PECULIAR Medinus is an author and writer. She was first published as a
writer when her performance was aired on the radio for emerging the
best in an essay competition as a secondary school pupil. That event was
a turning point, which referenced her journalistic career in Nigeria
and the UK.
Her parents were both educationists at grassroots level and she was tied to their apron strings. Her dad was a very gifted man with a strong personality, while her Mom is a woman with great feminine outlook and an unbeatable inner strength. These two were great inspiration to her. She takes to life with a heart of gratitude, observing how God brings channels to enable the individual arrive at his/her destination. She is indeed grateful for the great men that God has caused to cross her path and who have touched her life positively. Little wonder she advises every believer to truly model Christ. “He is my role model; so, I am satisfied in Him,” she says.
The youngest of six siblings, she is from the southern part of Nigeria and like many, her family experiences shaped her values and expectations. She grew up in a family, where discipline was the watchword and everybody in the house went to school. “Like Dad, I have no drinking or smoking male as a brother,” she says jokingly. “Never quit in the face of any challenge” was her dad’s final words to her and she remembered those words even when the end of a dark tunnel was nowhere in view.
This also has a connection with her childhood, a remarkable memory of how her blind grandmother walked her to school as an infant. The woman’s physical challenge did not stop her from taking her granddaughter to school. So, very early, the little Peculiar learnt that the power to succeed lies within her and all others who dare to try.
Growing up, her secret passion was to advance the interest of her people abroad by becoming a diplomat. She was determined to learn the ropes and planned to study law as a first degree and international relations as a second degree. Things went her way, as the University of Maryland in the U.S. offered her admission to study law immediately after secondary school.
She did not abandon the surging passion to writer. “Something seems to flow over the brinks and I don’t easily get tired. My skills lie in the ability to communicate my area of thought,” she says.
Peculiar loves challenges because it brings out the best in her. Her ability to adapt, learn in new work settings and cope with new work situations have always stood her in good stead. During her internship with ThisDay newspaper, she was on the City Diary desk and afterwards she wrote several freelance reports covering real estate, communications and business. It was a big switch to move from a specific beat to general reporting, as a freelance, but she enjoys taking on new challenges.
“My move from a national newspaper to a regional one as a reporter gave me the great drive and initiative to handle the business page in the absence of the editor. I had a great deal of exposure working and communicating with people from various organisations. I had a working relationship with NDIC, BPE, CBN and other financial parastatals,” she says.
As a writer, her passion swept through soothing moments of the night, and she would scribble things as they came to her. Soon this nightlong inspiration got her restless. She discovered that all she needed was a medium to get her thoughts across to the people out there and connect with an audience. The unique aspect of this passion of hers is that it is in alignment with the word of God. At first, there was no avenue for her to give vent to this vision in a newspaper that is tailored like the New York Times.
However, her enthusiasm made her took the chance by approaching the Editor-in-Chief, who welcomed her proposal to add a religious tone to the newspaper. “I was spared a column to write my Reflections articles, where I scroll out my divinely conceived thoughts that arrested the attention of a particular audience. I quickly realised that I was making impact through feedbacks emailed to my personal inbox. It was a great opportunity to reach out to the right hearts. I thought I needed a more flexible medium to relay my message in volume, so my first book: The Female Preacher was published.”
For her, writing is not just a passion. It is her best mode of communicating inspired thoughts to her audience. Her love for writing started with the silly scribbling of babies the moment she made an impression on her chalkboard as an infant. Despite this, she didn’t grow up with the intention of becoming a writer. However, certain occurrences pointed in this direction later.
“I had my first print work published as an IT student with Rivers State Newspaper Corporation, where I was like an eaglet under the auspices of Dagogo Clinton, the Editor-in-Chief. I craved blue chip companies as a graduate, but ended up with ThisDay newspaper for my internship. I continued as a freelance writer for the newspaper and became the Lagos correspondent with The Tide newspaper before getting employment as a correspondent with The Abuja Inquirer.”
Interestingly, in less than two years, she was posted to London as the UK correspondent. Her editors found her writings very engaging. Indeed, two of her edited manuscripts were returned with testimonials from her editors, who promised to incorporate some of the lessons into their lives. Of course, she was very encouraged because her readers are her priority.
Her first published book, The Female Preacher does not only take the man into the very core of the feminine gender, it’s also a motivational piece to the women folk, who may not realise that they have given shape to make change. A unique feature about her books is her ability to transport her readers to the scene while relaying her stories, which is just like embarking on a trip.
“I have written only three books and I employ a writing style that goes with the pattern of my subject. My recent book, Never Get Hurt relates in appropriate tone that hurt is a waste. My second book Single Act projects the consequences of a loose life without any emotional rape. In all, I am embracing the grace of versatility in writing my books”.
Her readers describe her as a prolific author with creative power. Some attest to the fact that opening her book for the first time comes with an engaging magnet that makes it impossible to put it down until they are done. A renowned coach on relationship informed her that he has her first book as a resource for his sessions with female clients.
Despite this positive commendation she craves for more feedbacks because she is convinced that her beautiful books are not yet written. Even if the intention of the critic is to downsize her vision, she always welcomes feedback as a tool for checks and balances.
She is not ashamed to say that what fuelled her purpose is the passion that has an alignment with scriptures. She has been privileged to promote her books in some UK church denominations. Culled pages of one of her books currently runs in a church’s magazine, while she has reviews from readers on webpages too.
“Just recently, my phone rang and a reader testified to a breakthrough encounter in the midst of a maze after reading my book. I’ve got so many reviews about my books but a common feedback from every reader is that there’s more to my books than meets the eye. What I learnt from this feedback is that giving is the main course of living.”
One distinguishing feature of her books is the capacity to appeal to audience in a national, societal and individualistic bearing. Never Get Hurt is a voice against the act of personal revenge, which unconsciously contributes to societal decadence. The third part of The Female Preacher challenges African women to rise up and be productive.
She is saddened by the fact that Nigeria is blessed with nature’s qualities but could not utilise her productive capacity to be the best that she could be. A country so blessed, but yet infirm can be likened to the biblical infirmed woman. She has remained bound for so many years. In order for her to become more attractive to Nigerians living abroad, she says Nigeria, which is already green will become greener if she recovers from this poor structure.
In her view, mentoring can be a very rewarding experience that helps to develop others personally and professionally. She believes that the best way to become a mentor is to have one. With a smile she states, “I can say with a high sense of humility that I am happy about the outcome. I am very interested in young and creative minds. I have encouraged young writers and female writers to take it to the next level. I am hosting upcoming events to extend my support to more people with writing potentials. I realised there are so many people that have been trying to write a book for a very long time. It’s been a privilege to give publishing aid to those bent on making meaningful impact with their books.”
She advises youths to shift their focus from academic education because they have been decreased by degrees. “There is a unique you and you’ve got something within you to make a difference. There are so many youths that crave for success but don’t know the meaning of success. The first thing that youths should be taught is to understand success. Nowadays people undervalue the meaning of success because they limit it to fame, material wealth, long tenure in office and so on. No one stands to be successful without making someone else a success. A career is not an earning path; it’s a learning path.”
Peculiar strongly believes that she has been divinely taken through a route that defines her destiny. She finds fulfilment in supporting struggling people along the path she had to also struggle. And it was with this passion that Love Boat was formed to assist people that have been caught behind the red light for a long time. This initiative has packaged four activities next year to reach out to people. Her desire is to see it make positive impact in the lives of people. “Before Love Boat, I created web pages, where I had the opportunity to encourage women and there had been transformation from the feedbacks received.”
Source Guardian News Website