs, and became known for eccentric behaviour, such as suddenly divorcing all twenty-eight wives because "no man has the right to own a woman's vagina". His death from AIDS in 1997 sparked a period of national mourning that was unprecedented in documented Nigerian history.[29]
Afrobeat became affiliated with the burgeoning genre of world music. In Europe and North America, so-called "world music" acts came from all over the world and played in a multitude of styles. Fela Kuti and his Afrobeat followers were among the most famous of the musicians considered world music.
Femi Kuti, son of Fela Kuti, is one of the major performers of modern Afrobeat
Waka
Waka was a fusion of jùjú, fuji and traditional Yoruba music.
Reggae and hip hop
When talking about reggae music in Nigerian, this brand of music was started by a musician simple called "terakota". prominent reggae musicians included Jerri Jheto and Daddy Showkey.
Hip hop music: was brought to Nigeria in the late 1980s, and grew steadily popular throughout the first part of the 1990s.
The 1999 founding of Paybacktyme Records helped redefined and establish a Nigerian hip hop scene. Also, the general rapid growth of the entertainment scene with support from the media helped popularise Hiphop music in Nigeria. Television Programmes like the MTN Y'ello show, Music Africa, and Soundcity played a major role especially with Presenters like Deji Falope whose fascination for diamond and platinum chains and earrings seem to more than subtly express the culture. Other prominent Nigerian hip-hop musicians include Ruggedman,
Michael Ugochukwu Stephens, known by his stage name Ruggedman, is a Nigerian rapper.A graduate of political science from Lagos State University, Ojo, he started loving music in 1989. He had his own songs done in 1991 and released a CD, which had two tracks. The two songs got massive air play, but in 2002, Ruggedman felt Nigerian rappers (such as Rasqie, Eedris Abdulkareem, Maintain and many others) lacked talent and he needed to do something about it. He was the most controversial musician at that time and that won him a lot of awards. One of his controversial tracks is Big Bros. This diss track was attacking the CEOs of Kennis Music Keke Ogungbe and Dayo "D1" Adeneye. He also hit harder than anyone could have imagined when he said "the fact that you have (got) money doesn't mean you can toil with me" reasons being that he felt that the CEOs were politicizing the industry and barring other acts from proving their skills. He did not attack rappers such as Modenine, 2-Shotz, Freestyle, Six Foot+ possibly because he saw them as rappers who use words, because that was what he advised Edris Abdulkareem - "try use words, and u might sound nice, but not as precise as my guys you see ib front of your eyes". He is from the Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria. He was influenced by KRS-One, Dr. Dre, DMX, Eminem and many others. He released an album entitled Thy Album Come, and is now recording an album with Afro hip hop artist Faze . He is also been around the world including Dublin and Durban, South Africa where He says he had the time of his life hanging out with his old time friend, Deji of Soundcity at the 2005 KORA Awards. He is still considered by a larger proportion of Nigerians to be the best rapper ever to emerge from West Africa. On March 3, 2007, he released his second album, Ruggedy Baba, which includes the lead single Ruggedy Baba (featuring 9ice) and Club Rugged. It moved over 100,000 units after only three weeks of release
Nigerian Film
The Nigerian film industry is known as Nollywood. Many of the film studios are based in Lagos and Abuja and the industry is now a very lucrative income for these cities.
Chiwetel Ejiofor
A pretty film for a dirty world...New movie focuses on immigrants
A last there's a major movie that highlights the immigrant experience in a positive light. Stephen Frears' movie, Dirty Pretty Things, is a gripping thriller that tells the story of an illegal Nigerian immigrant, Okwe, (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who stumbles unto a detached human heart in the toilet of the hotel room where he works. His investigation would lead him to the shocking discovery of the booming trade in human organs and the desperate illegal immigrants exploited by a system - and a cabal - that offers them a choice between being a living dead and a cadaver.
It's a fine story about a dirty world. There is the prostitute with a conscience; the exploited Turkish chambermaid with dreams of a better life - preferably in New York; the immigrant Chinese mortician with good wishes for the corpses he sews up; the exploitative immigrant employers who abuse their employees mentally and sexually; and, of course, the honest, educated, underemployed, visionary Okwe who turns out to be a doctor on the run from his native Nigeria where he's wrongly wanted for murder.
Dirty Pretty Things is also a love story, one common among immigrant lovebirds who're often tormented, and separated, by the vicissitudes of normalizing their documents and their stay in a foreign land. As played by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Audrey Tatou, as Okwe and Senay respectively, it's an eerily familiar story for many immigrants both in Britain where the movie is based and in the US.
