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the Nigerian Ghoul in an American Forest

Browsing the archives for the Travelling category.

A Checklist for July

I feel guilty. I neglected this blog for much of the time this month, and that was because of two nagging issues: internet, and internet. I have concluded that Starcomms was actually a wrong choice of connection for me because I’ve been fond of using it at different places. Not having the connection spread of bigger networks like Multilinks and MTN, they charge more, and offer less. In my next life, or as soon as I find someone to buy this one off me, I will make a different choice. Starcomms is more expensive and offers less national coverage than the other connections. I’ve put this to test. In any case, there are still a few nagging things in my mind and I’ll try to say them before the month escapes from my grasp.

Just in case you haven’t noticed, July concludes my first twelve months of blogging on this portal. Alright, if blogs were babies, this one should by now have started mouthing “ba-ba-ba”. It is for this reason that I will also try to complete the pattern that has been the case since that auspicious night in Lagos in August last year when I made the silly decision to begin blogging :) . It has been full of ups and downs. I’ve blogged sitting down on the dusty floor of a train station in St. Louis, on a delayed plane in New York, in a crowded bar watching the World Cup final in Ilorin, with a laptop battery on the verge of dying out in the absence of power, and even under the influence of several bottles of Satzenbrau in pleasant company. It’s been good. And let me confess, I have wanted to abandon it many times. But if I did, how would I survive it?

Now if this blog were a book, August 2009 would be the first chapter, titled THE ENTRANCE. The second month of September would be BLENDING IN. October would be IMMERSION while November would be DISCOVERIES. December was ADVENTURES WITH THE COLD and January SIGHTS. February would be tagged BREASTS & CHRIS, a whole dedication to the Mardi Gras in St. Louis and adventures with Chris, March would be CLASSROOMS, April would be LOSING RESISTANCES, May would be A FOOT IN TWO WORLDS, June would be BADAGRY, and July 2010 would be AROUND NIGERIA. Now that I think about it, it might make a thrilling read, if only a self-publication to distribute among friends, and not for the general public, just like that old one Drawing a Straight Line from Hamburng to Ibadan, never before seen by more than a handful of people.

I have not yet completely processed the lessons, the essence and the thrills of my short trip around Nigeria, perhaps particularly because it was so short and I’ve not yet giving myself the right reflecting space. No, no quasi-perfunctory visit would do next time. I may even need up to four to six months to have as much impact as I would have loved. Maybe volunteer in a local secondary school to teach the English language. Maybe teach them to act a play at their end of the year party. Maybe help construct a traffic sign of paint the zebra crossing at one of their community roads. I look forward in the nearest future to a longer immersion exercise in local communities in order to contribute in a more meaningful way to the lives of citizens. Jos is a special case, and as much as I tried, I was not able to reach the Red Cross officials this time. What have they been doing? How could one help?

All in all, it’s been a nice twelve months and I thank you for being there with me. I have just agreed to work with Nokia to promote their new product Nokia C3, so in the next couple of days, you will see Nokia related posts and quizzes one of which will earn one reader of this blog a Nokia C3 prototype to be presented at the launching in Lagos in August. (See this previous post.) From what I hear, this is open only to residents in Nigeria. So if you are interested, and/or you know anyone interested in winning the prototype, stay tuned to this page. All you would need to do is to be the first to answer a set of questions coming up in the next few days.

Well, happy end of month, when it comes. I am hoping that my last post for this month will be a poem rather than (or in addition to) the usual 10 reasons debate, but let’s see how that turns out. Let us look forward to August with peace. And who knows, maybe it will bring all required good.

PS: I’ve submitted two of my photos for a “Democracy Photo Challenge.” You may see them here and here. You may kindly leave a comment there too. Who knows what I may win for audience choice.

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A Checklist for July was published on July 29th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , under the Opinion, Soliloquy, Travelling category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Lastly, Around Nigeria.

