Recently, there has been an increase in record-breaking attempts from Nigeria, which seems to have been sparked by a chef's four-day cooking marathon that captured the public's attention.
Tembu Ebere, attempting the week-long crying feat, described experiencing headaches, puffy eyes, and a swollen face during his endeavor. He even went temporarily blind for 45 minutes during his efforts.
Ebere disclosed that he "had to re-strategize and reduce my wailing" due to his temporary blindness, but despite this setback, he remained determined to continue sobbing towards his goal.
From Yahoo News:
I think this trend in Nigeria is odd and possibly risky.
The record frenzy erupted in May when a chef called Hilda Baci attempted to cook continuously for 100 hours to “put Nigerian cuisine on the map”.
Her attempt was so widely followed that it caused the official website guinnessworldrecords.com to crash for two days. She was cheered on by celebrities and Nigeria’s vice president.
The 26 year-old managed 93 hours 11 minutes, which was enough to break the previous cooking marathon record set in India in 2019.
Her success inspired a wave of similar attempts for activities including the longest time spent singing, praying, and even kissing.
John Obot, a schoolteacher, told the BBC he would be attempting to spend 140 hours reading classic literature aloud in September.
“The motivation is to promote reading culture in Nigeria,” he said, adding he had chosen a “record that is meaningful”.
But some of the stunts have faced criticism for being frivolous or offensive.
It reminds me of a time in the U.S. when social media challenges had people doing weird and potentially dangerous things non-stop. Though those internet challenges still exist, they're not nearly as common as before.
Hopefully, Nigeria can manage these endeavors before they become too uncontrollable.
