Demystifying verse (An Interview on 234Next Newspaper)

By Bunmi Ajiboye  (c) 234Next Newspaper April 23, 2011 10:37PM

Writer, journalist and youth advocacy enthusiast, Jennifer Ehidiamen, took another step towards self-achievement with the release of her second collection of poems titled ‘Preserve My Saltiness’ in February. Her first, ‘In Days to Come’, was published in 2004 by the Young Poets Society, an online poetry club. Ehidiamen, who has a column in the Sunday edition of ‘The Nation’ newspaper, called ‘Dis Generation’, was awarded the LEAP Africa Nigerian Youth Leadership Award in November 2010 for her work as an outstanding youth leader. She had a 12-month stint as a fellow at the Atlas Corps in Washington DC, USA, and is currently features editor at Celebrating Progress Africa (CP Africa), an online portal which reports progressive African news. Ehidiamen talks about her craft and career pursuits.

Background

I am from Edo State. I attended Federal Government Girls College, Benin City briefly but returned to Lagos and completed my secondary school at Ikeja High School. After completing secondary school, I had a gap-year. I was reading a lot and I wanted to know what else I could do with my life. I figured that there’s got to be more to being young so I decided to volunteer with a friend, Dayo Israel, who used to run a youth group at Ebute Metta. We arranged summer camps. While I was involved with the group, I got to know about Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS), where I later did a six-month internship. This was where I learnt how to use the media for advocacy. I also got opportunity to participate in an exchange programme organised by the British Council. Shortly afterwards, I gained admission to study journalism at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Lagos.

Writing

Writing has always been a passion. I was a member of the press club at my secondary school. I started out reading Wole Soyinka’s poems, also J.P. Clark and Emily Dickinson. I began writing lots of poetry and I also joined online writing clubs. In 2004, I signed up to get published by an online poetry club, Young Poets Society. That encouraged me to keep writing. I also write short stories. Hopefully, that will be my next work.

‘Preserve My Saltiness’

It is a collection of 52 poems written over a period of three years. Some of it is raw poetry because I live the stories I tell. Aside from this, the poems deal with political, social, personal and spiritual issues. They are all written in the narrative form. I like to write in the first person narrative. The poems are like a collection of short stories. The book is targeted at young people and the young at heart. Many believe poetry is not the ‘in thing’ for this generation because it is not a celebrated genre of literature.

However, I believe one of the ways we can reverse this is to encourage schools, especially English and Literature teachers, to pay attention to it and engage their classes in critical discussion of different types of poetry. In addition, poets and writers should organise more reading sessions. I think we should also have more poetry slam and writers’ lounge. People should not conclude that poetry is a difficult genre of literature. I tell people, for every narrative poem they read, they get a combination of short story and poetry. It is very exciting to tell stories through poems.

Development journalist

I have always wanted to be a journalist. During my internship at JAAIDS, we were offering training sessions for journalists. We would bring young people living with HIV/AIDS and journalists together for sessions on how journalists can create awareness about HIV/AIDS. That was how I first learnt about development journalism. I started thinking of a column for young people. Luckily, the editor of ‘The Nation’ newspaper, then known as ‘The Comet’, approached me with an idea similar to what I had in mind about running a column for young people. That was how I started writing the column.

Giving back

Someone once told me that young Nigerians are very lazy and I refuted it. I like working with young people at the grassroots and I created an online forum for young people to interact, where they can get opportunities to develop themselves. I also reach out to youth through my column and work with some NGOs with a focus on youth development. ‘Before Graduation’ is another project we are running. It is a forum which creates opportunities for young undergraduates and secondary school students to do other things. We train them in life skills and inform them of internship opportunities.

We’ve done this at Yaba College of Technology and Obafemi Awolowo University. One World Youth Project is running a project which will connect schools from different parts of the world and we are currently trying to get University of Ibadan into the programme. We are also working on screening a documentary on social media and development journalism. The documentary, titled ‘Ten Tactics on How to Turn Information into Action’, was made by Tactical Technology based in the United Kingdom. LEAP Africa is sponsoring the screening of the documentary which is intended to train young people. Participants in the screening can mentor secondary school press clubs.

Culled from 234Next.com

An attitude to adopt this Easter!

Taking into consideration that this season signifies the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Easter is a good time to reminisce about everything. With a thankful heart, we reflect on the gift of life, the small victories of everyday and the opportunity to grow and expand our sphere of influence. We also thank God for the failures.

Sometimes, we dwell too much on our failures and inadequacies. Forgetting that those things can also be our opportunities to excel. I mean, failing should not mean the end of the world. In fact, it can be used as an opportunity to try harder and excel. 

