Ms. Haye Okoh is a vivacious and intensely curious change-maker who, out of self-effacing politeness, simply describes herself as a storyteller. But we all know what to expect when a storyteller is well-educated from a good university, and deeply reflective.
Last week, Ms. Haye Okoh held an art exhibition at the emporium of the library of the American University of Nigeria, drawing a reasonable audience of curious art lovers including students, faculty and staff. The art exhibition which began on Wednesday, April 16th, 2025, continued through Thursday and Friday. The exhibition featured a collection of selected photographic frames and artworks projecting the theme: a new beginning (Nbide Ofun) in Ms. Hayes native Ika (Delta State) dialect.
For discerning observers, the thematic and temporal interplay between Ms. Haye's Art Exhibition and the American University of Nigeria's (AUN) trajectory emerges as salient and subtly profound. Marking its 22nd year as a first generation private university in Nigeria, AUN's recent ascension to Nigeria's top-ranked university in the Times Higher Education 2025 rankings imbues the exhibition's timing with serendipitous symbolism. Against a backdrop of global academic upheaval and Nigeria's economic volatility, the university has carved an audacious path—surpassing enrollment milestones, spearheading sustainable energy innovations, and advancing community-centric development initiatives. The exhibition, in turn, mirrors this narrative of resilience, its photo frames pulsating with the quiet yet thunderous euphoria of triumph over adversity. Here, creativity and institutional tenacity converge, transforming the gallery into a meditation on perseverance—a testament to how vision, when steadfastly nurtured, can flourish even in the most turbulent soils.
AUN President Professor DeWayne Frazier is thrilled and fully invested: “AUN takes great pride when one of our alumni return to the institution to share about their experiences since graduation. Ms. Haye Okoh is an outstanding young entrepreneur who has a keen sense for the creative. Not only is she an accomplished artist but she is also premiering a Nollywood movie in theatres across the country in the near future. This art exhibit personifies the type of students the AUN attempts to mold, a renaissance person who has knowledge in multiple areas and with a deep ability to express themselves in various mediums”.
Ms. Haye boldly employs the metaphor of pregnancy and birth to explore themes of renewal, resilience and transformation. Her reflection on what motivated her to choose this theme are equally thoughtful. From the unpredictability of pregnancy as natures ordained process of creation (being an instrument of creation, even the mother has limited say on the order of things). Ms. Haye speaks about the discomfort and uncertainties of pregnancy, through the pangs of labor and the defiant sacrifice of motherhood. Connecting through are the paroxysms of whirling thoughts in pregnancy – abortion, surrogacy, paternity, pre and ante-natal uncertainties. And her message is no less defiant. It is from blood and sweat that nature births a new beginning. Don't give up. Don't abort the dream. There is beauty to cheer long after the agony of childbirth is forgotten.
Ms. Haye could not help likening the birth process to the story of life itself. All beauty, all success begins from an inner pain and as the mother knows quite well, pushing through until the baby comes is the same as pushing through an idea until it is successful.
Nbide Ofun is a narrative of the creation story, philosophically. It is a metaphor of evolution, the mystery of the interplay between the human spirit and human anatomy bringing a new life, the interplay of pain and joy in birthing a new beginning. It also chronicles the power of intermediacy in facilitating the creation story.
The Nbide Ofun art exhibition would not be the first time artists would explore the themes of pregnancy and birth as metaphors for new beginnings. Classical and Contemporary Art Exhibitions Using Pregnancy as a Metaphor for New Beginnings have been explored across cultures, historical periods, and artistic mediums, reflecting both literal and symbolic transformations. While Classical works like the Annunciation tie pregnancy to divine purpose, contemporary art emphasizes individual choice and resistance.
Young Nigerian artists have also stirred, at various exhibitions, the contentious Divine vs. Human Agency debate. Contemporary Nigerian art explores individual choice and resistance in pregnancy, addressing the Divine vs. Human Agency debate. Artists like Peju Alatise and Nnenna Okore connect pregnancy to freedom, cultural preservation, and ecological renewal, symbolizing new beginnings.
As art often mirrors reality, it could not have been lost on many enthusiasts at the Nbide Ofun exhibition that the metaphor of a new beginning aptly applies to both Ms. Haye and her alma mater. She graduated from the Communication & Multimedia (CMD) department in 2012, having majored in Film and Television. Since then Ms. Haye has had a pulsating professional career and was personal photographer to a former Nigeria's first lady for eight years. She has moved from "political photography to social impact", and "embracing her first love, she ventured into film production in 2023, supervised and produced a growing pool of films under the umbrella of Sozo Films".
On arrival to the campus of the American University of Nigeria, she could hardly recognize her famous alma mater although she did remember a few faces. AUN has come a long way since she graduated 13 years ago; with many more academic and administrative buildings sprawling up and more academic programs added. The student population has tremendously blossomed and what was an idea, a concept back when Ms. Haye was enrolled in 2009, the year AUN graduated the first cohort, has become the university ranked as Number One by the prestigious THE. Don't abort the dream, Ms. Haye said. Looking at the success AUN has become, abortion would have been such a terrible waste.
Entering the enchanting offices of the Dean of Student Affairs, the Sesugh Anger, the cerebral Mechanical Engineer, Ms. Haye scarcely recognized her esteemed alma mater, though a handful of weathered landmarks and familiar faces anchored her to the past. Thirteen years had transformed AUN into a beacon of academic excellence beyond the imagination of its pioneer students and community. Where once stood a fledgling institution now sprawled a vibrant campus, with aesthetically appealing state-of-the art Law, Engineering blocks and environmentally-themed administrative hubs. The student body, once a small, pioneering cohort in 2009—the year AUN celebrated its inaugural graduating class—had blossomed into a thriving, diverse community. Programs now spanned cutting-edge disciplines, and the university itself had soared to claim the title of Number One in Nigeria by Times Higher Education (THE), a dizzying height only imagined during Ms. Haye's student days. There was no Graduate School in her days but today, under the guidance of a visionary President and a world-class Dean, the AUN Graduate School has emerged the fastest-growing academic program with unprecedented potential.
I watched Ms. Haye take a breath under a tree in front of the award-winning Robert Pastor e-Library and Resource Center, a landmark learning facility, completed and commissioned in 2014, two years after her graduation. I could recreate her flurry of thoughts: "Imagine if we'd aborted the dream of the American University of Nigeria."