Interview: Chima Nnaekpe

That there are odds against us is no hidden fact. It is moving despite them that requires discovery. That we have many reasons to drift with the crowd is very much on the surface, but going the extra distance, deploying creativity, needs to be unravelled.

Chima Nnaekpe, a graduate of Covenant University, Nigeria, has definately brought creativity and efforts beyond the usual to the table with his debut Comic book: My Valentine 1.
In this exclusive interview, Chima takes us on a journey to confirm the story of efforts and creativity that the end product tells so loudly.

1.Beyond the geek glasses and artistic demeanor, who is Chima Nnaekpe?
Chima: A highly talented youth and a genius with an addiction to thinking and living in a world of Fantasy.

2. At what point did fine arts become your thing? When did you start drawing?

Chima Nnaekpe

Chima: At the point of intense boredom. This was between the ages of 6-7 years.

3. By this work are you saying that you are taking your drawing beyond a hobby and making a career out of it?
Chima: Yes I am making a career out of it.

4. Has this been an easy decision? What challenges where you confronted with?
Chima:It hasn't been an easy decision. There have been the challenges of school life (i.e. assignments, project, exams)
that have beclouded my interest in it; but thanks to God for the friends i met and preachings by anointed men of God, including inspirational books which have revived my liking for it.

5. What inspired My Valentine?
Chima: To be frank i don't know; but it was the motive of establishing the popularity of my favourite comic characters that made me to continue with it by modifying the storyline of the comic story.

6. How long has it taken to put this work together?
Chima: Two Months (August - October); the longest i have ever spent in making it. This is because of the technology introduced making the comic.

7. How much effort did you put into the production of this work, was it an easy process?
Chima: Not that easy especially the "colouring" aspect of it.

8. What would you like the world to know about My Valentine?
Chima: I want the world to support that love should be shared amongst ourselves irrespective of our differences.

9. You come across as a determined person; can we safely assume that you are?
Chima: Yes, but i hope that with time you all will know and not just assume.

10. If yes, what fuels your determination?
Chima: The World watching animated movies and series of my comic stories and not only that; God's name being glorified all around the world when i start making spiritual and biblical animated movies too. Also another driving force to going on with this project refers to the inspirational achievements of my mentor, Walt E. Disney. You potential readers also make a huge part of my motivation.

11. Many youths and people in general wish they could feel the joy of a concluded work as you probably feel about My Valentine. What advice would you offer them?
Chima: If you love something very much, your passion for it helps you to conclude the work you propose to do without the feeling of how hard it was to do so. So...I'll advise that you all should be very passionate about your desired project.
    
12. What impact do you hope My Valentine has on its viewers?
Chima: I want "My Valentine" to impart the spirit of love not just amongst spouses or boyfriends-girlfriends; but amongst our friends and even our enemies.

13.Should we expect anymore comics from you?
 Chima: Yes. Expect to have the other episodes of the comic.

14.  Where can we grab copies of My Valentine?
Chima: Still thinking about that....

THINK!

Image source: broadwatersinc.com

Why quarrel when we can rob minds together?

Why not forgive when we likewise err?

Why should we be enemies over land that would outlive us?

Why hate when loving makes life easier for every one?

Why covet what your neighbor has even when you cannot do what he did to get it?

How many things would change if we stopped to question our motives? How different would life be if we stopped to reason, to logically analyze the costs and benefits of available alternatives? Our souls contain more than our emotions, they contain our thinking faculty too. A balance between emotions and reasoning has to be reached. Can the statistic be true that 5% of humans think, 15% think they think, while the remaining 85% would rather die than think? Before you thoughtlessly consider this as ridiculous, think!

ARISE, O COMPATRIOTS! NIGERIA IS 52!

It is unusual to find a fifty- two year old who depends on his or her parents.  Hardly any culture in the world supports this. At fifty- two, it is expected that you have long established your place and are furthering your cause with posterity at the back of your mind.  Youths might be prone to do things for the now but this is not the case with a fifty-two year old. The future becomes important. How it will end becomes a matter for thought.

Nigeria is fifty two. Granted, the life cycle of a nation differs from that of a human being, but we can still learn some crucial lessons from the latter.  On this occasion of Nigeria’s 52nd independence anniversary, I will focus on the lesson of self dependency that we can find in the life of most fifty-two year old humans. This is the point in our lives when we as a nation should desist from looking to a parent and begin to look within for solutions. We are the people of Nigeria. We are the nation, all 150 million plus of us.  We have focused too long on the government as our parent. We have not taking parenting as a role we play but as a role a few others play for us. This has got to change, if not for the fact that it has not worked over the years, then for the plain fact that we are fifty-two years old today.

