We are Nigeria.

Arise,O compatriots,

Nigeria's call obey,

To serve our fatherland,

The labour,

 Of our heroes past

Building this nation

Shall never be in vain.

We come to pledge to Nigeria,

Faithfulness and honesty,

Loyalty without deceit,

Yet...

We tell her we are disappointed,

In what she has come to be,

But honestly,

Who is she?

She is us,

She calls on us,

O Nigerians, arise,

Serve your fatherland,

Let not the labour of heroes' past be in vain,

The heroes' labour in pain,

They started for us to continue,

But we have left the work to a few,

Sitting down,

Watching ourselves degrade,

Leaving Nigeria to fade,

And then we blame Nigeria,

But who is Nigeria,

She is us,

She calls on us,

O, Nigerians,arise,

Serve with heart and might your fatherland,

Remember the day you pledged,

To defend her unity,

And uphold her honour and glory,

So don't let her glory,

Become a story,

Or her honour a thing of the past,

No, into stone it should be cast,

Forever her honour and glory will last.

As Nigeria comes of age,

We write in pages,

The story of our labour,

And of generations before,

As memories to store,

As we continue to do more,

To develop Nigeria,

To develop our selves,

A people so diverse,

Rich in resource,

Do you not see,

What Nigeria can be,

Together we can preserve her dignity,

Let us not leave her unattended,

Or her problems unconfronted,

If we leave the work to her,

We will suffer.

Nigeria needs us,

Obey her call,

O compatriots,

Serve with love and strength and faith,

Our fatherland,

Let not our heroes'labour be in vain,

Building a nation bound in freedom,

United because,

We are one,

We are together,

We may be forever,

One country,

One nation,

Great people,

And together,

Every year,

We come to wish Nigeria,

Happy Independence Day.

Nigeria at 62#

(Picture credit-'The Carbon Brief Profile: Nigeria.')

My first day of school.

I woke up at 4:30am. It was unusual for me to wake up so early,but I was overly excited. To save myself from being a latecomer on my first day,I did my chores,ironed my uniform,and cooked my lunch the previous night.I quickly got out my shoes, socks, and my bag. Then I put my books in my bag.I looked at the time. It was 4:35am,so I waited.I had to wait for what I thought was a long time because it was too early to do anything. I felt very bored. This was definitely not what I was expecting. As I was walking around aimlessly,my mother told me that I could pray Tahajjud and ask Allah to make my first day of school go well. I prayed slowly because there was still time. I wasn't used to praying fast.I made dhikr,then I stood up.I was going to my room to get something when I saw my father. He just looked at me,then kept on going. Ordinarily,he would have asked me why I woke up so early. I guess he thought the same way I did; today was special.Finally,the clock struck five,but it was still too early. I began to feel sleepy, so I lay down on the couch and dozed off.

My mother woke me up. It was already 6:00am. I started to panic. My mother told me not to worry because she had already heated water for me to take a bath. I thanked her and left. When I was done,I went to warm my lunch and eat. I didn't want to mess up my uniform. I packed some of the food in my lunchbox,and served myself the rest. I rushed my food,and started wearing my uniform.My father was only half ready. I was already dressed up while he was still taking his bath,so I had to wait. However,all the excitement in me made me extremely impatient,so much that I felt I'll be late; even though I read in the prospectus that assembly only starts at 7:45am. It was only 7:15am.

When we arrived at the school,my excitement quickly turned to nervousness.I felt all eyes on me and tried very hard not to make direct eye contact with anybody.I settled down in my seat, and like everyone else,I was waiting for the teacher.I was bored,so I gathered the courage to make friends with my seatmate."Assalamu 'alaykum,my name is Maymunah. What's your name?" I asked. "My name is Fatima." She said. "Do you know if any teachers will be coming today? I asked "No."she answered. I was disappointed. I wondered which of the teachers would come.One of the teachers came, apparently late, and taught us Islamic studies.I didn't know how long I waited,until I heard that it was time for break. I was famished,but when I took a look at my food,I was no longer hungry. After break,we went back to the class. Another teacher came to teach us Social studies. I didn't know that he would be the last teacher to step into our class that day. I waited for the next teacher to come. After some minutes,I saw other students taking their bags and going home,and wondered if it was closing time. I took a look at the four walls of the class. 'The class doesn't even have a clock' I thought. I didn't know what to do. I stayed for a very long time. I,and six other students were still in the class. When I saw the classes being closed,I took my bag and left. I went to the entrance,where my father was waiting for me.He picked me up and went home.

