In 2015, I graduated from Coventry University, United Kingdom with a Civil Engineering degree, Second Class Upper at age 21. However, after 3 years of studying for what I believed was my dream career I had this gut feeling something was wrong but I was determined to make my very supportive parents proud. Having already taken the plunge, failure was not an option. On my graduation day, I held a degree I knew I would never use. “What now?” was the question in my head. One day as I lay in bed surfing the Internet, I stumbled on an article from Huffington Post, “Why Millennials in Nigeria May End Up Unfulfilled Adults” by Ebenezar Wikina. It was a story about a young man who dropped out of studying Electrical Engineering in Nigeria, to pursue his passion for the Arts in Canada. The article was touching because I saw a lot of myself in the story.
The Moment Everything Changed
In 2016, I battled depression and struggled to complete my MSc degree. By 2017, I had returned to Nigeria and spent my days sending out innumerable job applications online. One thing was consistent, I never stopped writing about my journey, and one day, a decision to accompany a friend to an event, changed everything. The event centered around the air pollution crisis in Rivers State. During the breakout session, I was approached by a young man who introduced himself and spoke passionately about PIND Foundation, an organization he was interning at. I had never heard of it but I took his card and we stayed in touch. During our conversations, he spoke glowingly about his ‘Project Coordinator’, a youth in the Niger Delta region who had been able to interview world leaders, journalists and toured the world, just by using his mobile phone to tell stories. I had always loved to write, which I expressed to him and he suggested that I write an article to commemorate the 2018 International Day of the Girl Child for their website NDLink and I jumped at the offer.“My Name is Girl, Female, Woman” was published in October 2018 from real stories of violence against women and girls collected in the Niger Delta. It received over 1000 views, likes and comments on the website. Following this article and my donation of boards and writing materials to a public secondary school, I was invited to join the NDLink Champions - a select group of young people in different career spheres doing their part to effect change in the Niger Delta.
My Moment
March 2019, I got accepted for an internship with PIND Foundation as an NDLink Data Analyst. As part of the organization’s Advocacy and Analysis unit, we used NDLink as a hub to share positive news of development within the Niger Delta. We also shared jobs, fellowships, and volunteer opportunities for youths. I got the opportunity to deliver capacity building training in Mobile Storytelling and Infographics, for a group of 15 women from an organization, Gender and Development Action (GADA). We were able to support and promote more than 20 youth lead events by donating our space and social media platforms. Our constant activity online increased our website views to more than 13 million and increased membership by more than three thousand people in 2019. To crown our efforts, NDLink won the “Media and Advocacy Platform in the Niger Delta” Award. The same year, I joined a group of young people passionate about telling African Stories using animations, on a platform called Playwork Dreams. Our first event brought together writers and animators to create original stories. Celebrity role models present at the event offered useful advice on achieving success to young creatives. Within a year, I learned how to use my writing skills to advocate for change in the areas of Economic Development, Education and Capacity Building within the Niger Delta and taught others to use infographics and social media to tell their stories. I was also able to grow my social media following and engaged with more writers and change-makers from around the world. I became a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, a speaker at Google Developers Group 2019 and got accepted to attend the biggest film festival in Nigeria African Film Festival (Afriff). After my internship, I landed a job as Programs and Administrative Officer for the Partners for Peace Organization; the largest network of peace actors in the Niger Delta. From a dissatisfied girl with a degree, she wasn’t passionate about, I turned to a Development Practitioner and Creative Content Creator but that isn’t all. The young man’s Project Coordinator turned out to be Ebenezar Wikina. The same one who wrote the article that inspired my belief of light at the end of the tunnel. He gave me my first big break. Taught me to take writing and storytelling seriously. Like him, I could use my words to affect the change.