A Trip To Benin City, Nigeria

I have lived in the Northern part of Nigeria most of my life, traveling away from home is usually for a reason, this could be school, a conference, or a visit(which is often rare). The Northern part of Nigeria is dominated by the Hausa tribe which has an entirely different culture from the other parts of the country. Their choices of food, mode of dressing, belief, religion, etc. Differs but has one unique trait-The ability to adapt in any location regardless of the circumstances.

In 2017 a conference was scheduled in Edo, Benin city. I was interested in attending and this was because I wanted to experience a different lifestyle outside the northern culture. I had read documentaries and listened to stories about people living in the south south region and for once wanted to experience this for myself.

The journey started very early at around 7am and we arrived there late at night due to some traffic issues we encountered on the road. We were welcomed by a Beautiful city at night with storey buildings and other great buildings, a roundabout well designed with statues which probably represented their culture along the road. I was pleased to behold such a beautiful sight. As if reading my mind, one of the students jokingly said "oil money" and we all laughed.

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The culture in this new area was entirely different from the North. Their mode of dressing which involved miniskirt and light dresses was a shock to us the northerners who often wear hijab (a covering for the women). Benin City looked more civilized following the western culture and things weren't entirely true about them as portrayed in social media. Even though they had little land for farming, they still had access to good water and food. I didn't feel too safe staying there because I was a stranger and the people there weren't as free as people in the North.

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a typical picture of the life in far north

The conference was held in a health school in Benin city. Students who heard we were from the North wondered how we survived there and that's because social media makes the North look like a dead zone, but unfortunately, the North is more peaceful than other parts of the country's geopolitical zones I've visited. It was a fun time with the students there and I made a lot of friends there for the short time I stayed. One surprising thing I realized there was that the students, boys and girls lived in the same hostel. That doesn't happen in the North, it was forbidden. Traveling to Benin was a different experience on its own because everything about them was the opposite of the Northern culture.