Akin Ibitoye

It has been a hazy couple of years, and like a dripping faucet, the energy I usually derive from putting my thoughts into words have leaked away into the great unknown. What joy is there in sharing my most intimate thoughts with complete strangers? Is there a point to us humans just curious about what is going on in other people’s lives? No matter the color of your skin, or the society that produced you, connection, not isolation is woven into our DNA, and we thrive or otherwise in direct proportion to the quality of our association, or more specifically, the people closest to us, the people we spend majority of our time with. Like sponges, we gradually absorb the mannerisms, behaviors, and biases of the people closest to us, and like perfect mirrors, reflect the same with near perfection. Take a good look at your closest associates today, and ask yourself if you can achieve your life goals with the same set of minds. While it is not black and white, you can begin by making small ...

At this point, I should give you a bit of background information into how I got to that point. My earliest memory of getting interested in technology was early 1993 and I had just witnessed my dad bring out a huge device out of our stereo system. I was so upset I began to cry, telling him how he has damaged the equipment (I loved listening to the radio), unfazed, he coupled the stereo as it was and turned it on. My bewilderment turned into amazement as the radio crackled back to life. Stupefied, I asked him, what happened?  How could it continue to work after removing such a huge thing from inside it. It was the rotor (motor) that was bad, and that is why it stopped playing cassettes, but the radio part was untouched. From that day, I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life (not so much repairing stereos, but learning the inner workings of electronics and much later, computers). Fast forward another 5 years to late 1998, I was so dissatisfied with not being a...

There is no self-made human being anywhere, we are all products of the people in our lives, a reflection of who they are. More often than not, we turn out just like the people closest to us, and we perpetuate or if at all possible, re-invent ourselves to chart a new course. I would like to appreciate some of those people who shared their knowledge with me. Sometime in December of the year 2000, my friend Bukola had told the class to expect someone who would come to teach us some science subjects after closing hours. I couldn't have imagined that the trajectory of my life would be altered forever. He sauntered in about a full-hour behind schedule, said simply "my name is Franklyn Eze, you can call me FRC" and after apologizing asked the about a dozen of us left in the class the question "what makes tomato red?" I was taken aback, not only because it had never crossed my mind, but because I had been asked by someone who was about the same age as me or a co...

I remember rapping in primary school for uncle Sola, my teacher who also raps. We would rap together and he would let me have the second verse after he took the first verse. Somehow, we would rehearse every day during break time and sometimes after school hours. It got to a point he told me that if I practiced and got so good, he would take me to the United States of America. I was about nine years old then and I believed him. I remember getting home all excited and telling  my parents that uncle Sola was going to take me to the United States of America because we rap together. I don't remember what response they gave then, but I think I remember they shrug and the concern in their face, a deep desire for it to be true, even though they knew it was a bucket load of crapware.  What did I know? I was just a kid who didn't know what puberty was yet and grew up on the outskirts of Lagos. In those days, the only bank I had ever been in was LBIC and I remember queuei...

Newton's Second Law of Motion says, "The rate of change of Momentum is directly proportional to the force applied". This implies that to get to the point where you achieve your goals, you will have to work very hard at the beginning.  Remember Newton's First Law, you are starting from Zero. The force of inertia (the reluctance to leave a state of rest) is your biggest enemy. You will need reserve energy to continue applying force in order to activate big MO. What is big MO? Momentum is the Eldorado when motion is the subject. This is the reason why the rich gets richer, and you guessed it, the poor gets poorer. Momentum favors those who have something going on, and of course, it doesn't manufacture anything, it only reallocates resources from those who don't have anything going on to restore balance in the world. Once upon a time, a man got lost and ended up in a desert. After days of wandering and near exhaustion, he saw a shack (shed) an...

I want to tell you a story, and in the next couple of minutes, I would appreciate if you could loan me your undivided attention. I promise to return it with interest; A child was born in an urban area in the heart of Lagos state almost 3 decades ago, attended about 5 primary schools, finally obtained a first school leaving certificate, from there on to just 1 secondary school, being a very brilliant and apt student, he obtained the necessary 5 O'Level credits in senior school certificate exams and got an average score in the university and tertiary matriculations exam. He got admitted to study Physics because they just had to put him somewhere because he knows somebody who knows somebody. Even though in his heart, he wanted to study Electronics and Computer Engineering because that's where his strength is, mechanization and electronics. The result? Instead of the standard 4 years, he ended up spending 8 years and still did not graduate. For those wondering how come, here ...