By Yamilenu Bamgboye
Let me ask you a question. If you had to live as a teenager again, what would you do differently? Would you still have a crush on the boy that didn’t like you back? Would you still star in that ‘’mama and papa’’ play under a tree in a quiet neighbourhood or behind closed doors? Maybe it would be those football skills you left behind to acquire an education like everyone else. So, one more time, I ask: what would you do differently if you were a teenager again?
When Jason Njoku of Iroko TV was reflecting on the wrong choices he made, he said it’s only in hindsight would one know what would have worked and what wouldn’t. Sounds familiar? Life unfolds differently for everyone. While some find purpose in their formation years, many don’t. However, one thing I know for sure is that fate has a way of using certain circumstances like pain, struggles, irreversible errors, loss, spiritual encounters,limitations, coincidences, etc. to unlock purpose. For the spiritually intelligent (SI --- heard that before?), a little sensitivity always does the magic. Now, I’m so counting on it that you won’t doubt this. Lol.
Taking a cue from Dunsi Oyekan, one of Nigeria’s foremost gospel singers, nothing ever worked for him. He had an oil servicing company he had been helped to put up by his father-in-law and other rich persons around him but it was running aground. Then, his father died. Then his wife died. It was in this period of loss and pain that his singing purpose became unlocked. Amina Salisu Bello a.k.a Amina SB’s foray into writing at a very young age wasn’t consequent upon her mere gift neither was it something she did to pastime. It was her healing balm while she grappled with depression as a 14 year old kid trying to find her footing in an adult environment.
‘’Growing up wasn’t always easy,’’ she says. ‘’During my early university years, I went through a very difficult time. I struggled with depression and eating disorders for about two years. I was just 14 when I started university, and being that young…was overwhelming. I found it hard to balance my studies with my mental health, and most days felt like I was just trying to survive.’’
Wahala! You might say, hun? And even wonder what a girl her age was doing in the university anyways. Well, this is Nigeria where ‘’papapa syndrome’’ manifests in many Nigerian parents. Lol.
‘’Honestly, it was my parents’ decision. They believed I was really intelligent, and of course, I am. So they encouraged me to take the JAMB exam as a test, just to see if I could pass. I did, and once that happened, the decision was made for me to go to university at that age,’’ she says.
Now, little Amina wasn’t only taking her first steps toward independence, she was learning to understand the life she was living and make sense of how she was living it. If her parents could swap places with her knowing her being there was their making, maybe they would. But it is what it is: every man for himself. She had to face reality as it was not as she wished. It was during this troubling but necessary moments, according to fate, that she found herself. She realised she had a gift ---- she could write and tell stories with vivid imagination.
‘’Things started to be better when I began meeting my therapist, Dr. Sam. I remember him telling me, ‘Amina, if you can’t talk about your emotions, then you need to learn how to write them’. At the time, I didn’t see how that could help. How could I write what I couldn’t even say out loud? But eventually, I gave it a try. Writing didn’t make me feel better right away, but slowly, it began to ease the weight I was carrying. I started uncovering emotions and pain I didn’t even know were there. Writing became a way to understand myself, helping me process feelings I couldn’t explain and bringing clarity to thoughts I couldn’t put into words.’’
Occupying an in-between position among the seven children of two successful entrepreneurs, Mr Salisu Bello and Mrs Aisha Salisu Bello, Amina SB, a graduate of history and diplomatic studies from the University of Abuja, always acted differently as a child. It was a pointer that she would walk in this path someday: an ironic twist according to Alice Sebold that affirms how dreams sometimes come true even when you never knew you had them.
‘’…We were much younger, I was seven and she was five, we would stay up late and tell each other stories we had made up. I always knew my sister would want to be a writer. I started writing earlier than her and she was always my first reader and editor,’’ Safina Bello, her sister recalls.
‘’Writing came into my life unexpectedly, and I completely fell in love with it,’’ Amina adds.
After her discovery-cum-healing, she got fired up and began to hone her skills by experimenting with different characters, themes, styles, together with stories that do not reflect her personal experiences until she carved her own niche. A smart way to keep her life really private private you will say. But for how long?
‘’…People are often surprised when they read the sexual scenes in my books because they assume I write from experience. But the truth is, I’m just a skilled writer and a dedicated reader. I know how to capture emotion, chemistry, and intimacy in a way that feels real, even if I’ve never lived it myself.’’
