Benjamin The Realtor

No one will tell you what you are about to read, so make sure you read this till the end.

The power of telling people who you are🔴

There is this common false concept among we generation Z or tech kids that people have taken serious but destroying a lot of things.

You will hear people saying things l like: "I don't talk to people", "I don't care what people think", I'm an Introvert or I don't like going out and asking for help" this and that.

This is what we don't know. See, you should care about what people
think about you.

I was on Campus two days ago for the University of Ilorin 36th convocation.

I met a friend who we only knew each other from a WhatsApp closed group and from there we
got talking and became friends.

When I first saw him on gown I knew it was him so I made a move to greet and felicitate with him where he was standing alongside with his friends and families.

He recognized me and smiled, I hugged him and was so happy to see me. After introducing to his people by name he added:

"He is a good Content writer o"

I was wowed because I've never discussed with him that I write content, we only view each other statuses and I never thought that could be enough reason to create a picture of what I do to him.

From there someone asked for my phone number and we exchange contacts so we can discuss on a project.

Why am I sharing this with you?

Sometimes you will need to create the perception of yourself in the mind of those around you. That is what speak for you when you are absent and your services is needed.

So if I may ask, may I? what do you do, what are you selling, what's your profession? Market yourself under this post your client might be reading. Check out beautiful Africans and what they do in these attached pictures below.

Do you have others doing something? do them a favour and tag them under this post❤

TWENTY FACTS ABOUT NIGERIA YOU PROBABLY NEVER KNEW

One: Nigeria is the seventh most populous country in the world. Home to more than 200 million people.

The entire population of Nigeria accounts for about 2.5% of the entire earth’s population. This means that about 1 out of every 40 people in the world are from Nigeria.

Two: Yorubas have the highest rate of twinning in the world. A place called Igbo-Ora, a little town in Oyo state has been nicknamed the Twin capital of the World because of its unusually high rate of twins that is put as high as 158 twins per 1000 births.

Three: Based on the amount squandered, of an income of $81 billion per year, Nigeria is the most corrupt nation in the world.

Four: The Niger Delta is the second largest delta on planet Earth!

Five: A study of more than 65 countries published in the UK’s New Scientist magazine suggests that the happiest people in the world live in Nigeria. In a 53-country Gallup poll, Nigerians have rated 70 points for optimism.

Six: The Nigerian film industry, Nollywood, is now the second-largest in the world in terms of output, producing between 1000 to 2000 films annually with an annual turnover of around $250million. Second only to Bollywood.

Seven: The highest peak in Nigeria is located in Taraba State. Its called the Chappal Waddi, which means the mountain of Death.

Eight: About half of Nigeria is Muslim.

Nine: The cost of living in Abuja is more expensive than the cost of living in London.

Ten: In Nigeria, obesity is associated with wealth and abundance.

Eleven: 76.5% of the population live on less than $3 per day.

Twelve: The life expectancy of a Nigerian is 55.2 years. God forbid.

Thirteen: Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa. While the agricultural industry accounts for approximately 70 percent of the country's employment, petroleum products are the primary export—accounting for more than 90 percent of Nigeria's exports.

Fourteen: Nigeria is the 12th largest producer of oil and the 8th largest exporter of crude oil. This is the mainstay of our economy and accounts for almost 90% of our revenue.

Fifteen: The designer of the famous car, Chevrolet Volt, Jelani Aliyu, is a super talented Nigerian from Sokoto State.

Sixteen: The World’s fastest supercomputer was designed by a world-renowned inventor and scientist, Philip Emeagwali, a full-blown Nigerian whose patency was awarded in 2015. This means Nigeria has the patency to the world’s fastest computer.

Seventeen: It is bordered by Niger to the north, Chad to the northeast, Cameroon to the east, and Benin to the west. It also has a coastline along the Gulf of Guinea to the south.

Eighteen: The GDP of Nigeria is $481.1 billion. GDP means Gross Domestic Product. Econs students can relate.

Nineteen: Northern Nigeria takes over 80% of the country’s land.

Twenty: Five of the 10 richest pastors in the world live in Nigeria, according to a report from Forbes. Their net worth ranges from $10 million to $150 million. The richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote, is also Nigerian.

Did you know?

𝑇ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑦 ʙɪᴏɢʀᴀᴘʜʏ sᴋᴇᴛᴄʜ

The title of the richest man who ever lived, has always dangled amongst the names of four people namely, the biblical King Solomon, the American John David Rockefeller, the Asian Genghis Khan and finally the African Mansa Musa all according to different sources.

Mansa Musa ruled the Mali Empire which is said to be the richest African Empire, during the 14th century, for 25 years between 1312 and 1327 which involved modern-day parts of Mauritania, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Chad, Nigeria and others.

