Steemit Engagement Challenge S2W2 | No place like home: Why I prefer my country, Nigeria to any other country.

Greetings, my fellow members of the @steem4nigeria community and also to all Steemians in general. As you might have noticed from the title, I am Nigerian i.e. from Nigeria and you do not know how happy I am writing for my country's community here on Steemit and even about my country. I am so delighted and I must say great contest idea from the @steem4nigeria team. I believe this contest would enlighten Steemians about our respective countries and help us appreciate our mother's land more.

Designed using canva

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INTRODUCTION

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My country Nigeria, officially known as the Federal Republic of Nigeria and informally known as Naija, is located in sub-Sahara western part of Africa between the Sahel and Gulf of Guinea. Nigeria is bordered to the North by Niger, to the Northeast by Chad, to the East by Cameroon, to the West by Benin republic and the Atlantic Ocean to the south.

Nigeria is a great country with rich history made possible by our past heroes and heroines. The likes of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Mrs Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti etc. These are just some of the great individuals that helped build Nigeria's foundation.

Nigeria is blessed with numerous beautiful natural landmarks, vast arable land, rich cultural and religious background, wildlife reserves amazing people from numerous tribes and a loving energy all round.

Nigeria runs a democratic system of government and our current President is Muhammadu Buhari assisted by his vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with her population estimated to grow over 220M in the next year, one would expect this as it has the most populous city in Africa as well, Lagos. Nigeria is home to a lot of amazing places and historic sites some of which are:

1. Cross River National Park
2. Yankari National Park
3. Zuma Rock
4. Zugurma Game Reserve.

Nigeria is officially made up of 36 states and 774 local government areas, Abuja is its capital city located in the FCT where the presidential villa (ASO ROCK) is located. Nigeria has three major ethnic groups (Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa) each ethnic group has many variants of the main native language leaving Nigeria to over 500 languages. Although, Nigeria's official language is English.

Nigeria's currency is Naira and her main source of revenue is through crude oil and agricultural practices.
You might have heard of River Naija and River Benue, the two major rivers in the country and the interesting part is that they meet at Lokoja, the confluence town.

Whew, that is a lot already for a brief introduction of my country, Nigeria. Now, let's see what the key factors that interests me about this great nation and what makes it a true mother's land.

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What are the great things that interest you about your country?

Hmmm, where do I start.
There are a lot of factors or things that I so do love about my beloved country some of which are:

1. Our people
2. Our rich cultural heritage
3. The favourable weather conditions
4. Our Food

Our people

They say what makes a country great is its people, and I must say Nigeria is blessed with great citizens with great minds.
Due to our not so robust economy and wrecked leadership, we Nigerians do not fully depend on our government for everything, we find ways to survive and our hardworking trait is unmatched. Our extreme hardworking character is one of the things I love about us.
Nigerians are ONE! Despite we having three major ethnic groups, Nigerians are still united and always willing to assist one another. I have heard stories about how Nigerians are always delighted to run into one another abroad.

Let me just say it Nigerians are GREAT. Due to our hardworking character, it is no surprise that you would find Nigerians making waves all around the world, in almost every walk of life you'd find Nigerians making a difference, making an impact in almost or genre of life. From Professor Wole Soyinka, the first person from sub-Saharan Africa to win a Nobel prize to Fela Anikulapo Kuti which is regarded as the pioneer of Afro beats. Beauty is not scarce at all among Nigerians. We are good-looking, classy group of people and it is no surprise that Agbani Darego won MISS WORLD 2001.

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Considering all I've wrote here I should have convinced you why the Nigerian people are a factor of interest for me.

Our rich cultural heritage

Culture is the way of life of the people. With over 250 ethnic groups and 500 languages some of which we had before our colonial masters and some we adopted from them, it is no doubt that Nigeria is a truly culturally rich and diverse nation.

The ways we exhibit our rich cultural heritage are through Festivals, our rich and detailed spoken languages, religious commitments and the overall loving energy in the atmosphere.
The commonly spoken native languages are Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa and these three languages has many variants which you can use to tell the exact town the person speaking it is from isn't that astonishing.

Many festivals take place all year round across the country, each of them as its own purpose and history. Some of the big and well know festivals are:

1. Eyo Festival
2. The Argungu Fishing Festival
3. The Calabar Carnival
4. Ofala Festival
5. The New Yam Festival
6. Osun-Osogbo Festival
7. Durbar Festival
8. Olojo Festival
9. Ojude Oba
10. Sango Festival

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The Favourable Weather Conditions

Nigeria weather, not being too cold or too hot makes it a pleasant place for we to thrive as well as the plant and animals to flourish. Nigeria generally has two seasons, the Wet and Dry seasons. The wet season which lasts from March - September and the dry seasons are usually in the remaining months of the year. Both seasons, though completely opposite are still very favourable and has their advantages.

Food

I cannot list things that interests me about my country and not mention our food. When it comes to food in Nigeria, I do not think Nigeria is beatable. It should not be a surprise as we have vast fertile arable land to cultivate varieties of crops plus cooking talent is in our bloods especially our women.

I must say good food is not scarce here in Nigeria from our homes, to local restaurants to continental restaurants, good food is everywhere. You would find Nigerian Jollof rice, Moi Moi, Cake beans (Akara) among continental dishes.

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Which of the things mentioned above do you prefer your country for, over other countries?

I would say, I prefer my country's food and culture to any other in the world.
The reason for my choices is that, these are the intangible things solely unique to my country and I do not think I can get it elsewhere, even if I can, it would not be of the same quality.

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No Place like home: If you eventually leave your country in search of greener pastures, would you be willing to come back because of your response above

Definitely. If I end up finding myself abroad due to work or any other reason, I would definitely never forget home. I mean, it is where I come from, where I started from. So, at one point or the other, I would definitely consider coming back home not even only for the reasons mentioned above but because it's my home, t is where I love, it is where my people are. So yes!

Conclusion

There is truly no other place like one's home. We can't help it, no matter where we venture to on this our vast planet our heart would still be attached to home as it is the only place, we feel truly comfortable, it is where we originated from, it is where our people are it is HOME and I am proud to call Nigeria my HOME.
Thanks for reading, I truly appreciate.

I would like to invite my friends, @kennydavebobe, @olawole111, @ojerindejoel to participate in this amazing contest by @steem4Nigeria.