If you went to a Nigerian boarding school, you didn’t just get an education but a PhD in survival, friendship, and a secret language that outsiders will never fully understand.
Boarding school life in Nigeria is its own universe.
It’s where you learn that ‘lights out’ didn’t mean the end of gisting, where you perfect the art of stretching three tins of Peak milk across an entire term, and discover that hunger truly has a name, several names, actually.
From Federal Government Colleges to mission schools and private boarding houses, Nigerian students have created a rich tapestry of slangs that perfectly capture the chaos, comedy, and camaraderie of hostel life. These aren’t just words; they’re badges of honor, inside jokes, and survival codes all rolled into one.
Let’s dive into the slangs that defined our boarding school years.
Nigerian Boarding School Slangs
Below are the slangs most students in Nigerian boarding school use for easy communication:
1. Swarve / Sap
In the outside world, it’s called stealing. In boarding school, it’s called survival. When someone ‘swarves’ or ‘saps’ your provisions, they’ve helped themselves to what’s yours without permission and often without remorse.
The thing about swarving is that everyone knows who the usual suspects are, but proving it is another matter entirely. That guy who always has snacks but whose parents never visit? Yeah, we see you.
2. Owu / Swara
‘Owu’ or ‘swara’ isn’t just hunger but a deep, existential hunger that hits you around 10 PM during night prep when your last meal was watery beans at 2 PM. It’s the kind of hunger that makes you consider eating that questionable-looking bread from last week.
Owu is a unifying force in boarding school. It doesn’t matter if you’re the school prefect or the newest JS1 student, when owu hits, we’re all equal before its merciless power.
3. Solo / Solopam
To ‘solo’ is to eat in secret, preferably in the dead of night or behind your locker, where friends who believe in ‘one for the road’ can’t find you. Mastering the art of solo requires ninja-level stealth, strategic timing, and the ability to chew without making a sound.
True solo masters can open Peak milk tins without making that telltale ‘psssht’ sound. They can eat crunchy things in a silent hostel without waking anyone. It’s a skill that requires years to perfect.
4. Shenk
When someone ‘shenks’ you, they’ve abandoned you in your hour of need. They promised to wait for you at the tap, but when you came back with your bucket, they were gone. They said they’d share their provisions, but when visiting day came, they developed sudden amnesia.
Shenking is considered one of the lowest moves in boarding school code of conduct. A true friend never shenks unless senior students are involved. Then all bets are off.
5. Efiko / Faber
An ‘efiko’ is that student who reads like their life depends on it because in their mind, it does. They’re the ones answering questions even the teacher didn’t ask. Their notes are color-coded, their textbooks have no missing pages, and somehow, they still find time to help others during prep.
Being an efiko came with respect, occasional mockery, and the burden of having everyone beg you for answers during exams. Some wore the title proudly; others tried to downplay their intelligence to fit in. We saw you anyway.
6. Fila
‘Fila’ is that indefinable quality that makes some people just… cool. It’s confidence without arrogance, style without trying too hard. A student with fila could make even the ugly school uniform look good. They walked differently, talked differently, and somehow always had a crowd around them.
You either had fila or you didn’t. It couldn’t be bought with provisions or borrowed from a friend. It was innate, and everyone knew who had it.
7. Rep
Your ‘rep’ was everything in boarding school. It determined whether seniors left you alone, whether juniors respected you, and whether that crush you had would even look in your direction. High rep meant power; no rep meant invisibility.
Building rep took time. Maybe you were exceptionally good at sports, or you had rich parents who sent provisions every weekend, or you were just naturally charismatic. Losing rep, however? That could happen in one embarrassing moment during assembly.
8. Soakies
Ah, soakies. The crown jewel of boarding school cuisine. A glorious mixture of garri, sugar, milk, groundnut, and whatever else you could throw in there. It’s cheap, filling, and somehow always tasted better when eaten with friends at midnight.
Every hostel had that one person whose soakies recipe was legendary. They knew the exact ratio of garri to milk, the perfect amount of sugar, and whether to add the groundnut before or after the water.
9. Gbof
When something is painfully boring, it’s not just dul, it’s ‘gbof.’ That movie they showed you during social night? Gbof. The teacher who spent forty minutes talking about one subtopic? Gbof. The weekend without any activities? Maximum gbof.
Gbof was the enemy of fun, and boarding school students had zero tolerance for it. If something was gbof, everyone knew, and the collective groan could be heard across the compound.
10. I Jor
‘I jor’ is the boarding school version of “not today, Satan.” It’s what you say when someone asks for a spoon of your Milo and you know you only have two spoons left for the rest of the term. It’s self-preservation wrapped in slang.
I jor was non-negotiable. Once someone declared ‘I jor,’ you had to respect it and move on. Pressing further meant crossing into dangerous territory.
