There is a reason the children of the powerful occupy such a central place in our moral imagination. They represent continuity in a society defined by rupture. When Nigerians debate, once again, whether it is justified to resent them, the argument is not about manners or cruelty. It is about whether inherited advantage, especially when produced by public harm, can ever be separated from the conditions that made it possible.

Is it justified to hate the children of politicians and billionaires?

The respectable answer is supposed to be no.

Children did not choose their parents. They did not loot the treasury. They did not rig elections. They did not sign the contracts. To resent them is to commit a moral error. Guilt by association. A failure of empathy. An indulgence in envy.

This answer is neat, comforting, and insufficient.

It assumes that resentment is always about individual moral...

Yesterday, I read Ezra’s very profound piece on intentional obliviousness, and got motivated (yet again) to return to this piece I’ve been working on about something at the other extreme of the spectrum.
Reading his piece helped me form most of my thoughts for this, and I worry that as a result, some of my writing may feel like a rebuttal of some sorts to his piece, but I promise it is not. In fact I believe that a healthy life lies somewhere in the middle between intentional obliviousness and ubiquitous assimilation. But healthy is overrated, no?

Ezra argues that there is strength in looking away, in softening the edges of your world by choosing not to know. I believe that too. But I also believe in the beauty of total submission to the noise.

Last December, while in Lagos for the Nigerian Tournament of Champions, I caught up with some of my faves (and met a few new ones!) on a Friday...

This is a draft of my ted talk presented at Tedx University of Port Harcourt on Saturday, April 5, 2025. The final speech is a bit different from
this draft, due to some length considerations and the fact that I overestimated my retentive memory.

What are the odds that the person who will change your life is in this room right now?

Think about it – in this very room. Take a moment to look at the person next to you, “Is it them?” Don’t worry, I don’t know either, I just wanted you to look at a pretty face. But seriously, the question stands: What are the odds?
I’ll give you a hint: they’re a lot higher than you think. I’d argue you’re sitting in a giant lottery of potentially life-changing connections.

My father has always been one of the biggest positive influences in my life. He is a very smart man, unarguably one of the most hardworking men I know. He is also really audacious and...

If you heard someone spends their weekends disagreeing with strangers, you’d assume they were something crazy; maybe a football fan, or worse, a lawyer. If that same person tried to convince you it was the best decision they had ever made, you’d wager they were a crackhead. You’d be correct as well - I am a crackhead, and here’s why you should be one too.

BP (/b:ip/) - Eight people pair up into teams of two and yell at each other about opinions formed in under fifteen minutes.

For those who don’t know, British Parliamentary (or BP) Debating is a niche academic extracurricular activity thousands of university students can engage in. It takes many of the formalities of classic Presidential debates and adds a format reminiscent of the UK’s highest law-making body, and speeches that are usually as chaotic.

The judging metric sticks out the most: BP debating focuses on content and logic...

History is littered with groundbreaking technologies that failed, not because they weren’t brilliant, but because no one cared.

The last five years have been massive for the Nigerian (and African) tech ecosystem. We’ve seen massive raises, celebrated high-profile exits, and watched the ecosystem explode. While you’d expect these milestones to translate into broader economic impact (job creation, revenue generation, and industry growth), the reality is starkly different.

Nearly half of funded startups in the past decade make less than ₦10 million (or $6,000) annually, according to a new report by TLP Advisory.

Of course, there are underlying causative factors like weak government policies, currency devaluation, skyrocketing inflation, or the declining purchasing power of Nigerians.

But beyond these, we have an even bigger problem; we have a fixation on “great” technology without a...

2023 came with a lot of personal growth for me. To be more specific, I added over 20kg in the past 12 months. While this would not please my gym instructor, it does give me a valuable perspective on how much has changed since the year started. I would be a fool to believe that I could properly capture this year using a few words, but I would be a coward not to try. I am a brave fool.

In every sense of the word, 2023 was intense. Under normal circumstances, I would boldly declare it the most intense year of my life so far, but 2022 had too many dramatic twists and turns to be disrespected like that, so I’d call it a tie. 2023 was tough, this time unarguably. I crown it the toughest year of my life so far. Very ironic, because from the outside, this was also the year of so many visible victories.

I feel like my life has several, flexible partitions, frequently intersecting with one...