PROGRESS OBERIKO BLOG

On my way to work today, a pregnant lady collapsed and passed out right in front of me. It was on the Overground train.  She had gotten to her stop at Blackhorse road and was just about to alight. And suddenly she slowly collapsed on her back, landing on the floor inside the train.  I was already in panic mode, and the Nigerian in me was quickly gonna grab her as I saw her fall, to prevent her from falling to the floor and possibly hitting her head, but I was surprised to see the other passengers standing and watching her collapse, without doing anything. (This is quite a British attitude anyway. They’ll watch you fall and then ask you “are you okay”? Lol) Part of me felt I might be doing the wrong thing by grabbing her since many others weren’t attempting to do the same, so I held on a bit. I’m pretty new in town, so not entirely sure about what the acceptable reaction is in certain situations. After she had landed on the floor unconscious, a young Black lady then rushed to h...

Many females who grew up with the absence of their father in their life, or grew up with an emotionally unavailable dad, or an abusive father, end up with what is called “ daddy issues”.   Daddy issues refer to how a dysfunctional father-daughter relationship affects a female in adulthood.  This situation impact girls or women differently. Some girls/women become overly attached to men, while some become very distant from men.  This over-attachment or over-detachment can have blowback on females.  In the former, such females become so glued to men and so dependent on men, even in cases of abuse; their craving for a masculine presence can blind them to the infirmities of that relationship.  In the latter case, such females become literally scared of men.  They’re afraid to get into relationships because they’re wary of getting hurt by men, some end up hating men and eventually tag themselves as “feminists” (which isn’t what feminism represents).  Some m...

  The reason why many Nigerian youths seem to be garnering a massive movement for the Presidential aspirant Peter Obi is not that they are guaranteed that he’ll be the “savior”, but because youths are tired of recycling the same old self-conceited egocentric politicians as leaders.  They want something new, something different, something original! And they don’t care who he is or where he’s from! And my prayer is that their votes will count this time around!  Over the years, I’ve always been a backbencher in matters associated with politics, but when you hear prospective leaders of your country using sentences like “it is my turn to rule”, you just become provoked and triggered to speak up!  Perhaps in the minds of these leaders, they see the country as a business venture that family members take turns to run. This is absolutely unacceptable! Nigeria is not a monarchy that operates on a turn-by-turn basis.  “I put the outgoing President in that position, therefo...

  Dear African/Asian parents, Let your kids be kids! Stop over-cautioning your kids in public! Stop expecting them to behave like adults by sitting still in church. They can’t! They just can’t! because they’re kids, and kids have a higher level of adrenaline and a high level of energy! This is what you call “restlessness”, and it is normal!  Unlike adults, kids live in the moment! Instead of sitting in one place, they’ll like to jump around, they’ll like to touch things and explore, they’ll come asking you so many questions, etc, stop cautioning them when they behave this way! Answer the questions you can, and let them know you’ll get back to them with the other answers if you don’t know what it is!  Make them feel loved and understood, instead of shouting at them for behaving like kids!  🤷🏾‍♀️   Cuddle them, run your hands through their hair, and leave them with kisses! it is not “over-pampering” as you’d call it, but rather, I’d like to call it “tolerance in...

  Unlike the USA, there aren’t many guns in the UK, and people barely have access to it. A colleague was narrating how she was almost robbed in her neighborhood, and when I asked what weapon the criminal used she said it was a knife. Knife crime is on the rise in many parts of London and across the UK. That’s why it is quite difficult to walk into a shop in the UK to buy a knife. Firstly, not many shops sell knives and the ones that sell will ask for some sort of proof or ID before selling, thereby making them quite difficult to access.  Obviously, in America, there’s a high record of gun violence. Someone can literally walk into a shop and get a gun, from what I heard, it is that easy. And so, between the UK and the US, I really can’t say one is better as per knife or gun violence because both of them are capable of sending people to their graves. In one community in London, I witnessed a knife crime incident where a secondary school kid was stabbed right in front of his scho...

Glad to be one of the delegates for this year’s WBG Youth Summit with the theme: Unlocking The Power of Inclusion for Equitable Growth! For me, the highlight of the summit was the discussions around # diversity , # equity and # inclusion by the different panelists. They all brought different diverse opinions about DEI to the table which were really valuable.  We sometimes mix up the meaning of diversity with that of equity or inclusion, but Dr Nadir Mohammed definition made it really clear that these three components are different from each other. # Diversity Means having an environment that is composed of different components which includes culture, background, race, gender, age, etc.   # Equity on the other hand means ensuring a fair chance for everyone to contribute to, and advance change.  # Inclusion is a culture and state of mind where everyone feels included. It means ensuring that people are contributing to, and benefiting from that change.  Inclus...

Yes! I know I’m late! Especially when it comes to trending movies, I always am! But I’m glad I eventually saw it! Watched the entire Season 1 in one night! Pheeeew! But definitely worth my time! 😇 The Netflix series is a story about love, marriage, gender biases, matchmaking, women, men, power, and most importantly, writing! It was built on romance (loads of it!), tension, action, suspense and true love!  Firstly , the movie has a fair spread of color and diversity, the movie directors were very meticulous of representation, and this was very well communicated! You’ll spot this in the first episode of S1 (as well as others episodes), where the Bridgerton and Featherington families both presented their girls to the Queen. In this scene you’ll see the queen sitting in all her majesty with two maids behind her—one Black, and the other White; but the White maid was seen fanning the Queen, while the Black maid was seen fanning herself alone. What I got from this scene was that the...