IANA Blog

  Happy March and Happy Women’s History Month, This month, I wanted to do something special. Last year, on my February blog, during Black History Month,  I was able to focus on some famous natives of Issele Uku. Two of those were Playwright Zulu Sofola, Writer Buchi Emecheta. I figured we honor more of some women that come from Delta State. Maryam Babanigida (Former First Lady of Nigeria, Activist) Maryam Babanigida was the wife of General Ibrahim Babaganida who served as military president of Nigeria from 1985 to 1993. She was born Maryam Okogwu on November 1, 1948 in Asaba. Her mother was Hausa and her father was Igbo. She later moved to Kaduna and attended Queen Amina’s College for her secondary education. She later obtained a diploma in secretaryship from La Salle Extension University in Chicago, Illinois and a Certificate in Computer Science from the NCR Institute in Lagos. Before her 21st Birthday, she married Major Ibrahim Babaganida and had four children. During her hu...

  Blog Happy February and Happy Black History Month, This month, Nigeria is having a new president. According to the BBC, it’s Nigeria’s tightest election since the end of military rule in 1999…and from what I’m seeing online and in the news, the new president of Nigeria may be… …Bola Tinubu… …the former governor of Lagos state… …he won 36% of the vote, while Atiku Abubakar has 29% and Peter Obi has 26% of the vote. Like I expected, there may have been some rigging in the voting. As shown on videos, Nigerians are looking for change…unfortunately that change may have to wait. As for me, you know that look where you’re disappointed but not surprised… …well, this is my look…so far…

  Blog Happy New Year, IANA Welcome back everyone to IANA's 2ndgen blog. For those new here, welcome. Like last year, we will discuss interesting topics that will keep you engaged, future projects that we have planned as the 2ndgen community, pop culture and so much more.   Well, let’s begin with recapping what happened in Nigeria in 2022… A new president will be ordained in Nigeria: As mentioned in the November 2022 blog.   We also celebrated IANA with the convention in Chicago, Illinois. (You can check it out at the August blog in 2023.) With 2023 now here, what is something you did in 2022 that you want to explore differently this year? 

  Blog Happy December. The year is almost over, I think we need a recap of what happened over the past 11 blogs. A link to some of the blogs over the past year. January: https://issei2ndgen.blogspot.com/2022/01/iana-blog-january-2022.html February: https://issei2ndgen.blogspot.com/2022/02/iana-blog-february-2022-part-i.html https://issei2ndgen.blogspot.com/2022/02/iana-blog-february-2022-part-ii.html March: https://issei2ndgen.blogspot.com/2022/04/iana-blog-march-2022.html April: https://issei2ndgen.blogspot.com/2022/04/iana-blog-april-2022.html May: https://issei2ndgen.blogspot.com/2022/05/iana-blog-may-2022.html June: https://issei2ndgen.blogspot.com/2022/06/iana-blog-june-2022.html July: https://issei2ndgen.blogspot.com/2022/07/iana-blog-july-2022.html August: https://issei2ndgen.blogspot.com/2022/08/iana-blog-august-2022.html September: https://issei2ndgen.blogspot.com/2022/09/iana-blog-september-2022.html October: https://issei2ndgen.blogspot.com/2022/10/iana-blog-october-2022...

  Blog Happy November, Every November, the whole U.S. prepares for Election Day. The people of the U.S. will be watching the TV, probably CNN, to figure out who will win, whether it be whoever is running for President, or for whoever is running for Senator, or whoever is running for Mayor in a certain town.  In Nigeria, a special Election will be held in February 2023, the Presidential election. In February, Nigeria will have a new President and Vice President, as President Muhammudu Buhari is term-limited and cannot seek re-election. The candidates running for President are businessman Peter Obi, accountant Bola Tinubu, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and former Governor of State Rabiu Kwankwaso. Peter Obi Obi is a businessman, who also served as governor of Anambra, from March to November 2006, from February to May 2007 and from June 2007 to March 2014. Obi became governor after years of legal battles, but was impeached during his first year. Obi focused on state finan...

Happy October, For this month I wanted to take a look back at the Two-Month anniversary of the #EndSARS Movement, the social movement and series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria, especially of the Nigerian police force known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).  SARS was created in 1992 to supposedly deal with crimes such as robbery, car theft, kidnapping and possession of firearms. Instead of doing that, SARS rather would be involved in blackmail, corruption, torture, illegal “Stop and searches,” too many incidents to name. There have been protests before against SARS, but I guess you can say a “turning point” came in 2020. Of course in 2020, the year that was defined by the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, worldwide lockdowns, climate disasters, and of course, the protests and civil uprisings brought upon by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in the U.S. The same protests and civil uprisings that didn’t just reach everywhere in the U.S., but aroun...

Happy September, Yeah…you see that picture…so, I’m pretty sure you know by now, but I might as well inform you that Elizabeth Windsor, also known as, Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom, died on Thursday, September 8th. I remember driving back home, when I received the news on 102.9 KBLX on the radio. While driving, I heard, “We have breaking news…Queen Elizabeth II has passed away…thoughts and prayers…” The first thing that went through my mind was “Social Media is about to light her ass up!!” Of course, I said this with a chuckle on my face and just like I expected…Social Media lit her ass up, with some legendary comments, memes and jokes…I saw it from different parts of the world…I saw jokes from the Irish (look up Lizzy’s in a Box ), jokes from Indians/Pakistanis, jokes from Indigenous people, jokes from the Scottish, jokes from UK, jokes from America (obviously) and of course jokes from the African diaspora. From our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean to our bro...