There is a certain delusion that comes with writing, or having a blog that is read by people in different countries and continents, by different nationalities of different age ranges. More than that, there is a certain delusion that must come from the belief that one can change the world by what one writes. As far as that is concerned, I’ve been careful to be a very skeptical citizen, choosing instead to adopt a motto that reads: “I’m trying to change the world by not always trying to change the world.” This helps. The reason is that in the face of some physical realities, and consequences of human behaviour, I have often wondered if anything one says or does actually changes anything for good. Or if it does, whether it does as fast as one hopes. For the most part, having a pseudo-skeptical attitude to the power of words to effect fast positive change has helped to keep hope alive that even if the change doesn’t come as fast as one wants, one is not disappointed or disillusioned.

My journey around the country was a personal as well as a creative and spiritual endeavour, a need to connect with places that have meant much to me over time. By the time I arrived at my final place of visit, I felt a sense of completeness. But my host looked at me, glad to be seeing me after about one and a half years and gave me his plan: “Tomorrow, we’ll go to Ebonyi, then Aba, then maybe Owerri, and then Port Harcourt to see my folks. I haven’t seen them in years. You want to go around Nigeria, right?” It was a very good idea, and I said yes immediately. A few hours later, I got an email that I had to be in Lagos for an important event two days later, and the plan was botched. Who knows how much more fun I’d have had if I could visit the East for the very first time. It would certainly have been fun for this blog and its readers that have given me enormous pleasure over the past months. Next time, right?

Like everyone else, I’d love the situation in Jos to be quickly resolved. The same with the spate of kidnappings by restless and hopeless youths in the eastern part of the country. The country is rich with so much that one wonders why what we have is never sufficient  to ensure a peaceful and egalitarian society, and all we hear are the bad discouraging news. We build houses with high fences and spikes “to keep out unwanted intruders” and in the process imprison ourselves within its walls. We have nothing to fear but fear itself, as one president once said. Can we just step out of our comfort zones and enjoy the richness that the country offers? What’s more, can we make the country more conducive for living for ourselves and our future generation? I think we can, and every step counts, whether or not the solution comes as quick as we hope it does. Or maybe we’re just too deluded to think that man can change the course of history. Maybe everything is already predestined, and we’re just players in the hands of the invisible forces.

Well, well. I’ve been talking too much. Now let me share with you a few last pictures around the country, and then move to other (encouraging) matters. :)

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Lastly, Around Nigeria. was published on July 25th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , under the Soliloquy, Travelling category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

On the Third Mainland Bridge

Pictures from a thirty minutes walking time around the continent’s longest overhead bridge.

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On the Third Mainland Bridge was published on July 24th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the Art, Observations, Travelling category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Obi

Obi is a very small town about thirty minutes by car from Lafia. Unlike how the name sounds, it is not an Igbo town. It is inhabited mainly by a people called the Alago. Their language is also called by the same name, and the king is called the Usuko. As small as it is, it enjoys a relatively regular supply of electricity, a good road, and a clinic where my frien, the doctor, works. The rain of two days ago flooded much of the town and overran the main bridge. A few hours later, it had subsided and life went on as usual.

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Obi was published on July 23rd, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Art, Observations, Travelling, adventures category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Jos, Plateau

I entered Jos with some trepidation, but with an open mind, and a five year nostalgia waiting to be assuaged. I also went with an exhilaration reserved for a beautiful place that has gone with me everywhere I went since we first met. When I left the town a few hours later in the evening of Tuesday, I left with some sadness, and a mild confusion as to where the State is headed, and where the crises will lead. On the one hand are ubiquitous police patrols at every hundred metres from Ta Hoss to Makira to Riyom, and on the other hand is a town that still moves as it always does, cheerful, without any hint of danger. Well, welcome to Jos.

Picture #3 is the sign at Kuru which reads: “Nigerian Railway Corporation: The Highest Point in Nigerian Railway. 1318.20 metres or 4324 ft above sea level.

Picture #8 is the famous Riyom rocks that have stood in that delicate design since centuries.

