OSCA WOVEN WORDS COMPETITION – CHINONSO ONYEBUCHI

“Imagination gives birth to things unknown but the writer’s pen turns them into shapes and gives to them living breaths.”

ALSO READ: BOWEN WOVEN WORDS COMPETITION WAS A HUGE SUCCESS

The 2018 OSCA WOVEN WORDS COMPETITION was organized by My Woven Words  and it was only for undergraduates of tertiary institutions in Osun State as approved by the ministry of education, Osun state. There were Terms and Conditions for contestants.

OSCA Woven Words Competition remains the “first-of-its-kind” and “one-of-its-kind” in Osun state, Nigeria. To avoid Conflicts of Interest, we reached out to a number of unbiased scholars in a university outside Osun State to assess the submitted manuscripts and select the best contestants. All the contestant got a certificate of participation and some of the submitted manuscripts were selected for online publication.

TOPIC: The Tenacity of Nigerian Youths in National Development and Leadership Roles.

        TAKE IT

In life, nothing goes for free,

Everything has a fee.

Unless you are ready to pay,

At that same point, you will continually stay.

We all have expectations

For our individual nations

But what are we doing to make it real?

That’s the deal.

It’s unfortunate that most of us only speak

But never utilize the beak.

We analyze the issue

But remain with our tissue.

Crying over it,

Watching as we get pounded to grit.

We say the country is bad,

And it’s something really sad

But that remains in our closet.

Hence the dreams are never met

But we continue in the same circle of quagmire

Waiting for a moment it will expire

But it will never go away.

No, it will stay

Until you & I take  the initiative

And do the substantive.

Sugar coating is of no use,

So is making ruse.

You are undermined,

Seriously sidelined.

Otherwise how can you explain some senior entities

In their eighties

Being entrusted with affairs, so weighty

Despite their grip’s frailty.

Can you entrust glass into shaking hands?

Unless you want it to become like sands

You don’t make such an ommission

Or commission

But we seem to have lost that fact

Hence, we are victims of a dastardly cataract

Of things crashing & falling apart

Because we refused to play our part

In this national construction,

Thereby birthing the destruction

And downturn we see today

And complain, “it’s not okay”

Yes, you may say we’ve done our best

To take the baton which has been held to their chest

But they won’t let us have it.

“Mama & Papa know best, so sit

And let us carry the load

For long is the road”.

But if the road is long

Which is their usual song

Should someone with frail bones

Be let to drive

Such complex & heavyduty vehicle

Like this one?

Certainly not!

For he’ll probably crash the vehicle

Before arrival at destination

Most likely for the reason of poor sight

Which is the experience today

The nation is crashing

Because of the poor sight

Of the old drivers

The youth is needed for this purpose

So that the nation is given a good pose

In the group photograph of nation-states,

The kind that fascinates.

Remember a building on a weak foundation collapses

A building on an old foundation collapses as well

But a building on a strong foundation stands firm

You have that strong foundation, Mr. Youth

Put it into u

READ MORE: OSCA WRITE-UPS

Thanks a million!