IMAGE CREDITI know many of us can relate to my introduction above. Let me catch your interest a bit further. The MTN network further advanced the extent of social media for us (youths especially) by making available the EXTRA COOL package, which ran for FREE between the hours of 12:30 and 5 p.m. (if I remember correctly), as we enjoyed unlimited phone call conversations during this period. It was fun while it lasted, but little did we know the late nights caused more harm than good by reducing our sleep time and possibly a long-term stress effect. 

Unfortunately, people take the self-medication as the complete treatment for what could be wrong and, a significant number of times, end up representing worsening symptoms. I remember wrongly sending a text with prescriptions to the wrong number, and just when I realized it was the wrong number, the number called me back. It was a lady on the other side of the phone, and even when I apologized for the wrongly sent message, she asked if she could also take the medication. Of course, I declined! Did she know exactly what the medications were for? I was equally pained because she may lack access to quality healthcare and thus be desirous to take the medication. Drugs are not food, but they could help us to maintain balance, prolong life, or even kill faster.

Sometimes in 2018 while I observed the compulsory national youth service corps (NYSC) in faraway Kebbi State, about 12 hours drive by road from my place of destination. Of course, it was a strange land, and I was the stranger. I got to work and did the usual ward rounds and began my clinic. We were two resident doctors and had another two visiting doctors who only ran clinics during the day. A nurse walked up to me and asked me to help them establish intravenous access by inserting a cannula into an elderly patient's hand. This got me a little concerned as it was unusual of nurses in the hospital and even North not to be able to establish intravenous access, especially to an elderly man.

The last corn cultivation I engaged in was in 2022, and the farm size was an acre of land. I was not actively involved since the farm location was two hours away, and thus, I had to pay workers and supervisors to take care of the land. Another challenge was not having access to a tractor early, and we had to plant in mid-August. The yield was fair but could have been better. 

The drought, however, took us all by surprise, and since July 19, 2024, when the heavy rain fell last, not until August 20 did we have another rainfall. This was a similar scenario in most parts of Nigeria, and many farmers cried and lamented while a few fetched water in buckets and containers to the farm. The question was, for how long would a micro-small-medium-scale farmer enjoy the little drops from the buckets of water?

Needs remain unending, and resources are limited. We wish we could get everything we wanted, but life is not a bed of roses. The dream of every young man in his thirties is to have a car at least, and maybe a roof over his head. I had been driving since 2009, and when I had to go without a car for about a year, I could barely survive. So, I saved up some money and added it up with what I got from the sale of the previous one, which was faulty. With some extra money from my job, I was able to raise a fair amount.