No virtue is as powerful or as life changing as humanity’s ability to persist against all odds. It’s a living testament to our resilience, our willingness to never back down, to keep pushing until our dreams have been reached. For the past 75 years, we have watched Nigerians exemplify that virtue in the most amazing of ways.
Ever since we launched on the 9th of June, 1944, at the old Exhibition hall, in Marina, Lagos, we have been awed at the Nigerian fortitude, even as we’ve seen the lives of millions of Nigerians change through their sheer force of will, their desire for self-improvement and their willingness to participate in the different programmes we put in place to help make their desire for change a reality.
Across various ethnic groups, religious beliefs, social economic status and sectors, Nigerians prove that they’re unanimous in pursuing their dreams and helping to make their communities, better. This can be seen in the case of Efe Paul Azino: writer, poet, Director of the Lagos International Poetry Festival and Creative Director of Creative Africa whose story is a living testament to the Nigerian spirit.
He took to writing and poetry at a very young age, and found comfort and succor in it during a trying time during his university days. At a time when it wasn’t financially feasible to be a professional spoken word poet, Efe stood firm and decided on something even crazier; he was going to start the Lagos International Poetry Festival, make it this big event, a space for poets across the world to all come to Nigeria for one week and live off poetry and interacting with other poets from all across the globe. He was even willing to take it a step further and created workshops, panel discussions and evening performances that held all-festival-long.
It was a big dream and the British Council was more than happy and willing to be one of the first partners of the Lagos International Poetry Festival. That was 2015, and we’re still proud sponsors of the event till date.
Even now, Efe has plans to start the Young Writers and Creators Lab to bring together established writers, artists and creators to mentor and train young writers with a desire to hone their craft. If you’re interested in learning more about Efe’s dreams, you can see it all HERE.
If you’ve also benefitted from a partnership with the British Council or know of anyone who has, you stand a chance to be featured in our events and win fantastic prizes.
How to win?
Record your story in a video, upload it on Instagram or Facebook and tag us @ngbritish using the hashtags #thankstoyou #75stories #BePartOfTheStory or you can write your story and upload it HERE
Here’s to 75 more years of bringing positive changes to the country and to the world.