‘’Amina takes her craft seriously…She’s constantly reading, rewriting, researching, and reflecting. You can see the effort in every book. She has a way of creating characters that feel real and stories that stay with you long after you’ve finished reading. There’s always something thoughtful beneath the surface; whether it’s about love, trauma, resilience, suspense or even hatred,’’ Rahma Rufai, her friend from way back says, attesting to her growth.
Regardless of how much she tried, she just needed to do more to blow critical minds like Safina Bello’s: ‘’I really didn’t take her creative ability seriously until I read her first novel ‘Melody’ it was quite surreal and I had this little proud moment when I realised that she could be this imaginative and powerful with her mind,’’ she confesses.
‘’Melody’’ was Amina’s very first full-fledged novel in 2020. Though short, she utilized the I’m-testing-the-waters opportunity so well to include fully developed characters and themes in the plot structure and then circulated it among a handful of people to feel their pulse. After this bold move, Amina became convinced she could take on the world with her talent. In 2023, she resolved to publish it on an e-book platform and raked in some cool cash.
She says, ‘’The feedback was honestly good, especially considering it was my first time putting my work out there. For a beginner, the response I got was really encouraging".
That same year, Amina plunged again with ‘’At 3:15’’ both as e-book and paperback with proceeds from her trial launch. Small girl with a big God. Lol. Not your kind of god but this kind of God. Surprisingly, she broke the mold! With no prior experience in marketing, no team, no publisher, no backing of any organised structure, Amina sold hundreds of copies in the first week and even got them into a number of bookstores across the country.
‘’I handled every part of the marketing myself… I take pride in the fact that I did all of that on my own. No team, no publisher, no agency. Just me, a phone, and the internet. I pushed the book hard online. I posted about it consistently, and most of my buyers came from social media, especially Instagram. I didn’t run ads. I just kept showing up and talking about my book… I didn’t follow tips from anyone…’’
Safina Bello adds,‘’I was quite proud how she was able to sell across Nigeria (Kano, Kaduna, Lagos) everyone demanded for the novel. It was quite amazing how she was able to work this out as a new author. As her sister, I was quite impressed with the way she handled the market and proved to the world that not only she is creative, she is independent and smart.’’
From all indication, it appears Amina isn’t slowing down anytime soon. In fact, she has just released her latest work, ‘’Hating the Mafia King’’, something Rahma describes as a compelling read, a rigmarole of simultaneous intense love and intense hate and a revelation of how far she has come. A little more my dear, Amina is building an app, AWriter, which will be launched soon.
You will agree that most kids in their teenage years like Amina don’t really worry about doing anything impactful like that. Their focus is always on academics (partly), fast money, personal growth which is often dependent on their social experiences; exploration of sexual fantasies, developing hobbies, building friendships, etc. For rare kids like Amina, hers was academics and making impact. It’s not that it never crossed her mind to explore neither was it because she didn’t fancy the carpe diem thingy. Her head was just simply clogged!
‘’To be honest…during my university years… I simply didn’t have the time or head space for it. Half of my university life was marked by depression and an eating disorder. I was fighting silent battles, juggling school, and trying to stay consistent with my writing. I started writing for platforms in 2022. In that kind of emotional state, relationships or boys just weren’t a priority. I was focused on survival and slowly healing.’’
Besides writing, Amina SB is an entrepreneur. Call her a serial entrepreneur and you will not be wrong. From her small incense business, Amees Emporium, which she started at 17 and funded with what she raked in from her writing gigs to owning a coffee shop, Ami’s Cafe in 2024, she’s demonstrated resilience and a can-do attitude that’s rare among kids her age. What an amazing soul she is! Although Amina is sensitive, too sensitive (an HSP) --- one fantastic trait that doubles as strength and a weakness --- she is very welcoming, supportive, understanding and determined.
Safina Bello says, ‘’My sister is the nicest person anyone can meet, she is optimistic, she smiles so much, she has a very cheering personality, and she loves to speak and help others.’’
Rahma Rufai adds that ‘’She’s honestly one of the most grounded and hardworking persons I know…She’s incredibly kind too, always rooting for others while pushing herself to grow.’’
But Amina hates one thing: disrespect that emanates from constant lies.
‘’What I hate the most is disrespect… I understand we’re all human and we are bound to lie, but lying has limits and when it crosses into manipulation, that’s where I draw the completely.
