Prince’s Lessons From 2016
Happy New Year to everyone. 2016 has really been a good and sad year for me. I have learned a lot from this year. I got into 2016 as a Leader in FECA and as a Final Year Student in the University. Let me explain to you what FECA is and how it’s Leadership works. FECA is an acronym for Federation of Colleges ex Students Christian Association. It is a body of young people who serve God with a sincere passion and a desire to build the values in the society. As a leader of a department, you are in charge of about 5 to 20 or more people. It’s your level of Accommodating people that will determine how many people will come to your Department. We have the Drama, Ministration, Follow Up, Publicity and Publications department amongst other departments. I was a leader in Publicity and Publications Department. I…
I’m Not ‘Understanding’ This African Time Thing Nigerians Do Again oo by Mirabelle Morah
I offered to volunteer at a friend’s event at Akpabuyo. A few hours to the event I received a WhatsApp message that it had been shifted to the next day. The next day, I got up early, took a keke to an ATM to withdraw some money so I could have enough to get to Akpabuyo (this was after contemplating so much and I finally decided it was for God’s work). Then I dressed up, hung my guitar and after a few calls, we agreed that we were going to meet up at HungerSpot, Etaagbor. I called that I was at HungerSpot and I was told to wait a few more minutes, my brothers and sisters, that was how the few more minutes turned into a full blown hour. After counting a few more minutes past one hour, I jehjehly carried myself and went back home. I tried to reason,…
Lagos Memories: The untold stories about my holiday in Lagos – Mirabelle Morah
You know, in Calabar you can afford to catwalk when crossing Calabar Road or Marian market, but in Lagos, even if a car is still 20miles away, mbok just run for your life because some buses can just perform magic and appear from nowhere. Lagos just isn’t Calabar. All my life I’ve lived in Calabar and so I’m always too thrilled to go away on holidays. I planned my holiday to Lagos long long before I actually traveled. I took up a job and worked for some money. Saved part of it for my Lagos trip and used part for my upkeep, but you know how it is na, before I knew it I had almost eaten up everything I’d saved. I didn’t know anywhere in Lagos. I didn’t have any friends there. In fact, the only time I had been to Lagos, I spent just about 3 days there.…
I Found a Place to Borrow Books For an Entire Year With Just 3k and Less
Yes, I really found a BookStsore in Calabar, just behind Rabana Pharmacy, where I could borrow books for an entire year with just a miserly amount of 1k-3k, depending on the kind of book you want to borrow. Want to hear another awesome thing? You can keep the book with you for as long as you want. No kiddings! You could also buy books there. See the flyer for contact details
Familiar African Tales | MY PALLY PALLY BY MIRA MORAH
She was my pally pally, as we called it back in school. We walked back home together from school, we sat close to each other in class, we stayed in each other’s houses till night, we even helped each other out in tests. But one day, nemesis decided to catch up with us. It was in our final year in secondary school and we were writing the ‘holy exam.’ Yeah, CRK. She asked me for an answer, and if I can remember well, we sat far apart from each other that day. So, I wrote down the answers on my question paper and passed it on to her. It didn’t take long for God to chastise me. As the invigilator moved towards where she sat, he noticed the scribblings on her paper and asked who it belonged to. Prayers began to flow from me like never before. Even my sweat…
Familiar African Tales | How I Hawked In Calabar By Ekanem
Hawking in Calabar was just the last thing I ever imagined I’ll get into. Hawking indeed has shown me the irony of life. Permit me to share a little before I tell you one of my HAWKSCAPEDES as I call them. The bricklayer earnestly prays for the sun to shine so that his blocks will dry. The vegetable planter needs a fair weather so that her vegetables won’t perish. The pure water seller wishes that the weather remains hot so that you’ll thirst. So it was around 2007 and my dad had lost his job. Mum had just completed her NTI training. She was offered a job that will pay about 15 thousand naira monthly. This paltry sum wasn’t enough for her to cater for the family well. The next alternative she saw was going to the market to buy goods and sell. She informed me that I SHOULD SEE…
Familiar African Tales | Pressurized By Mirabelle Morah
I don’t know how I survived high school without a boyfriend but hey! I survived. One young man kept on pressurizing my life right from my first senior class down to my last. Even my very own best friend said some nasty things to me just because she wanted me to have a boyfriend. Trust me, I wasn’t the holy type but I guess I unconsciously set standards for myself. In my final year in high school, believe you me, the pressure got realer than real. Left, right, center, people made me feel so evil for refusing to date. In fact, my classmates would fix seminars for me and ask why I wasn’t dating the young man yet. Well people, I still didn’t date him. Whatever the case be, it’s always important to set standards for yourself and stand for what you believe in. Don’t follow the crowd. By Mirabelle…
