Guinness World Records (GWR) encourages Africans to follow in the footsteps of Nigerians in their quest for record-breaking feats.
However, they place a strong emphasis on following the regulations and registering their attempts in advance.
Following acclaim from GWR for chef Hilda Baci’s amazing four-day cook-a-thon in May, Nigeria saw an increase in record-breaking initiatives.
The organization has now calculated how far this pattern has spread.
Editor-in-chief of GWR Craig Glenday told BBC Focus on Africa that since Chef Hilda made headlines, his organization has had 1,572 applications from Nigerians seeking to try records.
In an effort to gain attention, people have been nonstop sobbing, nonstop massaging, and, among other things, deep-frying massive quantities of snails.
“I really like it when people are passionate about record-breaking,” Mr Glenday said.
“We definitely want to see more people from Africa generally setting records – it’s a good thing.”
However, he continued, GWR needs to be informed first so they can evaluate the record attempt, determine whether it is measurable, and set the regulations.
According to Mr. Glenday, 95% of record attempts are unsuccessful.
