#31Days31Writers: Isioma learned ‘people are flawed’

Turn up! We’ve successfully started inching towards the end of the second week of this #31Days31Writers series! God is a good God! Whoop! Big thank you to everyone who’s sent in an entry, left a comment, liked a post, shared on social media, thank you!

Isioma is a kind of kindred spirit to be honest… I see some of her tweets and my heart sings. We’ve never met, but I know I like her, and will like her even more if we ever meet. And she’s manager to the darlings of the film industry and each time I see her tweet about them, I just imagine they must be great, easy-to-relate-with kind of people to have her as manager.

So I saw Isioma share one of the articles from this series, and I sent her a private message asking if she would send an entry in herself. I think I got it in 30 minutes or something miraculous like that! Shaking my head at people I’ve been following for almost two years to send in their pieces!

I’ll let you get to it… I like this one!

2015 has been a year of thanksgiving, it has not been perfect and sometimes it was difficult and frustrating but overall it has been a win. In November I walked away from a pretty serious car accident. Everyone who saw the pictures of the wreck told me how lucky or blessed I was. That accident summed up my year beautifully. You see I am wonderfully and fearfully made and therefore I cannot be broken. Bent and bruised, but never broken.

My name is Isioma Osaje and I’m a child of God. I’m Nigerian, resident in Lagos, and own a company called Agency 106 Talents & Company Limited. I’m a Talent Manager/Film Producer.

2014 was challenging professionally and personally and I knew that things had to give. At the end of 2014, I told God I wanted to know Him better and live the life He had ordained for me. At the beginning of 2015 I went on a purge of sorts. I asked God to rid me of everything that was a distraction from my purpose, and boy did He go to town. I am by no means the most successful version of myself, but I’ve grown. It is refreshing to look back on the woman I was in 2014 and the one I am today.

My blessings and lessons from 2015

Blessings

1. I nurtured my spirit. I fed my spirit with the word of God religiously and made it a point of duty to spend at least an hour every day in fellowship with God. My principle this year was to improve myself, so I constantly analyzed the things about me that worked and those that need a little help. I’m imperfect and always will be, but I will never stop trying to be a better version of me.
2. I made my passion legitimate and registered my company. I’m in the business of making Kings and Queens. God has been faithful; people actually know my name and what I do!! Also my people have grown in leaps and bounds and the promise of 2016 has me so excited.
3. I became a voice. It has always been my dream to motivate and inspire people and in 2015, I finally began to do this via social media. I’ve received several calls and messages from people who read my tweets and were blessed.
4. I have the best support system and I am grateful for the people in my life who give it meaning.
5. God loves me and everything I touch shall be blessed.

Lessons

1. I learned that people are flawed. They will disappoint you and it is okay. I ditched a handful of users, because carrying people who do not add anything to your life is an unnecessary hassle.
2. Life goes on. As far as clichés go this is the most cliché statement of the lot and yet it is the most valid. No matter what is going on in your sphere of existence, life will not stop until you figure it out. At best you can call for a timeout, but you will have to get back into the ring and continue fighting.
3. Anonymity works, but some things in life require a face. I do not like or enjoy being in the public eye and if left to my own devices you would only ever know the name. Unfortunately we live in a world that is pretty jaded and people may sometimes need to see that you’re real to buy into your vision. Enjoy or at least learn to tolerate the spotlight.
4. I am happiest when I help people achieve their dreams, so I was constantly supporting anything and everyone. This in the long run is counter-productive because you only have so much to give. In 2015 I learned to differentiate between acquaintances, friends and others. I still give 100% of myself to anything or anyone I’m committed to, but I learned the hard way to only commit myself to people who ask and will appreciate it and to causes that leave me blessed.
5. GOD is enough. Trust in Him and He will give you everything that you need.

Yes Mami, God is enough! I can’t even find the words to do a recap because I feel I will just repost the entire article! Thank you Isioma for writing in, and here’s to a fabulous 2016!

#31Days31Writers: @ThatAndy found “some sense in a lot of nonsense” this year!

I’ve known Andy for just under nine years now, and we’ve gone from being acquaintances to business partners, to great friends. Whether it’s sitting on the road in Wales waiting for pizza to be delivered, or brainstorming for hours on end for clients, or agreeing to pray about something that’s proving difficult, Andy is the kind of friend you want in your corner.

He’s quiet, is a good listener, has learnt to forgive (thank you Jesus), and is one of the most versatile entrepreneurs I’ve met. And I’m happy he’s my friend.

It isn’t necessarily foolish to make a mistake twice you know? It could also be that risk taking sometimes becomes addictive. Not the bungee jumping type, but the type when you decide to stay on a job for XYZ period then up and leave because you know you have paid your dues… This was me in 2013, that was me in 2015 and hey, I love being able to make decisions without feeling I will die if things change.

