JENNIE IFEATU

Chukwuebuka had been my friend for a long time.  I had come visiting and he had just bought a new Play Station 4 set way back then. We sat and discussed about  the Nigerian school system to politics, to social trends and ofcourse literature.  He had been waiting for 'the boys' so he could 'trash them' in a game.  "I would like to play," he gave me the 'girls-don't-play-games kind of smile but I insisted.  Five minutes into the game, he had a knowing smile on his face as he stared at me to the gamepads and back to the screen. One thing was certain, it was not the first time I 'd touch a gamepad. Growing up with my male cousins groomed me for that.  Life itself is a game and realising this in good time will help you pull through it with ease. Life is designed just like games just like your favourite Candy Crush to Grand Theft Auto , Super Mario or even Temple Run . It teaches you to scale hurdles and unlock higher realms of operation. Ga...

Academic carryovers, guilt and cologne have something in common. They all have a certain smell. The first two have pungent smells while cologne has a sweet-smelling fragrance, it could be vanilla, oceanic, floral or even oriental. The interesting part about them is that the extent which this smell last depends on the individual wearing it. I am a proud 90's baby. I am one of the lucky millennials who happen to be enjoying the beauty of social media. I know a place where everyone is perfect, where everyone has no worries and that's on social media. Lately, a young friend had reached out to me lamenting on how she was a failure because she had gotten a carryover. She is an undergraduate in one of our Nigerian higher institutions. She further stated that she felt less ashamed of telling me because of how I relate to her. I listened intently and at the end of her narration, I was just staring at her, Perhaps she was waiting for a backlash. "I had three carryovers...

One of the group of people I detested coming in contact with as an undergraduate in the university were motivational speakers. I actually came up with a quote that some of my old friends from university still remind me of,  "Motivational speakers are folks who speak words that can charge three laptops, five phones and two power banks then the whole power fizzles away in a minute." My mindset had been wired that my inspiration should come from these motivational speakers. In my first and second year, I would attend any event I got an invite just to get inspired. However, when I got to my third year, I knew I was basically wasting my time. So I resorted to resentment for motivational speakers. With time, I found a way of tapping my inspiration from the sports world. So, I would watch tennis, football, boxing, wrestling and basketball. At the time, it was the 'real deal' for me. The truth I found later was that these guys were just like the gods in Ola Rotimi...