Random Nigerian Relatables

About The Scrapbook

For some weird reason, on a random day in late 2017, I decided to work on a scrapbook (I did not decide to call it 'scrapbook' until 2021) splattered with a few elements of the Nigerian experience-relatable to Nigerians and potentially intriguing for non-Nigerians. I decided to run with Random Nigerian Relatables, a pretty straightforward title.

It was inspired by one or two books I stumbled upon, here on Wattpad. A notable example is Punography by a good friend of mine, Obioma C. Ekeugo. I was undecided about releasing it for years, so I saw the draft project as a comfort scrapbook I could run to casually and play around with at odd intervals. Safe to say that playtime is over now (but is it, really?).

A lot has changed since the time I typed out the first scraps in late 2017. Like the rest of the world, Nigeria is still dealing with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent waves. On a socio-economic and political level, Nigeria has severely deteriorated. Conversely, our music and movie industries have stepped up heavily. Singles and albums by Nigerian artistes are now doing insane numbers and charting on Billboard. If someone told me back in 2017 that a Nigerian artiste would be Grammy-nominated come 2019, or that two Nigerian artistes would clinch Grammies in 2021, I would have laughed in that person's face. Ah well.

On a macro level, I want everyone to run through this time capsule and possibly feel as amused and nostalgic as I feel whenever I run through it. On a micro level, this project serves to subtly prepare my Wattpad audience for my next full-length release in exactly five months (Friday, December 24, 2021). It is an anthology of poems and it would be my third in four years. It starts with an 'E', so let's call it Project E for the time being.

But, there's a twist.

Stay held over, amigos. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this.