“The government should do this”, “The government should do that “. We have to minimize such statements at this stage of our lives. If there are no jobs, we have to create them, whether it is on the President’s agenda or not. If a government is not responsive to its duties, we have to learn at fifty- two to stop complaining in our newspapers and within our household conversations, and learn to unseat such government. We have to learn at fifty-two to steer our Ship and decide where we are going. We have to learn to stop a few from driving their personal interests under the pretense of running a democracy.

Compatriots, arise! We are the government, we are the economic planning committee, and we are the job providers! Fifty-two year old people shouldn't wear diapers or be fed from feeding bottles. We don’t need handlers expect we are handicapped. Are we? Yes, in knowledge. We don’t all know enough, so some people have told us blue is black, but hopefully, not any more. We are fifty-two.  

This is a wake up call. “They” are not the government. “We” are the government”.

Let me add some instructive humor with this story I heard yesterday. It is the story of a young boy who heard that a wise man was to visit his village. The wise man was said to know all things and possess the answer to every question. The boy decided to prove the notion false. The boy went into a bush and caught a small bird. He held the bird in his hands, placed his hands behind him and went to see the wise man. He arrived before the wise man with his hands still behind him, and then he asked the wise man:

“Sir, the animal I am holding behind me, is it living or dead?”

His plan was to squeeze life out of the little bird if the wise man answered “living” and produce it living if the wise man answered “dead”.

The wise man looked intently at the boy and said “Son, the answer is in your hands”

Nigeria’s future is in our hands.

Arise, O Compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey!

Happy Independence Day to all Nigerians!

INTERVENTION

It was a hive of activities before her arrival. Everyone was visibly excited. Every other emotion was concealed. Mummy G.O was on her way to commission the new ultra modern school building of Redeemers TEAP international school, Garki 2, Abuja. Routine school activities were disrupted and some parents ditched work to be there.  The pupils gathered in excited clusters, performing one activity or the other. Some were singing and waving white handkerchiefs in the air. Others were dressed in Yoruba inspired attires, singing welcome songs in Yoruba and performing dances of the same. There was no gainsaying yesterday, the 28th of September, 2012, that Pastor Mrs. Folu Adeboye, the wife of the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church is a most respected woman whose place in the hearts of many is that of honour and admiration. 

I noticed the moment her convoy drove into the premises. All eyes flew in the direction of the entrance gate. The children sang and danced faster, obviously all that had been going on was mere rehearsal.   When she finally highlighted from the Mercedes Benz car, in her typical calm manner, anticipation became thrill.  I expected that everyone would race in her direction. I expected everyone would want a hug or a hand shake, but we all stood in awe. The aura around her was not such that left you longing for a body contact of any kind. It leaves you longing for something deep rooted inwards. Something I am not sure words can describe.  She greeted Pastor Chinedu Ezekwesili and his wife Oby Ezekwesili, (a former Nigerian Minister of Education) whose parish owned the school.  Then Mummy G.O was led straight to the new building. After a prayer session, which she led the entire crowd in; the mother -in-Israel as she is fondly called cut the tape. She prayed that God would dwell “twenty four hours” in the building. She also prayed that the pupils of the school would be exceptional types. 

Education in Nigeria has always had something to do with the church.  As a matter of fact, foreign missionaries in the colonial period were the pioneers of formal education in Nigeria.  The church is taking over again. The government has failed in Nigerian education; the profit oriented private sector has failed middle level and low level families due to outrageous fees.  The church like always cares little about profit and more for grooming children “in the way of the Lord”. A way that emphasizes morals and good character, hard work and discipline: virtues whose demise we seem to mourn every day.   

Speaking to the press after the event, Oby Ezekwesili asserted that the fees of the school are “hugely subsidized” so that “even middle level families can afford to send their children to acquire their education”.

We (I and …) celebrate the new school building and all it represents for education in Nigeria, and we look to our good selves to intervene in other parts of Nigeria in dire need of intervention. 

DEAR EMPLOYER

Dear Employer,

Yes, they are resourceful, knowledgeable, quick thinking and thorough; yet they sometimes could be narrow minded, excessively detailed and without initiative, as they their love for instructions might turn them into robots, incapable of making decisions without the “boss”.

Who knows? They are probably just bookworms without any high level intelligence.  They score high grades because of their prowess in storing book information in their heads and pouring it out in correct details for an examiner. Faced with real life situations in which critical thinking, analysis or smart decisions are required, their weaknesses become clear.

Perhaps, they are really smart and creative with high level mental productivity, even under pressure.

