Bukola Olafenwa

Taking a rest after supper, I basked effortlessly in the echoed glory, uniqueness, significance of the 320th inaugural lecture in the series of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife, Nigeria, titled, "LIVING OUR STORIES IN AFRICA: FICTION, FICTIONALITY AND THE WISDOM OF UNCERTAINTY", delivered by Professor of Literature-in-English, Chima Anyadike at Oduduwa Hall on Tuesday, 12th June, 2018. Prof Chima Anyadike and I Cheerfully, I picked, opened its published version and was richly entertained over and over again by its invaluable content. The inaugural lecture starts on an elaborately enlightening note. The giant academia's expressions wrapped in the very first paragraph note that "our individual and collective lives in Africa today are shaped in significant ways, not just by the nature of our natural and social environments, but also by the actions resulting from the stories we tell ourselves and the ones told or written by others about us and our continen...

Have we sublimely or deliberately undervalued youthfulness as an indication of sheer immaturity and incapability, bestowed this unfair opinion-cum-act fully with the power to undo the youth, mar their personal and collective, great leadership dreams, plans, chances in one way or the other? Are we guilty of observing, passing on the belief that they are too young to be steady to hurting, harmful degrees? Have we become loyal followers of the myth that they have to wait until a tomorrow comes before they can be considered worthy of leadership positions? These are questions we ought to ask ourselves. They deserve sincere answers. I hope we are innocent. Refuting responses should be supported by proofs. Besides, I dare say that today must provide crucial discovery, testing and training grounds for the development, advancement of the youth's leadership potentials, skills so that they would be fully equipped with the necessary experience to be resourceful, dependable, pr...

Happy New Year Dear Readers. Hope you are doing great. Let's start this new year on a wonderful note. I have a delicious, memorable experience to share with you. Words never fail to accomplish their common mission to describe the describable and the indescribable profitably. Of course, anything that places one within the confines of one's hope of it is said to be "easily describable". Besides the moment one beholds someone or something and catches a beautiful feeling that stretches beyond the boundary of one's anticipation, one is influenced to qualify the object of affection as simply "difficult to be described". Moreover, when the nature, magnitude of the worth of an object of attention beats one's preconceptions extremely like a heavy rain and leaves one drenched, shivering with a flood of astounding enthusiasm, it can be honestly described as "indescribable". "Indescribable" was the exact feeling I conceived on the sp...