Admitting imperfections are great ways to becoming a better person, people and leaders. City of Talents and Resilient people I was born and raised in Ogbor hill, a suburb of Aba, a city in Southern Nigeria. Aba is known for its industry and export of labour to many Nigerian cities and overseas. The city is… Continue reading Opinion: Leadership Woes
Tag: Aba
The Magic in a Smile
A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear. Let me tell you a story of how my experience got me an intern position in a leading Nigerian bank. In 2010, I was privileged to sit for a recruitment test in my school. The test was supervised by representatives of Diamond Bank Nigeria PLC, now… Continue reading The Magic in a Smile
Nature: Best Vacation
Nothing heals faster than Nature and this healing feeling is unexplainable. It’s something everyone should experience. Most vacations should include moving away from hustle bustle and noisy streets of familiarity and town. I can’t say what works for everyone but if you need inspiration or thinking space, I recommend travelling to the countryside, where serenity… Continue reading Nature: Best Vacation
Muse: By the Waterside
Once by the Waterside I strayed Minding the car traffic racing about A bridge led down a couple of stairs And I happened on the market A stranger in the midst of strangers Throwing wares over my face What a mighty mix of man and ware! At a corner a heap of decaying fruits and… Continue reading Muse: By the Waterside
A muse: Heavy evening rain
And now it rains with thunder The hand of Cold had come for her asunder, Come let us see the rains fall by the window Let us dance in the rain and have fun while we can Surely, the heavy rain has come to sow And her many seeds are spread across the land… Continue reading A muse: Heavy evening rain
She sprawled across the breadth of the land. She lay humbly
Like someone listening to the Ocarina of time
Wasting away to carefree and careless governments
Losing the charm it was once known for
And settling for lesser things and lesser people
Ogbor hills abbatoirs lay with blood of sheep, pigs and cattle
The river of the Waterside wash strange men’s nakedness
Cow dung, pig leftover feasts and human wastes
Graciously find their way into the fast flowing rivers
Ogbor hill lives peacefully, she co-exists well with others;
The mechanic, the merchandisers, the retail marketers
The manufacturers, industrialists and fabricators
The wood smith, the metal smith and the vulcanizer
The educators, the transporters and the market!
In the grim darkness of the nights
Came tiny illuminations from thousands of light bulbs
From the surrounding hills and falls of shanties and slums
Came noises of man, machine and animals
Each hussling to stay alive, each fighting to survive
Some weak, some low, some high and some strong
The Waterside, the gateway to the hills stay cool
Warming the over heating causes of the industries
And man and his numerous mad machines
Driving nature mad with unrelented determination
Roads scatter, tarred, untarred, patched, degraded
Yet men thrived and moved about their business
Some build on the small roads, some on the drainages
The great quietness of the day only comes at night
This humble city is full of queer whims and caprices
Up the hill lives another town with her own lifestyle
The tentacles of this little city spread like the war ants
Sprawling across the vales and the hills, consuming everywhere
The team of strange people conquer the lands
Spoiling, tilling, living, farming, working, building
A nice example of environmental degradation
A fine instance of industrial waste and global warming
The little town serve as a breathing space
Safe from the much hustle bustle of Enyimba city
Imagine awakening those moribund factories
Imagine more industrial and human waste
Imagine living in a city of wealth but a plenipotentiary of waste
Commentary.
Ogbor hill is a town, part of Aba in Abia state of Nigeria. It is known for her enterprise, people and industries. Many schools, crafts, factories, religious bodies, governmental agencies, private concerns and residencies call here home. I was born and brought up here. The common language if not the corrupted English is the Igbo language of the Eastern Nigeria.
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They call her the Peoples Elephant
Yet it sits sprawled like a mad man
Eating the debris of waste for nutrients
Driving the cattle mad so they scatter
Breaking the peoples will and mind
Into a million strange atoms
So that the Elephant is left in Ant pieces
The Sewages are dirty, messed up
The people carefree and callous
They care nothing for environmental safety
They care nothing for government properties
Like the wind they chose to fly away
Living in a personal country called Utopia
Dictating what and what not
And like a sea of worms consuming filth
The city had thrived…
The bulk of people who stay here
Live a two-faced life,
One of wealth, affluence and prosperity
Another of delusion and controversy
The mockery of the nation,
A shame to even the dwellers
A power tussle over the life of peoples
Once a pride, now a Vultures prey
Talents waste away, resources also
The principles we live for slowly simmer away
The industries close down everywhere
The roads are broken down badly
The power supply is highly epileptic
The schools lose that strict adherence of excellence
All we have now is a huge sick Elephant
Waiting to turn to a carcass
Or is there hope, now we still live?
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Commentary.
I am bitter about the continued darkness in this city of Abia State. Typical of African style leadership of abandonment, the leaders of the state has done very little to harness the potentials of this great state to its heights. Rather all they are interested is personal issues. A poem of bitterness, I must say.
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I was born and bred in a big city
But nought interests me
More than a quiet life
Which the serene hamlets give
I was the king of the jungle
With maidservants and menservants
And a great sand house
Filled with sand-made yams
Commanding the mango fruit
To fall for my noon delight
And the skies turn dark blue
So that it would rain heavily
The moonlit nights are firecrackers
I sent them into the sky on a mission
To excite me with their noise and bangs
The streams flow as I dip my foot to stop her
She mocks my sovereignty, laughing heartily
The green forest full of trees are silent
I thought I did tell them to keep quiet!
I have eaten the Murringas’ seedlings
I have chopped up the Pumpkin skin
I even has slain snakes
Which infiltrated my farmland
I have climbed the Guava
And the mango and Cashew
I slayed a chipmunk
Which ate the fabrics in the house
Oh, I was a warrior!
Yes I was
I Swam the shallow rivers
And caught a big crab
Now here again I happen,
I happen upon these cities again
But the only true place I ever loved
Was this life which I desire when I am
A thousand miles away from township
And her strange faces of hustle bustle
Commentary;
The poet vividly paints a picture of his past times and experiences in the village and rural areas. The piece suggests just one thing: he truly adores a quiet and pastoral countryside lifestyle.
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See the roofs on houses, dust cladded
And the palm trees stuck to the ground
Like a majestic knight standing guard
The streets wind up the road
Ogbor sits on a hill up the vale
The ancient city and fortress
Once on the river flowing fast
Washing strange mens nakedness
The harmattan brings dusts upon all
The skies are blue most times
Highways are full with cars that whine
But upon the gross confusion men dine
Women trade in the markets
Some men drink heavy stout
Always, people traverse about
But in the evening, the lights go out
Ariaria sits where the city allowed it
The noisy and busy Ngwa town
Wakes with the rising sun
And today a tale must be written
Commentary:
I was raised in this Eastern Nigeria city. The owners of the land are the Ngwa, a sub unit of the Igbo tribe. Also known as the Enyimba city, and harbors the Enyimba Intl FC of Nigeria. Aba is predominantly a commercial center and many markets and industries are situated there.
