“[Our] culture could be restrictive in letting us say what we think we should say.”– Olawale Adetula.

In Africa certain things are considered out of bounds; neither to be mentioned nor discussed because, well, mummy, daddy, a pastor or an imam says so. Or simply because society will put a label on you. However, our refusal to talk about, and confront certain issues has done nothing for us, if not exacerbate the problems. Thankfully, our society and culture seems to be evolving as people are having more open conversations around these ‘taboo subjects.’ But the sad thing is that while there are many more of such discussions, they are happening within an unhealthy environment where the people who are brave enough to talk about them are judged or trolled, depending on the circumstances. Therefore, merely having the conversation is not enough, the question is; How are we having these conversations? What happens when a wholesome environment is created, a safe haven where you can express yourself and engage others intellectually, without the fear of being judged or put down? A place where you and your opinions are respected.

30-year-old Olawale Adetula is the founder of The Naked Convos (TNC), an online community that prides itself in being a one-of-a-kind space for young Nigerians to express themselves without judgment or propaganda. TNC founder, Adetula, who refers to himself as a media addict, told Ventures Africa that the idea to create such a space was birthed from years of being a contributor on several internet platforms, sometimes with a different identity, and observing the different ways people react or engage with those different personas.

“I was fortunate to get on the internet quite early, back then in the early 2000s. I got on a lot of forums and chat rooms and it was quite intriguing for me that a lot of people, once they had that space, could be anyone. They could pretty much say anything … I started writing for some blogs, foreign blogs, even before blogging got big in Nigeria. And I started writing very differently from myself just so that I will see how people respond to it.” With the amount of feedback he received, Adetula said when the time came, he knew that Nigeria, and Africa needed a space where people could freely express themselves, “because we come from a background where our culture is really intense, a lot of young people don’t really say what they want to say because culture does not permit it.”

Typical examples of taboo subjects are those surrounding sex, sexuality and feminism. In a conservative society such as ours, things are pretty dire when it comes to issues that are not conventional. God forbid that you have conversations about homosexuality. Woe betide anyone who dares to talk about sexual rights, or equality. What about polyamory? Wait. Is there even such a thing? Yes. These subjects and much more form heated highbrow debates on TNC. Within this community, there are no subject barriers. From politics and sexuality, to religion and culture, young people are not afraid to ask questions and are making their voices heard in a culturally restrictive society such as ours.

“TNC boasts a vibrant, intelligent, open-minded, diverse, unbiased and unpredictable audience … They are not journalists, they are not attention seekers, they are not politicians or policy makers; they are just young people who need to speak, on a platform where they will be heard.”

Since its launch in 2010, the platform has recorded exponential growth, both in terms of audience membership, as well as the number and quality of submissions and engagement on the site. In a little over five years, TNC has recorded as many as 2500 posts and over 100,000 comments, with an average of 40 comments per post. And with the culture of trust and respect that has been built over time, the platform has established itself as a leading online community within and outside Nigeria. “We have indeed mastered the art of the positive internet, a hate-free, troll-free zone,” said Omotayo Adeola, the head of marketing and communications at TNC. Adetula says that this improbabble feat was achieved by implementing very strong community rules; hateful comments are deleted and the culprits are cautioned.

He also stated that conversations on TNC are great for ascertaining the pulse of the people. “The site makes one aware of the general mood at certain points in time. During the last election in Nigeria, we had a lot of politics-related submissions. And recently, the gender equality bill that was rejected by the Nigerian Senate sparked up a lot of interesting submissions and conversations on the site as regards equality, feminism, family value and the like.” According to him, the discussions around such issues showed a huge disparity between the older generation and the younger generation. “The older generation do not even have these conversations. They don’t see reasons to have these conversations. And here you have young people who are really debating and taking different interesting stances on these subjects.” For example, conversations on TNC have shown that young Nigerians feel that the western definition of feminism should not just be accepted as it is, instead, we should define feminism on our own terms.

While you might be thinking, “this is all good stuff, but what separates TNC from other similar online communities like Nairaland; what makes them truly different?” A lot. Already established is the fact that it is a “hate-free, troll-free community,” something you rarely find anywhere else. Also, the articles and discussions on TNC are not mere rants or baseless gossip and chatter, they are highly intellectual arguments about issues that matter. And unlike other platforms that operate solely online, TNC goes a step further to engage their audience offline by hosting yearly events where young Nigerians engage in meaningful discussions as they do on the site.  “One of the reasons why TNC is very popular here in Nigeria is because early on we realised that restricting conversations to just the online community will be a huge disservice on our part because as of that point in time, internet penetration was still quite low…So we created a series of events to mimic what we have on the site. And it was a huge hit because a lot of people who hadn’t heard about the site were attracted to the event.”

“In an age where the youth is increasingly becoming synonymous with ‘restlessness’ ‘low attention span’ ‘impatience’ and a desire for ‘quick money’, why would so many intelligent young people be willing to write for free, in such large numbers? What brings them – but, even more importantly, what keeps them?”

Although TNC has a target demographic of millennials, a unique attribute of the site is that older people, who are experts on relevant subjects, are occasionally invited to cross engage with the young folks. Such moves, Adetula says, have opened up the platform. This dynamic site also happens to be one that pays contributors for their submissions. A practice that was announced early this year. Every contributor is paid based on a calculated algorithm that takes into account the number of hits and comments on each posts.

Among a number of issues that impede communication in Nigeria, Adetula believes that stereotype, especially with the traditional media, is a major impediment to communication. “There are a lot of [myopic] mindsets tied to our culture that is out there,” he said. Adding that a lot of people are not ready to challenge some of these stereotypes on radio, television, and newspaper. “Instead of pushing the envelope, they just keep doing the same thing over and over.” But with several social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and online communities like TNC, the internet is disrupting the media industry. “Anybody with an opinion, and an internet-enabled phone can publish their thoughts and ideas in the public domain.” This is what communication is to Adetula, the ability or capability to break past the stereotypes and revolutionise things. Which is exactly what he is exploiting through The Naked Convo.

The self professed media addict revealed that there are hopes to expand this unique online community to other African countries. “The goal is to not restrict such dialogues to Nigeria, but to spread to other African countries so we will know what the average African thinks,” explained Adetula. But it’s not just that; taking TNC to other African countries will also help shape the African narrative to the western world. “The African story is not being told as it should be outside Africa, said Adetula. “Anytime you hear of Africa it’s often in the negative and we know there is so much more to us, and the continent, hence the need to take TNC to countries across the continent,” he added.

The Naked Convos has indeed carved a unique space for itself on the internet, filling the need for expression and building a community among the youth that was previously unidentified, but is evidently highly sought. And despite the fact that the online space is growing increasingly crowded, TNC stands out in the quality of thought, engagement and the value it adds to Nigeria’s young community, and in such diverse ways, too.