More than just an accent

One defining feature of many Nigerians is their facial scars. Lots of Nigerian tribes have symbolic or identifying scars that they give their kids at birth. The tradition is slowly dying (and is officially banned in Nigeria), as is apparent by the fact that the older a Nigerian was the more likely he was to have the scars. A minority have them, but I would say that around 25-30% of the people I saw had them.

Nigerians can quickly tell by the scars where someone is from. The most common seemed to be “whisker” patterns around the mouth or eyes, but there were some more elaborate – and bigger – scars. It was surprisingly hard to find a good picture of what I’m talking about on the internet.

Whether the majority see them as part of their heritage or resent the fact that they have them, I don’t know.  CNN had an article about the practice fairly recently that you can read here.

This is a good example of the facial scarring, though this is more extensive than any example I saw.