His rule was said to be marked by serious development in Mali. He was known for his lavish lifestyle as a result of his massive wealth for which he is mostly remembered for till this day. After conquering 24 cities in his lifetime, he made sure his empire was a safe, prosperous and developed Islamic one, and though he was a conqueror, it's been said that no one was forced to adopt his religion.

Born in the the 13th late century of about 1280, he was became the 10th Mansa after his predecessor. " Mansa" was a title equivalent to the English word " Emperor" and it literally translated to " king of kings ". His date of death is quite debatable but most sources state that 1337 was the year.

He had a net worth of about 400 billion in the dollar worth before the inflation which is an amount that quadruples the net worth of the today world richest man.

Amongst most of his numerously achievements was the building of a university in one of the cities of his Empire, Timbucktu, also the mosque of Djinguereber which still
stands till this day.

On his Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, which was said to be four thousand miles away from Mali, his home, he was said to spend to years. It was one of the journey in which his extravagance is told of. The journey was said to have 1000 servants, 500 slaves bearing gold staffs, a lot of his artists and musicians and a 100 camels laden with gold. Due to this journey he was added in the Catylan Atlas -- One of the most important world maps of medieval Europe.

His wealth was run down a hundred years after his death. During his lifetime he was also said to cause mass gold inflation due to his spending habits.

ᴀʀᴛɪᴄʟᴇ ɪ -- ᴍᴀsǫᴜᴇʀᴀᴅᴇs.

Mᴀsǫᴜᴇʀᴀᴅᴇs in african culture, are a set of beings that come out occasionally during a masquerade ceremony. They are often costumes worn by men who were mostly in secret cults. The masquerades were said to be the ancestors who wore new bodies to visit the land of men. In order words, they were physical representation of the spirits. Masquerades could be beautiful, regal, entertaining and also fearful. There a lot of different masquerade ceremonies held in the continent.

In the 𝐼𝑏𝑜 culture of West Africa, there were two types of masquerades -- The 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 and the 𝑰𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 masquerades. The former was fond of the public and was known to dance and entertain the mass. The latter moved only at the wee hours of the night, singing,chanting and playing the flute mainly to instill fear into the people.

In most cultures, the gender roles of the masquerades saw women on the forbidden and ignorant edge. They were forbidden to look at some specific masquerades with consequences given them if they did ( most times 𝐵𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 ). In most cases they were mainly awe-stricken spectators who were always ready to be on their should a masquerade approach.

Masquerade ceromonies are still in many areas of the continent till this day. Masquerades held judicial and social roles and at most times like in the 𝐼𝑏𝑜 culture, judged cases alongside the community's political assemblies. Like in the famous african novel 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 by Chinua Achebe, a scene that depicts this instance vividly was narrated, wherein the spirits judged a case of a man, his wife and her brothers.

Not all visible masquerades dance to entertain the public. Some or most others are known for brutal flogging most especially in the 𝐼𝑏𝑜 masquerade ceremonies. They are known to flog any human whom cames across their paths, or flogged fellow masquerades in greeting in which the latter retaliated, wherein a short session of flogging ensued. Their canes were often long sticks and their strokes were known to be hard.

Most masquerades are known for having a squad or a group of men who followed it, either holding their canes or singing their favorite tunes or playing the flute for them.

There are a few popular masquerade festivals in africa which most tourists have had the fun of witnessing. E.g the 𝐸𝑔𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑙, The 𝐸𝑦𝑜, The 𝐼𝑗𝑒𝑙𝑒 of the Ibos and so many more.

Tʜᴇ image of african art had always been represented widely by the traditional artworks of the parts of africa that had already been known well to the west.

It left a proper representation of the arts of other parts that weren't known, therefore making it incomplete and inadequate.

Recently though, african art representation has been made broader to boost the image of african art by the inclusions of these artworks of these parts that hadn't been known well to the west ; art works from other time periods apart from the prehistoric and primitive times ; works from the africans in diaspora.

Today african art influences are widely spread and with the inclusion of these, we have a well documented archive of african art and a boost of the image of african art.

The african tribal sense of fashion should also be included on a much broader scale, therefore we see things like tribal marks, body painting, and hair weaving, beads and many others that each culture improvised in their own way. We have modernist ways of depicting these today in world fashion mixing it with western culture.

when we say the image of african art when beinh represented by tribal/traditional artworks, North africa is excluded as it had already been influenced and had influenced oriental art.

Tribal african art is mainly a showcase of much woodwork and carvings taking for instance and many othee cultures had their display of wood woodworks too. It also consists of an amount of bronze works from mostly west africa, which had a tribe that had mastered using bronze for art. Namely, the 𝑩𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏. It also consists of jewelry, colorful textiles and others.

The sculpture pattern of african tribal art, is mostly depicts woman figure in an rather caricature form. Big breasts, and eyes.

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