In the pursuit of glory and the consequent popularity, citizens of Nigeria have taken to attempting various challenges in order to pen their names in the highly regarded Guinness World Records Book.
This phenomenon began after Akwa Ibom State Chef, Hilda Baci, successfully attempted and broke the world record for the longest cooking hour by a chef. Ever since then, individuals from all over the country have tried their hands at breaking her record.
The first notable attempt was from Damilola Adeparusi, a.k.a Chef Dammy, who unfortunately for her, failed to seek Guinness World Record’s permission before attempting to beat Baci’s record.
Chef Dammy’s ‘Cook-a-thon’ had attempted to beat Baci’s record with 120 hours but this could not be substantiated as there were times she turned off the live video during the attempt.
Another attempt at beating Baci’s record of 93 hours, 11 minutes was made by a lady hailing from Ondo State, Chef Deo, who learned from Chef Dammy’s missteps and informed GWR of her intention before commencing her attempt, after receiving the go-ahead from the body.
Deo had announced on Friday, July 7, that she had successfully completed her proposed challenge of cooking for 150 hours.
Nigerians have not only attempted to break a record by cooking, as several individuals from Ekiti State had attempted to stage a Kiss-a-thon, but this attempt was foiled by the state government who placed a ban on the activity, on the grounds of it being immoral as well as despicable.
Unverified reports have revealed that several individuals had concluded plans to start on a nationwide trekking, with a time limit to set to break the Guinness World Record.
Similarly, a lady had announced on Instagram that she would be attempting to set a World Record for the longest Instagram live video.
As of the time of writing this, she has currently been on the live video for more than 24 hours.
An Ibadan-based lady woman, Bojuri had also joined the race to set a record and gain popularity by attempting the longest braiding hours record.
According to Bojuri, she would set a record for the fastest hairstylist to finish 50 Ghana weaving (a well-known braiding style) in under 72 hours. So far, Bojuri has reportedly surpassed the 24-hours mark.
These ambitious endeavours have raised a lot of mixed reactions from Nigerians at large.
The Guinness World Record board itself had last week, issued a reminder to potential record breakers, to have their title confirmed by the organisation before further attempting to break the record.
Prior to this warning, Nigerian masseur, Joyce Ijeoma, had collapsed on Wednesday, July 5 during an attempt to set a 72-hour record for the longest massage on different individuals in Lekki, Lagos State.
There have been several other announcements of Nigerians trying to break one record or another. Whether this is a malady or the good ol’ Nigerian spirit cannot be ascertained.
Some Nigerians are of the opinion that their fellows might end up casting aspersions on the country, in their bid for ‘2 seconds of fame’ as a lot of these attempts are being made without the proper preparations and knowledge required for them.
