By: Bukola Odusanya
Time is such a fluid concept, one time it’s here and the next it’s gone, remembered only in memories, photographs, art, or writing. Sometimes it’s gone to never be recollected, existing only in tiny fragments- Deja Vu, the whiff of a familiar scent that we can not remember, or a melody we know but can’t seem to find the song. What we are trying to say is, events happen and they disappear.
If we put it on a scale, how eventful could we say 2022 was? To put into better perspective, let’s describe this year as a bus moving through the highway of shege, and there are no bus stops, and the passengers are compelled to yell God abeg every ten minutes.
Twenty-twenty Promax was a lot, please, but the thing is it’s going to never be experienced again.
So before we mentally clock out of this year, let’s have a leisure stroll around the year, highlight memories, and revisit the aspects that made us laugh, angry, astonished, and sad. Let’s go back a little.
You no see shege, how na?
Being a Young Adult is difficult enough, now being a young adult in Nigeria, in this 21st century under the prevailing political structures we have presently is just hell. Everybody in Nigeria is born with an assigned number for shege, the number depends on the economic class you find yourself in. If you are a rich kid you have free ten, if you are not a rich kid- it’s long!
From bad roads to crazy traffic, to no light, to problems of structure, administration, and management. The point is one way or the other Nigeria would touch you.
They can just hijack you
Before we get into this one, please touch yourself to make sure you are still here, word on the street is that taking people to where they don’t know. For the first half of this year alone, 3,823 numbers of people were abducted and the kidnapping industry is said to be worth approximately 7 billion naira.
This year we heard a lot of reports on kidnappings, which seemed to be another of the ingenious ways Nigerians are striving to gather this currency, the state of insecurity and unrest in the country is jaw-breaking. At this point, we can only pray and hope that the only thing kidnapping us is premium enjoyment and soft life.
Who gave Nollywood a happy pill
It’s like another industry asides from music has awoken to the idea of giving people joy. This year we had movies that stood out in video quality, storyline quality, the acting, please Nollywood is now a big girl on campus, trying new and wild things and we are here to see it.
Movies like Anikulapo directed by kunle Afolayan sparked a lot of reactions from Nigerians, and blood sisters by Biyi Bandele and Kenneth Gyang. Elesin Oba and brotherhood amongst many others managed to give us great storylines, wonderful motion quality and great acting. Although the dreams of aspiring for an Oscar seem like a ‘playing’ situation, we are glad for where the Nigerian movie industry is at.
The bloody Sunday at OWO:
On the 5th day of June, the residents of OwO experienced a tragic mass shooting with led to the killing of forty- people. Around 11:30 AM, as worshipers were inside the church attending Mass and celebrating Pentecost, an attack broke out at the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in the Owo local government area. While posing as worshippers, a group of gunmen entered the church with suitcases containing weapons. Outside the church, a different group of people took the position. Both factions started shooting at attendees after improvised explosive devices went off outside the chapel. Gunmen inside fired at everyone who moved while the main entrance was locked and locked.
The Owo mass killing was linked to Hausa and Fulani herdsmen by the local people of owo, while the federal government refuted it as a more coordinated attack organised by the Islamic State- West African province. This is yet another event that embodies the religious tension and suspicions existing between the major religious sect.
That pick 8 card
We cannot talk about this year without mentioning the long eight months of break Nigerian students were forced to take. In February this year, the Academic Staff Union went on a strike to protect the right of their members, and the students had to strive to protect their mental health.
The last eight months were quite monumental or in the least significant for most students. We were compelled to grow, and find new hobbies or things of interest. They came to tell us that Nigeria can do to us as it wishes at any time.
We thought Jesus paid it all.
Adulthood is a fat fraud, it looked so glamorous from afar but now all we see are bills and they are after our lives. The cost of living in Nigeria is ridiculously high, and the higher it gallops, the more stagnant our minimum wage remains.
Every market trip is more expensive than the last one, the cost of transportation.
This year we experienced very terrible inflation which left the value of the naira at a very ridiculous rate.
Now that we have helped you jumpstart your introspection on the year, we are sure that several events left a mark on you in 2022, So think about it, What was your year in review?