A young reader sent me an SMS last week, sharing how frustrated he/she was about the Nigeria education system. If you have written JAMB or WAEC more than once, you would be able to empathize with this person. Many young people are in the same position- fretting over the future, worrying about failing etc. This attitude can only add up to our problems. Worrying has never been said to bring victory.

This Easter, as we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we must remember to key into the victory. Jesus rose up victoriously from death. We must live life victoriously. Sometimes, when we look at the reality around us, it pays more to squat in self-pity and defeat than operate in victory. 

But Maryanne Williamson’s famous quote also used by Nelson Mandela in his 1994 inaugural speech highlights some truth- “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

And so we MUST celebrate Easter with the knowledge that we are more than we are allowing ourselves to become, with the knowledge that we can live in victory and excel. Celebrate knowing we now have a new President elect- congratulation President Goodluck Jonathan! And that Nigeria’s democracy will not fall apart. We also celebrate Easter with our hearts reaching out to the families of many Nigerians who lost their lives in the Election violence in some areas and Post election riots in the North. No doubt, many agree that the violence was not needed.

Happy Easter celebration!

NEWS: Geographical Analysis (2011 Nigeria Presidential Election)

Summary Geographical Analysis (2011 Presidential Election)

PARTY	VOTES	MARGIN
PDP	22,045,693	59.6%
CPC	11,956,528	32.3%
ACN	2,049,260	5.5%
ANPP	909,769	2.5%

The Ruling Party PDP clearly won in the South while the major Opposition party CPC also replicated the same in the North. Voter turnout was abysmally low in the North whereas in the South, Turnout was as high as 85% though the North contributes a higher percentage of Nigerian Voters.


Get more Election updates on Twitter here
On Blackberry by adding BB Pin: 26E23AB7
And on facebook here.
View the Presidential Results Breakdown Here.

Where are you heading?

 Imagine the creation of everything on earth without a desirable goal. Wouldn’t it look awkward? We accomplish things by directing our desire and not by ignoring them.

A goal-less life is like the case of a man who wakes up in the morning, sets out of his home to a location unspecified and unknown to him, and then at dusk, he returns to his home.

For everything under the surface of the earth, there is a purpose or reason for which it is created or invented.

Too many people do not know where they are going but they are on their way; if you do not know where you are going, you will probably end someplace else. The man who has no direction is the slave of his own circumstance.

Most people think that the only way to live a satisfactory and happy life is to be filled with diverse talents but the amazing truth is that more men fail through lack of purpose than lack of talent. Having the talent is just not enough. Without it being given a direction, it is as good as useless. 

It will interest you to know that firmness of purpose is the most necessary sinews of character and one of the best instruments of success. Without it, genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies.

If you do not have a vision for your life, then you probably have not focused in on anything. in the absence of vision, there can be no clear and constant focus. Once your purpose is well cut and laid out, well defined, decisions will not be far from your reach.

Have a definite sense of direction and purpose for your life and you will soon realize that successful lives are motivated by dynamic purpose.

Visualizing things entails a person having the right picture of his dream, how he would go about it how he wants it and how it should be done.

When you discover your mission, you will feel its demand; it will fill you with enthusiasm and a burning desire to get to work on it.

Some think that the position they find themselves in is as a result of what fate has in store for them. But dear, it is very much advisable that you don’t resign to fate. As soon as you resign to fate, your resignation is promptly accepted. Knowing the purpose for your existence is the only determinant to knowing the step to take and the angle to approach a particular challenge; it is the driving force to great achievements.

By Joy Ekeledo (joybecky57@yahoo.com)

  Joy Ekeledo is a first year student of Nigerian Institute of Journalism. She is passionate about inspiring other young people and this week featured on Dis Generation as a guest columnist.

2011 Nigerian Presidential Election Results. Official Updates and Analysis.

Here is the official result of the just concluded Presidential Election in Nigeria as published by Nigeria Elections Coalition, a virtual network backed by real networks that in two conferences in 2009 and 2010 agreed to work cooperatively with in the shared goals and common purpose of achieving a free and fair election in 2011. Click here for more info

Updates and Analysis:

