This word as wonderful as it sounds causes a lot of trouble in the daily lives of young people around the world. They say if you love someone other things just fall into place effortlessly, some even say you have to have sex with your partner to prove that you love them. Is this true?
In as much as this sounds so wrong, some people actually still believe in such saying thereby abusing the true essence of love, some even tag a sexually transmitted infection a love infection if they got it from someone they love, some say having a child for someone you love outside of marriage shows that you love them (these girls between the age of 13 and 20 years). The most shocking discovery is that some young girls in some southern states in the country believe that when a guy has sex with you with a rubber (condom) he doesn’t love you. What!!!!! Are we thinking alike here?

1. The presence of love in a relationship between two young people does not necessarily evict the presence of all other odds.
2. Sex is not a basis for love and should not be considered as such.
3. Love infection doesn’t exist, so if you are one of those nursing an infection and putting it all on love, I would advise you to get treatment for it as it could someday claim your life and love wouldn’t be there to save you.
4. Having a child at a very young age is very risky, so before you as a young person decide to hide under the umbrella of love to have premarital sex and have a child in the process, you should know that the child you are bringing into the world is innocent and does not deserve any form of suffering you will be putting him/her in.
5. Lastly it is dangerous to have sex without any form of protection, so if you are one of those (especially a young girl) who believe that their partner does not love them if he uses a condom, you are wrong because love has nothing to do with protecting yourself during sexual intercourse and neither will love protect you from sexually transmitted infection or unwanted pregnancies.
Love is a dynamic word that needs to be respected and not abused the way we do these days, it has nothing to do with premarital sex or unwanted pregnancies. The sooner we realize we are wrong in these our beliefs the sooner we will have a country more or less free of sexual and reproductive health issues. So if you fall in any of the categories of young people above please do learn from your mistakes and make a change because its for your good as well as young people all over the country.

The FOS in 2003 reported that 15 million Nigerian children under the age of 14 were working, mostly to help pay their school fees and help their parents for daily up keep. The survey, conducted with support from the ILO, showed that over eight million of the country's working children were also attending school. Also, the United Nations Children Funds (UNICEF), in its 2006 report on Child Labour in Nigeria, reveals that a staggering 15 million children under the age of 14 were working across Nigeria and that many were exposed to long hours of work in dangerous and unhealthy environments. Various occupations carried out by these children include; prostitution, quarrying, construction work etc.
These children exposed daily to the odds of the streets, dangerous territories where they are strangers and the people around them strangers also. These children too young for the responsibilities they are shouldering and unaware of the risks they face in going out daily roaming the streets working for a pay that may destroy their future. These same streets were the inhuman hoodlums are, the hoodlums who after abusing various drugs molest children either by sexual intercourse, incest, rape, oral sex, sodomy, inappropriate touching, or kissing. This way they are exposed to sexual transmitted infection most times through rape, there are also cases of unwanted pregnancies, abortion and HIV.
Low income, poverty, and poor educational institutions are the driving forces behind the prevalence of child labour. Most families with low income rates that are not financially able to send their children n to school tend to resort to child labour as a means of livelihood. Studies have shown that reducing child labour through improvements in living standards alone will take time. If a more rapid reduction in the general incidence of child labour is a policy goal, improving educational systems and providing financial incentives to poor families to send children to school may be more useful solutions to the child labour problem than corrective measures designed to prevent children from earning income.

