The Rice University Neologisms Database

A long flexible whip made of cow skin or horse tail The word “koboko” was originally used by the Hausas and Fulani of Northern Nigeria to describe a horse whip or a highly dreaded whip used by military officials in disciplining the unruly. With time, people from all over the country adopted this new word and it became a word used in daily Nigerian Pidgin English. Since Nigeria has had numerous military governments since its independence, we can assume that some military words gained more popularity and have been adopted into the daily pidgin language. When parents are extremely dissatisfied with their sons’ behavior, they sometimes threaten that they would flog them with the koboko if they continued misbehaving. Of course this hardly happens but it is a common threat used by some Nigerian parents, especially those associated with the army.