An Open Letter to the Plateau State Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, Yiljap Abraham

Since the MTN Call Centre drama of August 2012, I have lost the most direct channel of communication that once existed between your honorable self and I. This followed the protest by members of the Jonah Jang administration that includes you, to express it disapproval of MTN’s decision to move the call center out of the state.

As a citizen of the state, I have nonetheless continued to keep tract of your ever active role in the administration. In view of the storms and turbulence that often characterized political administrations in Nigeria, I must extol you for remaining part of an inner caucus of such an organization for a very long time.  It is a reflection of the quality of what you bring into the Plateau project. In view of the hard work of the administration, one can say that you have imbibed that culture of hard work and you could continue to be of benefit to the Plateau people for a long time to come.

Sir, I want to believe that your switchover from Information to Tourism and Culture comes from the skies as it coincided with a period when I had just had a revelation in the area of tourism and culture and wanted to share it to whoever calls the short in the culture and tourism portfolio in the state. This revelation followed my attendance of the New Year Day celebration in the town of Miango on January 1, 2014.

It may interest you to know that as far back as 1958, the colonial administration in Nigeria marked out the first day of every year as a day of cultural dance exhibition in Rigwe land, precisely in the towns of Miango and Kwall in Bassa Local Area of our state.  Over more than half of a century, the Rigwe New Year Day celebration turned out to be very successful because of the appeal of not just the primary events of drumming and dancing but other attractions tied to them as well. In Miango, for instance, these attractions include the horse race that often follows the dance parade, the multitude of people pouring out onto the main road and axis of the town. In addition to this number of people that often exceed sand on the seashore, the spectrum of dress style of every individual, from my own point of view, is also an attraction I often looked forward to, every year. As one jostles through the crowd, there are often clowns here and there, adding another dimension to the array of attractions.  Each time there is a social gathering of any sort in Miango or Kwall, there are people from the surrounding hamlets who leave their homes hoping to boost their “fame” by fighting. Such street fights have also grown to become another attraction of the New Year Day. Bordering the axis of Miango on either sides, are scores of recreational circles that have formed the backbone of the economy of the town. If one has friends in different parts of the country that he could not meet throughout the outgoing year, the New Year Day affords him/her the opportunity to meet with such friends. Another attraction is the sight of foreigners taking pictures of nearly all these variety of events.  All these are indicative of the tourist capacity of the carnival and it has indeed served as a destination for pleasure seekers from across the country in the last 56 years since it was started.

Sir, I have attended Rigwe New Year Day ceremony since the seventies and it has all been splendid until  the 2014 edition that turned out to be a sad revelation, a revelation that the event was about to collapse, prompting me to write this letter. Across the river, in the town of Kwall, it could be said that the New Year festivity has already collapsed.  That day, Kwall was a gloomy town of depression and despondency. This happened for first time in more than half a century.

If our cultural exceptionality in the state is the strength of our tourism, then one can say that the huge contribution that Rigwe land brings is about to become extinct. Sir, I think that we are supposed to build on what the colonial administration left us. When that happens, we can say that we are making progress in the line of tourism in Rigwe land.

Why is this happening? In 1958 when the Rigwe New Year Day celebration started, people had no education and the pride it brings. They came with their native mindsets and held their dance tradition, which involved drumming and dancing barefoot in the dust, in high esteem. Today education has changed the mindsets of the people, giving them the pride that often repelled some learned folks from their own native cultures. Thus young people, who are the strength of these cultural events, wouldn’t want to dance barefoot in the dust after all the education. Though not all have become educated but the uneducated youths have seen the scorn with which people hold them when they dance in the dust without shoes. They have also seen that when they spend their time rehearsing their drumming and dancing, they don’t earn a living out of it. Hence participating in these activities has come to be perceived as sheer waste of time and energy.  Everyone is thus shifting his/her focus to activities that will sustain his/her life, enabling him/her to live fairly decently, at least. It means that for the past 56 years since the introduction of the New Year Day celebration in Rigwe land, nothing has been added to what the Europeans started.

Sir, I wouldn’t want to deceive myself, believing that this challenge is peculiar Rigwe land. It is all across Plateau State from Bassa to Langtang South and from Bokkos to Wase.