I visited a youth friendly center in my school set up by the government a few weeks ago and the first thing that greeted me was young boys playing board games in a waiting room big enough to have about 20 seated in it, but for just the three boys playing games there was no one else in sight. I walked in, I said hello and they all raised their heads rather reluctantly before answering with a mutter I soon made out to be a hi, it was obvious disturbing their game was something they didn’t really fancy. Quickly not to further anger them I asked if I could see the person in charge and they pointed me to the cleaner, a man way above 30yrs of age. I asked him the same question and he told me nobody had come yet and that I should return in say 2hrs, this was 9am.
At exactly 11am I returned to find the counselor just coming in, I walked in with him and told him I was a student on a research for a project I was working on and I wanted to know how activities there were going on in the facility. He told me at the moment they were more or less not functional as there were no personnel’s except him and there were also no medical facilities for work. He also went ahead to show me around the internet café that was set up for students to search the internet for various sexual and reproductive health issues, the computers looked like they hadn’t been touched in years and I wasn’t surprised when he said they were all not working. This really had me thinking “HAVE WE BEEN FORGOTTEN???” has the government forgotten that young people have reproductive health needs and if these needs are not met we would be heading to a disastrous tomorrow, a tomorrow where the leaders are infected with HIV/AIDS or had their education short lived because of an unwanted pregnancy!!!
Oh no! We cannot let this happen, we have to stand up and speak for ourselves for crying out loud this is the 21st century and in a country like ours we cannot watch while a supposed youth friendly center cannot even meet the needs of young people in its environs. Health is our right and everything should be done to preserve it, why don’t we wake up and device strategies to make the government understand our health needs and how important it is to the well-being of the country at large.

On the 11th of august the youth advocate group carried out a 1 day sensitization workshop for the national assembly staffers in the country. We had secretaries and aides from the committee on health, Education and HIV, from both the House of Representatives and House of Senate present at the sensitization. Also present were news men from the National Television Authority (NTA) and the African international television (AIT).
The sensitization workshop was aimed at enlightening them (the staffers) on who we are, what we are doing as the youth advocate group and also create a platform for partnership. In respect to this, we made a power point presentation outlining our goals, our achievements and our projects. We also had a video screening compiled of interviews and surveys we carried out on youth sexual and reproductive health and rights in different communities in the country.
After this was concluded, we broke out into groups with both council members and staffers together in different groups, these groups were to reflect on what they had seen in the video and discuss possible ways to which issue identified could be tackled. This went successfully and at the end a member from each group presented the harmonized ideas, with both groups in agreement that the video sent across a message on the need of young people as regards youth SRHR. Problems identified mostly consisted of the issues of project funding and to liaise with a specific key person at the ministry of health.
During the cause of the sensitization we collected views and types of support by a representative of each of the committee present; we also carried out individual interviews with some committee staff. To close it up we took group photos and went back to further discuss on the ideas and ways to actualize them and on the issues identified and ways to solve them.
The Youth Advocate group Nigeria…………….. MAKING A DIFFERENCE!!!

I was with a friend a couple of days back who just graduated from the university and was yet to get a job and I randomly asked him how he felt about youth participation in the country, he was obviously blank at first and only recovered after I elaborated on what I meant. He replied saying: youth, policy, how does that even come together, are the youths now policy makers that influence policy. He relayed to me in his own understanding that young people in the country would not speak up except they were under a “big umbrella”, clearly to this young man youth participation in policy making was a complete fairytale. Then again I asked if he was offered money to speak up if he would, he immediately smiled and replied that he definitely would. This I didn’t judge him for as he was more or less jobless, but the floor is open here.
With a sad face and gloomy heart, I can’t help but wonder if the 12 year old girl in that community who was severely injured in the name or circumcision would have for one day kept quite if she knew all she had to do was stand and speak up for her right. I wonder if that 21 boy who was almost beaten to death by the brothers of the girl he impregnated would be in the hospital now if there was a youth friendly center in his community where he could get access, counseling and contraceptives. Young people out there what are you doing for yourselves?? A re we sitting in game centers playing away our future or in bars drinking in idleness while decisions concerning our future are made for us by people who do not understand the plight of the modern day youth.
If you’re a young person reading this and your still quiet letting the big shots and older generation make all the decisions for you and believing that things like this only happen in communities, you are wrong and already exposing your children to an insecure country and future. And as for our parents who think we are still young and know nothing I will leave you with two sayings: he who wears the shoe knows where it pinches and he that walks the path knows it more than he that looks at it from afar.
It’s our health, it’s our lives, it’s our future, it’s all about us…………………….. What are you doing for you???

