Let me start this way. First, I love adventure. When I move from
point A to point B, I like to take the unfamiliar route where I would likely
see sights that I am not used to. It makes it a lot better if the road is a bit
long and winding: I stop at every bend to look back at the route I have
travelled.
I like to walk rather than drive past an interesting place. When I
move into a new environment and I have to eat out, I don’t want to eat in the
same place twice until I have tasted what every restaurant within the vicinity
has to offer. And I find it very easy to stop strangers and ask questions.
When it comes to documenting my experience, friends tell me I am
meticulous in my attention to detail. I guess it has to do with my training as
a historian. I see, I hear, I feel, I smell, I touch. I show and tell, and I
take my readers along with me so they too can share in my experience in such a
way that they feel they had been there with me. And I hardly visit a place
without writing something about my experience there.
I have travelled quite a bit
within my country, Nigeria. I am from the southeast region of Nigeria, which is
made up of five states. I have travelled to all the five states and written
about two. In the south-south region, I have been to three out of the six
states and written about one. And I have travelled to at least one state in
every of the other remaining four regions of the country – almost always by
road, which avails me of the opportunity to behold and experience the beauty of
nature firsthand.
My creative imagination can go wild. I write fiction as well, and
when I write creative non-fiction, elements from my fiction-writing experience
filter in to garnish, spice up and give taste to what otherwise might have been
an insipid meal. I hold a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) in History and English from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and a Master of Arts (Distinction) in History and International Studies from Nnamdi Azikiwe University. But I'm still work-in-progress. The best of me is in the making.
I have been in the job of editing right from the university, and did freelance thereafter, but I went fully into journalism in 2009. I'm restless. In five years I have worked full-time in four media organisations and done part-time in about two. I'm ever on the move...