Sir we know the qualities that have placed the potentials of tourism in our hands: our diversity, geography and the hospitality of our people. We have to work hard to ensure that these resources work for us. Tourism has to move from the status of impending to reality.

There are two faces of tourism: local and international. I am afraid that the state of insecurity across Nigeria has dealt a huge blow on international tourism but at the same time the avenue for local tourism has remained. One sees the hunger for local tourism when he visits recreational centers on Sallah, Christmas, Easter, New Year, and weekend days. What has held down the momentum for local tourism is the modesty of the facilities due to the long years of administrations exhibiting laissez-faire attitudes. People often visit these facilities and come out saddened than they were prior to the visits. Thus one has to commend the administration for its eagle eyes that led to the decision to overhaul the Jos Wild Life Park.

Sir, I am sure you are aware that a fully developed tourism industry goes beyond the renovation of game reserves. A fully developed tourism domain should have a limitless catalog of resources that provides options to pleasure-seekers and gives the impression of a truly existing industry. Along this line, our cultural diversity provides a lifeline. Thus the modernization of the industry could go beyond the Wild Life Park to include the building of Modern cultural arenas in the different cultural localities across the state so that we don’t dance in the dust anymore. Modernization could also involve collaborating with experts to bring refinement to our cultural costumes so that we can wear them with pride and feel at ease. Introducing financial rewards to the best drummer, best dance groups, best young dancer … could also change the apocalyptic trend of events and re-awaken interest.

Sir, I know the pertinent question in your mind after reading this is “where would the money to build and maintain such cultural edifices and reward the dance groups come from?” My suggestion is firstly, we could legislate for a tourism restoration tax that mandates every adult residing in the state to pay an agreed amount annually. Secondly, people cannot enjoy tourism without paying for it. Thirdly, budgetary rations of the state could experience a re-adjustment to favor the sector if we consider its enhancement as crucial.

Sir, I would love to conclude by saying that the things we desperately desire have always been with us and where there is a will, there is always a way.

Candida Treatment

Use sugar without hassles after just ten days

 

cabin biscuit

 

I have lived with this guilt for a very long time, the guilt that I could be holding the knowledge of the cure for Candida Yeast Infection when there are people out there that need this knowledge to end the nightmare they live with. 

Sometime around 1998/99 my life started the plunge into what I may call an abyss: my health started spinning.  I tried hospitals for medical help and each time doctors run out of ideas they told me that I was not ill, that I should go out and socialize with people, that my situation was psychological. Each time this suggestion was made to me I felt like my heart’s been stabbed with a jack knife.

The worst thing about my experience was the weakness that came with sugar consumption. The weakness made me a slugabed, procrastinating on bed when everyone was already awake. I experienced toe nail fungus (I did not know it had anything to do with Candida, at the time). I continued consuming sugar, since I wasn’t aware it was my greatest enemy. I suffered, I suffered, I suffered and had to abandon my job in the city where I lived at the time and returned to my native city to stay without a job.

Thanks to the internet. In 2008 I became an expert author for www.ezinearticles.com. Each time one logs on to the home page of the site he sees photos of authors which the site scrolls randomly. That was how I came across the profile of an African-American lady that, in her bio, was said to have struggled with Candida infection for many years. I goggled: “Candida yeast infection” and read the character of the infection. What I found out turned out to be a miracle. I discovered the symptoms of the infection where things that I had experienced. The confirmation that what I suffered was Candida was the toe fungus I had experienced.

I read about things that encouraged the spread and endurance of the infection. It turned out that white sugar and carbohydrates help Candida to flourish. But the question was how can I abstain from the use of carbohydrate? That was the nightmare.

I could not eat freely and I had to use green vegetables constantly: green vegetables were the only way to moderate a chemical compound that causes the weakness. Somehow, I learned to avoid sugar and certain foods that feed the growth of the infection. I used olive oil, vinegar and bought certain probiotics online. Help was nowhere in sight and I was becoming hopeless.