11. Coded
To ‘coded’ means to sneak out of the hostel or school compound without permission. It required careful planning, lookout assistance, and nerves of steel. Some students coded to buy extra food, others did it just for the thrill.
Getting caught while coded meant automatic suspension or worse. But for those who successfully pulled it off, the stories became legendary, retold for years after graduation.
12. Sap
When a student says ‘I don sap,’ it’s a declaration of complete depletion. No food, no money, no provisions nothing. You’re running on hopes and prayers until the next visiting day.
Being sapped will show you who your real friends were. The ones who still shared their provisions with you when you had nothing? Those are the real ones.
13. Living Like a Snake / Dirty Pig
If someone accused you of ‘living like a snake’ or called you a ‘dirty pig,’ it meant you’d crossed the line from casually messy to concerningly unhygienic. Your corner of the hostel smelled suspicious, your uniform had mysterious stains, and nobody wanted to borrow anything from you.
Cleanliness in boarding school wasn’t just about health, it is about respect. Living like a snake was a quick way to become a social pariah.
14. Akwampi
‘Akwampi’ was the slang for girlfriend, though it often came with a teasing tone. Relationships in boarding school are complicated — you might see each other every day but couldn’t really be alone together. Notes passed, glances exchanged, and akwampis claimed.
Having an akwampi brings bragging rights among your friends, though maintaining the relationship through exams, punishments, and the watchful eyes of teachers required Olympic-level coordination.
15. Muccor
When your milk finishes but you still have garri and sugar, you’re left with ‘muccor’ — the basic, no-frills version of soakies. It’s edible, but it lacks that creamy richness that makes soakies special. Muccor is what happens when times are hard.
Eating muccor meant you were in the struggle phase of the term. It built character, they said. It also built a deep appreciation for milk.
16. Asoki
Asoki is soakies’ sophisticated cousin — garri, sugar, AND milk, perfectly balanced. Some adventurous souls do add groundnut, Milo, or even biscuit crumbs. Asoki was what you made when provisions were fresh and life was good.
The quality of your asoki said a lot about your current economic status in the hostel. Top-tier asoki with extra ingredients? Your parents just visited. Plain garri and water? We’ll see you on the other side.
17. Over 1.5
Borrowed straight from football betting lingo, ‘over 1.5’ became boarding school code for getting double of anything — double punishment, double food portions, double strokes. It was often said with resigned humor after something went wrong.
Using betting slang in everyday conversation showed the cultural influence of football in Nigerian schools. It also made terrible situations slightly more bearable through humor.
18. Idi Amin
Named after the notorious Ugandan dictator known for brutality, being an ‘Idi Amin’ in boarding school meant you could take punishment without flinching, crying, or begging. You stood there while the cane rained down, face unchanging, earning respect through sheer toughness.
Being an Idi Amin was simultaneously admirable and concerning. It meant either you’d been punished so many times you’d gone numb, or you had pain tolerance that defied human understanding.
19. Bole
Getting ‘bole’d’ meant arriving at the dining hall only to discover the food was finished. All that hunger, all that anticipation, and you’re met with empty pots and the dining hall staff packing up. It was devastation in its purest form.
Being bole’d taught you important life lessons: never be late for meals, always have Plan B, and keep emergency provisions in your locker. Some lessons you only learn through hunger.
20. Jacking
To ‘jack’ meant to study with intensity and focus, usually during exam periods. Jacking wasn’t casual reading but deep, immersive, desperate studying. It was staying up until 2 AM with a rechargeable lamp, going over notes until your eyes burned.
The level of your jacking often corresponded with how much you’d been playing during the term. Efikos jacked steadily while the rest waited until two weeks before exams and then jacked like their lives depended on it.
21. Dry
When something is ‘dry,’ it meant it lacked excitement, energy, or fun. A dry social night, a dry prep session, a dry weekend — these were times when boredom reigned supreme and nothing could lift the collective mood.
Calling something dry was a collective agreement that expectations had not been met. It was a verdict delivered by the masses, and once something was declared dry, there was no recovery.
22. Abu
If fila was swagger, ‘abu’ was the complete absence of it. Someone who was abu lacked style, confidence, and presence. They faded into the background, made no impression, and generally went unnoticed except when being called abu.
Being abu wasn’t necessarily bad, some students preferred to fly under the radar. But in the social hierarchy of boarding school, where perception was everything, abu was not a title you wanted.
23. Base
A ‘base’ was approximately one spoonful, though the actual size depended entirely on whose spoon is doing the measuring. Asking for ‘one base’ is a way of begging for food while pretending you didn’t really need it.
The problem with base is that it was never really just one. One base became two, two became three, and before you knew it, half your provisions had been ‘based’ away.
