Growing up as a child in Lagos, Nigeria in the 90s is the most interesting thing a parent can give a child.
The days where 10kobo can get you a special, round, different colored sweet popularly known as eyin alangba.
Though there are so many other sweets and junks generally known as ijekuje we enjoy a lot while growing up, ijekuje like ekana gowon, sisi pelebe, tanfirin, kulikuli, pako biscuit, balewa etc. those good old days where if one has 50k, such a person will be the director general of that day, whatever he/she says will stand, just for that day. But if one has upto 5 naira, everyone will not go close to such a person not to talk of spending out of the money, because we definitely believe the money was stolen, as no parent will give his/her child of our age at that time such amount. And if you took part in spending the money, you must take part in the flogging when the owner of the money eventually finds out that his money has been stolen by your friend. Most interesting thing about this is that when your parent hears that your friend stole money, you’ll be thoroughly flogged by your parents even if you don’t know about the money or took part in the spending. Your offense is that your friend stole money.
https://insta-stalker.com/tag/ijekuje/
http://www.cracong.org/corporal-punishment-lagos-school-to-pay-n25m-to-a-five-year-old-boy-for-damaging-his-eye-during-flogging/
Those good old days where only few houses in the entire neighborhood has a television (a black and white television). I could remember vividly that I used to be the king of all boys in my area simply because we had a colored sharp television in my house, to cap it all, we were the first to get cabletel (NTL inc.) in my area, that was around 1993. We watched all sort of cartoons those days, latest catoon, latest films, live soccer matches etc, so the boys in my area always respected me because it’s whoever I say will come inside will, if you’re in my black book, you’ll never come close to my house not to talk of coming to my apartment.
https://blog.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/the-decline-of-black-and-white-tv/
When it comes to playing, we really had the greatest fun, I’m still of the opinion that children of the 90s had better fun than the children of the 2000. Our playing was 100% interactions, one-on-one, no barrier on like now where everything has been completely computerized. I could remember one certain period whereby all children on my street was banned from playing with kite, because the whole of the electricity wire has been filled with different kite of different shapes. Azeez (May his soul Rest In Peace) was the master of kites, his kites sometimes will miss into the sky. We’ll steal our parents sewing threads for kites. Gone we’re those days.
Then comes table soccer, this was majorly what we played in the school and this was the only reason our school uniform’s bottons will never be complete, as we’ll use our bottons as balls. Then at home we’ll play the real soccer with bottle covers (popularly known as counters) and the white, roundish, plastic or rubber inside a tape cassettes was used as ball in this case. We’ll use the numbers on our old calendar as jersey numbers sticked on each counters with our saliver (spit), we sometimes host competitions with this, oh! gone were those days!!! There are other activities though, we had suwe, ten-ten, soccer, I call on, police and thief, daddy and mummy (if you didn’t grow up in Lagos, you might not know most of these games by these names but I’m certain you’ll partake in the games which you’ll probably call other names in your area).
Those days, we had so many soft drinks (soft drinks are strictly meant for Sundays or for festive periods) we have, 7up, Tandi, Crush, Dr Pepper, Coca Cola, Pepsi (though not so common), parle soda, gold spot etc. honestly, growing up was so sweet, the sweetest thing of growing up is just that we didn’t know how these things came, we just knew that daddy will buy it when coming from the office.
We were always going for holidays every vacation in school, and when we resumed school, i honestly don’t know if it’s compulsory for our teachers to tell us to write an essay on ‘how I spent my last holiday’. They made it seem so compulsory and it happens in every school. They made us write it in school and still gave us as home work. It’s so funny and annoying.
We get to go to see our extended families during holidays, I must confess it’s always very interesting or not interesting at all, depending on where one goes to. We used to not want to go to our uncles houses because uncles are very strict especially if they are from the fathers side, lol.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PumGbBZBnbihnri3zBG0eXEZDH3EEYHduqTEsFF0GqA/mobilebasic
We had no shame those days, though we had crush (both boys and girls). Crushing on anyone eventually dies in our minds because we’ll never get the opportunity to express our feelings.
We wore very clean clothes that will get very dirty when we start playing. In my house, my mum can allow you play any type of play as far as you’re putting on your slippers and you come home to eat at the appropriate time, if not, you’re in hot soup in my mum’s voice.
While in school, you dare not go late, because if you do you’ll be given a thorough flogging, except of course, if your sibling or your neighbor or your friend is a prefect but if you’re in a black book of any prefect, forget it. You’ll be caught and flogged by the teacher (most of the time, it’s always the most wicked teacher), I must the you, forget it, you’ll cry. Early morning flogging. The most wicked teachers are always my class teachers, I’ve always not had luck with class teachers, even to my university days lol
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thenationonlineng.net/flogging-retained-schools/amp/
These and more made me who i am today, made me enjoyed my childhood. I’m sorry if you didn’t experience this.
Have a great day.