Better?

I usually refer to myself as a Lagos girl (although i can not speak Yoruba to save my life) because my parents moved to Lagos when i was barely 3yrs old and i spent all my childhood in Las Gidi.

As far as i was concerned, Lagos was the shit and there was nothing outside Lagos. This changed by the time i had to start uni. Said Uni was in a little village in Edo state. There i met people from all over the country. I still remember how i pointed and laughed till i had a stitch in my side the first time a boy told me he lived in Aba. I had been to Aba for an excursion in secondary school, all i could remember about it was the national War Museum and that huge Ariara market. So as far as my narrow little mind was concerned, if you lived in Aba, you lived in a market. Fin.

As if that wasn't hilarious enough i met people who lived in places like Sapele and Eket, places that to me only existed in my McMilliam reader where some Edet or Okon had to help his uncle on his farm. But here i was meeting people who claimed to actually live in these places, meaning they really existed. WOW!

Yes blame my myopic Lagos view.

Of course, naturally, i considered anybody that dwelt outside Lagos as razz *shrug* I didn't understand why people spoke english with very conc accents and why some spoke pidgin all the damn time.

Did you just call me a snob? I know.

Anyway all this changed of course because i had to adapt to life in uni, there was no way i could hang with the cool Lagos kids all the time, my room mates were all Onitsha babes + 1 Benin babe so by the end of my first yr i was rapping in pidgin and could even speak some Onitsha dialect.

The pidgin part was very neccessary because there was no other way to communicate with the "any work" (Oh God how i miss anywork. God bless all the anywork in the world, Amen) I remember one of my fellow Lagos ajebutters who never got a hang of pidgin, all her errands were run backwards because of the communication gap.

Anyway life in Edo state was rough, definitely not what i was used to in Lagos, but like i said i blended.

Fast foward to Mon, 29th Jan. I landed at the Benin airport by 10.00AM (after i'd been sitting at the Lagos airport since 6AM because the flight was scheduled to leave at 7:30AM)

The airport actually looks half decent, for a domestic airport in Nigeria, fine. I get into a taxi and hit the streets of Benin. Can you say UGLY? Say it. Just say it. Every where just looked messy.

I now understood/understand why people stay singing governor Fashola's praise, at least there are roads in Lagos. Yes there is mad traffic but you will sha be driving along a road, not a foot path. I kid you not it's just red earth footpaths everywhere, with some pretend road work going on at certain points on the road.

The buses used for public transportation looked sad and unsafe, all the road sides along the main highways looked like pop-up boutiques and mini markets, everywhere just looked rough. Oh and guess what song was playing on the radio?

Try.

Ego by D'jinee. Then i think a Styl Plus song after that.

Unfortunately for me upon arrival at my friends place there was no electricity. And it remained that way for a greater part of the day. The next day, after getting dressed with the help of a torchlight, we get to the road and have to hail bikes to get to our destination.

I fly bike sha. I can't remember the last time i did that. It wasn't fun to me.

The highlight of my day however was when i went out with one very correct person who carried me to one beer parlour joint somewhere in G.R.A I started by ordering bush meat peppersoup as a starter abi na appetizer, i couldn't believe how ridiculously cheap it was, so i decided to order pounded yam and egusi as my main course. My people if you see the hot pounded yam and better egusi soup ehn? You will be very jealous. Of course i had to share part of my meal with flies sha. At some point i asked the guy serving to do something about the flies na im the guy bring kerosene come clean the table o. Please helep me and see. Kereosene where food is being served? Is it just me that thinks this in not normal? The guy noticed the look on my face and said "Aunty kereosene no dey kill o, pesin dey even drink am sometimes" #NoComment

Let's just say i had to make sure my no part of my body or my food came in contact with the table during my meal. After everything our bill came to One Thousand Five Hundred Naira. #1,500. Shikena. I had to behave myself and not order for more because no be me dey pay.

I really wasn't feeling Benin at all, so exactly 48hrs after i arrived, i was on a bus back to Lagos (Yes bus, i am broke. Arik flight to Benin na 22k)

In summation, what this trip reminded me of is that general saying you hear sometimes "Nigeria is so much better now". When the people talking have not left Lagos. Or Abuja. People don't look as fancy or relaxed in Benin (and i'm sure most of the other parts of the country) Most people look like a picture of struggle. They don't have red carpets rolling out hither tither. There aren't that many people sitting in traffic with their windows rolled up. There are no red cabs, instead their cabs have 4 passengers sitting behind with 2 in front beside the driver. Bikes are the preferred mode of transportation especially depending on your destination because there are places that are not motorable.

Even at that bikes are not allowed to run after 7PM in certain areas due to the high spate of robberies. Highway robberies along that Benin-ore road are still a fairly regular occurence and the road still has several bad spots some of which are currently undergoing construction and adding to the traffic.

Forgive my pessimism but i really don't see what has gotten better. I just see struggle and apathy and insecurity of lives and property. Another thing i do see is the resilient Nigerian spirit. The fact that people live through these harsh conditions and can smile through it all. And that in itself is remarkable.