Chiwetel Ejiofor the rising star of the movie is a well-praised professional Nigerian actor who's lived in London and the US. Cast beside the affectionate and talented star, Audrey Tatou, of Amelie fame, theirs is an enduring performance; at once intense and subdued, seemingly effortless but at the same time engaging. Interviewed on CNN, Ejiofor admits that growing up with immigrant parents helped him in the role of Okwe. His whole immigrant experience and the role he plays in Dirty Pretty Things is one shared by millions of African, particularly Nigerian, immigrants.
The average Nigerian immigrant arrives abroad with at least a bachelor's degree. According to several studies, Nigerian immigrants are among the most highly educated people in the US surpassing the Japanese and equal to whites in education and training. The same studies point out, however, that Nigerian immigrants are less paid than these other groups.
Thus, which Nigerian immigrant will not recognize the character, Okwe, who, despite being a medical doctor, drives cabs and works in a hotel in London? Who among the millions of economic, religious, political and war refugees that throng the gates of the western world each year will not recognize Senay, the Turkish immigrant in the movie who's given shelter by the British government but forbidden to work? Who wouldn't recognize the black British prostitute whose race is yet to attain the civil and economic rights that blacks have achieved in the US? And which immigrant does not know at least one exploitative immigrant employer whose business is largely based on paying below minimum wages to fellow immigrants?
Though some critics' claim that the character Okwe is too much of a superhero to be true many immigrants know better. Okwe represents the millions of studious, honest immigrants who're often faced with impossible options none of which is easy or good. Yet, like Okwe, they retain their integrity, their conscience, and their basic humanity even as their host nations fall into the deep mire of racial insensitivity and bigotry. These are the downtrodden mass of immigrants, who, as Okwe poignantly notes, clean the toilets, drive the cabs and staff the basements of western civilization.
Their story is the immigrant story; one in which the past is bittersweet and the future is but a promise.
Dirty Pretty Things is currently showing at a theatre near you.
ART IN NIGERIA:
Modern Nigerian art is, perhaps, the richest in Africa. With its plurality of ethnic nationalities (about 200), Nigeria is a marvel of a cultural bazaar. 
Since the early years of the last century, her rich cultural background has infused her modern art traditions making them some of the most promising and most resilient in Africa.
With several art training institutions and facilities spread across the country, Nigerian artists are among the most exciting and most dynamic in the international art space.
Website www.aresuva.com ; www.nga.gov.ng
Nigerian art is an important part of Nigeria culture. Art in Nigeria has been important for more than 2000 years. 
As multi-ethnicity exists in Nigeria, art of Nigeria is influenced by many tribes and ethnic 
groups.
Nigerian art comprises of ivory carving, grass weaving, wood carving, leather and calabash. Pottery, painting, clothe weaving and glass and metal works are other important forms of Nigerian art. Nigeria as a country has got great diversity. These are the traditional arts and they are practiced still. However in the present days, art not only includes sculptures, paintings and masks, but a lot more. As a matter of fact, the Nigerian Art has maintained its heritage.
Nigerian people have also explored their abilities in visual art, which has always remained a part of Nigeria's cultural tradition. Traditional as well as contemporary forms of visual art were practiced in Nigeria. Visual art is based on aesthetic objects, which can be either static, dynamic, temporary or even permanent and is best appreciated visually. Nigerian art is indeed versatile as it incorporates lots of varieties and types of art.
Asogwa Odoga Bruce Onobrakpe y Chika Modum –Open the books
Chika Modum –Open the book Kunle Filani – Grandpa’s Relics David Dale –Music Minister – metal foi
Erasmus Onyishi – Installation jeans and shirts Godon Diogu –We can still live together mixed tapestry
Ghariokwa Lemi – Graphic /fine artist (album cover designer for Femi Kuti (My personal favourite)
Lemi is a self-taught graphic/fine artist, cover designer and illustrator from Nigeria who has carved a niche for himself in the field of album cover design and illustration. Four decades in the making as one of the world's most prolific record sleeve designers, Lemi's art is rebellious, comical political and even erotic, but most of all he is a genius in pictorial narration, realism and iconicity. More than 2,000 album covers have been designed by Lemi, including covers for Bob Marley, E.T. Mensah, Osita Osadebe, Gilles Peterson and Antibalas.
