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Growing Up: Tales From A Typical Nigerian Childhood

growing up

Do you miss your childhood? Like do you miss when your only problem was trying to pick between two fancy shoes or two dresses your mum got you for Christmas? If you don’t I do I miss watching Hannah Montana, iCarly on Nickelodeon then going to school the next day to argue about it with my primary school classmates😭. You get to Primary 5/6 and then it’s time for common entrance and you have three big Ugo.C.Ugo textbooks that weigh you down. You write your first of many external exams.

Secondary school starts and then you feel on top of the world. You grow into puberty and start having crushes on the opposite sex. Secondary school is basically the most fun part of school life. Puberty starts to set in and then you just automatically want to grow up immediately. It’s WAEC and Jamb time and if you’re lucky you pass and get admission immediately. Some leave the country and the rest have to wait till the next year to rewrite those exams and that year basically makes or destroys the rest of your life because seeing your mates in school and you’re not.

Depression sets in and sometimes suicide sets in. I remember telling my elder sister that I couldn’t wait to grow up and be an adult like she is and she told me to better enjoy my childhood but I didn’t listen.

Growing up is a lot of struggle and it isn’t for the weak at all. You get into the University and that’s when all hell breaks loose; you have assignments, tutorials, projects to meet up and not everyone likes calling their parents every time to ask for money. That’s when you decide to think of a hustle because that’s always the next step.

Finally, the university is over then REAL life comes along, you have to know what you want to do with your life. It’s time to make very tough decisions. Job hunting starts and we know how difficult it can be to land a decent job without having a certain type of connection. When you finally get the job it’s either the salary doesn’t match the hard work you go through. You have a lot of expenses that need to be taken care of that don’t even cut through half of the salary.

There’s also the pressure from parents to get married. We all have different stories growing up and different backgrounds but what we have in commons is most likely the zeal to just exist and be happy. In the midst of all of these, our happiness can wear off and all you have left is just pressure from different people. In all of this, stay happy because that’s the most important.

 

Bowo Adigun is a contributor for Spotlight Africa Media.

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One Half Of The Estranged Duo P-Square Declares Nov 30 as his new birthday

Mr P has officially moved his birthday celebration from November 18 to November 30, adding a new layer to the ongoing P-Square family feud. What began as a social media declaration has now been formalised. A few hours after announcing his intention to change his birthday date, Peter Okoye, known professionally as Mr P, has issued an open letter confirming that November 18, the date he has shared with his twin brother Paul Okoye since birth in 1981, is no longer his day of celebration.

“Dear Family, Friends, and Fans,” the post read. “I’m making it official. November 18th is no longer my birthday celebration date. Please note that I will not be accepting any messages or gifts on that day. My birthday will now be celebrated on November 30th. This is a personal decision, and I truly appreciate your understanding.”

The message is brief, but its implications are quite clear. November 18 has long been one of the last remaining public symbols of a shared identity between two brothers whose professional and personal relationship has deteriorated sharply over the past several years.

By formally reassigning the date, Peter is drawing a line that goes beyond creative differences or business disputes.

The reaction from Nigerians online has been largely sceptical.

Many have questioned the necessity of the gesture, with a significant number describing it as petty and unnecessary given the more substantive issues that have defined the brothers’ current estrangement.

The consensus among critics is that changing a birthday date does little to resolve any of the actual grievances and serves mainly as a public statement of severance.

The feud between Peter and Paul Okoye has now spanned multiple years, two official splits, a brief reunion, and a growing list of public accusations on both sides. November 30 is still months away. To see if the gesture will land as true liberation or just pettiness may depend entirely on where things stand by then.

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Wizkid, Rema, and Tyla Make Spotify’s 100 Greatest Pop Songs of the Streaming Era

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Spotify’s ‘100 Greatest Pop Songs of the Streaming Era’ is out. See why Wizkid, Rema, and Tyla secured high rankings on this list of global hits.
Spotify just made it official. The platform’s editorial team, a cross-disciplinary group of editors and curators, has released its ranked list of the 100 Greatest Pop Songs of the Streaming Era, covering music from 2015 to the present.

Landing in the top ten is no small thing on a list this competitive, and Drake, Wizkid, and Kyla’s 2016 collaboration ‘One Dance’ earns its place. Drake had already been paying close attention to Afrobeats; his unofficial remix of Wizkid’s ‘Ojuelegba’ signalled as much, but ‘One Dance’ was the moment that brought the sound to a truly global audience.

Built on Afrobeats and dancehall rhythms, the track gave Drake his first Billboard Hot 100 number one as a lead artist and became the first song in Spotify history to reach one billion streams. But its significance goes well beyond the numbers. ‘One Dance’ was a blueprint and proof that Afrobeats could anchor a mainstream pop record without diluting itself, and became the door swung wide open for the artists who came after.

Rema’s ‘Calm Down’ was already a certified hit before Selena Gomez joined it, however, with her on the track, it became something else entirely. The track is warm and infectious, the remix pairing Rema’s mischievous energy with Gomez’s confidence.

The result crossed every boundary a song can cross. It became the most successful Afrobeats single in Billboard chart history and the first African artist-led track to reach one billion streams on Spotify. More than a commercial milestone, ‘Calm Down’ rewrote the playbook on what a global remix can accomplish without watering down, but instead, amplifying the sound.

Tyla’s inclusion at number 50 marks something equally significant, just from a different direction.

‘Water’ introduced Amapiano, the South African genre defined by its log drum and hypnotic groove, to listeners who had never encountered it before. It did so without sacrificing any of what makes the sound distinctive. The song won the inaugural Grammy for Best African Music Performance and made Tyla the first South African solo artist to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 in 55 years. Its placement on this list confirms what the chart history suggested, that Amapiano is no longer a regional sound. It’s pop.

The fact that these are staff picks matters. Spotify’s editors aren’t rewarding streams alone, but also making a curatorial argument about what has genuinely shaped pop music in this era. Their argument includes Afrobeats and Amapiano sitting comfortably alongside Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and The Weeknd. African artists are no longer appearing on these lists as novelties or outliers and that is worthy of note.

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INEC Announces Dates For 2027 Presidential, Governorship Elections

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INEC has announced the kick-off date for the 2027 national elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced the dates for the 2027 national elections. This was made known to the public in a press conference by the commission’s chairman, Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan, SAN.

INEC, following the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and Section 28(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, which requires the commission to publish notice of elections not later than 360 days before the appointed date, has announced February and March as dates for national elections in 2027.

Speaking at the press conference Prof Amupitan stated that the tenure of the President, Vice-President, Governors, and Deputy Governors, except in Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, and Ondo States, will lapse on 28 May 2027. Membership of the National and State Assemblies will dissolve on 8 June 2027.

The presidential and national elections will take place on February 20, 2027, while the governorship and state House of Assembly elections will take place on March 6, 2027.

INEC will be having another busy year as Nigerians will be heading to the polls to choose new leaders across the national and state political positions.

Next year, the commission will be led by Professor Joash Amupitan SAN, who was sworn in by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on October 23, 2025, on a 5-year tenure after the end of the two terms of Professor Yakubu Mahmood.

INEC is again under heavy public scrutiny, especially the position of its chairman, who has come under fire from different Islamic organisations who have called for his resignation over his previous statement alleged made against the muslim population.

The commission will be conducting the national elections on a budget of ₦873 billion. From the huge budget, ₦379.75 billion will cater to operating costs, ₦92.32 billion for adminstrative cost, while ₦209.21 billion will go to financing the technological costs. Other costs include Election capital costs, which will gulp ₦154.91billion while ₦42.61 billion will cover miscellaneous expenses.

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