In May 2010 I traveled to the city of Markudi to design a website for a non-governmental organization. In my hotel room the next morning I requested the hotel attendants to buy Peak milk, Cabin Biscuits and sugar. They helped with a kettle of hot water and I had my tea and proceeded to the office. In the afternoon, the office bought me a lunch of yogurt and meat pie. 

Later that evening I became very sick. I bought a malaria drug that I did not use, nevertheless. The next day I felt a remarkable relief of my condition like I had never experienced. Three days later I left the city and returned home, but I returned with a flyer they had given me. Back in Jos I read the flyer, which promoted healthy living, to discover that yogurt heals Candida.  It became the reason why I traveled to Markudi twice with the aim of eating Tito Yogurt, the yogurt I had eaten while I was there in Markudi. But, unlike my first journey, the yogurt did not give me any relief. I returned to Jos, frustrated. I later tried NVRI yogurt in Jos to no avail. Instead the sugar in the yogurt only worsened my condition.

I spent my money, importing Candida cures from the US to no avail. i subscribed to websites that claim they had solutions to Candida Yeast Infection to no avail. I lost hope that I could ever get cured of Candida.

I had occasionally eaten Cabin Biscuits with signs of relief for my condition, but I never worried about trying it again; there were many things that gave me that transient relief and I thought that Cabin Biscuits was just one of such foods. I knew that Cabin Biscuit is sweetened, but I can’t remember it getting me weakened for three days like sugar often did. I loved it because it serves a purpose when I hadn’t time to prepare a meal. Each time I shop at a super market and I see it, there is the good chance that I will include it in my cart.  

Sometime in the early part of 2014 I bought a pack of the snack and ate it over a three-day period. I remember getting extremely sad while eating it. it was the die-off syndrome.  When I finished the pack I bought another without a break. The continued usage was just coincidental. I can’t remember the number of packs I had used back to back. I am sure they weren’t more than three, eaten within a time span of about a week. 

Living with the Candida compelled me to stop the use of sugar in 2011. It was difficult initially, but I became used to it. During that period I had resorted to the use of alternative sweeteners for my tea (I find it difficult to live without taking tea). One of these sweeteners hurt worst than sugar does. It added an additional health burden of living with bleeding gums. One day when I was about to have a cup of tea, something told me: “to hell with sugar.” I decided to add sugar to that cup of tea –I had abstained from the use of sugar for more than two years and I was willing to gamble. I was surprised that I did not feel the weakness that sugar often caused, not the slightest bit of it. I remembered the relief Cabin had always given me, I remember that, while in Markudi, I felt a relief and thought it was yogurt, but I had also used Cabin Biscuit that day too. I remembered my endless session eating about three packs of the snack and came to the conclusion that the snack was the cure. I have continued to eat my sugar since then.

There are, at times, different brands of Cabin Biscuits and not all of them serve this purpose. The packaging of the brand that helps has evolved, but is now the Yale Version. On the package there is a graphical illustration showing persons wearing academic gowns. The typical packaging is one that appears with this post. What I do not know is whether Cabin Biscuit is produced elsewhere outside of Nigeria.  In Nigeria it is produced by the Niger Biscuits Company Limited (http://www.nigerbiscuit.com/pro_oxford.php)and it is available in nearly every street shop.

I have written to some of those sites I had subscribed to, telling them I had found that Cabin Biscuit cures Candida. Till today, none of them replied me to seek further clarification or to confirm my claims. 

If you are a Candida patient, you can try it. After all, it is just a meal.

Book Review - The Whispering Trees -Abubakar Adam Ibrahim

By Yiro Abari

Whispering Trees

The Whispering Trees is a collection of short stories by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, a Caine Price nominee for 2013. The short story, Whispering Trees, from which the book draws its title, is what interest me the most and for which I am writing this review.

Before now, my impression of the Whispering Trees had been that it is a story of a love affair with a premature ending, brought about by an auto crash that blinded Salim, the young man in the relationship and who happens to be the main character. Having read the story however, I got to understand that the love affair is actually a prelude to the nucleus of the story: Salim’s unusual ability to travel into the metaphysical territory to communicate with souls of organisms, flora and fauna. Salim finds astonishing conditioning by sitting in the midst of melody-making trees, whispering trees, which bestow in him the power to travel across the spiritual border separating the dead and the living. Acting as an emissary, he is thus able to link the dead with relations they left behind. The dead find peace by taking care of unfinished business while the living find their own peace by knowing their dead relations will henceforth rest in peace, having taken care of previously unfinished businesses.

