Soy Yo

[Nwanyi Ocha @nwanyi_ocha]

I want to be fair to @PeterPsquare . He is not wrong that French opens doors Igbo does not. He is not wrong that parents get to decide how they raise their own children. But I guess he underestimates the fact that he is not just any parent. P-Square is a name millions of Igbo people grew up admiring, their success made them proud to be who they are. People all over the world sang their songs using Igbo words. So when a voice like that says Igbo is not worth passing on, it does not land like one man’s private choice. It gives permission for a belief a lot of people were already quietly carrying, that English and French, in short anything foreign, sits above Igbo, that their native language is something to graduate out of rather than something to hold onto.

I am not Igbo. I am Swiss. But my husband made it clear from the beginning that our children would speak Igbo, and I have never once seen that as a burden or a complication. Our children speak Swiss German, English, and Igbo at home, German at school, and now French as well, since that is part of their school curriculum too. Five languages, and none of them fighting each other for space. That is the part people forget when they frame this as a choice. Children do not need to pick one language to be strong in. They can navigate several at once, easily.

It is adults who turn language into a competition. Children just absorb what is spoken to them and grow fluent in all of it.

A language is not only a tool for getting ahead. It is also a rooting tool, the place where love, memory, and belonging live. It is the specific way a grandmother scolds you and forgives you in the same breath. It is a joke that only works in the original. Lose the language, and you do not just lose a skill. You lose a room in your own house, one you can still visit as a guest but never quite live in again. That is what worries me most in this conversation. A child who cannot speak their father’s or mother’s language will, at some point, stand in that homeland and feel like a stranger. Not unwelcome, not unloved, just outside something that was supposed to be theirs by birth.

One day, my sons will be handed a kola nut, and in that moment, no one should have to do it for them. They should know how to receive it, how to speak over it, how to break it themselves, not pass it along to someone else because they never learned the words or the meaning behind them. That is such a small moment, and yet it says everything. It is the difference between being someone’s guest and being someone’s own.
So when I hear “Igbo is useless,” what I actually hear is a wound that has not healed.

From the outside, I have watched how often English or French get treated as the languages worth keeping, while Igbo gets treated as the one you can afford to let go of. That preference did not come from nowhere. It is a colonial hierarchy that convinced generations of people that closeness to their own culture was a limitation rather than a foundation. I don’t say this to shame anyone, least of all a man raising his own family the best way he knows how. I say it because the people who shape how we see ourselves carry a weight beyond their own households, whether they asked for it or not.

My hope is simple. That we stop treating our children’s languages as a competition with only one winner. That we let them have both the world and their roots, and trust that they are capable of holding both without ever having to choose.

[Hisa (formerly Chaka) @hisanigeria]

Don't be caught sleeping while others are making gains.

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[Hisa (formerly Chaka) @hisanigeria]

Lafarge Africa no longer exists.

After 67 years, the company has officially become HBM Nigeria, one of the cement stocks on Hisa.

Here's what happened and why it matters for your money.

[Soy Yo @JAVAnozie]

@ingydeca Congratulations 🎊

[Hisa (formerly Chaka) @hisanigeria]

SK Hynix just completed the largest US listing by a foreign company in history.

$26.5 billion raised. Stock up 13% on Day 1.

Here's what happened, and how you can trade the stock on Hisa.

[Michael Foster @thisisfoster]

Emily and I have been together for a little over 27 years, and today marks 23 years of marriage. As has become my habit, here are 23 reflections on marriage, one for every year God has graciously given us together...

1. Marry for demonstrated potential. Anyone can imagine who a person might become. Marry someone whose character and trajectory you can already see. Catch them on the way up.

2. Marry as young as is reasonable. There is something good about growing up together. You develop your tastes, habits, traditions, and way of life as a team rather than trying to merge two established lives later. You do not need to have everything figured out before you get married. Much of life is better figured out together.

3. Children are infinitely better than pets, so do not put them off. A pet is not a substitute for a child, no matter how much modern people pretend otherwise. Your childbearing years are shorter than they seem, and the years with your children at home go even faster. Start having them sooner rather than later.

