The Curious Case Of The Benue Yam

"Madam how much be dis yam?"

As cars passed speedily, blowing polythene bags all over the food stock and her face, I asked the trader along the Gwagwalada-Abuja way. The yams were massive, I mean big. The first option any kitchen friendly person (Man or woman) would go for. One of these yams would feed a family of 8, trust me, ok let's say a modestly eating family of 4. Especially the Benue and Ekiti people who have pounded yam as a stable meal, eaten almost on a daily basis. The typical tiv man considers only pounded yam as food, well many of them. They will tell you rice is food for the birds.

Being A Pauline Tallen today

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday, forwarded a 46-person list of non-career ambassadorial nominees to the Senate. Among the nominees mentioned by Senate President Bukola Saraki on the floor of the Senate on Thursday was a familiar name, a boundless woman of our time, Dame Pauline Tallen, a former deputy governor of Plateau State.

Presently a  member of All Progressives Congress (APC) Board of Trustees, Dame Pauline Tallen, has turned down her nomination for ambassadorial appointment by the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration.

Tallen said she appreciated the President for counting her worthy to serve Nigeria in the capacity of an ambassador, however, she has to let go to attend to her ailing husband.

According to her, she will not be able to leave her husband who has been down for sometime now, in the hands of others to look after him, for the sake of the
appointment.

"It is a hard decision I had to take but I have to, because he is my primary responsibility," she said.

Reports have it that since her marriage to Mr. Tallen, he has been very supportive to her in all her political odyssey which started in the Second Republic down to the Forth Republic.

Pauline Tallen is boundless and has proven it in her drive to go beyond the kitchen, the living and the other room.

As women we can all be a 'Pauline Tallen', making choices that reflect our focus and priority in the face of  screaming needs.

We can step out and make a name when it counts in our homes, for our communities, for a cause, politically and make history remember you.

Long live the Naija woman