In narrating the story, the author uses the same medium to paint, albeit briefly, a photo of the traditions and beliefs of one from a trilogy of Nigeria’s big tribes, Hausas, but also not failing to brush over the irony of dishonesty in the ranks of Nigeria’s premier correctional institution.

The Whispering Trees also demonstrates the role of literature as a channel of information and moral teaching. As a student of geology years back, I was taught that it is frustrating to try to use traditional means of measurement to gauge long distances while in the field. The use of footsteps was recommended. A normal pace of mine was about a meter and half. I used this but remained doubtful of its accuracy until I read the Whispering Trees. In the Whispering Trees, blind Salim is able reach locations around the house, having known, from experience, exactly the number of paces it takes to reach them. Initially, Salim wouldn’t accept his new fate as a disable person and so fights but loses, gets frustrated and finally accepts his physical demerit. Eventually his new condition lets him to make new discoveries that teach him that happiness lies, not in getting what you want, but in wanting what you have.

The Caine Price for which the Whispering Trees was nominated this year, lead the author from a valley where he was largely unseen and unknown to the crest of a hill where Africa and, perhaps, the world was able to know him. Since then I have traced his tracks and learnt that he is a previous winner of the BBC African Performance Prize. The judges said “his ability to go into the mind of a child”, a character in the fiction, was the reason why he was awarded the prize. The Whispering Tree represents yet another expose of his unusual ability to read the mind of his characters. This time he demonstrated the mind-boggling ability to read, like an sms, the minds of the dead. Kai!

Literature is written work for which the aesthetic of writing is played up remarkably. To lovers of African literature, the author conveys a lot of literature in this anthology (by my extrapolation) and promises much more in future.

People talk about the weakness of the Whispering Trees that led to its inability to clinch the Caine Prize. The say that while the Caine Prize is attracted by stories whose themes address major concerns on the continent, The Whispering Trees dwelt on an African frivolity. These critics seem to have forgotten that the major concern of Africa is to get rid of vanity, the bedrock of the senseless power struggle that has wounded Africa and, perhaps, frustrated its healing.  African leaders need to learn that happiness lies, not in getting what you want, but in wanting what you have.

Africa and the E-Book

Kindle Device

I am an author and live in Africa. I have a book which is not just on paperback but kindle (electronic) format as well and is on sale, online, at Jeff Bezos Amazon.com. The irony is that I don’t have a kindle or any other e-book reader my self. I had the audacity to launch this book online despite knowing that with the exception of a few countries, the e-book retailers: Amazon, Lulu, Barnes and Noble, Apple … don’t sell to Africa.  The outcome is that my book has sold just about half a dozen copies in three years with the exception of free downloads.

I think that the primary reason why my book failed to sell satisfactorily is the fact that even though the book was inspired by challenges in Africa which the book aims to address,  it was self-published on Amazon.com, a book retailer that hasn’t entered Africa which the exception of south Africa and perhaps two other nations of the continent.

Information and Communication Technology, ICT, became relevant in view of the progress it has brought over what we had prior to its arrival. The information it brings in the area of education and elsewhere is of high quality, cheap and affordable. ICT also brings equality in education since the best teachers now make their resourcefulness available to all people around the world via multimedia devices of the ICT. Along that line, Africa can use the opportunity to close the educational gap between it and the developed world. Thus when Amazon and its sister online retailers shut its doors to the continent, they are depriving the continent of the nourishment that is imperative for the growth and development of Africa’s education and, by extrapolation, its general well-being.

It is okay to find financial prosperity in business but also necessary to do good to humanity as we do that. If Amazon’s continued investment and expansion of its activities were to be based solely on financial considerations, then it will never look out for areas of further expansion; Jeff has enough for a dozen generations of his descendants. Thus the sole spur for continued research and the investments thereof, is to serve humanity. Along that line, it could be said that a huge opening for online retailers to serve mankind is beckoning in Africa.

