By Oyero Abiodun Yakub
For one, Nigerians are very expressive people. We don’t miss any chance to create or pick up slang or catchphrases as a reaction to things happening around us.
These lines could be derived from movies, songs, a politician’s speech, or literally anything. And like flies to dung, most Nigerians jump on these slang and adopt them into their lingo.
In this piece, we highlight the popular Nigerian slangs that made waves in 2022 and their origin:
Olopa ma ko everybody:
Meaning ‘Police will arrest everybody’. This line was gotten from Portable’s regular rant. The controversial singer goes Live from his Instagram handle to talk about the slightest thing happening or that has happened to him.
Oshe Olohun o boju mi je:
Meaning ‘Thank you God for not disgracing me’. This line was picked from Sule Alao Malaika’s song. The Fuji musician during one of his live performances introduced the line. In the song, he thanked God for not making his enemies rejoice over him, mentioning that many are in bondage.
Emilokan:
Meaning ‘It is my turn’. This was from the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He said the line when he was addressing APC stakeholders at Ogun state. It was quickly adopted by his campaigners to claim that he’s the next in line to become the President of the nation.
Olule:
Meaning ‘He failed’. This was also from Bola Tinubu at the Ogun State APC Stakeholders gathering. He used the line to describe President Buhari’s three-time failed attempts to become the president of Nigeria under different political parties. He also claimed Buhari was crying on television while canvassing for votes.
Sapa:
This is a regular trend in Nigeria to describe how financially constrained a person is. It is mostly used in place of ‘broke’ by Nigerians.
Shege:
This is fast becoming a trend amongst Nigerians while describing the hardship individuals are passing through. According to the Nigerian populace, Shege is the ‘elder brother’ to Sapa.
Sope Otilo:
This slang was gotten from HotKid and Poco Lee’s song. It means to forget about something.
Vawulence:
The alternate spelling of ‘Violence’. This is used when a disagreement is about to start between two or a group of people. It originated from Twitter Nigeria and is being used across various social networks.
Dey Play:
This means ‘be playing’. The line was first used when a Nigerian TikTok user was flaunting his car and house in a video and was repeatedly saying the word. Nigerians picked it from there and use it in different situations.
Wotowoto:
This line originated from skit maker OJB_Cultist. He uses it with the sentence “you wan collect”. The aftermath of the word could be ugly whenever it is used.
Japa:
This is a trending slang amongst Nigerians to mean travel abroad, usually for greener pastures. Singer Naira Marley could be said to have popularized the expression with one of his hit songs, ‘Japa’.
Breakfast:
Contrary to its original meaning, it doesn’t indicate the meal taken before noon. It means ‘breakup’, and is mostly used when two lovers go apart. Grammy-winning singer, Burna Boy used the line in his hit track, ‘Last Last’ after he went separate ways with his long-time girlfriend, Stefflon Don.
O tun ti zeh:
No actual meaning could be attached to this, but it originated from Portable after his hit song ‘Zazzoo Zeh’ in 2021.
Trabaye:
This originated from one of the hit songs from Afrobeats sensation, Asake.
E sope:
Loosely translated to mean ‘you say?’, the line was introduced by skit maker MC Remote. It is majorly used when a person isn’t telling you what you want to hear, given a facial expression with both lips tucked inside the mouth.
Ni bo latun jasi yii:
This means ‘where did we end up again?’. This line is mostly used when there’s a situation to settle, and another one arises from the unsettled one.
Ogbon Sodiki:
This originated from Asake’s track ‘Organise’ off his recently released album. It’s used when a person is proving to be smart or too smart, as the case may be.
DJ YK Mule:
Popular disk jockey, DJ YK is widely known for adding beats to trending slang and making a short dance track from it. These tracks always begin with his signature mark, ” Dj YK mule”.
Other popular slangs include Gbas Gbos, Gbe mi de be, Ko por ke, Agba firiyoyo, You wan collect, Won gbe generator yin, Jekomo, Biisabiisa, etc.