4. Talk frankly about sex. Do not expect your spouse to read your mind or leave important desires unspoken for years. Talk honestly about expectations, frustrations, frequency, and enjoyment. Then have as much sex as the two of you reasonably can.

5. Argue from the same side. In the middle of a disagreement, stop and remind each other, "I love you. We are on the same side. We are going to work this out." Your spouse is not the enemy, and beating them in an argument gains you nothing. The goal is to solve the problem without damaging the marriage.

6. Pray together every day. Shared prayer should be a normal part of married life rather than something you save for a crisis. Talk about what you are reading in Scripture and what the Lord is teaching you. Your spiritual lives should not develop on two separate tracks.

7. Own your sins and failures. When you are wrong, say, "I was wrong. There is no excuse. Please forgive me." Do not qualify it, explain it away, or immediately bring up what the other person did. Clean repentance does a great deal of good in a marriage.

8. Have a budget and regular conversations about money. Most financial fights are made worse by secrecy and surprises. Decide together what you are doing with your money, write it down, and revisit it regularly. You should both know where the money is going.

9. Make plans and follow through. Make three- or five-year plans and break them down into one-year goals. Decide where you want to live, what you want to accomplish, what you want to save, and what kind of family culture you are trying to build. Then quit talking about it and do the work.

10. Go to church every Sunday. Make Lord's Day worship a settled part of your household. Do not attend only when the weather is good, the children are behaving, and nothing else sounds more enjoyable. Go when you are tired. Go when you are traveling. Go every Sunday unless you are providentially hindered.

11. Do not have close, private friendships with the opposite sex. Your closest friendships should be with people of your own sex or friendships you share as a couple. Friends of the marriage are a blessing. Private emotional intimacy with another man or woman is foolish and unnecessary. You are not above temptation, and neither is your spouse.

12. Do not let the children divide you. Children quickly learn how to play one parent against the other. Do not permit it. Even when you privately think your spouse handled something poorly, support one another in front of the children and work out the disagreement behind closed doors.

13. Wives, do not nag. Husbands, follow through. These two problems often feed each other. A wife keeps reminding her husband because he does not do what he said, and the husband grows resentful because she keeps reminding him. Wives should back off the constant correction, and husbands should become men whose word can be trusted.

14. Once something is forgiven, leave it buried. Forgiveness means you no longer keep the offense loaded and ready to fire during the next argument. You may need to work through consequences or rebuild trust, but you do not get to drag an old sin back into court after you have said it was forgiven.

15. Balance each other in raising the children. Mothers often need to be warned against coddling their children into weakness. Fathers often need to be warned against provoking them into bitterness. A good husband and wife correct one another and pull each other back from their natural excesses.

16. Keep some margin in your life. Do not schedule every hour, spend every dollar, and use every ounce of energy. A family with no margin is always one flat tire, sick child, or unexpected bill away from a crisis. Leave enough room to serve others and absorb problems without living on the edge of exhaustion.

17. Willingness matters more than blame. Many problems are solved faster when both people stop building a case and start showing a willingness to help. You may eventually need to determine who was responsible, but proving that the whole mess was your spouse's fault does not repair anything. A willing spirit will carry a marriage a long way.

18. Divorce is almost always worse. A hard marriage is painful, but divorce usually creates several new forms of pain while solving fewer problems than people imagine. It affects your children, your finances, your friendships, your future, and often your faith. Fight for your marriage every day rather than fantasizing about how easy life would be without it.

19. Live well within your means. Some of your friends will have nicer houses, newer vehicles, and better vacations. Some received help from their families. Some are incredibly disciplined and successful. Some are financing a life they cannot afford. Do not compete with any of them. Spend what is yours and enjoy the freedom of living honestly.

20. Build shared habits and interests. Run together, garden, lift weights, work puzzles, travel, read books, or build something. Find pursuits beyond television and children that belong to the two of you. The children will eventually leave, and you do not want to discover that you have become two strangers sitting in the same house.

21. Encourage one another's same-sex friendships. One of the kindest things you can do is push your spouse toward close and godly friends of the same sex. Your wife needs good women around her, and you need good men around you. Those friendships strengthen each of you, and two stronger people generally make a stronger marriage.

