North In West

by Jacob James (Nigeria)

A leap into the unknown Nigeria

26th march, finally unraveled itself like a packaged gift waiting to be opened. The 15 hours journey is a heavy laden to bear, sitting on one spot through out theday, so we booked the night bus, it would be easy to sleep through the journey and wake up the next day in Lagos. We arrived the pack 6:15pm, the bus was almost filled, friends and relatives waved goodbye while the mallams selling suya and kilishi parade the oily garnished meat in search of customers, 45minutes later we hit the road, we rode through the city of kaduna heading to the exit, the street lights halted as though they stood at attention trying to salute as they light up the straight road. At first the road was filled with vehicles of people rushing back home and then later got lonely, as though the road itself couldn't wait for daylight, when flashlights of approaching cars speedup to brighten the road, the trees whispers as they blow coldbreeze that make one lose track of this realm. My eyes roseup to gaze upon the ancient city of Ibadan as hawkers ran onfoot to catchup with the moving cars and pass their goods through the window. Madam purewater " one na ten naira " it was a blend of chorus as every hawker tries to advertise their products. my sister Grace turned to me and asked " Mai kana so? " what do you want? I replied, I'm okay then she said, We are almost there. Unlike other states welcome address, beneath the three white granite sculpture called "AROMETA " reads, "This is Lagos Shine Your Eyes" I could feel the pipes of my veins widened to give way to the adrenaline that runs through mybody from the mixed feelings of joy and alertness that makes me suspect everyone around me, the over populated city flock with people from every work of life, everybody seems to be in a rush heading somewhere, brushing and dodging people approaching. The loud horns of large and small cars, conductors yelling names of locations as though they were angry at the passengers. Lagos to badagary is a journey of its own we drove from seeing tall beautiful buildings to seeing crowded road with shops onthe road side, after some hours we arrived badagary one of the oldest cities in Nigeria, with the record of having the first story building. A perfect blend of a local developing village with people trying to outgrow the culture of their ancestors, at the centre of the town stood the Roundabout that carries the sculpture of a native dweller hitting a cultural drum.The east and west of the roundabout leads into the towns of badagary, the south leads to the boarder of Seme, Benin Republic while the north takes the straightroad to the city of Lagos. That Sunday my-in-law John took us to the beach, the roaring water that reflect the sky as though a glance into it will reveal the heavens, along the sandyshores of the beach spread tents made from bamboo trees, each tent was a party of peppersoup as everytable is adorned with plates and greenbottles, the beach was filled with youngboys and girls walking on shorts and bikini. We sat as the lady served coconut with the top chopped off to give way for the straw to find its way into it. As we watch the wave of water blow the grain of sands to the sea shores, My-in-law told stories of slave trade as that beach was the crossing point named "Point Of No Return" the day ended with the conversation of getting a job. I board the bus 4:30am, theperfect time to leave the house if I want to bit traffic and getto work ontime. The elderly lady behind called out to me " e'wole seyin, Joko bi ba yi " come to the back and sit here. My first day was more or less a wasted effort most people i met were tribally biased, l spoke in English the response was " o'gboo oyibo, Su' yoba" speak Yoruba I don't understand english, the northern heritage in me faced yet another challenge. And after a week I understood why my in-law Comes back home only weekends.