A couple of days ago i at about 7-am, i was sleeping peacefully when the vibration of my phone woke me up from my beauty sleep not too happy about this i reluctantly answered the call, from sleep i was able to recognize the voice of a friend of mine saying. . . . . . .
hello, Medina are you there, Medina talk to me.
still drowsy from sleep i couldn't make out what she was saying,but i quickly straightened up on bed to clear my head.
she scrambled on not evan realizing i couldn't understand a thing she was saying.
finally i made her calm down and start all over.
Medina, i had an abortion and now i have this stomach pain and it really hurts, i cant eat, use the bathroom or do anything reasonable with myself right now.
By now my head was clear enough as it felt as though my ears had grown suddenly bigger and was taking everything in as fast as it came.
Medina, say something, i didn't know who else to call, i know you know all these stuffs about sexual health because you keep ranting on and on about it. Do they treat people where you work? OMG what should i do?
The first thought that came to my mind was the fact that she needed to visit a youth friendly centre as soon as possible, but that wouldn't be happening as
the only youth friendly centre we had in our school was not functioning as there was no medical personnel, counselors and facilities for work, the next thought was to get her to a hospital as soon as possible. The call clicked and ended but not until we had agreed to meet at the hospital gate.
We met at the hospital a few minutes past 9-am, and as we walked down the road that lead to the wards i began to ask my questions which made me find out that she had been having sex with a banker who gave her money in return for her "services". she went to him when she was pregnant and he gave her some money to get an abortion and that took her to a clinic quite far from school where a doctor or whatever he as performed the abortion.
Finally after she had seen a doctor and gotten some medication and we were walking back to the gates i began to reflect on the happenings of that short but also long morning and i realized that there are actually three issues that needed to be addressed here, the fact that young gils in the country would go as far as indulging in sex work without even realizing it, the urgent need of youth friendly centers in all our higher institutions and also the creation of a law guarding young girls that seek to have an abortion. We need to have a voice that will also influence the government as cases of abortion gone wrong are one to many and something needs to be done to stop it. so young people out there lets start talking and acting now!!!

Imagine what our country Nigeria is turning into, i went to a cyber cafe "internet centre" a few days ago to check my mail. there was mail from advocates for youth titled "lets talk about sex". Innocently i tried opening the mail not Knowing it would lead to an embarrassing experience and also a shocking discovery. Don't worry people i will carry you all along in this must tell tale that proves how young people are being denied access to basic sexual and reproductive health information.  
       This is how it all went, i entered into the cyber cafe bought time( two hours worth), and started to browse. i opened my mail, and saw the message from Advocates for youth. immediately i tried opening the message the computer logged off, well not knowing what the problem was i logged in again and tried to open the mail. Did this several times with the computer doing the same thing, well i went through the same routine for a while thinking i wasn't doing some thing right. Finally i was tired and i called the attention of the provider to what was going on, from the distance he was, he answered me saying almost immediately that the computer was logging off because i was opening some thing related to sex. Before you Know it, i was the centre of attraction as about ten heads that were supposed to be browsing like i was turned to look at me( with that kind of stare that says " you! surfing the net for porn!"). Dump founded at first, i just stared. then i started to explain how it was just a mail that i tried to open, what even shocked me more was the man started to shout on top of his voice saying that he could see something on his computer that said "lets talk about sex". I even went as far as showing him the mail, but he wouldn't burg saying there was nothing he could do. Not knowing what else to do i asked for a refund so i can go to another cafe and make good use my money, he said this wasn't possible either. In the end all i could do was swallow my anger and check other mails in my box, without going anywhere near "lets talk about sex".
in the end of it all, i started to wonder how lame some minds can be, therefore depriving young people access to information about sex. Information that would prevent them from engaging in sex ignorant of what it is about. Well all we can do is hope, push and pray that the government would one day put up a law that protects the sexual right's of young as regards getting information freely. Till then we can only go to cafe's where they do not have such outrageous restrictions!