Nigeria by the good value of its human population and economic strength is the gateway to Africa. In Nigeria, there are hundreds of tertiary institutions that include universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and other tertiary institutions with hundreds of thousands of students waiting to buy the kindle reader should it become available for use in the country. Nigeria, a nation of ego architects, will ensure that the kindle reader is in every home, even homes where it will not be put to use. This will however bring about the proliferation of the e-book to the good of the nation. The chain of beneficiaries will be endless: Authors and would-be authors; education; marketers; job seekers, governments that would experience jumps in their quest for growth and mankind will be served adequately, not just in Nigeria but across the continent of 1.033 billion people ( World Population Review, 2013).

Drink water to cure (almost?) all diseases

A kind friend of mine frequently forwards messages to everyone person in their address book. The advice given always sounds reasonable and helpful, but is it really?

What is the evidence that increased water intake results in lower incidence of any or all of the following:

Headache, body ache, heart system, arthritis, fast heart beat, epilepsy, excess fatness, bronchitis asthma, TB, meningitis, kidney and urine diseases, vomiting, gastritis, diarrhea, piles, diabetes, constipation, all eye diseases, womb, cancer and menstrual disorders, ear nose and throat diseases.

……….

DRINK WATER ON EMPTY STOMACH

It is popular in Japan today to drink water immediately after waking up every morning. Furthermore, scientific tests have proven its value. We publish below a description of use of water for our readers. For old and serious diseases as well as modern illnesses the water treatment had been found successful by a Japanese medical society as a 100% cure for the following diseases:

Headache, body ache, heart system, arthritis, fast heart beat, epilepsy, excess fatness, bronchitis asthma, TB, meningitis, kidney and urine diseases, vomiting, gastritis, diarrhea, piles, diabetes, constipation, all eye diseases, womb, cancer and menstrual disorders, ear nose and throat diseases.

METHOD OF TREATMENT

1. As you wake up in the morning before brushing teeth, drink 4 × 160ml glasses of water 

2. Brush and clean the mouth but do not eat or drink anything for 45 minutes 

3. After 45 minutes you may eat and drink as normal. 

4. After 15 minutes of breakfast, lunch and dinner do not eat or drink anything for 2 hours – ie you can drink straight after a meal (within the first 15 minutes) but not for 2 hours after that. 

5. Those who are old or sick and are unable to drink 4 glasses of water at the beginning may commence by taking little water and gradually increase it to 4 glasses per day.

6. The above method of treatment will cure diseases of the sick and others can enjoy a healthy life .

The following list gives the number of days of treatment required to cure/control/ reduce main diseases:

1. High Blood Pressure – 30 days 

2. Gastric – 10 days 

3. Diabetes – 30 days 

4. Constipation – 10 days 

5. Cancer – 180 days 

6. TB – 90 days 

7. Arthritic patients should follow the above treatment for only 3 days in the 1st week, and from 2nd week onwards – daily.

This treatment method has no side effects, however at the commencement of treatment you may have to urinate a few times. It is better if we continue this and make this procedure as a routine work in our life .

Drink Water and Stay healthy and Active.

This makes sense … the Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals ..not cold water. maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating!!! Nothing to lose, everything to gain…

For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this “sludge” reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

A serious note about heart attacks: Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms.

60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let’s be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive…

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to everyone they know, you can be sure that we’ll save at least one life .

Bronwen Dekker:Nature Network

Nigeria’s Revolution of the Mind

Need for attitudinal change

The huge boulder on the way of Nigeria is not the average Nigerian leader. Rather is it the average Nigerian voter. The leadership challenges that are ‘peculiar’ to Nigeria have, actually, existed in other nations that we envy today. However the difference between Nigeria and those flying nations is that the sluggish state journey lasted just long enough for the common man to perceive it. They were then swift in ensuring it ended, using the power democracy has placed in their hands. In the case of Nigeria, the people observed the blemishes barely ten years after independence but failed to end it.

If you asked an ordinary Nigerian what he thinks is the solution to Nigeria’s problem, he id likely going to give you that boring thing about a political revolution.   They will site the case of Ghana where a revolution has changed the nation even when I personally think that there isn’t much difference between Nigeria and Ghana. This answer is even the best answer compared to “we live it in the hands of God” implying they have run out of ideas and surrendered even when God has already devolved power to us.