22. Play the long game. Marriages have seasons, and some of those seasons are harder than others. Things may get worse before they get better. Do not treat a low point as though it tells the entire story of your marriage. Stay faithful long enough to see what years of repentance, patience, and love can build.

23. Enjoy the life you have together. The years move far faster than you think they will. The loud house will grow quiet, the children will become adults, and your strength will fade. Many of the things that seem urgent now will prove unimportant. Pay attention, laugh often, and enjoy one another while the Lord gives you the time.

[Hisa (formerly Chaka) @hisanigeria]

The Nigerian stock market just had its best single-day performance in weeks.

ASI: 242,459.98.
Daily gain: +2.27%.
One-week gain: +7.43%.
Year-to-date return: +55.81%.

Here is what happened and how you can invest in the NGX on Hisa.

[Soy Yo @JAVAnozie]

@eltunjeee @VikyInsights So sorry for your loss. May their souls rest in peace.

[Soy Yo @JAVAnozie]

@VikyInsights Beautiful testimony. Thank you Aunty Sade for prioritizing both your wellbeing and the child’s wellbeing

[Soy Yo @JAVAnozie]

@SamuelOtigba I learnt not to litter as an 17 yo undergrad. It was during a talk at Wavecrest give by Emilia. The lesson stayed with me.

[Sam Otigba @SamuelOtigba]

If you’re Nigerian and you didn’t drop litter in your environment today, like & RT. I want to check something.

[Soy Yo @JAVAnozie]

The people we love should perceive (now or later) that our love for them is not dependent on their good behaviour. That we discipline / correct because we love.

[Arinze Odira @CaptainArinze]

My daughter knows I love her deeply, but I don't hesitate to discipline her when she crosses the line. Last night, after a serious talk-down, I sent her upstairs to her room.

Tell me why this little girl woke up this morning and one of the first things she asked was, “Dad, why didn't you come upstairs to pray and kiss me last night?”

We spent almost ten minutes talking about what happened the previous night, and the girl calmly told me she was wrong, but that I was wrong for not coming upstairs to pray and kiss her.

Once again, I got reminded that we shouldn't be so angry with the people we love that we stop showing them love and care.

[Soy Yo @JAVAnozie]

Lol. I choose to concentrate on the value the strong 2.1 candidate will bring to my organization.

[Mr. Láyí @layiwasabi]

pov: you finished with a “strong” 2.1

[Dave Bruno @DBrunoMedia]

To anyone reading this who might be facing a similar crossroads, meet my son Josh.

Josh is 3 and has Down Syndrome, the very condition shared about here in this post. We received a prenatal diagnosis at roughly 10 weeks. Some of the complications we feared happened, but that wasn't the end of the story. Josh was born early and spent a month in the hospital. At 1 year old, he had open-heart surgery. Now he's 3, loves life, and is thriving. The hard days didn't win.

If anyone else finds themselves in a similar place, reach out. There's a whole community of people here to support you. It hasn't always been easy, but he's worth every bit of it and then some.

[Soy Yo @JAVAnozie]

@Nekie_neka 잘했어!

[Soy Yo @JAVAnozie]

My colleague and friend who is not Christian stayed up all night reading Magnífica Humanitas. Me nko?

[Osaretin Victor Asemota @asemota]

A note before I start. I am Catholic, and the Papal encyclical I reference shapes how I read this moment. I am not asking anyone to share my opinions or my beliefs. I am explaining how I see things.

The Pope just preserved many jobs and created many new job openings through the conversation around the encyclical - Magnifica Humanitas, his first encyclical. It is long, and I am still reading it.

The line that stays with me is his predecessor Leo XIII's response to objections that the Church should focus on eternal life rather than worldly matters. He said the proclamation of the Gospel cannot overlook the concrete lives of people. Leo XIV is making the same argument now, about AI.

I once had to give a presentation on behalf of the Nigerian Society for Corporate Governance to an audience of Nigerian directors and senior management in 2024. They were not fully sold on the impact of AI. A lot has changed in two years.

