My first visit to Obalende: Tales by moonlight

My first visit to Obalende: Tales by moonlight: All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes ( 1986)…….Angelou Maya . I remember my growing up days , that the perculiar lagos transport , the ...

My first visit to Obalende: Tales by moonlight

My first visit to Obalende: Tales by moonlight: All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes ( 1986)…….Angelou Maya . I remember my growing up days , that the perculiar lagos transport , the ...

My first visit to Obalende: Working in diverse environments

My first visit to Obalende: Working in diverse environments: Waoh in the last couple of months I have visited many states, many towns, villages and crannies in northern Nigeria, I have seen my world , ...

Tales by moonlight

All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes ( 1986)…….Angelou Maya

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I remember my growing up days , that the perculiar lagos transport , the MOLUE was something I really enjoyed, hey  it was not the stench , or the smelling bodies of these individuals in the bus that cut my fancy, nope , neither was it the the fear  the igbo laden driver drove into me , that I relished, it wasnt the molue itself, which lacked  shock absorbers, and vibrated like it was going to fall apart with each pot hole it entered, that I enjoyed , nope it was the people , the banters they traded, the thoughts of these people evident in the words of their mouth, the humour with which they viewed life , the grace which with they bore their sufferings, these were the things I enjoyed, have you ever heard fela’s suffering and smiling, a perfect picture ,  I remember the guys who sold drugs in these buses, they sold everything from sex enhancing drugs to drugs for  intellectual enhancement, I should have bought that ,  if you wanted to lose weight overnight these  guys had the drugs for  it , if you wanted to gain weight overnight, these guys claimed they had the drugs for   it, but thank God I never bought any , I might have ended up shorter that I am now,… I learnt some vital lessons about human relationship from these buses, the humor with which the ladies told some guys to sit properly  and not rest there bodies on their boobs, the conductor with his foul breathe , asking for his money the 2^nd time , after he’s collected it twice already, the hunger famished police man, who is insulted in very creative ways because he has asked  for his usual 20 bucks , all these are my memories of the lagos molue, .. and I do relish these  long  gone days and all the experiences from these days …..

Now I sit behind  a Toyota hilux, or a Toyota corolla( the kind my bank people drive in lagos ) going to site and things have not changed much because behind the wheel  at different times are people / drivers who tell me tales which Gosh I would never  have heard …

Do you rememeber the kaduna riots , and all the tales of woo , which the media houses in lagos fed us with , I heard the humorous side of it, I t was some days ago, I was going to zango kataf , the home of Zamani lewcourt , that chap who stood trial for disturbing the peace in Nigeria some years ago , the driver driving me was from that region , he told me tales of the crisis and what his eyes saw , the crisis had started in northern kaduna, for whatever reason , the uneducated ,poverty stricken youths of northern Nigeria exaction need no reason to kill and injure  except  the word of the some selfish personal agenda seeking eccentric mallams after Jumat on Friday, I heard that in the last kaduna crisis , the predominately Christian community of southern Kaduna , asked  the Christian God  to give them leave of  Christianity , to allow them fight their battles themselves , they went back to the roots And dug up their charms , and called on their native Gods of  the war, the war  ( if  I am allowed to call it that ) was fought by women, the men don’t fight in southern Kaduna (he claims), these women usually go  to the 4 corners of the house  ,count 0ne to four and the house comes crashing down on those who lived and were in it at the particular time. .hmm when the Christian God fails , u call on the God of vengeance in your native language, Christianity made easy shey

Some chap told me the story of his brother in jail, jailed for mistakenly being the instrument , a chap who had an appointment with death , used to make his end…..he bagged 22 years hard labor, well after a few years , he plotted his escape from a Nigerian  jail,   hm… on this fateful night of his escape, one thing lead to the other and yawa gased, being chased by the police he climbed up a tree to hide, the hours soon passed by and the police gave up their chase , at about 2am , still stuck in the tree , he watched  a benz car pull up to the tree and watched a man , fat and stocky, a man as big as    doyin okupe  ( not him oooo), pull by the tree open his boot and bring out  a baby, the man slits the baby’s neck and bathes in the baby’s blood , my condemned drivers bother get down the tree and goes back to jail, if the world outside has deteriorated like this , jail then is heaven his thinking…..

