Hilda Baci proved Nigerians could break records. Rachel Ojuromi proved they could break fashion barriers. But in both cases, the applause was soon drowned out by imitation, cynicism, and a peculiar national instinct: celebrate the first, mock the rest, then copy the template without understanding the work.
In May 2023, Hilda Baci cooked for 93 hours and 11 minutes in Lagos. It was a Guinness World Records attempt that captivated the nation, drawing thousands to the venue and crashing the Guinness World Records website. By June 2026, she had been named a Guinness World Records ICON—the first Nigerian to receive the honour.
The recognition was deserved. What Baci did was not just cook. She created a template. Within two months of her cook-a-thon, Guinness received over 1,500 new applications from Nigeria. A wave of record-breaking attempts followed—chess, reading, gaming, hairstyling, crocheting. She had made record-breaking feel accessible.
But here is where the copycat syndrome begins.
When Baci attempted her second major record—the largest pot of jollof rice in September 2025—the tone had shifted. Social commentator Dan Bello mocked the effort, writing that Nigeria had “finally found its destiny, not in science, not in technology, but in a steaming pot of Guinness-certified rice”.
The pot collapsed during weighing. And the internet laughed.
But the record was still confirmed. 8,780 kilograms of jollof rice. Over 16,600 servings distributed. The Guinness representative tasted it and called it “delicious”. The mockery had been louder than the achievement, but the achievement stood.
The Rachel Ojuromi Parallel
Now fast forward to October 2026. Rachel Ojuromi, a 22-year-old creative from Lagos, walked the Chanel runway at the Grand Palais in Paris. She had gone viral months earlier for recreating Chanel’s Métiers d’Art collection on the streets of Lagos using thrifted clothes and pieces from her own wardrobe.
Chanel’s artistic director, Matthieu Blazy, saw her video. He commented, “Everything.” Then he invited her to walk in his Spring/Summer 2027 show.
It was the same pattern. A Nigerian creates something original, from limited resources, in a local context. The world notices. Nigeria celebrates briefly, then the copycats arrive
Within days of Ojuromi’s Chanel debut, Nigerian women began recreating her concept in their own neighbourhoods. They took to local streets in thrifted clothing, serving their own runway walks for the camera. On the surface, it looked like inspiration. But the response from the internet was swift and brutal. Content creators began mocking the imitators.
The criticism was not just about the copying. It was about the misunderstanding. Ojuromi’s videos worked because they were built on years of creative collaboration with her friend, stylist and designer Debby Fasingha. They worked because Ojuromi had a distinct personal style and an understanding of how to translate high fashion into a Lagos context. They worked because she had been doing it consistently, building an audience, refining her craft, long before Chanel noticed.
The Anatomy of Copycat Syndrome
This is not unique to Nigeria. But it manifests in a particular way here. The pattern is predictable:
Step 1: A Nigerian does something remarkable. They break a record, win an award, land an international deal.
Step 2: The nation celebrates—for a moment. There is pride. There are think pieces. There is a sense that this person has “put Nigeria on the map.”
Step 3: The cynicism arrives. The commentators, who have never risked their own names, begin to pick apart the achievement. It was not serious enough. It was not the right kind of record. It was frivolous.
Step 4: The copycats emerge. People who saw the outcome try to replicate the formula without understanding the work. They want the result without the process.
Step 5: The mockery returns, now aimed at the imitators. The same energy that was used to dismiss the original achievement is now weaponised against those who tried to follow it.
The cycle ensures that nothing is ever fully celebrated, and nothing is ever properly learned.
Why This Happens
There are structural reasons for this pattern.
Nigeria produces creative talent at a rate that far exceeds its infrastructure to support it. There are no cultural endowment funds for fashion. There is no robust support for culinary schools. There is no system that helps creators transition from a viral moment to a sustainable career. As The Guardian Nigeria noted, artists struggle with copyright protection, filmmakers deal with piracy, and fashion designers lack textile supply chain support.
When there is no system, people rely on templates. If Hilda Baci can break a Guinness World Record, I can too. If Rachel Ojuromi can walk for Chanel, I can too. The template becomes the goal, rather than the craft.
But the template is the years of consistent work, the specific vision, the willingness to create from a place of limitation rather than waiting for resources.
The Lesson Rachel Ojuromi Teaches
Ojuromi did not wait for Chanel to hand her a runway before she started acting like a model. She created her own platform. She used what she had—thrifted clothes, Lagos streets, a phone, her friends.
“You can dream, you can believe in something, and it can just work out,” she told British Vogue. “You can dream yourself into a life that is possible even if nobody else gets it”.
The copycats heard the outcome. They did not hear the process. The process was years of filming videos in Lagos markets, building a style, collaborating with friends, and refining a point of view. The process was not chasing Chanel. The process was creating something so compelling that Chanel came to her.
The Bottom Line
Nigeria does not have a shortage of talent. It has a shortage of patience. The copycat syndrome is a symptom of a system that celebrates outcomes without understanding inputs, and then wonders why the magic does not repeat.
Hilda Baci did not become a Guinness World Records ICON by copying someone else. She became one by cooking for 93 hours and daring the world to notice.
Rachel Ojuromi did not walk Chanel by copying a viral format. She walked Chanel by creating a format that was uniquely hers.
