Angela Ukomadu's Blog

Photo credit: DFlex This was one story that was painful to watch; You know that feeling of taking your child to the hospital for injections, and you are flinching as the needle is about to prick your child. Yeah, same feeling. I was taking a walk on Instagram street when I came across Oyindamola Emmanuel, AKA Dflex. My first thought was, how on earth can someone do this? Na juju?  I contacted him and fortunately for me, he was also preparing to break a world record, so I knew I had to tell his story to the world. Dlfex is a contortionist. He found out about his ability to stretch and twist his body in unimaginable ways when he was 13 years old. He shot into limelight in 2013 after he participated in the Nigeria's Got Talent show. Contortion is an art that requires an extreme kind of physical flexibility that is not rare, and exceeds that of the general population. Dflex spends an hour everyday perfecting his art. This is not really common in Nigeria and it is usually assoc

I asked him why he decided to leave for Europe through the desert. He responded in the local Nigerian pidgin parlance: "I learn carpenter work for here, no body gree help me start up my own place, my oga pursue me, my people no gree help. My friend tell me say make I come make we commot this country, I no even know were we dey go until we reach desert and I no fit turn back again. Na only ghost I dey see for road. The thing wey I suffer for Libya nko? Two whole years! From one prison to another, from one slave master to another. My mouth no fit talk am." Since February 2017, more than five thousand Nigerian migrants have been repatriated from Libya. These are our brothers and sisters who left the country mostly by road, hoping to get to Libya, and cross over to Europe through the Mediterranean. However, they got stuck. Several of them faced exploitation and abuse, some were sold into slavery, some were kept in prison for months, living on water and little or no food. 

Nigeria just held its first International Drinks Festival were about 20,000 consumers and investors attended the three day event. Over 200 companies manufacturing various drinks exhibited their brands. The festival was organized to help put locally made drinks on the world map and see how investors can look into getting the drinks exported. From beautifully bottled palm wine to locally made gin and red wine, guests were allowed to have a taste of everything they wanted while deciding on what to buy. It was fun getting this story done. We filmed Ene Onwuka while she prepared Zobo, Kunu and Tiger nuts drink. Ene's drinks are sugar free, trust me, I was there from the beginning of her production until she bottled the last drink. No sugar whatsoever, just dates and honey to sweeten it. If you are pro health, then please reach me or google for her contact. She showcased at the festival. She is a banker and the founder of "Kunuski." Nigeria drinks 16 million hectolitres

Courtesy: Alex Peter Alex Peter is a 25 year old Pyrography artist, this means he uses a method that decorates wood or other materials by using burn marks on them. He starts off by using a pencil to sketch his subject on a board, then completely burns the image with the smoke from his blow lamp. After this, he goes ahead to use a razor blade or sand paper to carve the patterns out  until he achieves the desired shape or texture of his subject. When ready, he sprays the piece with a fixative to stop the colours from running. Alex is a trained accountant. Art for him is just a hobby and he is self taught. Today he makes a living off art because he decided to pursue his passion. He fully started in 2016 and has exhibited twice. He is also a hyper-realist artist and plans to own an art school in the future. Courtesy: Alex Peter Courtesy: Alex Peter Courtesy: Alex Peter Courtesy: Alex Peter Courtesy: Alex Peter Oluwaseun Sanni filming Alex in his stu