KOGI, THE CONFLUENCE STATE

by nneamaka nwadei (Nigeria)

I didn't expect to find Nigeria

KOGI, THE CONFLUENCE STATE Could there be another Atlas in Kogi? When you plan to travel, people advice you to take your camera along because you don’t know what you might find. I agree with them 100 percent. But as an additional advice, have a backup plan, incase your camera has a backup plan. My road trip to Okene in Northern Nigeria was a mind-blowing experience. Okene is a popular town in Kogi state (called the confluence state, because that is where the Rivers Niger and Benue meet), partly due to its strong political representation, and also the abundance of natural resources. I had taken my father’s camcorder just in case my travel partners did something silly so I would have it on tape for the rest of our lives. I didn’t know nature had other plans. As we zoomed past state entrance and exits I started noticing funny looking rocks. They were balanced precariously atop each other- it was so beautiful, it looked like man made design, only that I’m not sure there’s another Atlas in Nigeria to push rock as big as the ones I saw. I took out my camera and began snapping; my travel buddies now being of little importance to my camcorder space. The farther we went, the more rocks we saw. One comes to mind so vividly now: there was a big rock at the base, then a smaller one on top, and a much smaller one on top. I was greatly awed, having never traveled that far into my country. We needed to rest and get fresh air, when we got to the foot of a mountain that had been cut into. Our guide had told us it was limestone, which Kogi state is famous for. But that wasn’t what fascinated us. I didn’t expect to find the work of art that stared at me when I alighted from the bus. It was a huge carving from one end of the mountain wall to the next and it had our mouths hanging open. Someone had carved a mother breastfeeding her baby into the wall, and it was visible to everyone on the highway. By the time we entered the bus to continue our trip, my camera memory storage was fast running out. We bought bread and bean cake- which is called ‘akara’- from the locals who came out to market their goods on the highway, watched as people bought roasted meat, fresh palm wine, and fruits from others, and laughed as little children waved at cars moving at high speed. We got to the confluence point of river Niger and River Benue in Lokoja and this was the point where my childhood came to life. We had been taught about the rivers in Nigeria and the confluence point, but never had I seen it with my two eyes. I was so excited and brought out my camera to take pictures for my family, but at this exact moment, my camera crashed. We got to Nassarawa, the bordering state on the North of Kogi and decided to go to Abuja, the nation’s Capital. It was quite a sober trip for the remaining hours we spent on the road. Everything I had captured had gone. Thankfully not from my memory, because I remember those images like they were yesterday.