The Niger River, Africa’s third longest watercourse, flows in a great arc through five West African countries before emptying into the ocean in the Gulf of Guinea.
Interestingly, according to some Nigerian text books, the Niger River was discovered by the Scottish explorer Mungo Park in 1796 — a ‘fact’ that Nigerian historian Faith Odele also learned back in her school days.
“You start to wonder. Was the river not existing before Mungo Park came?,” she asked DW. “Did people not travel to the river, did people not fish in the river? So why would Nigerians being teaching Nigerian children…
