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👋 Good morning. Twitter is in a full debate about whether you should live with your partner before marriage. Some of you don't have partners and are watching from the stands; we see you (we relate to you). But we're curious: cohabit first or wait till after the wedding? Reply to this email, and your answer might land you a reader spotlight. As always, there's something for everyone this week. Scroll to the end, don't skip. |
Let’s get into it ⬇️ |
In this edition: What Children of Blood and Bone's box office run means for African film, Non-partisan: principle or dodge, a reader spotlight, and more. |
If you’re enjoying this, don’t forget to subscribe and join The Juice community. We’re building this together ♡. |
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Shalom Tewobola,
Editor.
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Quick Question |
What’s your favorite fantasy film to watch? |
Answer at the bottom of this newsletter |
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🗞️ THIS WEEK IN POP CULTURE |
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🎵 MUSIC |
New album alert! Asake is set to release his new album on May 1. The album is titled M$NEY, very in tune with his Mr Money self-titled name. The album will have 13 tracks. If there’s anything Asake knows, it’s music that moves bodies, so we can’t wait! |
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📸 CELEBRITY |
Ini Dima Okojie announced her pregnancy this week. The actress has been open about her fibroid and fertility issues. We are so excited for her! |
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🏛️ CREATIVE ECONOMY |
Tiwa Savage launched Berklee Nigeria in collaboration with Berklee College of Music. 120 emerging artists were selected for a 4-day intensive training, scholarship interviews, and ensemble sessions with faculty members of Berklee College of Music. |
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📽️ FILM |
The Kenyan-Nigerian production, One Woman, One Bra, is headed to the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival. The film was written and directed by Kenya’s Vincho Nchogu and produced by Nigeria’s Josh Olaoluwa. We are looking forward to more Pan-African projects the production sparks. |
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↝ POLITICS |
Wale Edun, the minister of finance, was sacked this week. However, the president has come out to say the former minister resigned willingly because of ill health. |
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MAIN SQUEEZE |
What does non-partisan really mean? |
When Tunde Onakoya (founder of Chess in the Slums, a Civil Society tackling poverty and education) says he’s non-partisan, people scrunch their noses. |
Non-partisan basically means a refusal to align with a political party, so it can sound like a dodge, a refusal to pick a side in situations where people feel a side should be obvious. |
Most civil society organisations aren’t moving like Fela Kuti on the timeline. |
And that is because they are navigating access, funding, government relationships, and trying to get things done without being boxed into party politics. So non-partisanship, in practice, isn’t always silence. Sometimes it’s positioning. |
The tension is where people start to ask questions: at what point does staying “open to everyone” begin to look like saying nothing at all? |
We spoke to Victoria Oladipo, founder of Learn Politics, about what non-partisanship actually demands of organisations and what it allows them to avoid. |
When you describe your organisation as "non-partisan," what does that actually mean in practice? |
Non-partisan really just separates you from party politics. In practice, we can engage with anyone regardless of affiliations (political parties or interest groups) as far as it furthers the cause of the organization. |
Neutrality is really not non-partisanship, because where necessary, organizations have to take stands that align with their values, which are often clear. |
In contexts where your work intersects with political realities like education inequality or poverty, how do you justify choosing non-partisanship instead of taking a clear stance? |
Non-partisanship doesn’t intercept with the realities. And non-partisanship doesn’t erase a clear stance. |
Is being non-partisan the same as being apolitical, or do you still see your work as inherently political even if you don’t align with parties or candidates? |
Non-partisanship is not being apolitical. |
And like a person is different from an organization, an organization can be both or one of both. |
But non-profits and advocacy organizations might not be apolitical because of government engagement. |
What are the strategic or ethical reasons most CSOs choose a non-partisan position? |
CSOs often take a non-partisan position, so you’re not pushing parties' interests. It doesn’t add to any of the options but creates an objective thought process to operations. |
How far can non-partisanship go when you're challenging the system? |
Non-partisanship simply means not promoting or being tied to the ideology of any political party. Real change, especially within CSOs, does not require partisanship; it requires credible solutions to real problems. |
Whether those solutions happen to align with a political party’s ideology or not, CSOs are expected to stand by them, as long as they are viable and serve the public good. |
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🔪 THE PEEL |
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If Children of Blood and Bone flops, what’s at stake? |
The adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s fantasy novel Children of Blood and Bone was teased at CinemaCon over the weekend, and the reaction, well, let’s say it was expected. |