In July 2003, Lemi participated in "Black President: The Art and The Legacy of Fela Anikulapo Kuti" in New York City, contributing 13 original works. The president of MTVcommissioned Lemi to paint his first painting on American soil, titled "Everybody's Gotta Be Somebody" which then inspired film maker Aaron Koenigsberg's short documentary of same title.
About Chicago Afrobeat Project:
Afrobeat cannot stand still. As the genre's tempting sounds continue a resurgence across the globe, Chicago Afrobeat Project (CAbP) remains true to its original vision of breathing the intense seductiveness of Chicago's rich music scene into the infectious sounds of afrobeat. Rather than become caricatures of the genre, CAbP slips a reverent nod to the tradition while delivering an energized originality different from any other band on the afrobeat scene today. At each of its 100+ live performances a year, the group's frenzied songs hit audiences with a big enough one-two punch to tirelessly knock them onto the dance floor time and time again. Afrobeat's range of influences -- funk, rock, jazz, afro-cuban, high life and juju music - settle into a hypnotic, dance-compelling pulse at the core of CAbP. The group weaves intensity and originality around this core through rock and experimental jazz. The trance-like grooves that hold the floor in the tradition are pushed to new borders in CAbP's second and self-produced album, "(A) Move to Silent Unrest."
Fashion in Nigeria: 
Purefoto.com/blog/fashionstyle
www.myfashionlife.com/tag/nigerian-fashion
Momo takes Nigerian fashion to global scene
The buzz around London Fashion Week is increasing since news that Nigerian label, Momo, is launching for the first time in the UK. Straight from the runway at Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week, Momo's next stop on the world's fashion stage is on 24th February 2009 at the prestigious on/off London show and is the only African label with a presence.
Fati Asibelua the brain behind Momo has become a force to reckon with in the Nigeria Fashion Industry since 2000. Momo is now the new global luxury label to watch in 2009. Already worn by some of the world's most renowned models including, Alek Wek, Liya Kebede and Oluchi, Momo offers elegant designs for independent and discerning women. Its luxurious and exclusive collections feature beautiful high-end quality and exceptional craftsmanship.
Momo's first UK collection for Autumn/Winter 2009 combines classic glamour with a cultural twist and an energy akin to the Safari wildlife which has inspired the collection.
Nigeria! The most populous black African nation with over 400 ethnic groups has a rich and diverse artistic heritage which it derives from the mixture of its different ethnic roots and this is greatly evident in Nigeria fashion and beauty notable worldwide for its uniqueness and innovativeness
Currently, there is a great demand for Nigerian fashion, accessories and beauty products at both local and international markets. Therefore, it becomes imperative for us as patriotic
Nigerians in Diaspora to officially promote our culture, fashion and textile as an economic development project.
We give kudos to Nigerians abroad who have continued to showcase and promote our ethnic fashion values at both official forums and social gatherings. Perhaps if not for their great efforts, the breakthrough we are presently witnessing in the dynamic fashion industry would have been averted.
Therefore, in consolidation of the efforts of these individual Nigerians and in celebration of Nigeria's rich cultural values, we present the Annual Nigeria Fashion & Beauty (NFB) Awards ceremony.
THIS DAY’s ARISE Magazine Launched in New York
ARISE is the first style and culture magazine out of Africa celebrating the contributions of Africa and people of colour all over the world to fashion, music, culture, business and politics.
After a successful October 2008 debut, the monthly 204-page oversize glossy is hitting international news stands in a themed issue timed to coincide shortly after President Barack Obama’s inauguration.
ARISE launches at a time of renewed interest in black influence globally. With the victories of Barack Obama in the US presidential election, Lewis Hamilton in international Formula One, and against the backdrop of resurgent African economies, ARISE is the exemplar of modern Africa and its cultural echo.
The magazine is sold at newsstands in Paris, London, New York, Washington, DC, South Africa, 
Nigeria and 150 countries around the world. Promotional copies of ARISE are distributed globally to luxury hotel groups and clubs.
THIS DAY’s global style and culture magazine, ARISE, was launched with a bang yesterday at the Bryant Park Tents in New York.
Held during the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, the event brought together top names in the fashion industry.
The fashion show featured an impressive collection from rising African designers - MOMO and Tiffany Amber from Nigeria, Stoned Cherrie of South Africa and Xuly Bet of Mali.
The launch was attended by Africans resident in the United States and most of them were so excited about the publication which brought their continent to the forefront of world cultural celebration.
All four designers have made great strides in their countries of origin while making some success in Europe and North America.