I left a steady 8am -5:30pm job as a Chief Technology Officer in an ePayment and IT solutions firm exactly two years after leaving the role of a Senior Cyber Threat Analyst in the UK. For most people I seemed crazy, to others, unserious. What was the next plan? Well, the next plan had started almost ten years ago and kept me as busy as all my other steady jobs did, surprisingly that even paid better. Eight months later, I wake up every day filled with the peace of mind knowing that the hustle is up to me; I broke free of the chains called corporate slavery and went full-time into being an entrepreneur and an innovator which is what I have always been passionate about. I actually started a pre-book taxi service which has in turn created several employment opportunities for some young Nigerians.

I am thankful for so many things, knowing that I can survive through the month without salary coming from one source has driven me to do better and has even helped me prioritize and have peace of mind. I got closer to God and learnt the real art of giving. I did that for a bit and realized that when we give expecting to receive, we actually do receive but hardly ever in the way we expected. The gift of life, health, family and little things are the rewards which can hardly been quantified. The best blessings are the blessings unseen.

While thinking of reasons to be thankful, I had a real-time experience that shaped my thinking and sense of experience on the 29^th of November. A thief/armed robber jumped into my moving car and tried wrestling the car from me, of course it was late at night. Years of working out finally paid off as I foolishly fought till he fell out of the car and I drove off Nollywood style. I would have been stabbed or shot but I am here today. That means more than money.

I work with an amazing group of young people, the Abuja hub of the Global Shapers Community (the youth arm of the World Economic Forum), who are leaders in their own right and passionate about having an impact on the society. Less than 10 days after the Nyanya and Kuje bomb blasts by Boko Haram in Abuja, we started a project called #AGSDrive where the good people of Abuja contributed cash and several items for the people affected by the bomb blasts. This renewed my belief in good people who are able to have an impact even without waiting for government.

I am thankful for bottled water. I visited a community called Wukara were their main source of water can not even be called a stream. Where they had to sieve out spirogyra from the same water they drink, bath and wash with. Thankfully the Global Shapers, Selfless For Africa and The Project Drink Live teams sunk a borehole for them.

It is another December and I’m still unmarried, said several people. But that does not define me or you, it does not put a benchmark on achievement or success. I have learnt that the real resources crucial in life is people and not money, the right network and how you cultivate relationships with individual and clients is what sets you aside from the next man. It is okay to be upset at things around you as long as you are creating a solution. Finally, find something to believe in; for me it isn’t a pastor or Church but I believe in God and that has helped me find some sense in a lot of nonsense in 2015.

Andy Madaki is a Partner at iBlend Services, CEO SmartDropNg, an information security analyst, a public speaker and part-time geek. He stays in Abuja, Nigeria.

Ahhh!! See Posh Kid! Please I’m auctioning Andy jor! Private bids only…

See what I said? All-round correct guy! Thank you for sending in your entry, and for being on my blog again! Here’s to a fabulous 2016!

Under the shadow of the Almighty…

My bestie Wunmi was around recently, and after prying the remote from her hands so we could watch something other than Telemundo, we ended up with a Nigerian movie. Didn’t catch the name so I’m sorry I can’t share, especially since it inspired this.

To digress a bit, I totally dislike Telemundo. No, it’s not totally about beefing the perfect figures of the ladies, it’s not about the fact that I can tell someone is talking over their voices, it’s not even the fact that the storylines are ‘too much’. I just dislike them. Really dislike them.

Back to the movie. It was a village setting, and of course the village witch was called ‘Ezenwanyi’, an Igbo word/title which transliterated means ‘Queen of females’. Then there was a pharmacist who didn’t seem to be doing well (I don’t remember his name). What struck me about this film however was the fact that this pharmacist went to Ezenwanyi and complained that his business wasn’t doing very good and he needed her help. What help did she offer him?

A potion, which he poured on the street in a part of the village. Anyone who passed on that street immediately became constipated, sometimes for as long as a week with all the attendant, overemphasized symptoms. So swollen/distended belly, pain, groaning, you know our people.

Now, only this pharmacist could cure the sickness, and so he became rich because he would charge a fortune to ‘heal’ them.

There were other story strands in the movie but I remember telling bestie that films like these were the reason why we must remain covered by God every single day. The heart of man is desperately wicked, and there are all sorts of evils flying around which only children of God can be exempt from. Look at the movie for instance; so for no crime or doing of theirs, the villagers who passed that street with the potion just became afflicted?

Just like that. Just like that, according to a song by Temi Dollface.

Let’s expand it a bit further. Stray bullets, cars running into other cars (even parked/stationary cars), light poles falling, whatever ‘random’ evil that can befall a person. Who maketh us to differ? What is the difference between Mr A who passes a road without incident, and Mr B who passes and while he is on the bridge, it gives way and he is destroyed?

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty…and I will say of the Lord, you are my refuge, and my fortress, my God in you will I trust” – I learned this Psalm as a song when I was a lot younger, but this movie dug it (the song) out from whatever recesses in my mind it had disappeared to. Valid more than ever in these times if you asked me, when there seems to be so much evil in the air, so much wickedness, and for no reason!

Hian!

A little more digression; how many of us can trace our escape/deliverance from what would have been a disaster/unfortunate event to someone praying for us? For me, it’s been my mother, but that’s a story for another day! Question is, who are you covering/loving with prayer? Something to think about abi?