When I got home,I narrated my whole day to my siblings,and how it was a good and bad day altogether.

Student equity/equality.

Assalamu 'alaykum, today I'll be talking about about a cause that is important to me.

Apart from Islam, student equity is a cause that is important to me. Student equity is to treat each student fairly, meaning that no particular student should be treated too softly or too harshly,which is student inequity.An example of student inequity:There is a particular student who is called 'the teacher's pet',who the teacher likes,is hesitant to hit him/her and so on. Meanwhile,there is the student who is treated like an outcast.This is the student who always gets hit, always gets punished,and never seemed to do anything good in the teacher's eyes. If you look deeper into it, you'll find out: there is nothing special or appalling about the two students. Sometimes there is only one of them in a classroom, and sometimes they coexist with each other in the same classroom. In these cases,it is possible for them to hold grudges against each other. Now in some cases,there are students who need extra attention from their teacher because they have a learning or physical disability. The teacher will have to explain why he/she has to give extra to this/these student (s). 

In another example of student inequity,a school holds a speech and prize giving day. Some students, get to present and get prizes and some don't. The prizes are concentrated on punctuality, neatness and so on,and since not all students have the attributes that the consider good enough to be prized,not all of them get prizes. I once questioned my head teacher about this and he said that the students who didn't get any prizes this year, will try to do better and get prizes the next year. I couldn't understand. I don't know where they got the notion that when people feel worse, they do better. There are a lot of attributes that students have that deserve to be rewarded. Now I'm not saying that the ones the prizes are already based on aren't important. I'm just saying that the attributes that are given based on should be made abundant or unlimited. Or for a whole year, someone should find out:what is it that each student that deserves to be rewarded for. If we don't do this, we'll make feel they're not unique,and that those who received prizes are better than them. It might even lower their self esteem. I believe that student inequity is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

Al-Malik.

 The King and owner of Dominion.

He has blessed us with his beautiful kingdom.

He is the only one with slaves he doesn't need.

So let us recite the Holy Creed.

Al-Quddoos

The Absolutely Pure,

When you are ill,

He is the cure,

You would still have to take a pill,

And by his will,

You will be fine. 

The Lesson.

I wrote two FGC exams,one in 2019,and the other in 2020.As a child who was mostly homeschooled,it was my first time writing an exam at national level. This is how the FGC exam in 2019 went:

It was a Saturday morning and there was sanitation. The exam as stated,was to begin at 7:30.a.m, so we left the house at 7:00a.m to catch up with the time. Unfortunately, the exam didn't hold until 11:00a.m so we had to wait. While we were waiting, my mother gave me some advice on what to do in the exam hall(it was my first time).She said"Skip the questions that seem hard, do the easy ones,then go back to the ones you skipped. It will help you not to waste your time. When you are done,if there is still time left, crosscheck your work as there may be some mistakes."One of my friends was also writing the same exam and so I got excited. I knew we were going to sit together because she had her name registered right after I had my name registered. After that, the roll call was made to see if we were all present. We entered the hall and went to our seats,and I was nervous. We were given question papers followed by the answer sheets.

The examination commenced,and my extreme nervousness caused me to be in a big rush. I was in a hurry to submit my answer sheet.I did my English well but my math and verbal aptitude wasn't very good,and,to add fuel to that, I skipped halfway through my quantitative aptitude.I was busy chatting with my friend.I did what I could, but I didn't realize time would be up and it caught me unaware.

We went out of the hall,my mother asked me to tell her about how the exam went,as any other parent would. I somewhat dropped the bad stuff and told her only the good stuff.

After three weeks,my mother went shopping and picked up the result on her way back. She came in dead nonchalant and asked me to check my result,I opened it and read. My mark was 109. I felt bad,really bad. My father told me it was okay, that I could go next year.  I felt bad for not following my mother's advice.  From that day on,  I learnt three lessons:

When you get advice, value it.

When you have goal,reach it without distraction.

Be confident in your abilities.

As-Salaam.

 The Perfection and Giver of Peace,

He is perfect, 

and never has any defect.

He gives safety and security,

 with peace and tranquility,

To those whose purity,

Is walking towards His own.

And look,at the seeds they have down,

The seeds have grown and grown,

But His purity is the best of all.