Oshin Praise

I am a mechanical engineering student and AI developer in Ife, Nigeria. I build computer vision tools for predictive maintenance and explore vehicle aerodynamics through CFD. When I'm not writing code or studying Formula 1 mechanics, I serve as a Cowrywise Campus Lead promoting financial literacy. I write to document the realities of building tech in Africa, bridging the gap between traditional engineering and artificial intelligence.

10 essays published

Technology and SocietyFuture and DevelopmentSportsCity and PlaceMoney and Markets

Published Essays

The 11:59 Deadline

Minutes before a midnight deadline, an accounting student's laptop completely dies, threatening to fail her final project. Her boyfriend, a software developer, rushes to dismantle the broken computer, extracts the memory drive, and uses his programming tools to repair the corrupted file from the inside out. Beating a slow internet connection, they manage to submit the project with just two minutes to spare, showing that the true value of their tech skills is protecting the people they love.

Oshin PraiseMay 14, 20264 min readtech university life romance

The Spiritual Tax of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

While waiting in a cramped, sweltering Sienna at a Nigerian motor park, a passenger observes a local preacher offering aggressive prayers for a safe journey along the dangerous Lagos-Ibadan expressway. Watching an elderly woman pay an offering after the prayer, the narrator realises that the intense religious fervour isn't just about faith; it's a coping mechanism for state failure. The passengers are paying a "spiritual tax" for divine protection against bad roads, poor vehicle maintenance, and insecurity because the government has failed to provide them with basic physical safety.

Oshin PraiseMay 14, 20264 min readsociety religion culture

The Memory of Iron

Frustrated by a car part that keeps breaking in his computer design, a university student visits a traditional Yoruba blacksmith in the ancient parts of Ife. The old artisan teaches him that iron has a "memory" and will eventually snap if it is forced to bend with violence rather than shaped with care. The student realizes that this ancient wisdom is the exact same concept his modern textbooks teach, showing him that his African ancestors were master problem-solvers long before the digital age.

Oshin PraiseMay 14, 20264 min readculture life lessons african heritage

The Prophet in the Python Script

To help his desperate friend Ekene pay rent, Tobi, a software developer, builds a complex Python script to predict European football matches. Inside a cramped, sweaty Nigerian viewing center, Tobi's algorithm miraculously predicts the flow of the game, bringing hope to the desperate men around them. However, in the final minute, the perfectly calculated shot hits the crossbar, leaving Ekene devastated and proving to Tobi that no amount of clean code or logic can outsmart the sheer, unpredictable chaos of their reality.

Oshin PraiseMay 3, 20265 min readfriendship survival hustle

The Gods of the Green Umbrella

During a widespread banking application failure that leaves local ATMs useless, the neighborhood turns to Mama Joy, a local Point-of-Sale (POS) operator, to withdraw cash. Leveraging her monopoly on liquidity, Mama Joy extorts the desperate crowd under her green umbrella by hiking transaction fees by twenty percent. Tunde, needing cash for his daughter’s medication, reluctantly pays the exorbitant ransom for his own money. The story highlights the "oppressor mindset" trickling down the Nigerian social structure, critiquing how ordinary citizens often weaponize slight advantages against their neighbors rather than challenging the system that created the scarcity.

Oshin PraiseApril 27, 20263 min readsociety economy survival

The 23-Kilogram Goodbye

On the night before he emigrates to Canada, Femi struggles to pack his life into a single suitcase without exceeding the airline's strict 23-kilogram limit. As his partner, Seyi, watches from the bed, the distraction of packing and logistics finally ends, leaving the couple in a heavy, suffocating silence. The story captures the profound, unspoken emotional toll of the "Japa" wave, illustrating the heartbreak of young Nigerians forced to trade physical closeness and their relationships for a chance at a better future.

Oshin PraiseApril 24, 20264 min readrelationships emigration reflection

Measuring Water With a Sieve

The story highlights the exhausting reality of the Nigerian student, who must split their brain memorizing obsolete theories just to pass, while staying up late to teach themselves the modern tech skills needed to actually survive. It concludes that a lower GPA is often just a receipt of a student's endurance against a broken academic system, rather than a true measure of their intelligence.

Oshin PraiseApril 24, 20264 min readeducation systemic failure youth

The Mathematics of Hope

The story serves as a critique of a broken macroeconomic system, illustrating how young Nigerians are forced into extreme digital hustles just to survive, and how standard financial planning has become little more than a sophisticated coping mechanism for a collapsing economy.

Oshin PraiseApril 17, 20264 min readeconomy youth nigeria

The Economics of the Broken Pipe

A government water main bursts on Abiona Street, creating a massive, muddy puddle that blocks the road. Initially, the residents complain bitterly about the government's failure to fix it.

Oshin PraiseApril 17, 20265 min readsociety nigeria reflection

A Proxy Identity: the Reality of the Nigerian Tech Dream

I have just earned more in one night than some civil servants make in an entire month. Yet, as I stare at the digital dollars in my virtual wallet, the irony chokes me... I cannot even step out to buy a sachet of cold water because the neighborhood transformer blew three days ago. This is the psychological whiplash of being a Nigerian youth today

Oshin PraiseApril 11, 20264 min readnigeria tech identity