The transformative effect of AI will be felt not just in this era but for generations. The Church is worried for good reason. AI could alter the nature of society itself.

AI Ethics and Governance have moved from "nice to have" afterthoughts to imperatives if societies and organizations are going to survive and thrive. AI is shifting from a productivity tool to an adversarial and manipulative product.

Someone wrote this on Twitter: "Gunpowder used to be for entertainment, then it was used to kill. Drones used to be for entertainment, then they were used to kill. AI is used for entertainment."

Even in corporations, when AI is positioned as an augmentation tool rather than a means of labor replacement, organizations fail when they measure adoption rather than outcomes. Several large enterprise coding tool rollouts this year have shown exactly this pattern.

As the encyclical insists, the priority is to build a more human society rather than allow a few powerful people to use AI to destroy the social fabric we once knew.

The global policy contrast is now sharp. Chinese courts have begun ruling that companies cannot terminate employees solely to replace them with AI, though the mechanism is driven more by state direction than by worker dignity. The United States has no coherent worker doctrine, and its major AI labs are priced as if labor displacement is the business model. Europe has a doctrine but no platforms at scale. Africa has neither.

Africa has the largest number of young people entering the job market globally. Yet conversations and policies on the impact of AI on Africa and African jobs are still not taken seriously at the highest levels.

The African Union's continental AI strategy has existed on paper since 2024, but most member states have not operationalized it. Meanwhile, the slavery already inside the AI supply chain is African. Kenyan data workers sued OpenAI in 2023 over content moderation conditions that left some with diagnosed PTSD. Documented data labeling rates across the continent have been reported well below local minimum wages. The harms are not theoretical or future; they are here.

The goal should be to improve our societies by creating greater abundance for everyone. That means both increased capacity and full employment. They are not mutually exclusive. Africa needs both.

Three things make the math in Africa different from that in the West. Demand is not saturated; it is suppressed. The continent has doctor-to-patient ratios at fractions of WHO minimums, class sizes that swallow up learning, agricultural extension reach in single digits, and legal services most adults will never access. We have major problems with scale and access.

Many of the processes and workstreams needed in Africa to create more employment have yet to be developed. There is no scaled health insurance infrastructure to disrupt in most countries, no mass legal services market to compress, no formalized tutoring industry to replace.

The demographic math runs the opposite way from the West. Africa is adding roughly fifteen to twenty million people to the workforce every year through 2050. Aging Europe needs AI to cover work that fewer workers can do. Young Africa needs AI to create the work that more workers want to do. This will also help rebalance the migration equation.

The thesis, however, holds only if the value capture is local. If foreign AI platforms serve African demand without local workforce participation, capacity expands, but employment does not. You get extraction, not absorption.

Closing that gap requires policy. Local data sovereignty. Local language coverage as a structural moat. Regulatory requirements that AI deployment include local workforce participation. This is why the doctrine gap matters more than the platform gap, and why the policy work has to start now rather than later.

The narrow goal of profitability, which treats humans as expendable tools, is not the model we should import. This should be our priority in Africa, and we should be actively working towards how these new technologies can help us achieve it. The encyclical gives that work cover. The Catholic church is a major global institution lending its voice to this debate. The question is whether the continent's boardrooms, capitals, and policy desks will pick it up.

[Soy Yo @JAVAnozie]

@IgboHistoFacts Igba kwa mbo bu ego nri; aku na uba si na chi.

[Soy Yo @JAVAnozie]

@ChristianNbdy Please pray for people who grieve over the death of loved ones and for couples asking God for the gift of a child.

[Soy Yo @JAVAnozie]

@redromatica Going to do my evening mental prayer now. I’ll pray for you.

[Fiama @fiamaetc]

São Tomás de Aquino, em um dos seus ensinamentos, disse que a providência de Deus não é um plano geral, para toda a humanidade.

é particular.
é sobre você.
sobre esse dia, essa dor, essa situação que parece não ter saída.

Ele não está administrando o universo e te incluindo num amor genérico.

Deus te ama em particular.

e está em cada detalhe do que você está vivendo agora.
inclusive nos que você não consegue entender.
especialmente nesses.