Egusi stew, suave South-South suits and bomb in Abuja
By the time we left the hotel after three days ago, the bomb that killed scores of people had already been detonated.
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We had only been in Abuja for two days. And Friday, our driver took care to keep us uninformed. That Tuesday morning, however, there appeared to be an unusual military and police presence– more roadblocks, more snap checks, more guns and more communication devices.
It was only natural that we would ask Friday again what this heavy security presence signified. Reeling under our questions, he manufactured an explanation– this was all in anticipation of a presidential convoy!
Soon enough, his otherwise noble attempts to calm the visiting delegation of six– two Americans, a Ethiopian, Nigerian, Zimbabwean and Ghanaian- gave way to the permeating shock and awe. At the office, an official walked in, and with a look of concern, asked the front desk officer: “Where were you when the bomb went off?”
At the end of the day, we joined colleagues in observing a minute’s silence for our fallen compatriots from the deadly Boko Haram attack.
In many ways, Abuja has become the city of shades – of hope and promise, of latent violence, of kindness and laughter, of beautiful people and of a cadre of talented health professionals determined to turn health indices in the right direction within their spheres of influence.
Leading and facilitating quality improvement for over four incredible days has left me inspired with warm and pleasant memories of my new Nigerian colleagues and friends– Nneka, Ijeoma, Afolabi, Victor, Oronsaye, Emmanuel, Ginika, Nwosu, Ezeh, Michael, Mama Esther, Hajia, Bamidele and, of course, Ezinne inter alia!
In a way, this second visit has rivalled or even upstaged my first foray into Abuja in 2010. Presenting at a scientific conference then, I had been blown away by Abuja’s planned beauty, its ample sidewalks where I could have a steady uninterrupted morning run. Reflecting, it was perhaps only in Amsterdam that I had seen more impressive sidewalks.
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Both made total mockery of my rugged, pothole rich, dirty-pooled Spintex Road jogging routes. Back in 2010, we attended an opening ceremony after a hectic day of engaging discussions.
I expected the usual humdrum formalities– introduction of chairman, chairman’s opening remarks and whatnots. I was pleasantly surprised. Ushered into an impressive but almost empty hall, we were treated to live band music.
In good time, the Oga Professor took the microphone, welcomed us into Abuja and encouraged us to have fun– in other words, dedicated the rest of the night to music and dancing.
In three minutes, he was done, the band broke into rhythmic sound and there on the dance floor leapt the Professor with a beautiful girl, a third of his age, wearing something skimpy, scanty, tantalising and totally powerful with the dance moves to match. Eish! It was not easy!
Abuja’s spicy African cuisine has been a welcome colourful departure from the stony bread-fest I have been subjected to in the past week in Paris.
Over these five days, we have sampled pounded yam and vegetable stew, rice with egusi stew with fish and wele, and last night, banga soup.
Ogbono and ewedu soups still remain outstanding gaps worth remedying before we leave tomorrow. As to whether DeAnna, my young American co-conspirator, has the stomach for this is an entirely different matter!
President Goodluck Jonathan is arguably Nigeria’s foremost proponent of the country’s sartorial elegance. Blown over by the crisp tailoring and the pride with which the Nigerians wear their clothes, I yielded and with Friday’s help, got connected to a local tailor.
Over three days, I acquired two exquisitely tailored ‘South-South’ Nigerian suits with which to score major political points back in the motherland. Much later, I sought further clarifications from my colleague, Dr Ezinne Eze Ajoku.
She proved generous with her explanations- “South-South is a region in Nigeria so the term is used to describe the people, food, etc. Now, because the President is from that region, he wears the South-South styles a lot, so it’s in vogue.
Sometimes, the South-South is also called Niger Delta. Now if you were making an attire from the northern region, you would hear terms like kaftan, malo, etc. The south-west regions have clothes such as buba and sokoto.”
As we prepared to leave at the dawn of Easter Friday, I bumped into a security alert released by the US State Department – “The U.S. Mission advises all U.S. citizens to be particularly vigilant around churches and other places of worship, locations where large crowds may gather, government facilities and areas frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers during the upcoming holiday weekend.
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Security measures in Nigeria remain heightened due to threats posed by extremist groups, and U.S. citizens should expect additional police and military checkpoints, additional security and possible roadblocks throughout the country during the holiday weekend.”
Na wah o!
Writer's blog: www.Sodzisodzi.com