Chinonso Izuka is blessed with a gift that brings melody to the hearts of many. She’s the voice behind the #NigeriaStartsWithMe theme song and her vocal chords have the potential to propel her to global stardom. A staff of Sahara Group, Africa’s leading energy and infrastructure
conglomerate, the #NigeriaStartsWithMe initiative is one which seeks to rally young people to own major stakes in efforts aimed at transforming Nigeria. In this interview, Chinonso speaks passionately about her dream for a new Nigeria and expresses her desire to see the song ignite creativity, innovation and a sense of patriotism in Nigerian youths. ANTHONY ADA ABRAHAM brings you the piece.


What is the #NigeriaStartsWithMe initiative about?

The #NigeriaStartsWithMe initiative is a drive geared towards rallying Nigerian youths to develop practical and innovative ideas that would enhance the transformation of our country Nigeria. It is a movement to instill a desire for innovation, creativity and patriotism. It is an innovative dive to revive the Nigerian dream and place it in the hands of our youths who are Nigeria’s future. I am passionate about the initiative and see myself as an ambassador of everything great thatwe want to see happen in Nigeria. I am so happy that Sahara Group, where I work is championing this cause as it has given me a platform to contribute meaningfully to the initiative. That new Nigeria we all seek is attainable; but to realise the dream, it must start with each one of us; especially the young people who will occupy leadership positions in Nigeria in the coming years and decades.

How did you get the inspiration to write and sing the #NigeriaStartsWithMe theme song?

The actual origin of the theme song is from a song I composed for my organisation, the Sahara Group late last year which I sang at our 20th Anniversary End of Year Party in Abuja. When we flagged off the #NigeriaStartsWithMe initiative in March 2017, I thought some aspects of the message in the song was appropriate for the campaign. After some tweaking, I came up with thetheme song. The inspiration came from my experience in Sahara where you’re driven to look inwards to come up with solutions that can change the world, whilst believing that it takes togetherness as well to achieve bigger and more sustainable goals. The song captures the essence of togetherness and deciding to give one’s best to Nigeria in spite of the seemingly insurmountable challenges we have as a nation. We are a creative and resilient people. In fact, each Nigerian has what it takes to come up with that idea or solution to our challenges as a nation. All we need is to see ourselves as agents of positive change. I believe the message of not giving up on Nigeria is one I had to share with every young Nigerian. It is disheartening to see brilliant youths being employed as trolls on the Social Media where they do the bids of people who would rather see Nigeria go under. We can direct our energies to confronting societal ills and contributing our quota to the development of our great nation. That’s the inspiration I hope the song transmits to every Nigerian – that at the end of it all, Nigeria starts with each one of us.

SOURCE: http://okrote..com.ng/2017/04/youths-should-be-more-involved-in.html