On some other occasion , I listen to the tale of the guy who in his mid 50s, tells me of his golden days in England, an electrical engineer , now he drives me all around northern Nigeria, and he calls me ever so often to buy him a bottle or 2 of beer , I oblige I need the company, and at this gatherings I hear all sorts, tales of northern Nigeria in her golden day, tales of the way life does change with the passing seasons, I look on this man who tells me the story of the family he has left in London and how he misses them so often, I listen to him with lots of belief despite my natural inclination to doubt, because at one of our meetings at one of those bars in Kaduna, he ran into an old class mate , AGM  with Peugeot, they talked and laughed and in the course of that gist , heard fine Donald, cross river state governor was there class mate in FGC Ilorin, well I sipped my beer, toke in the chill breeze of the evening   and just wondered how fickle life can be…

Today, at a site near  Jos, on the Akwanga – Jos road precisely  I met a contractor, and he told me some marvelous stories too, but before I tell his stories, let me tell you about our meeting…I have been under immerse pressure from my clients /bosses to deliver some sites according to specified quality and within a time frame that required me calling on the heavens to help out with the job, sleep for me became alien, I have been condemned to days of long fast without me knowing, for once the fine boy engineer was lost , I have been working in the rains, and mixing concrete, and shouting myself till my voice lost its strength… but all these was at some other sites, so you can imagine how upset the lagos traveler was when he got into this particular site for the 1^st time and all was a mess, concrete looked like a big mushy bowl of eba immersed in watery egusi soup, the dung pits were like shallow graves for a vagabond, I was depressed, here was to stand an 80m tower in her majesty, to grace  the skies with her strength and elegance and gosh this engineer was plotting her fall already, "Pull it down" I screamed, "get out" I barked…..the news soon reached Abuja, and big boss himself came running down, well nothing in life is irredeemable, even in death, there could still be redemption, remember lazarus!... well with cool heads we can always see the solution to issues which necessary will not strain relationships or be termed destructive, we soon talked and compromises were made my dear tower will stand and only God can then bring her down, we laughed , shook hands and  then he told me  his stories…. One day in lagos , coming from the island and going to ogudu, he stopped to buy fuel , with his pregnant wife beside him, a guy walks up to him and greets him, oh another chap begging for money he assumes, but one affectionate look at his wife reveals to him, that standing beside his wife was another beggar with a gun in hand….let your imagination wonder…soon he finds himself on the way to sagamu, sitting between 2 beggars holding guns, and being driven by  another with one still in the passengers sit…..the tales of how they drop him is one miracle, but in his state of shock with madam and big belly, he soon meets a good Samaritan who drives him to mowe police station, now the catch, Oga DPO, after listening to his orde2al , gives him 700 naira to get back home , and he  gets a call from the police station the next morning  to come for his car the following day, his laptop , phone , etc intact life is funny …..sometimes our worse enemies( Nigeria police in this case) are the only friends we really have ….

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These stories remind me of the tales I heard as a child with my dad around, my blurred memories of him, recall him telling me stories as a child, he told me tales of why the Yoruba king carries a horse tale, and why the tortoise has a cracked shell back , these stories are lost in time cos I really cant remember them anymore, may be in time ,old and grey I would finally recall and tell the tale to our children, but somehow I do know that the lessons which he wanted me to learn , I still live with , however  right now all I do want to  say is that the stories of woe, joys, challenges, victories, defeats, trails, and all which we hear from people or see in the lives of others  is to make better people of us, to stir our minds, to help us see that life isn’t just breakfast , lunch and dinner , that  inside  the  man sitting close to you lies an endless reservoir of knowledge, which will always be a plus , that even the bases of man , in jail , has 1 or 2 lessons to teach you, that sometimes providence answers all our questions with the words of the chap next door ,that our eyes and ears are the inlets to our minds , heart and soul, we gat to use them, every creature has a story to tell, listen and watch, for in those words, you might just get the answer to the 1billion dollar question. ”what is the essence of  life after all”....

well i sure missed u all..but these days i have been made to work for my money.