24. Gbef
‘Gbef’ meant to leave quickly, usually to avoid trouble. When the school principal unexpectedly appeared during an unauthorized gathering, everyone gbefd. When you saw the labor prefect heading your way with a list, you gbefd.
The speed of your gbef often determined whether you’d be caught or not. Hesitate for even a second, and you were done for.
25. Bobo
To ‘bobo’ someone was to deceive or trick them, usually with a straight face and convincing story. It was lying elevated to an art form, and some students were masters at it.
Getting boboed was embarrassing, but it was also a learning experience. After being boboed a few times, you developed a healthy skepticism of too-good-to-be-true offers.
26. Agbalize
When you ‘agbalized’ someone, you intentionally and obviously ignored them, usually because of some perceived offense or ongoing drama. It is pettiness perfected, and boarding school students were experts at it.
Agbalizing could last for days or weeks, depending on the severity of the offense. It was psychological warfare, boarding school style.
27. Timberlize
‘Timberlize’ was the boarding school euphemism for going to defecate. It was somehow funnier and less crude than the alternative, making it the preferred term for announcing this particular biological need.
Using ‘timberlize’ instead of the actual word was one of those small courtesies that made hostel life slightly more civilized. Slightly.
28. Bumberlize
To ‘bumberlize’ meant to pass gas, and the accusatory question ‘Who bumberlize?’ was one of the most frequently asked in boarding school hostels. It was always followed by denials, accusations, and sometimes full-blown investigations.
Bumberlizing was a fact of hostel life, but admitting to it was social suicide. Thus, every bumberlize remained an unsolved mystery, with theories but never confessions.
29. Scamper
‘Scamper’ meant to run quickly, usually in a panic, often in different directions. When an unexpected inspection was announced, students scampered. When the principal showed up during noise hour, students scampered. When punishment was being distributed, students scampered.
Scampering was a survival instinct. Those with slow scamper speeds often found themselves caught and punished while their faster classmates escaped.
30. Guard Room
The ‘guard room’ wasn’t actually a room in most schools but a spot where stubborn students stood as punishment, usually facing a wall or standing in the sun. It was where you reflected on your choices while everyone else enjoyed their free time.
Time in the guard room felt eternal. Minutes became hours as you stood there, contemplating why you thought it was a good idea to break that particular rule.
31. Forming
‘Forming’ was pretending to be something you weren’t — richer, cooler, more connected than you actually were. Some students formed having rich parents when their provisions said otherwise. Others formed being friends with seniors they’d spoken to once.
Forming worked temporarily, but boarding school was too small a community for lies to survive long. Eventually, truth always surfaced.
32. Baff
‘Baff’ (to bathe) was one of the most commonly used words in boarding school. ‘I wan go baff,’ ‘make I baff quick,’ ‘after baff’. It punctuated every conversation. Morning baff was mandatory…evening baff was optional but highly recommended.
Those ten minutes were always a lie. Nobody baffed in ten minutes, especially the girls with their elaborate bathing routines.
33. Prep
‘Prep’ is the scheduled study time, usually in the evening, when students were supposed to read in silence. In reality, prep is when you passed notes, daydreamed, pretended to read while sleeping with your eyes open, and counted down the minutes until it was over.
Some students actually used prep productively. The rest of us mastered the art of looking busy while doing absolutely nothing.
34. Bugger
A ‘bugger’ was a big deal, someone with money, confidence, connections, or all three. Buggers had multiple boxes of provisions, always had fresh provisions when everyone else had sapped, and somehow never got in trouble.
Being a bugger came with privileges, but it also came with expectations. You were supposed to share, to help others, to use your power responsibly. Some did; others became the villains of hostel stories.
35. Chook Eye
To ‘chook eye’ meant to stare at someone else’s food or belongings with desire. It was considered rude and desperate, a sign that you’d lost all shame. If someone caught you chooking eye, they’d call you out immediately.
Chooking eye was sometimes involuntary, when someone opened a fresh tin of milk in front of you and you’d been sapped for two weeks, your eyes betrayed you.
36. Senior Man
‘Senior man’ or ‘senior girl’ referred to the influential upperclass students who basically ran the hostel. They aren’t always prefects, but commands respect (or fear) through personality, toughness, or sheer time spent in the school.
Relationship with senior students are usually complicated. Some are mentors and protectors, others are tyrants who abused their power. You learnquickly which was which.
37. Bunkie
Your ‘bunkie’ was your roommate or the person who slept in the bunk near yours. They were your closest ally in hostel life — the person who woke you up when you overslept, who covered for you when you broke rules, who shared their last spoon of Milo with you.
The bond between bunkies are special. They know your secrets, your habits, your midnight eating schedule, and they most of them keep it all confidential. A good bunkie was worth more than gold.