Until the Arab Spring, I used to think that a revolution works only through a ferocious blood bath.  The Arab Spring grossly changed this diffident impression of mine. In Tunisia, it merely took the outpouring of Tunisians into the streets to compelled Zin El Abidin Ben Ali to pack his bag and baggage. In Egypt it also took the weapon of will to compel Hosin Mubarak to quit after three decades of Dracula dictatorship. Ironically, in Places like Syria where the struggle is bloody, one can confidently say that the revolution has failed despite the losses in terms of lives, maiming, the economy and the regression.

It is clear that, given the circumstance of Nigeria, the revolution of the mind is what is desired. The common man must cultivate a progressive mind that can help him identify his problem, first and foremost. This is our first problem: improper diagnosis. Aside being able to recognize our problem, we should know how to end it and be courageous enough to act towards ending it.

 We don’t know how to identify people with the capacity to give us what we want; we think it is a game of trial and error. In Nigeria, we have been administered by rulers who are slightly ahead of uneducated traditional rulers in their mindsets. They lack modern approaches to issues. While the rest of the world moves on, we stagnated in a mire, left talking about how Malaysia came to Nigeria to pick palm oil seedlings, went home and worked hard to beat Nigeria as the number one palm oil-producing nation in the world. The ordinary man in Nigeria is not able to see the difference in the way of thinking between a traditional Nigerian politician and those in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia … with whom we started. Ordinary people in Nigeria think that the right political leader is one who hangs around traditional rulers and respects, deeply, the opinion of religious leaders. On the contrary, our founding fathers designed our laws to ensure the separation of the state and the mosque/ church. Furthermore the ordinary man thinks the right political leader is one who wears a flying traditional dress without compromise. There is nothing wrong with wearing what is traditionally ours. The problem however is the use of these dresses as the yardstick for identifying the right man for the job at Aso Rock or the government house of any state.

Nigerians everywhere: behind truck wheels, riding on the spines of Okadas, selling under the open sun in the markets, in secondary schools, university/polytechnic campuses, at constructions sites … must recognize that the sole and most imperative criteria for considering a man fit for a leadership role is what he has been able to do during a previous and lower level of administration. Our refusal to heed this truly confirms that we think the choice of an excellent leader is a game of trial and error. It took just about two decades for a Nigerian, John Godson to become the first black MP. What did he do? He used money he has made to provide scholarship to students and help the poor. American President, Barack Obama, as a congressman sponsored laws that changed the plight of Africa-Americans in his constituency remarkably. He became a political superstar. We don’t need to look far to see that there are Nigerians who brought changes in the areas where they were assigned to carry out a task, even within the last fourteen years. They demonstrated the strong ability to identify the challenges of their assignment, understood how to overcome them and created the right atmosphere for their accomplishment.

Once such individuals are identified, the next thing is for Nigerians to be able to overcome polarization that revolve around emotions, religion and tribe. Refusing to vote an individual you just like because of his fine looks is not an easy decision to make. If however, you recognize that such a decision is fundamentally critical in deciding tomorrow’s trajectory of the nation then you need courage to do it. Therefore a bloodless revolution needs critical thought and courage to make a sacrifice. It is also the same where either religion or tribal considerations is tempting you to make a flawed decision. You also need critical thought and courage to make a sacrifice. I checked the national anthem and pledge to see if there is a line where the need for sacrifice is stressed. I did not find one.

If we choose the option of a violent political revolution we must also be ready to make sacrifices in terms of lives, maiming and the number of years we will have to go in the reverse direction. There is a difference between sacrificing your religion and sacrificing a wrong individual who comes from your religion. I should not be misquoted.

In Nigeria, a political revolution must come from the mind and is easy if we can build a strong courage to make sacrifices.

  ng_offshoot@yahoo.co.uk 

Abudu 1992: Traveling 21 years back to Abudu

It is surprising how times flies. This year, 2013 makes it twenty since I passed out of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

The real NYSC is, to be frank, in the orientation camp. When one remembers his time during the NYSC, it is the events of the orientation camp that come to mind due to the depth of the impression they leave in his/her mind. Our orientation camp was at Abudu in Orhiomwon Local Government Area of Edo State.

