EP1：旅が始まった場所

私は大学の最終学年で、大学院の仕事に応募するプロセスを始めたばかりでした。この時点で、おそらくナイジェリアが選択肢になるかもしれないという考えが頭に浮かびました。

I have always felt deeply connected to my Nigerian heritage. This, however, did not always translate outwardly, particularly in my formative years where I struggled with my cultural identity. It wasn’t uncommon to be bullied for one's culture, in fact, it was the norm. I became embarrassed of my packed lunch foods, the Gospel Yoruba mix my mum would blast from the stereo when she came to pick me up from school, and the stark difference between my parents and the parents of my white British classmates. This reality became the bane of my existence. On many occasions, I wished and prayed that we could just be normal.

In 2008 I started secondary school and everything started to change. I made Nigerian friends. They carried the same packed lunch foods I was ashamed of, they wore the same hairstyles I did and their parents were just as “Fresh” as mine. I felt like I had a community, and the culture that previously resulted in my alienation was the glue that bound me and my friends together, many of whom I’m still close with now. I began to fall in love with my culture deeply, I loved the music, I became openly proud of the food, attire, and language. The idea of living in Nigeria extended beyond the vicarious experience of watching Nollywood movies, to a potential option for the future. However, in this period of my life, I was so focused on doing well in my exams, that I parked these thoughts and picked them back up in my penultimate year of university.

So back to where we stated… I was applying for post-graduate jobs and it came to my mind that Nigeria could be an option. I applied to many international companies and listed Lagos as my second choice of location on 70% of the applications. I didn’t get any offers from these companies. The company that I got the best offer came from the 30% of companies that only had location options in the UK. I accepted the offer and started my first real job in the Autumn of 2019 in London.

On my first day, I remember thinking — I’ll just give myself 2 years. I want to finish my grad scheme and then I’ll start looking into Nigeria again. I put my head down and focused on work, expanding my network, and doing my best to balance my day job with a new company I had just launched. For the next 18 months between the company, my full-time job, and my church commitments I had no more capacity in my brain to actively look into the possibility of relocating to Nigeria … but things started happening in the background and before I knew it Nigeria was staring me right in the face. But that is a story for another day.

Coming up Next on London to Lagos…

I meet some interesting people, some encouragers, some haters, and I embark on a rabbit hole of research that leads me to some surprising conclusions.