Journalists From Nigeria

"Do we have politics in Nigeria? Politics everywhere is based on party politics. I work with ideologists but we don’t have political ideologists in Nigeria. Those who find their way into power don’t have what it takes to run the country. I work with the greatest good for the greatest number but I don’t see that here."

"I am not dogmatic about anything. I go with the flow. I flow with the tide. And I accept what comes my way. My husband was chosen for me and I called him my ‘Angel Gabriel’. He was a marvelous man who saw the talent I didn’t see and encouraged me to blossom in the arts. He had played his part. If I was meant to marry after his demise another man would have come into my life. And if the man didn’t show up it meant that he wasn’t meant for me. That is how I live my life. My life has been ordered, orchestrated, and going smoothly. I have not lost anything, so I am blessed."

"Well, I know there is a power somewhere that exists and I believe there are unseen hands in our lives. I am a student of surrender, who always surrenders to fate"

"Who do you think socialize both male and female children? They are mothers. We are responsible for raising our children. We are the ones that help men to subjugate women as second citizens. We are the ones who say to our girls ‘go to the kitchen and cook and tell the boys to go and play football.’ So, the narrative and dialogue must change from us women. Even in Europe and America we are talking about what is the percentage of women in government? How many female heads of government do they have? And in Nigeria, how many women are in the (government’s) cabinet? And a few in the position of authority always look subdued and submissive as if they have to apologize for being intelligent. A man can parade his intelligence and status but a woman has to apologize for being bright because of the way we are raising them. You know we always tell women not to show themselves so that they can find a husband. So, if we want peace and harmony in the world, put women in power because they have in-built divine virtues of nurture, love, tolerance, patient, perseverance. They have lived the life of victims and they know how to handle things better."

"I am a feminist and activist. I think women should own the world but nobody wants to accept it, especially the women themselves"

"I am an African. African taught the world how to be beautiful. Europeans were backward as far as that aspect was concerned then."

"Well, it is by respecting the people who put me in the limelight. You must always be aware that life is not about you. So, if I have been in the limelight for decades and still relevant, it is because people who nurtured me to limelight still see something interesting about me. When I started out as an actor and a journalist, I didn’t think I had a choice but I was chosen. I was turned around. I was made to see my true purpose in life. Apart from that, hard work counts having switched from the corporate world into the arts embracing both journalism and acting simultaneously."

"I am not in the business to just play a goody-goody, I am in the business of playing strong characters, delineated, clear, vibrant, and believable. So whether the person is unhappy or wicked has nothing to do with it. When people who you see as wicked are doing bad things, you should try and see what is worrying them. The character I play, Yahimba, is hurting and she does not have a relationship with her children. Such a woman will be bitter and hurting. What people call wickedness is somebody trying to find her way through life."

"In life you must always be moving. And you must not feel sorry for yourself because the world doesn’t owe anybody anything. Our parents bring us into this world and we must fend for ourselves. Again, once you have had a good upbringing it will help. And if you stumble in the process, you get up quickly and start moving. In my case, I have been lucky to have the strength, motivation, and guidance to keep going."

"Life has treated me robustly. Life is a challenge. Life always leaves you in the eye of the storm. But I was lucky that I was able to rise above the storm. Yes. I have had my storm. It has been turbulent. I have been through the fire. I have been through the furnace. It has not been a quiet sort of life but it has been exciting"

"I was the one doing all the cooking and house work. I kept my head down but I enrolled in evening school. There was no way anyone could stop me from learning"

"I studied the nature of sex. The nature of love. I don’t go into relationships for sex because love is paramount to me. There is nothing more riveting than sexual love, together. Real genuine sexual love"

"Bad things happen but if you learn from them, they would shape your life positively"

"I knew I was going to get a good education. I was going to be a lawyer. But I knew that I was on my own. My family disowned me. They thought I gave them a bad name because I got pregnant. It was a big deal back then"

"In all the challenges women face in this environment, feminism means way too many things to me, but two words that encapsulate all those things would be freedom and choice."

"So at 16 I decided to be a journalist, that way I could tell the stories of people and bring it to public attention. However now I think I am still telling stories but just in different mediums. For me it is still a way of helping people seek some kind of justice or resolution or at least it will be the beginning of it I hope."

"Getting to host the Airtel Touching Lives television show has to be one of my high points. I can’t really think of any low points because I tend to just see every experience as something to grow from. I am also a person that rolls with the punches so I don’t have very much time to notice low points as I just keep it moving."

"I worry about myself because I have too many dreams and ambitions. The future includes writing and creating plays, films and documentaries, touring the world as a performance poet, curating contemporary art, hopefully presenting more television and more journalistic work as well. I hope to continue supporting the work of the Mirabel center and hopefully start my mentorship workshops for teenage girls."

"I don’t do macho, hard man, inexpressive, or dictatorial. Partnership is important to me."

"It is always very easy hide with poetry. The bones of some of the poems were written as part of a month-long challenge that I was part of in a closed Facebook group. Everyday we got a prompt and had to produce a poem before midnight. It was quite grueling, and I don’t think any of us finished the thirty days but it really opened me up emotionally. I also wrote many of the poems traveling."

