August was full of the kind of déjà vu moments that get us going at Archivi.ng.

The Alaafin of Oyo and the Ooni of Ife engaged in a public quarrel over a chieftaincy title, almost a mirror of a similar clash between their predecessors in 1991.

And when the President Tinubu administration was under the spotlight for withholding Osun State’s local government funds, the archives reminded us of an irony: the president once stood on the other side of the argument when President Olusegun Obasanjo seized the LG funds of Lagos during Tinubu’s tenure as governor in the early 2000s.

These recurring patterns, and more, are a signal to us that the more things change, the more they remain the same. I will return to this point before the end of this dispatch.

First, here is everything else we were up to last month.

What Happened in August 2025

Our social media is on fire

• We finally crossed the line into five figures on Instagram, with over 10,000 followers. It indicates how well our gospel is spreading. On Twitter, we passed 18,000 followers, and on TikTok, we are now at 6,000 followers with nearly 60,000 likes.
• One of the stories that pushed us across those lines was the recreation of a 1988 interview with young Nigerians who had inherited famous last names like Dangote, Awolowo, and Igbinedion.
• On Instagram alone, the post has been viewed over 250,000 times, liked more than 5,000 times, and shared more than 3,000 times. On Twitter, it attracted close to 250,000 views, inspired conversations on the perception of privilege today compared to forty years ago, and picked up over 2,000 likes along the way.
• We also resurfaced a 1977 conversation on circumcision. The subject was sensitive, and the reactions reflected that, sparking debate about gender-based violence and when culture must bend to modern sensibilities.
• Our Previously in Nigeria video series covered more stories about the country’s first presidential election, the forgotten film industry that came before Nollywood, the shortest government administration, and Nigeria’s most expensive party ever, FESTAC ’77.
• That last one became our most successful video to date on TikTok, drawing more than 60,000 views and 12,000 likes. For many in the comments, it was the first time they learnt Nigeria had hosted a global cultural festival to rival any in the world.

What’s Next: September 2025

This month is the most important yet for Archivi.ng’s future. I have left breadcrumbs about it in the last two dispatches, but I can finally do a full reveal: our first-ever event takes place this month, on September 6 and 7.

Back to where we began in this dispatch. Nigerian history, like any other, is full of recurring patterns—floods leave the same devastation across generations, ASUU strikes return with the same disruption to students’ lives, and the list goes on. Each cycle leads to the same conclusion: nothing is new under the sun.

Archivi.ng wants to go further than observing these cycles. We’re calling this agenda The More Things Change, and it will be fully launched at The August Event this weekend.

The event will also introduce new initiatives, including the projects of the first cohort of The Archivi.ng Fellowship.

All of this matters more with you in it, and I look forward to meeting many of you who have registered for The August Event. For those unable to attend, sorry for the FOMO. Stay on our socials to catch some of the updates we have. I'll also keep you posted in the next dispatch. 

See you at the August Event, and then on October 1.