My journey continues!

Stay in touch!

The lagos travller.

Working in diverse environments

Waoh in the last couple of months I have visited many states, many towns, villages and crannies in northern Nigeria, I have seen my world , my country and man in newer lights , and clearer visions, I have understood the politics and polity called Nigeria in broader horizons, and I owe all to the Chinese with whom I work, as a person now , I  look at the average Chinese and say to myself, my people need to learn one or two lessons from these people, never mind our  stereotype thought of seeing of the Chinese as people of    “ inferior goods” visible in their 1penny shoes and shirts, a closed life, “ a funny and un-understandable language, the awe which their culture  radiates, never mind all that , because even the seemingly  “mad” has something unique and spectacular about him, for  amongst many things , the new policy of china , which is geared towards pushing her people to newer world, newer environments, is something which we should ponder on, as I write to you  however , my mind veers to myself and where I am coming from

It is no longer news that Nigeria , our beloved country is such a harsh place to grow up, live and make a living in, I started my struggles in Nigeria as a young man acting stage plays , that has always been a talent and an enjoyable pass time, gone are the days when , the stage at Muson paid the bills and put food on the table , I look back now with nostalgia, it was fun, I acted plays which included, once upon  4 robbers, ( Osofisan), Who is afraid of Wole Soyinka( Oguntokun), amongst others ,for me work was 2hours of play at rehearsal, 2 hours of stardom on a stage, however  it was funny then , when you ran into an old uncle or aunty and he or she asked “ so what are you up to now”, you say “acting”, and they look at you like “what is this young man saying” but gees acting did put food on the table…my stuggles to become something in Nigeria then lead me  to an NGO , which was working on the HIV epidemic in Nigeria, there I met those living positively as we usually say  , those who chose life despite the general belief that they were fighting a battle which was lost, it indeed exposed me to an environment where I could by myself learn the true essence of life, where the meaning of the word empathy became real , where some vital questions about how man treats his other man in moments when he is down and out and how he really ought to where indeed answered…subsequently by a stroke of luck , I became a vmobile big boy, my views of the world changed, it was dinner with aristocrats, lunch with the privileged and breakfast in bed, how man and his views changes in different situations/environments and conditions is such a wonder!!

