"Makoko is what the outsiders had originally called our settlement hundreds of years ago, due to its abundance of akoko leaves, and the name stuck for the community on the Lagos coast just across from the Third Mainland Bridge. To strangers, it’s a slum, a metallic and wooden eyesore built over a stinking bed of ever-mounting sewage, spreading out across the smoke-filled horizon. For the government, it’s the impediment between even larger coffers for them and prime waterfront real estate. But to us, who are from here, Makoko is simply home."

"The Nigerian government likes to pretend that we don’t exist, but we’ve been here for hundreds of years, our wooden houses resting proudly on their stilts above Lagos’s charcoal-coloured lagoon. We’ll remain here for some time, no matter how many attempts they make to push us out."

"A person must have many other lives on Makoko in order to eat and sleep."

"Parents dream of us leaving Makoko and doing better than they did for them- selves, and eventually we dream it too, all the while knowing it to be an elusive fantasy."

"...Not many of us have done it, yet that hope pulses within us like a beacon."

"It was developed out of a lot of different family friends I knew about who were living two different lives: a life in America and a life in Nigeria,” she said. “ I was thinking about these dual identities and these dual cultures. During that time, I read tons of immigrant literature from different genres. I started to look more closely at their experiences, and think about what was unique about their experiences.”"

"My favorite place to write is at home in front of a window. I think the most important thing for me is to get comfortable, because it eases me into my creative space and the world of my characters."

"My hopes and dreams as a child were simple: to be a difference- maker for good. I’ve always had empathy for the under- served and determined to do something about it through advocacy and action. Coming from a region where there’s a lot to be done, I feel that there are huge opportunities for the private sector to work alongside governments while doing well entrepreneurially."

"In my opinion, most professionals also become extinct not because they do the wrong things, but because they keep doing what used to be the right things for too long"

"For the greater part of my life, I have struggled against internal and external boundaries, journeying in search of a space that continually eluded me. A space where I might be free of the often confusing and contradictory signals that a biracial person faces. It took me time to realize that the place I was looking for lies within."

"The thing is you’re creating images with words in one, with line, texture, paint in the other. What unites the two in terms of the way in which I approach the creative process is how to create an image and allow it to speak."

"People's lives have changed for the better because eight families now live in decent homes with access to clean water, improved sanitation and renewable energy"

"But what I found in my research is that there were a lot of African immigrants who were resisting that very strongly. So they could be thought of more as sojourners: People who came here very invested in succeeding economically and otherwise but not as invested in the social fabric. … In many ways, that can create problems."

"The primary thing is to write. We focus on the publishing and the authoring part of it, which I think deals with business. The more you write, you begin to create a practice space for yourself. Even for those who have busy lives. It is important to carve out some time and space to write and practice.”"

"I always say I’m Nigerian and American, I don’t choose. This is homecoming for me. Home is where your roots are, where you have people who love you. This is where the generations past have been, elders have been here, people before them and I feel so connected to them. It’s a great honour to be honoured in this way."