: “The ARISE fashion show was awesome. Never been so proud to be a Nigerian.” Also, another US resident, Zina Saro-Wiwa said: “Arise Show was fierce... and the magazine amazing. I read it this morning. Very proud of being a Nigerian.”
Arise is published by THISDAY Group of Newspapers in Nigeria, New York, London and South Africa for distribution worldwide.
The magazine is a global medium dedicated to showcasing a positive Africa through fashion and culture. It also gives the best designers from the continent an opportunity to place their products firmly on the international fashion market.
HauTe
Nigerian Fashion is steadily making its way to the forefront of fashion’s mind, and Dammie Amolegbe, Editor of Nigerian fashion mag HauTe intends to give it the extra push that it deserves….
What was the inspiration behind HauTe?
It all started one boring night looking for something to buy……and I had a thirst to buy something from a Nigerian designer……so I start googling and looking for Nigerian designers and I didn’t come across any sites for Nigerian designers or directories that may lead to where I could find some and buy something from……So, that really got to me, me thinking as crazy as Nigerians are about fashion there are no directories or even magazines for just fashion!!!! And that’s how I got the initiative to start a magazine – It’s always been in me, but then this just felt like I was put on this earth to do this for my country, and HauTe was born!
If you could nominate 3 Nigerian designers to show at NY Fashion week, which would you choose?
Motara Thomas www.motarathomas.com, Odi and Vintique of Chichi and ChichiE www.chichiandchichie.com, Kemkemstudio www.kemkemstudio.com for Womens wear and Menswear Dudumoko {www.dudumoko.com}, Emmy Collins www.emmycollins.com and Gureje www.gureje.com
What do you think the future holds for Nigerian fashion?
WoW, I see Nigerian fashion and Nigerian materials being displayed frequently on the runways world wide. As we have noticed a lot of “Ankara” lately. I see a great future for Nigeria in fashion, I already see a good number of Nigerian designers featuring in NY fashion week and with HauTe in the industry now….It’s only going to get better!
Is fashion art?
Fashion is definitely art to me; I hope I’m not being biased as I am an art sucker. Fashion can relate to art in many ways as it evokes emotions for a lot of people, you are able to create pieces people can display in exhibitions and even make paintings of, the time and creativity it takes to put different patterns together…even some hairstyles can be referred to as art. Fashion is like live art to me!
Order a copy of Haute Mag here (every $1 from each order goes to fundraising charity group GFC, for less priviledged children in Nigeria. HauTe also supports a Nigerian orphanage and school with commodities and cash donations)
Sport in Nigeria
Nigerian football fans at a football match between the Ghanaian and Nigerian football team.
Like many nations, football is Nigeria's national sport. There is also a local Premier League of football. Nigeria's national football team, known as the Super Eagles, has made the World Cup on three occasions 1994, 1998, and 2002, won the African Cup of Nations in 1980 and 1994, and also hosted the Junior World Cup. They won the gold medal for football in the 1996 Summer Olympics (in which they beat Argentina) and have reached the finals of the U-20 World Championship in 2005. In September 2007, Nigeria won the U-17 World cup for the third time, becoming the only African nation to have achieved that feat and the second nation (after Brazil) to do so. Nigeria had previously won the very first U-17 tournament in 1985 (China '85), 1993 (Japan '93) and in 2007 (Korea '07).
The nation's cadet team to Japan '93, produced some of the world's finest players notably Nwankwo Kanu, a two-time African Footballer of the year who won the European Champions League with Ajax Amsterdam and later played with Inter Milan (Italy), Arsenal FC (London, UK), West Bromwich Albion (UK) and Portsmouth F.C. (UK). Other players that graduated from the Junior teams are Celestine Babayaro (of Newcastle United, UK), Wilson Oruma (of Marseille, France).
According to the official September 2007 FIFA World Rankings, Nigeria is currently First-ranked football nation in Africa and the 19th highest in the world. Nigeria is also involved in other sports such as basketball and track and field.[80] Boxing is also an important sport in Nigeria; currently, Samuel Peter is the World Heavyweight Champion.
Addresses you need to know:
16 Rivonia Road, Illovo
2132
Johannesburg
South Africa
Phone:
+27-11-4423620
Fax:
27-11-4420010
Email:
cgjhb@nigeria.co.za
Website URL:
http://www.nigeria.co.za/
Nigeria High Commission , South Africa
138 Becket Street
P.O. Box 27332
Arcadia
Pretoria
South Africa
Phone:
+27-12-342-0808
Fax:
+27-12-342-0718
Email:
nhcp@iafrica.com
Website URL:
http://www.nigeria.co.za/
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