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Nyash, Mammy Market, Amala, Other Nigerian Words Added To Oxford Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has officially incorporated several popular Nigerian and West African expressions, including nyash, mammy market, and amala in its latest update, published in December 2025 and carried into 2026.
The update was announced on Wednesday via X by the OED and features widely used Nigerian and West African terms connected to food, music, everyday speech, markets and pop culture, highlighting the increasing global influence of African languages on English.
According to the OED, the December 2025 update introduced more than 500 new words, phrases and senses, while also revising over 1,000 existing entries as part of its quarterly review process.
Author and OED Head of Pronunciations, Catherine Sangster, said the update marked an important development in how pronunciations are documented across different varieties of English.
“With this update we introduce a new model for the transcription of Maltese English pronunciations; this is the nineteenth World English pronunciation model in our collection. We also celebrate a decade of OED having spoken pronunciations, which were first added in December 2015,” Sangster said.
She explained that the dictionary has further expanded its pronunciation features, including the use of multiple audio files where necessary, adding that new pronunciations were also recorded for several West African English entries included in the update.
Among the newly added Nigerian entries is abeg, which the OED notes can function as an interjection or adverb “to express a range of emotions, such as surprise, exasperation, disbelief, etc”.
Another addition is amala, a staple Nigerian food, defined as “in Nigerian cookery: a kind of dough made of yam, cassava, or unripe plantain flour, typically formed into a ball and served as an accompaniment to other dishes”.
The update also formally recognises Afrobeats, described as “originally: a style of popular music incorporating elements of West African music and of jazz, soul, and funk”.
Other Nigerian and West African expressions added include Ghana Must Go, biko, Mammy Market, nyash and Moi Moi, words commonly used in everyday conversations and cultural contexts across Nigeria and Ghana.
Additional African words introduced in the update are abrokyire, Adowa, ampesi, benachin, bichir, domoda, dumboy, hiplife, kpanlogo, light soup, nawetan, obroni, poda-poda and yassa.
The latest expansion builds on a similar development when the OED added 20 Nigerian words and expressions to its dictionary.
That earlier update included popular terms such as japa, agbero, eba, 419 and abi, words closely linked to Nigerian street language, food culture, migration discourse and internet slang.
Other Nigerian entries from the 2025 list were area boy, yahoo boy, yahoo, Naija, suya, kobo, Edo, Kanuri, jand, janded, cross-carpet and cross-carpeting.
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How 2018 Federal Legal Advice Exonerated Saraki In Offa Robbery Case
In light of the Kwara State Government’s fresh prosecution of Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki and his successor over the Offa robbery, fresh facts have emerged on why the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Mr. E. U. (Etsu Umar) Mohammed gave the duo a clean bill of health.
The Federal Director of Public Prosecutions cleared former Senate President Bukola Saraki of involvement in the Offa bank robbery in 2018, citing no evidence of a connection.
It was gathered that the DPP reviewed a 16-page police report prepared and signed by Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police and then head of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IGP-IRT) at Force Headquarters, Abuja. The report detailed investigations into the April 5, 2018, multiple bank robbery attack in Offa, Kwara State.
The DPP in his first report dated June 22, 2018 and signed on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, prepared a five page legal advice in which he noted in paragraph 5 (f) that “for the Senate President (Saraki) and the Kwara State Governor (Ahmed), his office is unable to establish from the evidence in the interim report a nexus between the alleged offence and the suspects. Hence, it is our advice that further and thorough investigation in this regard be carried out”.
Following the submission of a second report by the police investigating team to his office on July 27, 2018, the DPP prepared a second legal advice, which was dated August 23, 2018. The three-page legal advice also has only three paragraphs.
In paragraph 3 (vi), he noted that “with regards to the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, since there is no departure from the earlier findings in the interim report, this office is still unable to establish any prima facie case against him for any offences of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, and culpable homicide punishable with death”.
Both legal advices had recommended six people for prosecution. They are: Ayoade Akinnibosun, Ibikunle Ogunleye, Adeola Ibrahim, Salawudeen Azeez, Niyi Ogundiran, and Michael Adiukwu.
One of the suspects, Michael Adiukwu, later died in police custody, while the other five had since been tried at the High Court in Ilorin.
During the trial, the suspects revealed how they were coerced into incriminating Senator Bukola Saraki.
They mentioned several inducements dangled before them, including money and the promise of a visa to travel out of the country.
The suspects have since been convicted and their convictions confirmed by the Court of Appeal. The matter is now pending before the apex court, the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
News
₦400m Ransom Demanded As Gunmen Abduct Another Kwara Ruler
Terrorists have abducted a traditional ruler in Olayinka community, located in the Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Oba Salman Olátúnjí Aweda and are demanding a ₦400 million ransom for his release.
The abduction occurred on April 18, 2026, when armed men, suspected to be militia herdsmen, invaded the community and took the monarch, his wife, and another resident into the forest.
According to JomogNews, residents who witnessed the incident said the terrorists, numbering over 10, invaded the monarch’s residence around Saturday midnight, forced the door open, and abducted him alongside another person in the house.
The assailants reportedly led both victims into the bush.
Chairman of Ifelodun Local Government Area, Mr Abdulrasheed Femi Yusuf, visited the community on Saturday on a sympathy visit and assured residents that efforts were underway to secure the monarch’s release.
“We are deeply concerned about this incident, and we are taking swift and decisive action in collaboration with security agencies,” he said.
News
Living Faith Church Founder Declares Week Of Vengeance Against Insecurity Sponsors
Bishop David Oyedepo, General Overseer of Living Faith Church Worldwide, has declared that bandits and their sponsors will face divine judgment and retribution within seven days.
Speaking on Sunday, April 19, 2026, during a service themed “Covenant Day of Vengeance” at the church’s headquarters in Ota, Ogun State, the cleric stated that those responsible for killings and kidnappings would face imminent consequences.
“I declare judgement on those who caused these tragedies and their supporters in the name of Jesus,” he said.
The cleric further asserted that divine retribution would occur within a short timeframe.
“Unless I am not sent, this will happen in the next seven days,” he added.
Oyedepo also expressed confidence that Nigerians would soon witness outcomes of what he described as divine intervention, noting that the coming days would bring “testimonies of vengeance.”
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