Aishat Ibrahim makes milestone as a teenage author

The Girl Who Loves her City (Grandeur, Lagos, 2016) by a teenager, Aishat Ibrahim, who hails from Kebbi State, Nigeria, serves as a correctional tool for common mistakes teenagers make while growing up. The teenage author, who is privileged to be exposed to proper education and good morals, deemed it necessary to pass her knowledge onto fellow Nigerian teenagers through her book.

Ibrahim addresses prominent issues like religion, morals, determination, friendship, contentment, and decency, to mention a few. Her patriotism and love for Nigeria and the people are what inspired her to write The Girl Who Loves her City. Through this book, Ibrahim urges readers to refrain from acts that reflect hate, lack of trust and fear, adding, “Of course, we lost most of our people in the hands of some people who do not understand the meaning of love; we live in fear everyday and also lost (sic) hopes.”

Diversity is one of the strong points of the book as it is not restricted to only a few topics, but covers and addresses multiple topics of interest. In addressing the issue of culture, for example, the author encourages readers to embrace their unique heritage. Procrastination, as the author simply puts it, happens as a result of laziness. Discipline, on the other hand, is what it takes to avoid this nature. There are a variety of other moral topics addressed by Ibrahim in her book.

One interesting fact about The Girl Who Loves her City is that it is an inspirational book for both teenagers and adults alike. Ibrahim does a great job in putting across her thoughts in a simple and easy-to-grasp manner. Coming from the viewpoint of a teenager, other young writers who have for so long restricted themselves from exploring their talents in writing would be motivated after reading Aishat Ibrahim.

However, there are a few factors that lacked sufficient focus in The Girl who loves her City, which the author requires the advantage of another edition to correct. These include, some grammatical errors and the author’s tendency to be overly simplistic in her writing style. An example is seen in chapter six subtitled ‘Indecent dressing of mothers,’ where she writes, “Moreover, there are still some mothers who dress in this manner and by so doing, what type of impression the child will have.”

Also, better proofreading of the book is required to rid the book of its errors. Books have the power to influence the minds of readers. Ibrahim certainly has a lot of improvement to make as a teenager so she could graduate to becoming a mature writer.

In spite of these lapses, which every first time author easily commits, especially in an environment that lacks good editor, Young Ibrahim’s The Girl who loves her City is an encouraging work from a beginner and it would certainly be an eye-opener for young girls and boys her age, who will see her as a model and inspiration to emulate.