Nigerian fashionista and model Denola Adepetun, better known as Denola Grey, reveals his reason for returning to Nigeria from ‘the abroad’ in a recent chat.
Denola Grey told Chude Jideonwo that he originally returned to his home country to observe the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), however stayed in Nigeria because the country thought him how to be hardworking.
He said; “I don’t like sharing this, but I am also a British citizen. I just wanted to observe the National Youth Service Corps scheme and leave because Nigeria represented a lot of pain for me. I wasn’t understood here. I was not allowed to be myself. However, I am happy I moved back.”
“Nigeria taught me how to hustle. It doesn’t escape me for a second that I am incredibly blessed, but I also know the amount of hard work that it took to get me here. Whether you like or not, Nigeria will pull the hustle out of you. I stayed because there was a bigger lesson to be learnt.”
He spoke further, saying that he did not get to where he is on a silver platter. He stated, “At 23, I had no other skills apart from fashion and journalism. And I had to make it work in Lagos with no friends.”
“I had some friends, but I had been away (from the country) for five years. I had to navigate through that. I have worked hard for everything I have. There were two years in my life when I was working for free.
“When people think that nepotism is involved, people will view you through their own level of awareness and perception. I cannot control that. You can feel either way you want about me. I don’t mean this in a condescending way but I don’t know you and I don’t care.”