Dear employer of university graduates, I am sorry for starting off so abruptly without even a line of introduction. I guess my hands responded quickly to the pressure in my head. This writing is a response to a recent debate “Should people be employed based on their academic performance or based on their participation in extra-curricular activities”.

I guess, Mr. Employer that you are confused already because mere weighting the pros and cons should serve to throw you into indecision. I promise to confuse you more (I am confused myself and I cannot give what I don’t have…just read).

I am aware that every employer of labour, skilled or unskilled, scientific or artistic, desires the best. This is understandable, with profit making at the base. The question is “How do you know the best?” A quick glance at the human face would have served well but looks have proved highly deceptive.  Rarely any worthwhile employer hires a person that “looks like the best”.

With a pack of university graduates to choose from, employers have resorted to the wisdom of the good old certificate. This approach assures high graders employment and proclaims the doom of lower graders. University students have long caught this light so an air of pride and depression is noticeable amongst high grade and low grade final year students respectively.

Just when everyone thinks things are running smoothly and pressure should be exerted on students to work harder, employers sound the alarm.  It turns out not all high graders make productive members of staff, thus the dilemma.

In the first part of this writing, I examined some scenarios as regards high graders. I will now consider the lower graders.

If the certificate tells the complete truth, then they are lazy folks, apt at procrastinating and making excuses. They are never do wells with little knowledge. The smallest task would seem like an insurmountable mountain to them.

From another stance, they could be hot blooded breeds, too intelligent to be confined to classrooms and examinations. They prefer practical learning and experiences to long lecture hours. They make good decision makers because of their wealth of experience.

It could also be that they are smart people in the wrong course of study. They probably make teachable employees.

Just before I move on, I want to bring to the surface the fact that low graders are so because they don’t do what high graders do or at least not as well. This implies that they must have been doing other things but studying. Let’s call those things extracurricular activities. Any ideas? Engaged in sports, loafing around, pursuing a passion, working part time jobs, frankly the list is a long one.  But just a thought: while loafing around town, could they have made some contacts that would serve well if you employed them as marketers? Or could they have acquired knowledge about some crucial needs of people, considering such knowledge would pay off if you employed them in your product design department?

Thus the debate: “Should employers hire a graduate for good academic standing or should they throw that to the wind and seek to know how much knowledge the graduate has outside the classroom?”

I promised to confuse you and I hope I have. 

I feel like I know her. Though, I have never met her and I am eavesdropping on her conversation. She seems familiar. Should I say I know her type? The distortion of her face as she reacts to the information she is receiving from the other woman, the black handbag she is carrying on her left arm, the black shoes she is wearing. I believe she has a historical account of how she got the bag. Her type always has a story for everything. She will explain in detail the reason the shoes she is wearing have every feature they have. She has attempted to take her leave twice now and is even posed like she is about to leave, but the conversation with the other woman draws her like every story does. Her type enjoys gists. They are excited about talking about other people’s foolish actions and their own successful application of knowledge. They never talk of themselves in a bad way except they are trying to prove that they were cheated, that someone played on their innocent ignorance. She is acting like she wants to leave again. She is walking away amidst a cross fire of good bye greetings.

From her long, rather formless dress, I know she does not think much of fashion. I know she despises trendy clothes. I know “pencil” trousers look ridiculous to her. She must have criticized them a million times. She wore no jewelry.  Her brown dress was matched with a head tie of a darker shade of brown with sprinkles of gold. From this, I realize she gives a little damn about fashion after all.

I know her type. Something about the way she curved her lips and widened her eyes at the story she was being told, was familiar. They spoke in hushed tones, face to face. I could not hear it but I am convinced I have heard the story a hundred times before, just like I have met her a hundred times before.

  Questions for my dear reader (You could enter your answer in form of a comment)

1.       How old do you think she is? (What age group do you think she falls into?)

2.       Is she familiar to you? If yes in what ways?

3.       Give a brief description of the sought of person you think she is?

FINDING GOD

Where is God? You might have asked or be asking. You have heard a lot about Him from various sources, from Preachers and Christians who seem to have His contact address.

God is right there beside you. Yep, that’s right, beside you I said.

Anyone can find God when they know how. Those Preachers and Christians you believe are specially privileged are just normal people like yourself who have sought God and found Him because they sought Him the right way. You will agree with me that no one gets to his/her planned destination if they are travelling on the wrong route. In the same way, you can’t find God when you go about it the wrong way.

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” Jeremiah 29:13.

Praise God! He has told us exactly how to find Him. We find God when we search for Him with all our hearts. This entails that your heart is the search engine and an undistracted, wholehearted, soul longing for God will lead you to Him. Go to the word of God wholeheartedly, in faith, communicate with Him in Prayer and you will find Him.