Nigeria: Could I Really Live There?

When I tell people I plan on moving back to Nigeria some day, a lot of them ask me the following questions:

Why?

How?

To answer the why question, I miss it. I spent a lot of time in Nigeria as a child and lived there as a teenager for four years. To say Nigeria molded me into the person I am today is as obvious a statement as me writing that I’m a girl.

To answer the how question is always a bit trickier; it took me a while before I realized people couldn’t wrap their minds around me choosing to live in a third world country. I blame the media for this; they usually only cover the people fleeing from third world countries as opposed to the millions of people who make Africa their home and the thousands who choose to live here.

But if I’m being completely honest with myself, I don’t know if I could live in Nigeria. It’s been a long time since I have and that was a long time ago. I have no idea what it would be like now that I'm an adult whose lived on her own for almost ten years.

Which is why my little vacation couldn’t have come at a better time; I’m going home for three glorious weeks to visit my parents, see old friends and cover Nigeria’s Fashion Week for AOL Black Voices. So for the next 21 days, I’ll be blogging from Nigeria and my posts will be about all things Nigeria.

I want to share my home with readers so you guys can finally see why I love it there so much. Now you may be asking yourself how an African’s perspective of an African country is supposed to bring any new insight to the country. Well I am a Nigerian who lived in Nigeria. But I’m also an American who has spent most of her life in America. I haven’t even visited Nigeria for four years and from what I’ve been told, it’s a lot different now. I’ll be experiencing a lot of things for the first time and I want people to get a chance to experience it with me.

So you guys are going to get a glimpse of everything: what life is like here for a young woman.

This whole thing won’t be as fun without some questions. I want you guys to ask me anything! No question is too stupid. So what do you want to know? Ask away : )