Sweet Palm Wine

https://okadabooks.com/book/about/sweet_palm_wine/19047

Sweet Palm Wine

West Africans will continue to tell tales of slave trade for many generations to come. As West Africans waded through life in the era of slave trade, evading abductors was priority for Africans that lived in endemic areas. This challenge did not spare them from other challenges life threw at them as West Africans plied for livelihood in unforgiving conditions. Issues such as poverty, absence of roads, absence of schools, lack of power, lack of hospitals and poor farming tools further exacerbated the journey of life for many West Africans.  

The Sanctity of Human Life

It normally takes at least 9 months to cultivate human life through processes peripherally explained by science. Inherent in the process, are deep mysteries that manifest in various ways and continue to leave human kind with more questions. In this whole drama of cultivating life, especially human life, several still ask “when does life truly begin?”

Dyeing our Mosaicked Fabric

Like the approach of eventide, gradually intensifying with time, a country so dear to us is sinking gradually into a sea of trepidation, and we are quite unsure about our future. We have heard statements from very highly placed Nigerians stating very firmly that Nigeria must remain one and that the unity of Nigeria is not up for discussion. I like hearing these statements a lot because quite frankly, they are the only source of belief for me now. The Nigerian state today reminds me of an earth tremor on the verge of eruption. Whether we like it or not, our country is unstable and like every chaotic situation, opportunists prowl cunningly, seeking to take advantage where they can. At this time in our history, we must ask ourselves if we want to continue to be Nigerians.

I am first of all a Nigerian

The human being at birth can be likened to a computer. We were all born quite unfilled. However, we all came to this world with the innate capacity to care for each other. Even as babies, we recognised other human beings as analogous to us and discerned them from the animals we found around us. As we grew older into toddlers, we stopped selecting who we allowed to carry us as long as someone we recognised was around. We were attracted to other Children we came across and played we with them more freely. Sometimes, too freely. We enjoyed human gatherings because they provided us with opportunities to further explore possible relationships with more and more people, and to play some more. No wonder I cherished the “end of year” parties my parents took me to so much.

Sunrise at dusk: A Prayer for Nigeria

When I look around, faces of despair are not in short supply. My own face is not immune. Thank God every Nigerian has some innate resilience to abjection. The issue however is that we all have our breaking points. We know when enough is enough! Though our past as a nation was quite eventful, we seemed to have thrown the cigarette butt into a trash can filled with papers and moved on without putting the fire out completely. The smoke from the trash can has gained dense billows and ignition is not far off. With reference to the political antecedents of Nigeria, no Government in uniform or without uniform has adequately coped with the immense expectations of Nigerians. If you kept an inventory of newspaper headlines from 1960 to date, the word chart would throw up a trend of words that abound in our discussions on national issues today. There is a popular saying that “Government is a continuum.” If this is true, why haven’t we as a nation overcome basic recurrent issues that continue to plague every successive Government in Nigeria?