Where Home Is

Enjoy this interesting piece from a co-cerebrate *smiles*. I love Uyo and she does too but she brings it to better light with great descriptives and vivid symbols if you may. 

By IfiokAbasi Okop

My family moved to Uyo when it was the only green pasture in Akwa Ibom State. I watched Uyo grow from a crawling toddler to a young adult in the eight years the new government ruled. It made a change from just being a state capital to a hub of businesses. The new government surprised Uyo, perhaps because it wanted more and opened up for more. It gave up houses and shops for good roads, gave up land for Ibom Tropicana: the cinema, the E-library and the International Stadium.

Uyo smelt new. The feel of a poor man who knew he was going to get rich one day and when he became rich, made everything about him tastefully exquisite.

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Uyo's roads reeked of bright headlights and streetlights the first night I returned from Nsukka. I smiled and closed my eyes to bask in the warm welcome. It smelt of home; it was home. The streetlights and headlights shone from the flyover to IBB Avenue. The lights in E-library glowed and I made sure I stared at it for the entire time the keke was going to pass by.

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Uyo had major roads which had been there since the early days of the town but Aka Etinan was a growing child with a bright future. It was the road that led to the famous Ibom International Stadium. The road that had the most supermarkets I have ever seen. There were ten of them, or were there twelve? And an important trivia; they were all owned by the Igbos, at least all the ones I have entered.

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I looked at Akpan Andem market again and knew I chose the wrong entrance. The other entrance had traders who did not care if you entered their shop; they were doing very well I supposed. But the traders at this other entrance could throng you if that would make you buy from them.

I looked at the ground as I walked into the market, making sure I stepped on neat places because it had rained earlier that day and the ground was muddy with market dirt. Most traders did not call out to me today and I felt denied of my market rights. I walked a long way with the sound of a woman's voice saying 'e dey kill mosquito well well, e dey kill bedbug, e dey kill rat, e dey kill ant; oya come see as e take dey work' ringing in my ears. A woman with Afang leaves asked me to buy from her and I walked away, silently resenting her and her fellow traders. I entered the meat section of the market and heard a man preaching. I wondered which one was louder, the sound of the knives hitting the meats on the wooden tables or the preacher asking the traders to give their lives to Christ. One trader, called out over the noise in the market, 'mbakara, fine girl. Come buy meat, ' I turned and walked to the front of his stall.

As I walked out of the market, I made a mental note to enter the first keke I saw the driver shout 'Aka Etinan' without asking anyone for directions. The day two keke drivers fought over which keke I would enter, I left some foodstuff on the ground.

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Uyo once had motorcycles as the cheapest means of transportation until the crime rate increased. Then the government banned motorcycles and introduced the tricycles we proudly call keke. The kekes caused a lot of nuisance and have since been banned from some places like the Wellington Bassey Way and the right axis of Plaza.     

I passed by Ikot Ekpene road one day and I heard a man shout 'plasta, plasta, one chanch!' I turned to look at him and realized he did not care if it really meant 'Plaza, Plaza one chance!'

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Ikot Ekpene, the other town in Akwa Ibom that is almost as famous as Uyo never really fascinated me. It was a small unplanned town with a population that seemed to be more than the town could carry. The roads always seemed to have more cars than they were meant for. For one moment, I smiled to myself while wondering how the air got around; I imagined breathing the air used by the person close to me and breathing it out for the next person. The only fascinating thing the town had was the Plaza that young people hung out in. It intrigued me because unlike Uyo's Plaza, nobody sells, takes passports or parks their car there. It is strictly for relaxation. 'The Raffia City', the city's alias is seen in just a small section of the town where almost everything is made with raffia like chairs, purses, slippers and even a lawyer's wig.

My favorite development in Ikot Ekpene apart from the Four Points Sheraton Hotel is the Ikot Ekpene - Abak road which is long, windy and lonely. A ride on it that gives one the feel of being Vin Diesel in the Fast and Furious series.

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My family lived in Ikot Ekpene for a while but I was so little all I could remember was the GRA, where we lived. It was the coolest place to live in Ikot Ekpene at that time, but now, it lives in its past glory but still holds the remnants of Ikot Ekpene's early development.

I now love Ikot Ekpene because it has never tried to be like any other town. It has never envied Uyo and has somehow reveled in its history.

Uyo, on the other hand, has reveled in being the major tourist site in Akwa Ibom State. On Instagram, one user wrote a post and asked people the places they would love to live in. I thought about India, Cuba, Paris and London but I realized home is really where love is and that place is Akwa Ibom for me.

The Author, IFIOKABASI OKOP is a student of the University of Nigeeria, Nsukka where she is studying English and Literary Studies. She is from AkwaIbom State and resides there also. She writes poems for voicesnet.com and poetfreak

ON NYSC Passing Out Saga

Good morning guys and hope your weekend is going well.

