a picture showing moyo okediji sitting and taking a sip of his starbuck

Suffer-Suffer For World

ByMoyo Okediji

Suffer-Suffer For World

My annual (NOT monthly) salary as a Senior Lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University in 1992 (right before I left for the United States) was N9,600.

It’s not a typo. N9,600 only, for the entire year.

How does the university expect to keep the brightest and the best if you don’t pay them up to living wages?

Kí Olódùmarè má fi ebi òwúrọ̀ pa wá o. (May Olodumare not pepper us with hunger in the morning).

Torí òwúrọ̀ ni ó ń sọ bí alẹ́ ti má a rí. (The morning is a forecast of the evening weather).

Ojú tó fi òwúrọ̀ ṣepin, kì í bá ni dalẹ́. (The eye that produces putrid pus in the morning may not last till evening time).

Abi na lie?

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CAMPUS TALES

ByMoyo Okediji

CAMPUS TALES

She said, “I’m certain I’m not a C grade material,” she complained to me. “During my School certificate exam, I scored A grades in most of my courses, and was admitted to the university. Once there, I attended all the lectures, studied really hard and was always ready for the exams. But then, whenever I got my scripts back, I always scored a C grade. I became curious and confused because my friends who did not study, partied throughout the semester and paid no attention to classes, always scored A and B+ grades.”

a picture showing moyo okediji sitting next to his artwork

Ibeji: Soul Mates

ByMoyo Okediji

Ibeji: Soul Mates

“Iya Oyo,” I asked, “why call her Ọmọ Méji? Ọmọ Méji means two children but she is just one person.”

This was after a woman who looked like she was in her thirties, who was on her way to an errand, stopped by Iya Oyo’s house to greet her.

Iya Oyo looked at me with surprise, as if to say my mother should have given me such basic cultural education.

a picture showing moyo okediji poised for the camera

THE DILEMMA OF ABANDONING YOUR LANGUAGE

ByMoyo Okediji

For the first time in my life, I traveled out of Nigeria in 1983 to visit London for a solo exhibition of my work at the Africa Center.

Rufus Orisayomi had arranged the exhibition for me.

Tunde Fagbenle and his wife, Ally Bedford, offered to host me at their home.

Ally was writing a Master’s thesis on my work, therefore, it was convenient for her to keep me close by to enable her to have access to me for clarifications when needed.

a picture showing moyo okediji eating from a plate and behind him is one of hi art piece.

THE ROADMAP

ByMoyo Okediji

I drove to my favorite drive-in coffee shop and stopped at the window to collect my standard order of “Banana bread with nuts, warmed, and a small cup of coffee, black.”

She was waiting for me. She smiled broadly. Her name tag read Jazmine.

“You always have your coffee black,” Jazmine observed. “I like mine with some cream and sugar.”

“Your shirt is cool, Jazmine,” I said. I stretched out my hand from the window of the car as she leaned out from the window of the coffee house to hand me my order.

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