When someone tells you “noting shaking” he means all is well — in Pidgin English, the Nigerian lingua franca that is attracting new attention thanks to a Lagos radio presenter.

If someone bumps into your car in the rush hour and you want to avoid the hassle of a police report or even a fist fight, you would simply say: “No wahalah” — “No problem.”

“Wet ting you dey do?” means “What you have done?”

“I de go chop.” means “I will get something to eat.”

“Make una stop dey thiefing abeg.”  means “Stop stealing”

“Oga den dey chop money wello welloo!” means, “Our leaders are very corrupt!”

Pidgin English is the lingua franca for bargaining in markets, taxis and bars in most parts of the country.

             Five-year-old Onarietta Remet is Nigeria’s most popular child painter. She’s been painting for four years now and has even sold some of her pieces.Her father, Pius Remet, says everybody in the family is into painting and other artistic pursuits.”When I grow up, what I want to do is paint,” Onarietta told Reuters Africa Journal in Lagos.         Art critic Dapo Adeniyi says talent such as Onarietta’s should be nurtured. “It’s a plus for us as a country that such energies are coming out.”Onarietta showed an interest in painting when she was just 18 months old. Her parents have since encouraged her and even organised five exhibitions to show her work.Onarietta has now done more than 150 paintings. Her parents say one of them has been sold to an international collector for $10,000, although most of her work is not being put up for sale.How do you rate Onarietta’s paintings?

         Polo has a large and growing following in Nigeria and every year fans get the chance to see some of the country’s best players at the Lagos International Polo tournament. This year more than 200 participants registered for the event.It’s the biggest polo tournament in Africa. This time around 30 teams took part and more than 3,000 people came to watch.Polo was introduced to Nigeria by British colonialists in the early 1900s. The sport isn’t as popular as soccer but local interest is growing fast.Several companies sponsored this year’s event, which cost millions of dollars. Polo is an expensive sport. Each team fields 24 horses during a match and each horse costs about $40,000.Most of Nigeria’s players are young successful businessmen. Bode Makanjuola trades in oil and gas. He’s been playing polo for three years now. Bode owns the Coverton Polo club, playing in white jerseys. He never misses a game.”I like the competitive nature of polo and the ultimate aim is actually to build a very strong team so that in the future we can compete not just in Nigeria but in Africa. And who knows, Europe or round the world, that’s the ultimate sort of aim,” he told Reuters Africa Journal.”A lot of people are getting into it, people find that it’s not as snobbish or as you say, it’s not as out of reach as a lot of people sort of think.”But somebody has to pay for the horses, the trucks, the mallets and other equipment, even if players insist that those who don’t have much money can still play.And while it obviously helps to be young and fit, the veterans still like to saddle up. It’s an easy game, says Ali Abubakar, 74, who has been playing for 30 years.”We are still in the game,” he said, shortly before falling off his horse.Not many Nigerians will be trading in their love for popular sports like football to takeup polo, but players at the Lagos club hope that those who are interested know that there’s anopportunity for them to try.