So sorry your interesting Ibadan Lawyer reads haven't been as frequent as usual. I've been going through countdown exercises and ensuring i dot my Is and cross the Ts. They say first impressions last longer but the last days are most remembered.

In my countdown exercise, some young Nigerians decided to destabilize my calendar by posting some interesting "Memo" from NYSC issued on the 14th of September, 2016 and signed by one A.C. Ani acting on behalf of the Director General. Like the elections of 2015, the social media was the easiest way to pass across this message and have young Nigerians prove their worth.

Permit me to say this and if you don't share my view, you don't have to crucify me. But the following events after the posts went viral proved to me once again that the current Nigerian youths cannot change Nigeria. I prove it with the following:

My CDS Group Putting a Mark @ Agodi

The first reaction to the situation was to be selfish. Every Nigerian is selfish and is so quick to forget that there is a more national effect or rather communal effect to public actions than it affects them. So the typical question on a lot of young people's minds was "Am i Stream 2?" Once that was answered in the negative, the next action would be a grin and "e no concern me Stream 2 go sort themselves out". As long as the actions do not affect them negatively, its fine. Same way the man who does not have a car, does not buy fuel and doesn't have any international transaction be bothered that fuel prices are increasing and the dollar is on the increase.

Second is that hypocrisy that makes me cringe! Upon satisfaction of the above question, the next thing the Nigerian begins to try and form solidarity with the others knowing that if push comes to shove, they can deck out and get going leaving their friends stuck in policies that are wicked. So you hear calls, talks, comments like "it doesn't make sense sha, why would they want to do that? whatever the case God is in control". You see it is this silly resort to religiosity that makes the situation bad and we really need to come out of it.

Thirdly, the authorities have this great silence that can deafen you and even the right thinking youths cannot seem to know what to do about it and so they remain at the mercies of the hypocrites, misinformed and call them positivists. NYSC has a website, they have pages on social media and with the several questions and comments, not the Director General, the PRO, or even any other top official of the NYSC has decided to clear the air or issue a statement to confirm or rebut the position.

Fourthly, the ones affected by the seeming bad position remain quiet, confused, and ultimately take it as their fate. Here is what the society has put in the youths: fear, intimidation, timidity, and neglect. Its a culture the typical 18-25 year old has been built with. from the knowledge of dictators, failing systems, hike in prices, labor strikes and other heinous societal imagery, it is just obvious nothing can be done till we hear the verdict of the BOSSES.

Sigh!

So let me now tell you my take. First off is that I love the NYSC Program really. For me it was a long one year of a break from ACADEMICS (going to school for 6 consecutive years to bag an LLB and BL no be small thing). Apart from the big break it helped me discover a lot about my self spiritually, financially, emotionally and of course socially. I cannot advocate for the program to be scrapped and that is not what this is about. it is just a gist of a better future forged from saner administrative decisions and youth participation. Whether Nigeria would get better or not is a factor of how ready we all are to be collective in thinking and decisions to especially quit hypocrisy and religiosity but be deep in principles, morals and proper information management.

My NYSC posting letter gives me a probable date of release as 28th of September, 2016; my NYSC identity card is valid till 6th of October, 2016 and mind you it was given to me when i relocated to Oyo state and finalised the processes so that was about March this year. Of course i am stream 2 and the question i am asking is how would i be identified for the remaining one month starting october 7th to November 4th?

The reasoning is indeed laudable. We got into camp a month after the stream 1 so we should be made to stay one month later. But whose fault was it that i was mobilized with the second batch? i applied the same day another friend who was mobilized first stream and i was second stream. Meanwhile the trite principle of making administrative decisions commence with the next series of events and not the current one must still stand. If you don't understand i explain, when a law is put in place, it cannot be retrospective. Therefore, this Stream 1 and 2 reasoning can only apply to subsequent batches of Corps Members and not the current.

I should categorically state that i am a happy corps member. of course i am batch B stream 2 and i am sure someone just nodded in confirmation of the need for my bants and rants (i say to you, you are Nigeria's problem). I have serious plans to start a real life immediately after POP on the 6th of October and I am sure that it will so happen. But like the change we are talking about, i am not resigning to "fate" (that silly things Nigerians resort to to hide their mediocrity) i am also being proactive to prepare for the worse. I would make necessary petitions to call it off if it is true but i would also make serious Plan Bs to make sure life is interesting and moving on.

I am the new Nigeria, i ask questions, i am not hypocritical, i think rightly, i am young, energetic and smart, and I respect those in authorities with all my heart.

To the young people shrugging their shoulders saying it wont affect them, wait and see how other administrative decisions, silence of government and other acts condoned with such wave of insolence and convenience locates you. If we don't speak up and stand together, Nigeria remains 100 years behind the world. Youth participation begins from these small things, you don't wait till you are nominated by your Father's brother's inlaw in the Senate to come join them on the panel of "Padders" in purported occupation of the office of the Youth in the Legislature. You only become a figure head like some of our unnamed law makers.

