Valentine’s Day can be a secondary consideration for some in Lagos. The Nigerian city of more than 20 million people is renowned for its hustle and bustle, its restless energy and commercial drive; it is a place where honks from signature yellow passenger buses fill the air.
However, this Valentine’s Day, Lagos-based rock musician Bianca Okorocha, known as “Clayrocksu,” wanted people to take a moment to pause and feel loved.
She took her music onto the streets of the city, crooning love songs to random commuters and handing them single-stem roses. Their faces, first shocked at the encounter, gave way to a broad smile as she pulled the strings of her guitar, twanging to James Blunt’s You Are Beautiful.
Photo: AP
“I am a musician, and we just thought it was a special and nice thing to do for people,” Clayrocksu said. “Especially in this time and climate where everything is kind of difficult and all you hear on the news is bad news.”
Since Nigerian President Bola Tinubu came to power in 2023, he has undertaken major economic reforms, including the removal of a decades-old fuel subsidy program. The government said the changes would save costs and boost investment, but they have resulted in one of the west African nation’s worst cost of living crises in a generation.
The country’s deadly security crisis has also worsened the fate of millions, limiting access to farmland in the conflict-battered north, which resulted in a surge in the prices of goods elsewhere, including in the economic hub of Lagos.
But amid the tough times, people like Clayrocksu are bringing joy and color to many across the city in this season of love.
Barbara Lulu, a Lagos resident, who was serenaded by Clayrocksu and her partner, was going about her day stressed until the rock team showed up.
“First off, this was a very shocking moment for me, because I never expected it. It just kind of happened, and all I can say is yay!” she said.
In a city where Valentine’s Day is usually focused on lovers, Clayrocksu said that she wants to change that perception and bring roses to many others.
“People think that Valentine’s Day is only about romantic gestures, only boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife,” she said. “But Valentine is really just about sharing love.”
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英) has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s (DW) freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster on Thursday said Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on June 23 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle director-general Barbara Massing praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk.” “With Apple Daily, he gave journalists a platform for free reporting and a voice to the democracy movement in
PHILIPPINE COMMITTEE: The head of the committee that made the decision said: ‘If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to hide, there is no reason to obstruct’ A Philippine congressional committee on Wednesday ruled that there was “probable cause” to impeach Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte after hearing allegations of unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and threats to have the president assassinated. The unanimous decision of the 53-member committee in the Philippine House of Representatives sends the two impeachment complaints to deliberations and voting by the entire lower chamber, which has more than 300 lawmakers. The complaints centered on Duterte’s alleged illegal use and mishandling of intelligence funds from the vice president’s office, and from her time as education secretary under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Duterte and the
Burmese President Min Aung Hlaing yesterday cut all prisoners’ sentences by one-sixth, a blanket measure that a source close to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi said would further shorten her detention. Aung San Suu Kyi has been sequestered since a 2021 military coup, but the senior member of her dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) party said that while her term had been reduced, her remaining sentence is still unclear. “We also don’t know exactly how many years she has left,” the source told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. The military toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government
RSS