Initially, Auchi Polytechnic was scheduled to host the orientation until it was changed to a secondary school at Abudu.  

I traveled from Jos through the glamorous emerging capital city of Abuja; through Lokoja, the confluence town where, for the first time, I saw water sold in a plastic bladders called “pure water” (“pure water” has a long history in Nigeria); through the city of rusty roofing sheets and rocky terrain of Okenne and into the tropical rain forest vegetation of the south of Nigeria. Soon I was in Auchi (Bauchi with the B taking off).

There was disappointment; the orientation has been moved to Abudu town. It was late but the fair and spotted-skinned security men were good and found a room for me at the hostel. It was probably the first time I slept without covering myself and still felt cozy; I come from Jos, the coldest city in Nigeria where this is impossible.

I rose with the sun the next day and hit the road en route Abudu. I was there within two hours. I entered the orientation camp with just N5.00 left from the N100.00 with which I started from Jos. Now one would have to pay fifty times that amount. Hardly had I arrived that my pocket was made full again. My dad wasn’t there, it was the bicycle allowance. I was handed my uniforms: khaki shirt/trousers, a white NYSC T-shirt, a pair of shorts and a brown jungle boots that I wore like an intelligent hoodlum by allowing the tongues to stick out.

The Mami Market brought a colorful atmosphere into the camp so that it was like a kind of thirty-day party. There we had corps members who called themselves members of the Palm Wine Club. At the time the African-American music genre, New Jack Swing, was just emerging and the music of Men-at-Large raged from huge speakers administered from the camp’s broadcast center. There was also Scarface’s my mind is playing tricks on me, Kriss-Kross’ Jump Jump.

One of the most thrilling experiences was lining up to take our meals. At Abudu we were served eba and stew, yam and stew, yams and weevil-infested beans which we ate with crushing sounds. There was beef, fish but no exotic meat like those of rodents, snakes, dogs, donkeys, horses … 

There were characters at the camp. The first one was I for being taciturn. Eventually I became a star after an encounter with a scorpion an event that made news. There was the daughter of Paul Unongo who was said to have schooled abroad but insisted she must serve in the NYSC back home. My observation is that it was a very meaningful decision. Other such kids actually consider themselves too superior for such service but fail to realize that they would be branded as lazy bunches that cannot succeed without their parents, a reflection of the ignorant Nigerian attitude. She laid bare her understanding of the allusion that will come from her refusal to serve by insisting she participate, as a leader, in every event. There was Douglas Oronto who asked the national commandant a question about the possibility of placing ballistics in the hands of corps members. The respond was a impressive “no” from Colonel Hafeez Momoh. One other character was Bob Manuel from Rivers State who surprised spectators during a football match by throwing the whole weight of his huge body to the ground and with a thudding sound each time he squandered an pricey scoring window.

At the dormitories I saw that thing about Nigeria that drives me crazy the most: its diversity and its brains. Nigeria’s diversity seems like a spectrum of colors that makes it alluring. There were the brains coming from all over. I sometimes wonder whether Nigeria still has those brains in view of the way things are going today.

There were picture-taking events. Every corps member wanted to have a photo with at least one female colleague. I still remember a hairy and fair-skinned Ibo lady with whom I had a portrait photo. Other photos of mine have endured till today but not this very photo that used to stir emotions in me each time I looked at it.

I would say that those who handed down foreign religions are our worst enemies. Whatever they brought should have just been purely secular. The only bitter experience was a religious altercation that led a guy from Borno State to pull a knife at a guy from Rivers State with whom they had become admirable friends. The fact that Boko Haram was born and raised in Borno State makes me wonder whether that was an extension of a ferocious religious tradition or a mere coincidence. 

There were visits by personages. Apart from the national commandant, there was also the modest John Odigie-Oyegun, the Social Democratic Party Governor of Edo State at the time. Oyegun came, inspected a guard of honor and gave a speech.

Nigeria is good but only if we can brush aside the wormwood. Funny how time flies.