Crack crack Boom By Nigerian Soldier | Bentem Josef
Crack crack Boom That was the sound that brought their doom The battle was at its peak Now, no one could afford to be weak Fires of big guns, bombs and its hellish heat Many will rather go six feet The battle field, deserted You’re alone with a thousand dead But it seems like you’re in a market place With every one’s eye giving you a chilling gaze “Where are these ones now?” We were together before they took their bow Dead here, alive there They watch from up above, o mortals that depend on air Soon it would be cut off And the soul shall be ripped off this fleshy stuff To join those that were late too early And you meet a reality realer than a Telly Then you ask, “was it worth the fight?” “I should have used my days doing right” Just like mummified cadavas We…
NAMING A BOOK ALMOST GOT ME MAD BY ONYEKACHI ONUOHA
NAMING A BOOK ALMOST GOT ME MAD Naming is a very serious issue when it comes to the name of a child. I said a child because I assumed it should be so but what about naming a book? I assume I know better. I have given names to many of my books and the books of others as if I am a father and it is this scenario that makes me feel I understand the importance attached to name and naming of a child. I have tested the madness that is associated with naming a child. This feeling that the whole future of a child is predicated on the name (s)he bears. This nostalgia is like that experienced by long awaited expectation of a child. The parents look for names that embody their travails in life. Sometimes the name is a reply to mockery and their state in life.…
Getting Married in Naija By Ghanaian Ayo
Yeeeee!!! My Girl Ayomide is Getting married! Gosh!! This Yoruba weddings, there is no way I’m missing it for anything. But I stopped to think. Are there processes or stages of getting married? So with my little kokonsa (A Twi word for a gossip) I did a little something. These are the processes, procedures, and stages of getting married in Nigeria, currently. First, you must be a graduate save some money like your two years salary or more. Then you begin to look for a wife, that would start from the church and she must be a born again Christian, know how to pray for at least one hour none stop, also speaks in tongues and must know how to cook. She mustn’t be materialistic, she must be humble and obedient. Then you take her out for lunch or dinner with a ring in your pocket, you go on your…
FREE BIAFRA BY CONCERNED BIAFRAN AND PATRIOTIC NIGERIAN
With my big-small brain, I have been thinking, this was how our founding fathers were agitating Free Nigeria say in the years 1957,58,59 and eventually got independence in 1960. I guess and know there was joy in the air But this joy later resulted to countless coups in different parts of the country and later Civil war between the years 1967-1970. A country that has been ruled between 1900-1960 without issue(s) felt like they were in bondage and when they were liberated (As they say); the freedom intoxicated them that they fought just 7years after being granted freedom. Now Biafra is agitating ‘Free Biafra’ and I want to ask -What is the tendency that war won’t break out after Independence because am not sure we will even wait till 7years to break out like Nigeria -Why are the Biafran funds used to agitate this not used to develop the Biafran…
The People of Calabar | Abdul’s Story
Abdul is my classmate and he’s one of the few Muslims in the department. I had chased him around a lot for a story and was finally able to lock him down after class. Naturally, I was expecting to get something about the prejudice he may have encountered or something similar… “When I get into a relationship with a girl, I always want to know about her: Her aspirations, her family, her experiences, you know, to build trust. Well, this my girlfriend told me how she lost her virginity. She was in her JSS2-JSS3 then in the village. Her dad was a banker who worked in town during the week and returned only on weekends. Her mum was a trader in the market. Because of this, her mum left the keys to the house with their neighbour. It became normal practice to always stop by after school to obtain the…
THINGS I WISH I COULD TELL MY YOUNGER SELF
1. Life is good. Not always, but mostly. And when it is not so good, be assured it will get better. 2. It’s a good thing that we don’t know everything that’s going to happen to us. If I had known all the pains and heartaches I would encounter in life, even amidst the joys and victories, it would surely have been too much to bear. 3. If you tend to be shy, try your best to overcome it. Take it a step at a time, but work at it. It is a gift to get to know new people, especially those who are different from you in some way, culturally, ethnically, religiously. Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone may be painful for a time, but the benefits are everlasting. 4. Your hard work in school will be worth it. But come on, don’t kill yourself. 5. It may…