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May 14, 2017 - the first Steemit meetup in Nigeria took place. Eight solid months later, at the same venue, planning for another meetup happened and the members of the planning committee happened to be a lot more than the total number of Steemians at that first meetup.

Too many people have accused @fisteganos lately of not putting himself out there enough. They claim he ought to get more recognition and accolades for all "he has done for Steemit in Nigeria" but I guess this is just life and I don't really know what to say lol.

Today was awesome, maybe because I didn't go with any specific expectation in mind. I had an idea that the community had grown a lot but I was taken aback by the quality of the members. The feeling you get from being around smart people can hardly be described by this still brimming with smile dude behind the laptop screen.

8 months ago

If you're the curious type, you can read up about that first meetup here. Do note however that you're not allowed to laugh no matter what!

Between then and now, a lot of things have happened. From kickstarting the community to having projects like @stach and @air-clinic, I make bold to say that we sit among the fastest growing communities on Steemit. It's exciting to be able to always look back on those earlier days.

Today

Can you spot @fisteganos? He still found away to hide from the spotlight!

Every meetup I have attended in 2018 has turned out to be a lot more intriguing than the previous and I really can't wait for the main event. There's a lot being planned and I believe the city of Ibadan has a key role to play in Steemit's Nigeria community. Imagine a city that has @tojukaka in it!

Ultimately, there can be no growth without the interest and active participation of the existing Steemians and I was glad to see that many of the newbies are coming in with a knowledge of the right mentality (even if they end up finding it difficult to adhere to it).

It also feels good to see that we aren't just adding numbers and we can boast of professionals amongst us.

As the face behind that name @fisteganos, I got to represent him and talk to everyone. Steem is bringing people together and then growing them.

Everyone says they've learned something new in their little time on Steemit.

Everyone strives to be better than they were the previous day.

People are able to smile and channel their energies to more productive ventures.

The youths are beginning to think again instead of lazying around or worrying about the next meal.

Dreams have been rekindled with the newfound belief that the world can indeed be taken over.

This isn't where we were 8 months ago; this is growth!

The funny thing now is that Steem isn't even mainstream yet and we have already grown this much.

Thanks to @thejohalfiles @nanzo-scoop @donkeypong and @demotruk who have been supporting the growth of our community. We know that the more we grow, the better for everyone of us and we'll all continue to play our different parts in seeing to it that we grow Steem.

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@dtube won’t let me upload the video of the event. I’ll probably keep trying but till then, stay awesome regardless 😁