THE WORLD OUTSIDE YOUR PHONE

Dear Young Creative,
I am aware that the phone in your hand has the whole world in it, but let me tell you why you should put it down sometimes, especially when you are in transit either by foot, bus or cab.

The world outside your phone still holds the greatest inspiration you need.

Let your eyes feed on the thronging crowds at bus-stops; stop for a moment and watch the street hawker break into a dance in order to create awareness for the expertly arranged Gala in the tray balancing unguided on his head.

From your peripheral view, see the man that holds an audience still as he analyses world politics at the newspaper stand- veins bulging on his neck, and saliva flying free as he passionately makes his point.
Or cast a bombastic side-eye at the agbero who yells "owo da?", chasing the bus conductor who jumps over the wares of screaming market women.

Let your ears rest from your airpods , to let in the sweet voice of the 9yr old Chadian girl as she remixes Kizz Daniel's Buga while squinting through car windows, all in a bid to earn a few Naira notes.

Be thrilled with the street poetry and chants from a gang of O-ra-i-sirs, who have their arms raised in perpetual salute and their feet stomping the tarred road, as they playfully encircle the young Yahoo Boy who is wearing an oversized shirt, sagging jeans and foam-runner sandals. They beg him to make them his foot mat and get sprayed with a mix of blue and brown one thousand naira notes.

Let your nose be assaulted by the sweet aroma of street jollof and ponmo marinating in peppered stew. Quickly wind up your car window to escape Sosorobia Eau De Arabia- the cologne worn by some brother... a perfume so strong that stays in the air longer than many African Presidents.

Every once in a while, let the Ikpekere seller chase down the beckon from your bus, until she catches up with you, and you end up munching the dry, salty snack and thanking heaven for the miracle called plantain.

Let your mind wander, then wonder whether people really buy those inflatable beds that some hawkers struggle to squeeze through the pothole ridden maze between cars in the city traffic...

Dear Young Creative,
Now that you have seen the world outside your phone, you can pick it up and let your fingers create mind-blowing content for your client.

ARMED FORCES REMEMBRANCE DAY 2024

You wake up from a soft bed, relaxed and ready to go to work...

He wakes up in a bunker, from a sleep he never slept, ready to face an uncertain day...

You take a cool shower, the lather of your scented soap running down your neck...
He is bathed in the sweat of anxiety, with the caked blood of his colleague hanging down his matted hair..

You throw a designer shirt over your body, and wear a dash of Cologne
He covers himself in unwashed khaki and tries to ignore the stench of his unbathed body

Your breakfast sits before you and you pick up the fork and knife...
He checks his rifle, hoping the magazine is in place and praying the trigger never gets jammed..

You walk into your car, you smile back at the smiling sun...
He hops into the back of the armoured truck wondering whether he'll ever see the sun again

You drive and whistle to your favourite song serenading you from the car stereo.
The rough terrain under the tyres of the truck sway him back and forth in what may be his last dance.

Salute to all fallen soldiers who die to keep us alive.

Happy Armed Forces Remembrance Day.

TECH THIS, TECH THAT...THREAT TO TECH

Indeed "Tech" and everything that it encompasses has taken the world by storm.

A random scroll through your Linkedin feed, and you'd be harassed by a barrage of Tech this, and Tech That.
Tech companies are springing up by the millisecond.
Everyone including yours truly is going after one Tech certification or another.
Global education institutions are skewing every academic discipline to have a huge dose of Tech flavour...and they are offering these courses to everyone and everybody.
Learning platforms 'free and paid' are not left out in the frenzy
Internet service suppliers are making sh*tloads of cash from selling data, as that is what is needed to effectively navigate the world of 'Tech'.


All the above are good. They are needed to put us as a people on the advantageous mounds of the global terrain.

But, while we are all striving and speaking in the same direction, the Nigerian economy is giving us the bombastic side-eye.


For 'Tech' to remain lucrative and much sourced, it must as a matter of necessity piggy back on a productive economy-one that takes domestic manufacturing of tangible commodities seriously.

Now, let's take a cursory look at our economy; the strength of our Naira; the purchasing power of the average Nigeria amongst other positive indices, it is clear that Tech will not have any base to anchor its growth.

Tech is like icing on the cake. The cake here being a productive economy. However, what is happening to the "cake"? What will the icing of Tech add beauty and taste to?

A Yoruba proverb says"Owo ti o ba si, jedijedi kan o le gba'a". Literally, this means that dysentery cannot consume unavailable money.
What this means in the context of this writeup is that where tangible commodities(including services) are not been produced, what 'Teching' would 'Tech' do?

The 'Fin' in Fintech will determine whether Fintech will swim or drown.
The 'Agric' in Agrictech will be the fertile soil from which the flowers of Agrictech would bloom.
The 'Edu' in Edutech' is what will make 'Edutech' make sense.

Tech in itself is good, but without a productive economy...this sweet, colourful icing may not reach its full potentials.

Let's fix the cake, and this icing will take care of itself.

I troway salute!

SHE'S BORN SHARP AND NEEDS NO BLADES (A POEM)

 

Mama, am I a roasted sausage,
that you scrape off a burnt part of me?

Papa, am I an orange,
that you have to peel me to make me appealing?

Grandma, am I an onion,
that has to be sliced to make the stew taste better?

My village people, am I a tree,
that you have to cut down to make a pillar for dead traditions?

Why bring a razor to wound my today and scar my future?

Leave your sharp objects in the past and let my innocence live.


*stop female genital mutilation
*stop crimes against women

International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation Feb 6
hashtag#HerVoiceMatters
hashtag#endfgm