Since the cast list – featuring mostly diasporic Nigerians and having South African Thuso Mbedu playing the lead – was announced, the audience has expressed their displeasure. |
From Nigerians to Black Americans, everyone seems pissed off and has threatened to boycott and even sent prayers up for the downfall of the film. While I get the sentiments, I do not think we’ve weighed the cost of this film failing. |
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Peeling it back |
Now, I’ll be honest with you, the novel has its faults. Adeyemi placed Minna next to Port Harcourt. She also went to Brazil to study Yoruba culture, and you could see how that influenced the books. |
There has always been talk about how diasporic writers aestheticise the country and continent to sell to a Western audience. Basically, they move like culture vultures. |
Who is a culture vulture? |
A culture vulture is someone who builds a brand or story heavily inspired by a culture, but flattens it, misrepresents it, or uses it mainly to sell to others. |
These accusations leveled against her have become louder, seeing as Amari, one of the characters whose dark skin plays a major role in the book, is being played by a light-skinned Amandla Sternberg. |
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Another layer |
But away from that, let’s look at this adaptation from a different lens now, one void of our understandable anger. |
Children of Blood and Bone is one of the first large-scale, global depictions of Nigerian, specifically Yoruba-inspired, fantasy. It is a rare moment where African mythology enters mainstream global cinema. Is it an imperfect representation? Yes, but it is still significant visibility. |
Black-led films are often treated as high-risk investments. |
Studios told American director Nina Lee earlier in the month that they were watching to see how You, Me & Tuscany fared before investing in her film. |
Studios look closely at performance to decide what gets funded next. This film carries more weight than a typical adaptation. If it fails, it may reinforce existing biases about “market viability,” which plagues African and Black films. |
If the film underperforms, studios may interpret it as a lack of audience interest. |
That will show in the number of African fantasies that get greenlit; they will become fewer. Its failure wouldn’t just be about the story; it would become a litmus test for other African fantasy films. |
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The core |
The success of Children of Blood and Bone could unlock opportunities. |
Its success would show an existing appetite for African fantasies that needs to be attended to. That could open doors for Nigerian and African writers in publishing and film. |
It could lead to more book deals, more adaptations of existing African fantasy books, and the discovery of underground authors building ethereal, fantastical worlds rooted deeply in our African heritage—we can finally get that exact representation we deserve. |
Every concern about Adeyemi’s work is valid, but total rejection may have dire unintended consequences. |
Sometimes the first door opened is creaky, but shutting it might mean sealing it for good. So, sit with your anger, but also think deeply about the cost of this film underperforming. |
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🎵 PRESSED BY THE JUICE |
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In the words of the great philosopher, D’banj, “Are you in love? Cos I’m in love!” Yes, we are still knee deep in our honeymoon phase, and you could be too when you press play on our playlist! |
Don’t forget to save, we update frequently. |
Interested in guest curating? Reply to our mail, thejuice@pulse.ng |
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🏃💨 ON THE RUN |
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With more run clubs comes more social anxiety |
You watch well-edited reels of someone's weekend run club experience. |
It's all radiant smiles, coordinated dancing, lots of shouting, and a little running. Everyone looks happy and approachable, impossibly at ease. |
So you promise yourself you'll make it to the next event. And you honour your promise. You arrive — and you realize you didn't come alone. You came with your old friend: social anxiety. |
It's a lot like the first two kilometres of a run: uncomfortable and full of doubt, before things mostly open up, or occasionally stay awful the whole way through. |
The people avoiding eye contact and retreating into corners are probably dealing with thoughts and anxieties of their own. |
They're falling apart just as much as you are. And oddly, that is the first thing that gives any real comfort: the reassurance that we are all, collectively, convinced of our own unremarkableness. |
Read more here. |
Written by Edudzi Nyomi, Run Club Enthusiast and Community Member |
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LAST WEEK’S POLL WINNER |
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Frances Okoh Gbajumo |
Frances answered last week's poll before most of you even opened the newsletter. The question was Nigeria's longest-running drama. This week's is up. Are you fast enough? 👇 |
THIS WEEK’S POLL |
What's your favorite fantasy show to watch? |
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FRESH STATS |
12 M Up to 12 million youth enter the labor market each year across Africa, yet only about 3 million new formal wage jobs are created annually. |
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Today’s email was brought to you by Shalom Tewobola and Praise Okeoghene Vandeh. Editing by: Shalom Tewobola. Designs by: Daniel Banjoko |
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