LIFESTYLE

  Olumurewa Damilola The University of Ibadan, as we all know, is the first and the best university in Nigeria. Statistics even support this claim. The school is known for its strong academic research and its production of excellent-minded students. Apparently, however, it is not only a home of excellence and prestige, but also a home to kerosene fumes—fumes that drift through corridors as though searching for someone to suffocate. Hmmn… kerosene. Kerosene. Kerosene. The green–yellowish liquid we constantly check and measure after every cooking adventure has somehow become precious almost like gold. After all, no one survives hunger. Or can we? Also, this yellowish liquid comes with a partner: the stove, our lovely green stove whose features we have come to “adore”.   Let's not begin with its wick we constantly adjust when it refuses to cooperate, or the stove head that faithfully paints our once-white pots black. And then there is the smoke: thick, stubborn, and ever-pre...

  Image Credit: Pinterest Joy Olu-Ajayi  Living with a roommate sounds easy in theory, but in reality, it is a full-time lesson in human behaviour. Every day comes with a new surprise, and sometimes you just sit down and ask yourself how different people can live so differently in the same small space. Because honestly, roommate palaver no be something wey person fit explain finish. First, let’s talk about the silent roommate and the friendly one. You go enter room with good energy, ready to relate, maybe even build friendship. You greet, you ask questions, you try to start conversation. But your roommate go just answer you like say na interview. “Hmm… fine.” Nothing more. You go try again, but e go clear say this person no come school to make friends. Dem just come to mind their business. Meanwhile you, you dey wonder if you talk too much. But truth be say, na personality difference, and na where the first wahala dey start. Now on the other side, you get the one wey too free....

  Image Credit: Pinterest  Joy Olu-Ajayi   Be honest, how did you start this year? Full of plans, right? You had things you wanted to achieve, habits you wanted to build and the ones you wanted to change badly and a version of yourself you were determined to become. You told yourself this year would be different. You set deadlines, made promises, and held on to your faith, praying, declaring, and believing that everything would fall into place. In your mind, you could already see it: a more disciplined, more financially stable, more accomplished and a more refined version of you. Some of us even took bold steps. We signed up for opportunities, joined platforms, and aligned ourselves with ideas that promised growth. Many even became ambassadors for Cowrywise, driven by the desire to improve their financial lives and create new streams of income. It sounded like a great plan. In fact, it truly was. But now comes the honest question: what have we done with those opportunitie...

  Photo credit: Pinterest Olumurewa Damilola  Culture is the shared way of life of a group of people. It includes the beliefs, values, customs, traditions, language, art, and behaviours that people learn and pass down from one generation to another. In simpler terms, culture is how people live, think and interact in a society. In essence, a group of people share a similar lifestyle by observing some shared customs like festivals, dance, community development just to mention a few. This fosters unity, community growth, diversity and shared heritage. But when exactly do cultural practices become oppressive? For context, we have to understand what the word "oppression” connotes. According to Cambridge Dictionary, oppression is a situation in which people are governed in an unfair and cruel way and prevented from having opportunities and freedom. Now, in Nigeria, there are different cultures and traditions that are peculiar to certain people and tribes. But when we look deeply, so...