"There are a lot of incredible artists doing amazing work. Unfortunately, there aren’t many spaces for them to showcase the incredible work they do.I wanted to create something that would illuminate the works of these individuals and their creative process. So as a lover of all things art and culture, I thought it was time to have a go at a video interview series and thus Culture Diaries was born."

"My work is also very minimalist aesthetically, which is an extension of me. I think as an individual I am constantly living and dealing with a myriad of complexities, so I crave and need simplicity to function and I think those same principles drive my work."

"Energy is a real thing, so whether it’s with people or what you read it comes with the spaces you enter. You allow yourself to absorb those things and they will have an impact on you. If you are consuming a diet everyday of negativity and danger, and thoughts that everyone is out to get you, this is all that will consume you. Even when you are saying your prayers this is all that is going to consume your prayer pattern. You are going to keep fighting demons in your prayers."

"I hope to use this form of story telling as a way to humanize, educate, highlight some of the healthcare inconsistencies and stigmatization of people living with various illnesses."

"I think hosting events are a side hustle but everything else part and parcel of my career. I think when you see things as a side hustle then they become that. Journalism, poetry and documentary film are all full time careers I juggle and I put the same soul, energy and resources into each and every one."

"I think, when you grow up as a black person or an African in a black and African country, identity isn’t something you are particularly concerned about. I only became conscious of racial identity when I moved to the UK and started to understand the subtle and sometimes not so subtle ways in which this compounds the way you are seen and how you move through the world."

"I am inspired by the different ways that women stand up for themselves, and are constantly navigating through the waters of patriarchal traditions to take up space."

"You know that Mr. President cannot go to Parliament and say, you must do this; you must do that. He has said it severally that he is not against diaspora voting."

"Funding is the biggest challenge but it has not deterred us and that is one of the many reasons I am proud of our staff who have just been putting the best work into the commission. However, I do not complain about money because if you do, you will not get anything done but as we are growing at the commission, we need to be creative and we are already doing that."

"We look for platforms where they can make profitable investments in the country and we are here to guide them, most importantly, this is home for them and they will return at some point. We have a program where we target the younger generation of Nigerians abroad, they walk into this office with so much passion about their country, looking at what can be done to make improvements."

"Firstly, information is key and these countries have stronger rules and regulations guiding them which can even be found online. For instance in Dubai from a certain age range especially for men, the rules are very stringent. Also if you apply for a family visa and go without a family, you will be turned back."

"One of the initiatives focuses on investments because a lot of people in the diaspora have been sending money which sometimes disappears and nothing happens but through the initiative we guide them. We have a regular forum whereby they come together and Nigerians abroad are putting a lot of investments in the healthcare sector, agriculture, food business, education, ICT and we put all the figures together."

"As a new organization, it has been challenging but we give God the glory, having had very amazing people to work with, we have been able to set the issue of diaspora on the front burner, although there is a lot more to do especially regarding diaspora voting which I hope the next parliament will put on the front burner."

"We are appealing to parliament to look at the issue of Diaspora voting because Nigerians are across the world. President Muhammadu Buhari is on board, but the ball is in the lawmaker’s court."

"It is a fact that Nigerian diasporas have the global exposure, resources, competences, and skills as well as the passion and linkages to be a catalysts for national development."

"This happened Saturday, as a result of a fracas, during a football match between African and Indian Students. The Nigerian mission immediately took custody of 86 Nigerian students, invited the representatives of the Indian government, got their commitment to ensuring the safety of the students who have reportedly fled the school after an altercation with their Indian counterparts."

"...You go to Indonesia, carry drugs, do cultism and come begging to be rescued from death sentence. Thank God for @ndlea_nigeria now saving people like you from death row."

"Ukraine, which also will answer the question in terms of how much spent on evacuation. I really can’t answer the question, because I don’t deal with money. All I know is that we didn’t receive one Kobo for evacuation whether it’s Ukraine, whether it’s South Africa, or Libya. NIDCOM, as an organization, did not get one kobo."

"Definitely, we can’t pretend that everything is perfect. This insecurity, by the grace of God, is a temporary thing with everything being put in place by the government."

"It’s about inter-agency collaboration. It is massive awareness. But I was surprised that somebody said to me last week that they went to somewhere they didn’t know; we have to get all those trying to hide under ‘we didn’t know.."

"Personally, I don’t think any woman is ugly. Beauty is as much in character as it is in the physical."

"There will be days when you feel, “why me o” but they will come and go and you will be back on your feet.."

"Be a leader with a heart… don’t take all the credit for what it took a team to build. encourage your team to have bigger goals and appreciate everyone’s contribution."

"No struggle or journey in life is a piece of cake… but the icing on the cake is when our tests become testimonies."

"make no apologies for who you are. adorn your life with roses… fragrances and yes, you can stay fab at any age as long as you don’t outsource your happiness… defy all ageing sterotypes…wear your heels, swirl and strike a pose. work that body!"

"When you save the life of one woman, you save a generation who would otherwise be without a mother."

"Anti-ageing should begin with de-clogging the body and the mind from years o f grime instead of covering it up with creams and makeup. Some of the bad choices we make in life can age us faster than calendar years."

"Be mindful how you treat your staff, because if you treat them shabbily, they would not put their best."

"Just dance…it’s okay not to be such a hot stepper… everyone misses a beat now and again."

"Life is Not a popularity contest…be your authentic self…"