38. Flash
When someone said ‘I flash your spoon,’ it meant they’d borrowed it — permanently. Flashing is borrowing with no intention of returning. It was theft disguised as a temporary loan, and it happened constantly with spoons, buckets, uniforms, and everything in between.
Preventing your items from being flashed required constant vigilance. Write your name on everything. Keep your locker locked. Trust no one.
39. Black Maria
‘Black Maria’ is what students call the school truck or vehicle used to transport students for punishment labor or off-campus work. The name came from police vans, and being loaded into the Black Maria meant your day was about to get much worse.
Seeing the Black Maria arrive sent chills through students. It meant someone was in trouble, or that hard labor was about to be distributed randomly among innocent bystanders.
40. Fanta
‘Fanta’ didn’t just mean the drink. It is code for any romantic relationship or ‘toasting’ someone. If someone said ‘I’m serving her Fanta,’ it meant they were pursuing a girl romantically.
This coded language was necessary because relationships were usually forbidden, so students needed ways to talk about their love lives without teachers understanding.
Frequently Asked Questions About Nigerian Boarding School Slangs
Why do Nigerian boarding schools have such a rich slang vocabulary?
When you pack hundreds of students together for months at a time, separated from the outside world and sharing intense experiences, they naturally create a unique language. These slangs serve multiple purposes: they’re codes that outsiders including teachers don’t always understand, they’re expressions of shared experiences that only boarders know, and they’re creative outlets in an otherwise structured environment. The slangs also create a sense of belonging and identity that you’re part of the boarding school tribe.
Do these slangs vary between different schools?
Yes and no. Core slangs like ‘soakies,’ ‘efiko,’ ‘solo,’ and ‘swarve’ are almost universal across Nigerian boarding schools. However, many schools develop their own localized versions or completely unique terms. A Federal Government College might have different slangs from a mission school or private academy. Even within the same school, slangs evolve across generations, with new batches adding their own twist to the vocabulary.
Can day students understand these slangs?
Some of them, yes. Day students who interact closely with boarders pick up the basics, but they’ll never fully understand the nuances. Slangs like ‘owu,’ ‘sap,’ and ‘coded’ are tied to experiences that only boarding students live through. It’s like learning a language you can memorize the words, but without cultural immersion, you miss the context that makes them meaningful.
Do teachers and school authorities understand these slangs?
Most do, especially those who were once boarders themselves or who have taught in boarding schools for years. However, students constantly evolve the slangs or speak in code specifically to keep adults out of the loop.
Which slang is considered the most iconic?
If we’re talking pure iconography, ‘soakies’ might take the crown. It’s not just a word but an entire cultural phenomenon that represents boarding school survival, creativity, and friendship.
What’s the funniest boarding school slang?
Comedy is subjective, but ‘timberlize’ and ‘bumberlize’ consistently win for sheer ridiculousness. There’s something inherently funny about having formal-sounding words for bodily functions.
Do these slangs still exist in modern boarding schools?
Many of the classics survive, but the vocabulary is constantly evolving. Modern students have added slangs influenced by social media, Nigerian pop culture, and global internet culture. ‘Vibe,’ ‘cruise,’ ‘ginger,’ and other contemporary terms have been absorbed into the boarding school lexicon.
Can these slangs help with bonding among alumni?
Absolutely. Mentioning boarding school slangs to a fellow alumnus is like speaking a secret language. It immediately creates connection and triggers a flood of shared memories. Alumni from different schools or different eras can bond over similar experiences encoded in these words.
Conclusion
Nigerian boarding school slangs are more than vocabulary, they’re an entire culture captured in language with every word telling a story of survival, adaptation, and the creativity that emerges when young people face common challenges together.
Whether you were the efiko who actually studied during prep, the solo master who could eat an entire cabin biscuit without waking your bunkie, the unfortunate soul who spent half the term sapped, or the legend who coded out and made it back without getting caught — these slangs were the soundtrack of your experience.
Boarding school teaches many things beyond academics. It teaches resilience when sapped and still had weeks until the next visiting day. It teaches creativity when simple garri turns into culinary masterpieces. It teaches loyalty through the bunkies who became lifelong friends. And it teaches how humor and language could transform even the hardest experiences into stories we’d tell with laughter years later.
For those who never experienced Nigerian boarding school life, this glossary offers a window into a world where ordinary students became extraordinarily creative, where hunger bred innovation, where friendships were forged in shared struggle, and where a unique dialect emerged to capture it all.
Did we miss any slang from your boarding school days? Drop them in the comments let’s build the ultimate dictionary together! And if you’re feeling the nostalgia, share this with your fellow former boarders. They’ll appreciate the trip down memory lane.
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Reference
Vanguardsngr.com: Nigerian Students and Use of Slangs