'He was nicknamed Gary Cooper' (A.O. Uzokwe 2003 Surviving Biafra)

There's another reference to the movies – and possibly Westerns – penetrating popular culture in Nigeria. This time the reference is to Western actor Gary Cooper (1901-61) in a biography of the Nigerian Civil War/Biafra War by Alfred Obiora Uzokwe (2003).

A 'common salute to the Americans is "Hello, cowboy!"'

Here's another reference to the Cowboy that I stumbled upon while looking for something else. This one comes from American foreign and war correspondent Archibald.T. Steele of the Chicago Daily News and mentions the Cowboy and American movies in relation to French colony adjacent to Ghana.

In the Gold Coast every American soldier is "Joe" to every African. In an adjacent French colony, a common salute to the Americans is "Hello, cowboy!" The trouble with those people is that they've seen too many American movies.

('Land of Slave Trade,' In: Negro Digest, Vol. 1(7), 28, originally published by Chicago Daily News, 17 March 1943)

Bits and Pieces from West Africa Magazine (Again)

I've been flicking through West Africa magazine in my breaks again. It's quite a useful exercise a change of pace when I'm stuck, a source that improves my grasp on Nigerian history, some of the developments that hadn't quite made my history lessons and at various times plenty of references (sadly) to the state of roads, accidents and (roadside) robberies in Nigeria. There is also this story of a manufacturer in Ogun State starting a business recycling motor scraps based 'entirely on motor scraps in its production.'