Identity

I am a shifting combination of identities, interfaces through which I interact with the world.

Each identity is just as much an expression of self as it is a response to time and place.

My personal identity comes first - who I am to family and friends.

They hold the most memory of me, and have shaped a lot of who I am.

This is not a single state of being, but a foundational layer of interfaces.

On top of which I’ve built a professional identity.

Rooted in my abilities and skills, and influenced by my tools and team.

These identities I cultivate the most, others I hold more distant.

Like my ethnic identity, grounded in lineage and language.

A sense of belonging, a cultural expression.

A history that lives on through stories and celebrations.

An ancient way of life that persists through behaviour and rituals.

But an identity that now exists within larger political structures.

My national identity is how I’m represented in the world.

It is my present connection to land and history.

I am from a migratory tribe of Yoruba people.

From Ile-Ife to Igbajo, Oyo Province, Western Nigeria, Osun and now Lagos.

What it means to be from here is a shifting mirage.

What it means to be Nigerian is complex and abstract.

It is a lived history. A living history.

It is a representation of power - or the lack of it.

It is a passport.

I need this identity to survive.

But beyond the necessity, it is a cultural expression.

To be Nigerian is to live in a constant duality.

Rich and poor.

Famous and notorious.

Home and abroad.

Ambition and greed.

It is to have memory of Nigeria.

To understand fear and pride.

The self is not a fixed thing.

It’s tempting to think of it as such because the body presents a consistent image.

But the body itself is constantly in flux.

My image is simply an idea.

I am not a combination of my identities, but the operating system.

I am the set of values through which I navigate these interfaces.

I am the prioritization mechanism for who comes first.

I am as much as I allow myself to be.

I am who I try to be.

I am who I end up being.