We will succeed!!!!

Open Letter to Mr Kachikwu of the Ministry of Petroleum

Dear Sir,

I currently serve the nation at Ibadan, Oyo state. If not, I would have taken the pain and initiative to walk to the NNPC Towers in Central Area Abuja, to beg you in your good offices to help us make the country work. You may have to forgive me if I make any hasty generalization in this letter. It would only be as a result of the limited information available: some of us don’t have electricity to power our television and radio sets, and money to buy papers have been channeled towards tomato purchase. Please be mindful of the fact that we at the grass root never get the true situation of things as a result, so we rely on some gossip and those little arguments at the newspaper stands.

But I know that this morning, Mr Kachikwu was quoted to have said that the fuel scarcity would end on the 7^th of April. I also know that you have stated that the reason for the scarcity is because of the fact that subsidy debt was inherited by this government and independent marketers cannot import fuel because they can’t get letters of credit after the payment. The calculations and the theories of upstream and downstream supplies are really not in the proper knowledge of the taxi driver along Dugbe market road. “The Situation” as we know it here as at 9:42am Nigerian time on the 30^th of March 2016 is that petrol (PMS) now sells at 170 naira per liter with heavy queues in Ibadan city. You claimed you monitored depot deliveries in Lagos during the Easter but NNPC has not even been selling fuel. And just this morning that we got hint of possible sales, the queues are about 2 kilometers long, with well meaning Nigerians fighting at the gates. The Situation has made transport prices increase from 50 naira to 100 naira: I know because I squeezed myself this morning into the cab from Iwo Road to Bodija, two junctions apart.

It would not have been so much an issue, after all countries on the West African Coast have higher prices for fuel. I remember when a sitting president told us that we would comfortably buy fuel at 100 naira since we can buy bottle water at the same amount and we all laughed at the impossibility and treachery. Today it is worse. The naira is still trying to regain its lost strength and pride, the climate is not getting any better and electricity has gone scarce with the seeming DISCO-high-tariff party and depleting Mega-Watt generation. I dare say that even a class captain would not watch his class get so noisy without recording the noise makers before it gets out of hand and brings down the whole school.

It is no longer news that the change mantra is becoming a façade in itself. Even Donald Trump who has never set foot in Nigeria can make silly but true allegations on our leadership quality. Every child in schools today know that it’s almost a waste of time reading to pass because the knowledge passed is almost irrelevant to current realities. But let us not veer too much out of The Situation. The reason for the slight veer is to help my appeal. If these several other things are not working, why would there be more hardship on the Nigerian people from the very sector which you man as a technocrat (and not a politician) that knows exactly what he is doing and loves it.

I don’t know if there is a gas station within the Aso Villa, of course the NNPC Chief not having fuel will be like a man with soap in his eyes when he is in a swimming pool. But I am sure you do not feel half of the pain of the Nigerian at the grass root. You can know it because you see the queues except there is a helipad on your office and you use it often. But you can be sure that the same masses that the change brand was sold to and went all out to support the brand are not happy. Support for you is far because you have said that instead of supporting your resignation we should “save our money for fuel”.

As a Youth Corps member, I have imbibed the culture of discipline and respect and that is why I am bringing this to your notice in all humility and patriotism. The 19,800 naira allowance every month used to be very useful to start and live a life but all that has changed since 2016 started. The queues have refused to vanish; we can barely reach our Places of Primary Assignment, the naira is weakening, we can hardly buy food and still undertake projects for community development.

So here is my plea: we know the cause of the scarcity now, but we want availability. If 2 million tonnes will be available from 7^th of April, what should happen to us till then? CBN throws heat on us, NNPC gives us a future date for survival, the Presidency remains one long structure of dos and don’ts, soon it would be genocide! Do we wait till we start seeing people drop on the streets out of hunger and despair. Do not be surprised if a new militia is brewing up to strike even as the Change Warriors fight almost successfully the Boko Haram terrorists. So let me recommend that the plan to make our fuel come back be more concrete, sustainable, and real and also delivered faster with a production system to stop future occurrences. The privatisation of the refineries if need be should commence in earnest so that exploration, generation, production and distribution doesn't get postponed to 2020. Let there be a short term and long term measure to stop the queues, reduce the transportation prices and let cars come back to the road. From the streets, the hardship is REAL!

We commend you and the government for the response so far even though as sincere as they have been, they’ve shown contempt in some quarters. Feedback from the grass root is POOR and if this poverty continues, the bull would see the wall and it ALWAYS turns back with all its fury and horns replacing the cowardice and naivety.

Yours in patriotism,

The ReadyWriter