Picture #9 is a carver I saw in Jos, making mortar and pestles with his hand, a chisel and a wooden mallet.

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Jos, Plateau was published on July 22nd, 2010, with the tags , , , , under the Observations, Travelling, adventures category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Lafia

The capital of the relatively new state of Nassarawa does not live up to the standard of its other northern neighbours, but it boasts of an equally serene outlook, but with far less livestock around town.

The road from Abuja to Akwanga, I dare say, is one of the best roads in Nigeria. Surely it’s one of the best roads I’ve been on in the past two weeks, and I’ve been around. One other noticeable thing on the highway is the use of solar technology to power the street lights. This is an innovation that is long overdue in all of all the other states.

The road from Akwanga to Lafia however is one of the dangerous, definitely one of the longest winding roads I’ve been on. It is still undergoing dualization and it might get safer with expansion. It does boast of a good view of the hills and mountains though.

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Lafia was published on July 20th, 2010, with the tags , , , , under the Observations, Travelling category. There are currently 4 comments on this article so far.

Zaria

The city of Zaria, about an hour from Kaduna is an ancient settlement founded by the Hausa-Fulani Emirate. Occupied by moslems, headed by an emir and surrounded by a wall thicker from its looks than five feet. Five times every day, devout moslems from the “city” come out to the central mosque in front of the emir’s palace to pray. We arrived there at such a time and such couldn’t do more than mere pacing and a little sight-seeing. From what we learnt later, the suspicions of the emir of the old city of the christian missionaries led to the founding of the first church in Northern Nigeria at a place a few miles out of the city gates. An interesting story.

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Zaria was published on July 19th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , under the Observations, Travelling category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

Meanderings

The task of making comparisons between states and towns along the roads to the North of Nigeria would soon inevitably fall on anyone undertaking a task of going around the country – Africa’s largest by population. Are there much differences in population, order, electricity, internet access, and a general sense of well-being? Are we that much different after all no matter where we choose to live, or do we differ only because we speak different languages or pray to a different invisible man than the other person? The answers are not that difficult if only we apply ourselves to discovering it.

The young man in whose house I slept for two days in Kaduna finished from the University in Zaria in 2005 and served in the same year in Edo State. I had never met or spoken with him until that night when I showed up at his door with another friend and asked to stay overnight for the period of my footloose tour of his state. The young man at the motor park who negotiated by bike ride with the hausa-speaking rider within my first five minutes of arriving in the state was of the same breed. Oblivious of the fact that we had indeed been in the same car through the ride from Abuja to Kaduna and never haven spoken even once, he gladly got me towards the right direction, all for a handshake, “thank you” and a goodbye smile. Human goodness, I say.

In countless meanderings around places around the world, I have encountered the same kind of optimism and open-heartedness even from random strangers, and it has never ceased to amaze, and to delight. If only we could all live together as one, all the days of the year. While eating lunch yesterday and getting prepared to head out, there was the news flash on television that nine (or ten, depending on who you ask) people have again been killed in a fresh case of violence in the city of Jos. Over what? Religion?

Of all the things that should cause violence, shouldn’t religion in a sane world be the least relevant, especially since none of us is really sure? But what do we have? Moslems pray to Allah to help them destroy their enemies, and sometimes even lend him a hand. Christians sometimes do the same, praying for God’s help to vanquish the unbelievers. To paraphrase George Carlin, one of these groups would be fucking disappointed. Could it be… everyone? Is love for neighbour so hard to conjur in a world where we have succeeded in dominating nature and pretty much everything else?

Forgive my rant, all I wanted to say was that I love what I see in most of everywhere I have been around the country. Kaduna reminds me of Ibadan, but not in every way. Ibadan is too rowdy, and so is Kaduna city, with rickety buses and loud bus conductors who speak only the local language. But as far as scerenity is concerned, Ibadan has much much less open land areas along the highways than Kaduna does, and politically, my city seems far less mature. End of rant.

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Meanderings was published on July 18th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the Observations, Soliloquy, Travelling category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

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