S/N	PU	PDP	ACN	CPC	ANPP	TOTAL	Reg. Voters	Voter Turnout	PDP Margin	CPC Margin	ACN Margin
1	OSUN STATE	188,409	299,711	6,997	3,617	498,734	1,293,967	38.5%	37.8%	1.4%	60.1%
2	ONDO STATE	387,376	74,253	11,890	6,741	480,260	1,616,091	29.7%	80.7%	2.5%	15.5%
3	KWARA STATE	268,243	52,432	83,603	1,672	405,950	1,152,361	35.2%	66.1%	20.6%	12.9%
4	KOGI STATE	399,816	6,516	132,201	16,491	555,024	1,316,849	42.1%	72.0%	23.8%	1.2%
5	OGUN STATE	309,177	199,555	17,654	2,969	529,355	1,941,170	27.3%	58.4%	3.3%	37.7%
6	LAGOS STATE	1,281,688	427,203	189,983	*	1,898,874	6,108,069	31.1%	67.5%	10.0%	22.5%
7	EKITI STATE	135,009	116,981	*	*	251,990	764,726	33.0%	53.6%		46.4%
8	ABIA STATE	1,175,954	4,156	3,608	1,418	1,185,136	1,524,484	77.7%	99.2%	0.3%	0.4%
9	KANO STATE	441,576	42,353	1,624,343	526,000	2,634,272	5,027,297	52.4%	16.8%	61.7%	1.6%
10	BAUCHI STATE	258,404	*	1,315,205	*	1,573,609	2,523,614	62.4%	16.4%	83.6%
11	OYO STATE	484,758	252,240	92,396	7,156	836,550	2,572,140	32.5%	57.9%	11.0%	30.2%
12	ENUGU STATE	802,144	1,755	3,753	1,111	808,763	1,303,155	62.1%	99.2%	0.5%	0.2%
13	FCT	253,444	2,323	131,576	3,170	390,513	943,473	41.4%	64.9%	33.7%	0.6%
14	BENUE STATE	694,776	223,007	109,680	*	1,027,463	2,390,884	43.0%	67.6%	10.7%	21.7%
15	SOKOTO STATE	309,057	20,144	540,769	*	869,970	2,267,509	38.4%	35.5%	62.2%	2.3%
16	KATSINA STATE	282,477	*	864,343	*	1,146,820	3,126,898	36.7%	24.6%	75.4%
17	GOMBE STATE	290,347	3,420	459,898	*	753,665	1,318,377	57.2%	38.5%	61.0%	0.5%
18	JIGAWA STATE	419,252	*	663,994	*	1,083,246	2,013,974	53.8%	38.7%	61.3%
19	RIVERS STATE	1,817,762	16,382	13,182	1,449	1,848,775	2,429,231	76.1%	98.3%	0.7%	0.9%
20	BAYELSA STATE	504,811	370	691	136	506,008	591,870	85.5%	99.8%	0.1%	0.1%
21	DELTA STATE	1,368,851	13,146	8,960	*	1,390,957	2,032,191	68.4%	98.4%	0.6%	0.9%
22	ADAMAWA STATE	508,314	32,786	344,526	2,706	888,332	1,816,094	48.9%	57.2%	38.8%	3.7%
23	KEBBI STATE	369,198	26,171	501,453	*	896,822	1,638,308	54.7%	41.2%	55.9%	2.9%
24	KADUNA STATE	1,190,179	11,278	1,334,244	17,301	2,553,002	3,905,387	65.4%	46.6%	52.3%	0.4%
25	EBONYI STATE	480,572	1,102	1,025	14,296	496,995	1,050,534	47.3%	96.7%	0.2%	0.2%
26	EDO STATE	543,173	54,242	17,795	2,174	617,384	1,655,776	37.3%	88.0%	2.9%	8.8%
	TOTAL	15,164,767	1,881,526	8,473,769	608,407	26,128,469	54,324,429	48.1%
		58.0%	7.2%	32.4%	2.3%

For more updates, visit Nigeria Elections' website http://nigeriaelections.org/presidential.php

2011 Nigeria Presidential Elections

First off- Thank you Prof Jega and all INEC team for an effective and efficient electoral process!!! It was not perfect but the best we have had so far in Nigeria! (Did you just nod your head in affirmation? I thought so!).

The presidential results are trickling in... interesting trend so far... click Nigeria Elections to view full analysis...(the results will be published there soon!).

Social Media played a significant role in the 2011 Nigeria Elections as young people tweeted and re-tweeted their experiences and first-hand report from their polling units.  It was a very participatory process.



The Ruling Party PDP won in the South while the major Opposition party CPC also replicated the same in the North. Voter turnout was abysmally low in the North whereas in the South, Turnout was as high as 85% though the North contributes a higher percentage of Nigerian Voters.


Get more Election updates on Twitter here
On Blackberry by adding BB Pin: 26E23AB7
And on facebook here.
View the Presidential Results Breakdown Here.

Read a much more detailed analysis on www.nigeriaelections.org

Social Analysis of 2011 Nigeria Presidential Candidates

Here is a social analysis of some of the 2011 Presidential candidates in Nigeria!