Anyway, that’s me for today, just really wanted to share that.

How’s September coming? How has your year been so far really? Going as you planned, or there are some things that could be better/different? Ku ise (Yoruba language for ‘well done’), keep at it, you can’t give up!

Take good care!

NOLLYWOOD KENAN!

Credits: Wikipedia

So I concluded with a friend that my chronicles would be on some sort of roster; say Wednesday of the every week I would upload a new chronicle. That would (in my opinion) help people unconsciously look forward to them; and also be able to dedicate a couple minutes of their time to joining whatever discussion the chronicle would spark without feeling bad about abandoning their jobs.

I’ve tried hard to keep to that but with the craziness going on in our world today, how on earth can I?

Moving on, so I won’t say I grew up on Nollywood movies because even though I’m a fairy and all, I’ve been a scaredy cat from birth; a mischievous friend affectionately calls me a ‘chickenosarus’ sometimes. And since at some point Nollywood was all about depicting Nigeria as some jungle where three in every five Nigerians was either a herbalist or patronizing one (I see we have handed that baton to Africa Magic Yoruba) and honestly, I couldn’t stomach all that ‘winchy winchy’ so I didn’t watch!

When I developed enough liver to start watching, I ended up being seriously amused and sometimes outright insulted by the simplistic scripts, weak storylines, extremely poor continuity (or none at all); in fact, let me paint you a picture.

Continuity entails ensuring that the facts, links, and time in a script are not only properly expressed in a production, but also in a coherent manner. You know, simple stuff like an Ini Edo who’s supposed to be playing the role of a poor girl living in the village with her blind widowed mum (you know we love sob stories) should not be dressed in rags and sporting glass nails!  Especially when you’re going to depict her ten years later with her rich boyfriend (or husband) who visited the village after living abroad for 20 years, saw her on her way home from the market, probably knocked her down with his car (for good measure), fell in love with her; oh my God! You know where this is going don’t you? Let’s continue sha.

So he falls in love with her, has to fight with his family because she’s not up to their ‘class’, and when she finally gets accepted by the family she’ll be pictured in his house with the same nail extensions, same frigging color! And believe me, that’s just one example out of many!

Still on Nollywood, I saw something on twitter recently that I had to retweet! Medianemesis said, ‘God must be annoyed with them (Nollywood) for giving Him glory for their wack movies’. I think I agree.

Anyways, so at some point Nollywood decided that since they had explored just about every issue with rituals, herbalists, and the supernatural in general, they wanted to have ‘Inception-like’ themes in their movies and so a typical script would play out like this:

A ‘bookwormish’ A student at some dodgy university would fall in love with the head cultist on campus (and not know he was a cultist). On a fateful day (most likely night) she would be on the way home from the library and homeboy and his peers would be out on a ‘mission’ and she would get caught in the crossfire (insert mission impossible soundtrack or some other give away background song, and the lady’s eye contact the said boyfriend before he shoots). Of course the boyfriend would be the shooter!

Fast forward three weeks later; she’s in the hospital with a head band and hanging limbs (even though we were shown she was shot in the stomach), and there we would find that when her poor widowed mum brings her food she’ll meet the boyfriend (who’s begging for forgiveness), see the ‘mark’, and recognize the son she had for ‘Chief’ eons ago. Add an enraged chief, the doctor revealing that the lad’s pregnant for the boyfriend (maybe twins for effect), chief’s wicked wife and the drama she’ll bring, three or four most-likely-to-confuse-rather-than-enlighten flashbacks, the clincher (revelation by the widow) that the lady was adopted so she can marry her boyfriend and next thing we’re ‘giving God the glory’ because the movie’s over! That’s of course if they decide to spare us the trouble of turning it into a four-part serial!

Would you believe me if I said this chronicle wasn’t supposed to be about Nollywood? Tell me to stop already, jeez! To be fair though, our artists are world class, as evidenced by the recognition they receive at international fora. And I truly salute people like Kunle Afolayan (The Figurine), Jeta Amata (Amazing Grace, Inale), Tunde Kelani (Abeni)* and other industry people who with their works show that movies can be brilliant, faultless, on point, timely, and still be Nigerian. Keep raising the bars people!

To the people behind the scenes, gaffers, cameras, lights, continuity, welfare, floor managers, drivers, costumiers, location managers, props; keep doing what you do! Your labor of love (which is paid here on earth) will also be rewarded in heaven by the Fairy Godfather.

To the stars of the show, the Genevieve Nnaji’s, Kalu Ikeagwu’s, Omoni Oboli’s, please feel free to challenge/reject/ask to amend dodgy scripts!

And to the scriptwriters (where the script is not written by a shirtless, chubby human being having a beer in his Alaba store on a hot, ‘NEPAless’ afternoon), according to Frank Capra “scriptwriting is the toughest part of the whole racket… the least understood and the least noticed”. We know, doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate you though!

P:S – You won’t believe this chronicle was supposed to be on politics! Ah well, let me get to writing that now!