Art x Adẹ

Mr. Olushola Medupin, CEO, Enish Group of Restaurants  One of my greatest joys was the day Shola opened his first restaurant in Lewisham. When he first hinted at his intention to open a restaurant, I was rather sceptical. I shared my reservations with him, but he seemed determined to go ahead. All I could do was offer him my prayerful support. When his search for a suitable location began in earnest, he took me to visit a few premises. Eventually, he settled on one in Lewisham. Quite honestly, it was the last place I expected him to choose. The building, which previously housed a Chinese restaurant, was completely run-down. It had been vacated, left unoccupied and allowed to become derelict for more than five years.  Looking at it, I struggled to see what Shola saw. Once again, I expressed my reservations. But he remained convinced that this was the place he wanted. That moment, in retrospect, says something profound about the young man and his journey. Vision is o...

Nigeria urgently needs a fundamental restructuring of its federation. The country needs a genuine realignment that brings government closer to the people and makes each level of government more responsible for its own development. Every state should have greater fiscal and political autonomy to generate and manage its own resources, while determining its development priorities according to its human, natural and economic resources. A state blessed with agriculture should be able to build around agriculture. One with mineral resources should develop its mining sector responsibly. Another with a strong human-capital base may choose to prioritise education, technology and services. The principle should be simple: the more responsibility you have for your development, the more responsibility you must accept for generating the resources to achieve it. Where two or more states individually lack the population, economic base or resources to remain viable, the Constitution should provide a ...

From what you have seen and read about my paintings and my book, you may have noticed that neither is offered for sale in the conventional sense. Over the years, I have carefully curated a selection of my paintings for display at my solo exhibitions. For me, however, these works are more than objects of artistic expression. They have become a means of connecting creativity with compassion, art with service, and personal passion with a purpose greater than myself. I am therefore happy to make selected paintings available to anyone who would like to have one, in return for a voluntary donation towards a charitable cause that is very close to my heart — the Matthew Adekunle Medupin Foundation (MAMF). The Foundation was established with a simple but deeply meaningful purpose: to support widows, orphans, and people living with sickle-cell disease in Ogidi-Ijumu and neighbouring communities in Kogi State, Nigeria. I believe art should not only be something we look at; it can also...

“The mind is like a garden. You can grow flowers or you can grow thorns.” Our minds are gardens, and every thought is a seed. What we repeatedly think about, dwell upon and give our attention to is what we gradually cultivate. If we water our minds with gratitude, kindness, hope, forgiveness and wisdom, something beautiful begins to grow. But if we constantly nurture anger, resentment, fear, envy and bitterness, those too will take root. The important thing to remember is that a garden does not become overgrown with thorns overnight, nor does it bloom in a single day. It is shaped by what we choose to plant, what we choose to water and what we choose to remove. We cannot always control the seeds that life drops into our minds. Pain, disappointment, betrayal and loss may leave behind weeds we never intended to grow. But we can decide whether to keep watering them. Sometimes, cultivating the mind means having the courage to pull out an old thorn, a painful memory, a destruct...

It is difficult to discuss Yoruba political leadership without eventually comparing Chief Obafemi Awolowo and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Their political trajectories share striking similarities, yet their approaches to power could hardly be more different. Both built their political fortunes from the Southwest. Both understood the importance of political organisation. Both created formidable political networks and eventually sought to translate regional influence into national leadership. But here is where the story gets interesting. Awolowo was the visionary; Tinubu is the strategist. Awolowo wanted to transform Nigeria according to a clearly defined political philosophy: Federalism, Education, Social welfare, Regional autonomy and Disciplined governance. He built an organisation around ideas. Tinubu, on the other hand, has demonstrated a remarkable capacity for political calculation, coalition-building and adaptation. His genius, whether one admir...

Each time I think about Nigeria’s worsening socioeconomic reality while listening to the Tinubu administration celebrating improved macroeconomic indicators, I am tempted to ask a simple but profound question:  Who is deceiving whom? The government may point to GDP growth, rising foreign reserves, increased government revenue, exchange-rate stability and other macroeconomic indicators as evidence that the economy is recovering. But the fundamental question is: recovering for whom? Macroeconomic statistics may be reassuring to economists, international financial institutions and foreign investors. But what meaning do they have to the ordinary Nigerian whose income buys less every month, whose food bill keeps rising, whose rent is becoming unaffordable, whose children’s education costs more, whose healthcare is increasingly out of reach and whose sense of security is being eroded by the day? An economy is not an abstract spreadsheet. It is ultimately about people. What is...