I have spent virtually all my life here in Nasara- wa state, and growing up, I realized it is not really actually where you’re from, but where you’re going to, and so far, Nasarawa state has helped me in becoming who I am today, and I realized, I’m just so in love with the state. Like, I am just in love with the state, coupling with the fact that I was born here, I was brought up here, my families are here, so it’s a wonderful place really. I was born in New Karu, the name of the area, they call it “Igbo Road”, yeah, I was born there. Growing up, growing up wasn’t all rosy, my dad, my dad who was a police officer, because he’s re- tired right now, in as much as he is always around. My mum, I grew up meeting my mum selling Akara, kunu gyada, and all that, so, I do love kunu gyada, so I grew up meeting my mum doing all those things, and also she had a small restaurant. She is a hustler, she has a hustling spirit, so growing up, we had to join her, so, aside from she selling, we moved down to Keffi, I moved to Keffi at a very tender age, but I could still remember.

>We moved to Keffi, my dad was still working, we came back to Police barrack here, still, my mum, she is used to the hustling spirit, she is not used to staying at home, she started doing “chin chin” for me to go and sell, I finished primary school, I attended “Happy Home Academy” here in Keffi. I finished primary school, then I started second- ary school, I started at “Science School Nasarawa Eggon”, I couldn’t stay there because I was the last, and I was just too home-sick, so staying away from home wasn’t easy for me, and I wasn’t used to the environment. So, they had to bring me back home to Day-School, and then, they enrolled me in “Kofar Hausa Junior Secondary School”, it was an after- noon school, so from morning, that, from morning, I go to hawk “chin-chin”, then once its 11:30, I rush back home, 11:00, I rush back home.

But I would have to make sure I finished selling those chin-chin before coming back home, be- cause if I leave it at home, it will waste, so I come back home, freshen up then I go to school. But peradventure if I don’t finish selling the chin-chin, I have to tie it inside leather and put it in my school bag, then I sell to my class mates in school, so it doesn’t goes to waste, yeah, so afterwards, I fin- ished junior secondary school, I went back to Se- nior Secondary School, still Kofar Hausa again, but the Senior Section. I was still selling chin-chin, and my mum joint it with kunu, I was selling chin-chin and kunu, then in my area, we left police barrack because my dad retired. So he bought a piece of land around T&T, Kaduna road in Keffi, so, the place was more like an undeveloped area, so people were building because we were there already. So those building, my mum will tell me now, okay, lets cook, so I will go and be selling to them, so they’re building, instead of them going outside to buy food, they buy from me here, so at some point, I became popular in the area because I was selling kunu here, they will call me “mai kunu”, there they will call me “mai chin-chin”, there “mai abinci” and all that. So, growing up wasn’t all that rosy, but I enjoyed it because I grew up in a family whereby, we know we don’t have much, but the love is there, I think that’s why I... I just, I like preaching love a lot, because we... I grew up to get use to what I have.

I believe it will help Nasarawa state a lot, like in a big way, like we said, “Nasarawa state is the Home of Solid Minerals.” Now, that’s having a Governor like that, that has the initiative, that’s has the mind, has the connections and all that, and join with our resources, I believe emmm, I am not even seeing Nasarawa state like the way normal, like a normal state, I believe we have a lot to achieve, and one thing I know is, the Governor have not even stayed long in power, but we are seeing the changes, at least we can tell the difference, we know, okay, who is working, who is not working, we know the work, and I believe, in short, I know, I don’t believe, I know with God’s help and his help, and the help of his friends, Nasarawa state is going to achieve a lot. I am an artist, and like I said, to me, I feel music is the food to the soul, like it reaches out to hun- dreds of people within a space of some minutes. Now, using my voice, because the talent God has given me, yes, using my voice, looking at preach- ing against domestic violence, child abuse, child molestation, preaching against rape, and preaching to the girl-child because there is this mentality that most people have, they believe that the girl only end in the kitchen. Like, after all she will get married, her life will just end there, but no, a lady has a lot to offer in the society, and I feel, I don’t really need to come out, carry the mic and start preaching, no, a lady has a lot to offer, a lady ha... through music, through my voice, and I believe when the government key into it and the Ministry of Women Affairs also key into it, we’re going to achieve a lot because, I am telling you, the ladies, the women in general have a lot to offer. We just need the chance, we just need the opportunity, when given the opportunity, that’s when you know a lady has a lot to offer, a lady is a teacher, she is a mother, she is a parent, she is more like everything. And with the way things are going in the society, I believe with my voice, I am going to reach out to a lot of people.