So back to the Chinese,now, I meet young Chinese people who are a million kilometers away  from home , hacking a living , they are not in Lagos , Abuja or Port -harcourt , NO , they are in Pambegua, Saminaka, Anchau..Gusau, etc, in places where you a Nigerian has never been to, and what is the value of all these, well the answer you can see in the Chinese himself , he is coming from a world which was closed unto itself, the only persons he  averagely knew was his kind, the only way he knew was his way, but the new policy offers him the opportunity of discovering newer worlds, he is opportuned like Columbus to discover his AMERICA, now he is learning new things, his eyes are being opened , he is eating from the tree of knowledge like ADAM and EVE and some day his nakedness shall be obvious to him and he shall say am naked, and make an effort to clothe himself, if the Chinese pursue this policy they would one day conquer the world  as a people , not with ammunitions or guns, or a show of power in Iraq or  Afghanistan , but  because they would have a great understanding of people of diverse worlds and environments, these people’s    governments, these people’s needs, these people’s cultures, these people’s modus de operands, and  as you well know , in business, politics ,art, education, health, it is all about people, and the man who can controls the greatest number of persons(the world’s most important resource ) controls the world,  along with this for the Chinese   is the opportunity of selling his views to the world , of selling his technology , of selling his culture , herein lies the most important advantage of working in diverse environments, man is eventually a product of  the knowledge he has acquired over time and  every environment has a limit to the knowledge which it can offer you, new environment , new knowledge,  the things I gained on stage acting , seeing into the mind of man, are a whole lot different from seeing man meek, humble and dying, in the HIV infected man, it is also different from seeing man materially content and happy as a  “vmobile “ big boy and  that is even different from man in an environment where he is not polluted with the materialism of southern Nigeria, when I look at the people I have met as a direct result of my many travels up north, now  I am a fuller person than I was stuck in Lagos , in my large office with a computer in my face, for my travels have broaden my line of vision, it has made me a fuller person, in writing this piece, my wild side said to me, “ every environment, every work environment , can be liken to a woman, an endless reservoir of unique skills and knowledge set for acquisition, the more women you relate with and get to know , the better you are at understanding and dealing with women ( the world’s most complex creation), and you need no soothe sawyer to tell you the  hazards of embarking on such a project!!.. woah,we are sometimes scared stiff to get out of our world and see what  lies beyond our safe zones, we are often too scared to leave the security of the worlds we know so well , hence we miss out on the opportunity of gaining new skills and acquiring new knowledge which the world outside ours offers  so often we are like the Americans  who are held back by  the uncertainties which abound, but life lived in fear is no life at all, for eventually we never reach  our full capabilities…hey !!... I continue my travels shortly , learning new ways of doing things, seeing the world in newer lights and horizons, empowering myself in this age of globalization, and someday, along with the Chinese I shall conquer myself and  my world…if  indeed my words are lost on you , then you more than anyone else need to get up and see the world as it really is,

Take care

The lagos traveler! 

my 1st obalende experience

Hmm,

Close your eyes and imagine you being stranded in obalende, imagine your wallet was stolen with all the money in it and all you had was your phone and 10naira on it, well some guys would say , it can't happen to me , but imagine what if it does, what would you do , Probably walk up to some guy and beg for some money( will you ?), probably flash friend ,who you trust to call you back...BUT may the network not fail on this day....the feeling of helplesssness gradually sets in..so many people around,      but hmmm carrying this burden alone....the noise ," oshodi, ketu,ikorodu."..the conductor is shouting .....the filth, the mess , you are alone.....

well am sure that this kind of loneliness is different from the kind you get in a hotel room,you alone  watching tv......trying to call your guys and gist  .....but my guys is it the same as being stranded in the north ,with no money,no hotel room,hungry with your load in your hands, just coming back from site,a day before census...its 15mins to four, the banks would close, who can i call to send the cash to an account , how can i get to the bank , all this  before 4pm , ohh i have 30 bucks on my phone........close your eyes and imagine how i felt 'cause it happened to me....they say our  saviour is a call away....but at times like this you realize that family and friends are more than a call away ,or so it seems...but the truth about life is that when you feel your whole world is falling ...something happens that makes you realize that a greater force does exist ...how an angel showed up and bailed me out is story for another day......but
I survived , got a room , ate and that same night some guys toke me to a street call OBALENDE in kaduna,.....( did i hear you say traveller , well how i for do) ..a long road, with shops on both sides, during the day  the street is crowded with okadas and  a sea of heads , people selling and buying ,...at night , the grove is turned on, the street is flooded with chairs and tables , from one end of the street can be heard the ever green old skool blues ( Lionel Richie,is that the correct spelling)... the other end na African China( if you be president..) , i am shocked however seeing women in buba and iro with head tie , drinking and smoking and laughing .....my chinco oga is laughing and having a good time , my colleagues are  enjoying themselves , oooh gees am missing home, I pick up my phone and call home , network bad, my sweet heart isn't picking up her phone ....then i realize that home and loved ones are a bus or two away ...i shall be counted in Lagos.......today i felt the pangs that comes with having those you can't connect with around , Eko ni le......north ,east or west , home is home...I walked into my hotel room , packed my bag...and the lagos traveller went to see those who matter .....Was it worth it .......

Hope to get in touch soon

love 

The lagos traveller.