Youthfulperspectives

Photo by Ayano Tosin on Unsplash In one of her interviews, the famous poet, activist, and civil rights campaigner Maya Angelou once stated the importance of anger. The emotion Anger has had a bad rep since forever, probably because it is said to be at the root of many disruptive activities. At that moment, an angry person is perceived as a bad person who should be avoided because they are perceived as unyielding, not bending societal rules of conduct, and literally consuming anything on their path.  In this particular interview, Maya Angelou saw anger in a different light. She believed that anger was not a bad emotion to express. She believed it to be honest and purifying. It consumed everything impure in its path, fearlessly fought against injustice, and advocated for sincere accountability. This thought pattern makes perfect sense and can be extrapolated to fit the Nigerian situation.  See, I have always advocated for Nigerians and their right to be angry with their leaders...

 I have vivid recollections of some periods in my childhood. I am sure there were moments in yours that you could also remember. I remember Uncle Ade back then in primary school. The dude must have just graduated from University then and had to make do as a primary school teacher for some kids.  I remember his face, height, and how he sometimes spoke to us in chilled tones and always added random facts about just anything to his lessons. I remember how he once asked us what our favourite cities were, and as you would expect, we mentioned the places where our homes were, faraway Lagos, and some other cities we must have heard in passing from our parents.  When it was Uncle Ade's turn to tell us what his favourite city in the world was, he mentioned the city of Dublin. He spoke about how much he wanted to explore the city, its food, and all the experiences he wanted to have in it.  As I write this piece, I check out Dublin (On Google) and marvel at how much the city mu...

All through school, internship and everything in between, I have read about NYSC, and formed my opinions of it. I belonged to the group of people that believed it was a program that has had its original motives defeated already. Although I was mostly unperturbed at the time, since it seemed so far off, before I would at least have to participate in it.  I didn't know why, but I felt as far as NYSC was concerned, I was insulated in a way from it. Do not ask me why, It was just a hunch that the program has got nothing on me. However, that was to change when it finally caught up with me; and it was now time to serve. I knew nothing about NYSC; and all I was used to seeing, were my people posing in their khaki wears and some others talking about their experiences in camp. I did not even know how all the service thingy worked.  I could not relate directly, and the dominant thought on my mind was when it is time, "We go run am". Although now that I think about it, I need to sto...