FOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS YOU MUST MAKE IN 2013

It is common practice as an old year ends and a new one begins for people to start making New Year resolutions.

STREETS OF CALABAR: A MOVIE REVIEW

If you have not watched it, you may be forgiven for thinking that Streets of Calabar is a feature-length advert for its namesake city.

YOUNGER GIRLS ARE GETTING MORE DARING

It was at a friend’s end of year party that I noticed the odd couple.

VILLAGE TRAVEL NOTES – MMILI UDU

As a child, there was nothing I looked forward to more than travelling home to the village for Christmas.

TRANSFORMATIONAL FAITH – LOOKING TO THE FUTURE (2)

This Christmas, it is important to reflect on the words of the desert monk, Carlo Carrotto, who wrote in his book, Letters from the Desert, that it pays once in a while in our busy lives to stop and reflect on what God is saying to our world through the events and tragedies in life.

TRANSFORMATIONAL FAITH – LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

The Greek god Janus, after whom the month of January is named is said to have two faces, one looking to the past and the other face looking to the future.

SHERIFF’S SHELF – THE OBAMA RE-ELECTION, THE FISCAL CLIFF, AND OTHER ISSUES

The re-election of incumbent US President, Barack Obama on Tuesday November 6, 2012 is hardly news anymore but the renewed controversy over the fiscal cliff has exposed the failure of the Republican Party in particular, to learn anything from the results of that election.

LAGOS IN THE YULETIDE: WHERE ARE OUR RECREATIONAL PARKS?

It is December once again and the Lagos buzz has begun.  As the flights pour into Lagos, the local economy will again get a shot in the arm with the foreign currency of holidaymakers looking to have a fun time in the city that hardly sleeps. 

HEART BUILDER

She was still crying profusely and I wondered what must have happened in less than twenty four hours because I was with her yesterday evening and she was her normal happy self.

NIGERIAN AND ITALIAN ART MEET IN “INCONTRO”

On December 3, 2012, the Embassy of Italy held a collective art exhibition in Abuja showcasing works of three talented Nigerian artists – Fidelis Eze Odogwu, Franklyn C. Enebeli and Uche Uzorka – and Italian artist, Olga Prokopenko Del Pio. The exhibit was a culmination of the Embassy’s  twelve week celebration of Italian language and culture.

OUR SCHOOLS AS CENTERS FOR MEDIOCRITY

Going to school these days, no longer means what it used to mean in the days of old.  Nowadays, success in JAMB and WAEC examinations alone, no matter how intelligent the student is, is no longer sufficient to secure a place in the nation’s universities.

ABUJA FOOD EXPO – CELEBRATING FOOD IN STYLE

As important as food is, the agricultural sector is one of the most neglected sectors in Nigeria, practiced mostly now by rural dwellers.

NOTES FROM AWAY – THE PLAYFUL ART OF OBI NWOKEDI’S PHOTOGRAPHY

Earlier this summer I was doing a writing residency in Paris when I first came across the work of London-based Nigerian photographer, Obi Nwokedi.

THE NEXT COUNTRY

Biafra was born at a time when majority of us were largely unaware of what a country meant.  Prior to this momentous development, the citizens of what turned out to be Biafra suffered all forms of deprivation in Nigeria and were driven to thinking “what next?” when most of their kith and kin were killed in the [...]

HEARTS OF SORROWS CONNECTED

Stepping out of the abyss of sorrows

Filled with the putrid smell of hardship

And the digging nails of pained boredom

GIVE THANKS

I sat down in this empty space

Lonely tears falling down my face