It all started with a family break fast, we all ate a yummy meal of bread sardine and tea to wash it down.
Did i say yummy???? well it was yummy in the beginning before the trouble began.
The trouble began first with runny stomach from me, at first i thought it was a reaction that came from eating so much junk.
but i realized that wasn't the case when nausea set in. i was so weak i could hardly even walk.
it was late at night precisely 11:00 Pm before i gave up the fight of being strong and accepted the fact that i urgently needed help.
I called unto my mum telling her i was really cold, she came in with a blanket so large i could hardly see her, right behind her was my dad peering at me with very curious eyes.
My voice was so faint as i told them how weak i was, to save you too much stories, in 20 minutes i was in casualty ward lying in a bed an infusion stranded to my hand. although still in my misery i felt a lot better, in a short while my brother joined me in the hospital as we had both been part takers of the so called yummy meal. The doctors diagnosis was FOOD POISONING!!!!
it was morning before i became familiar with my environment and i was able to see every one around me and i realized how minor what i was feeling was, compared to what they felt.
There was a man with a broken leg, so bad i could only see blood, the man lying beside me had a problem with his kidney and could  only breath with aid. I could go on and on with all i saw but it will only bore you. the man with a kidney problem died with me watching. . . . . . . yes I WATCHED HIM DIE.
as i watched all this unfold, as a youth advocate i started to relay all the happenings with being a young person and all the fights we usually have with health issues, particularly sexual health issues. I realized that the issues we have as young people are actually minute, but we tend to compound them by not speaking about them to people who can help. Well i am sure if the man who had a problem with his kidney just needed to talk to a health provider and get some medication and counseling, he would still be alive now. So if your out there, a young person having sexual health issues, unlike the man with kidney issues, you actually have a chance to make things right and have a better health. So. . . . . . . . . SPEAK TO SOMEONE ABOUT YOUR HEALTH

The youth advocate group Nigeria needed more members to help facilitate their work. Hand bills where handed out and applicants where to write on either of two topics: Youth sexual and reproductive health or The face of a leader. Applications started pouring in.

On the first day of the interviews, we had three people turn in, two males and a female. The males Matthew and Ifeanyi wrote on youth sexual and reproductive health, while Jasmine the female wrote on the face of a leader. The interview started with Jasmine who was a confident young lady, passionate about what we were doing and had nothing against volunteering.Then came in Matthew who was a little off, considering the fact that he had no idea what we were doing (so what on earth was he doing here). How would you go for an interview without having a single idea on what we were doing, not even the job responsibilities written on the hand bill gave him a clue.

Ifeanyi was the last of the crew to be interviewed, i cant be too accurate in describing Ifeanyi's behaviour but i think what got to him was the fact that he taught being a medical student gave him an edge over us (his interviewers). Infeanyi turned out to be an all too proud young person who wasn't sure how available he would be for work.

Let me not bore you with details, in the end Jasmine turned out to be the only face of a leader we had passion swelling in it to join the band wagon.

So you, you, you and you who is a young person going for an interview...Take a cue.

A few days back when i was passing my neighbour's house in school, i saw a small crowd of people gathered and as i walked closer i noticed Ivy my neighbor in the middle of the crowd crying seriously. I couldn't help but try and find out what was going on, miss lover girl had been beaten by her lover again.
That is exactly what brought up this topic: CRAZY LOVE
I still cant bring myself to understand why a beautiful young lady would give her beautiful body to be brutally beaten daily by some hoodlum called LOVER. the most devastating part is when she is asked why she remains in the relationship, the answer would be 'I LOVE HIM'
what! love, what does love have to do with violence, brutality, and pain. Back then when i was a lot younger, i was taught that love is respect. So why would the same man that           loves/respects you inflict any source of pain on you especially physical pain. well i was also taught that a gentle man never hits a lady, guess that makes it more explainable, your so called lover is not just irresponsible and arrogant but also doesn't love you.
If you are reading this today and having a lover who hits you, do have a rethink because that thing you may call love just might be hatred and disgust and if your a guy who hits a lady try as much as possible to control yourself and if not, seek help because violence destroys and not repairs.