Life inside Nigeria’S ‘Zimbabwe’ Fun Joint
The original name of the village is Uke. It is one of the communities that make up Nasarawa State. Uke is situated along the eve- busy Abuja- Keffi road. One surprising thing about this village, however, is that it has come to be popularly known and referred to as Zimbabwe rather than Uke. Despite the fact that the distance between Uke and Abuja is over 30 kilometers, many residents of the nation’s capital are not deterred by it. They do not see the distance as a barrier any more. They troop to Uke mainly on Saturdays and Sundays to go and catch their fun. White men and women also come to Uke to enjoy themselves. A visit to Uke by a first-timer on a typical Saturday or Sunday, no doubt, would make him to start hazarding so many guesses as to what could be taking place in this rusty community, especially judging by the number and quality of cars that are always parked all around the area. As a matter of fact, parking has become a major problem within the vicinity of this local market/ spot where people come to catch their fun.
What makes Uke tick?
The naturalness of this community is the very first reason why many fun seekers make it a place to be, especially during weekends, public holidays and festive periods. Some other things that make this community tick include; freshly tapped palm wine, fresh bush meat of all sorts and fresh fish, which are usually roasted upon request. The villagers also sell different kinds of beer and other liquors and spirits, but majority of fun seekers who visit this place do so, primarily, to take fresh palm wine, eat well- garnished fresh fish and even take some home. The affordable prices of these items equally make them attrac-tive. A litre of palm wine goes for N150, while an average size cat fish attracts between N900 and N1,000.
Aside these, there are local musicians who entertain those around, singing and hailing them, hoping to be rewarded with money ranging from N50 to N200 or more. One of the local musicians, who identified himself simply as Mohammed, told the Daily Times that he makes an average of between N2,000 to N3,000 daily. Some men also come there with their families, while some other younger ones come with their girl friends and lovers. The local community women also sell other things like sweet potatoes, irish potatoes, oranges, cucumber, plantain, banana, melon, pepper, tomatoes and onions for those who wish to buy at affordably cheap prices. One of the fun seekers, Jacob Danladi, told Daily Times that his primary reason for frequenting Zimbabwe is the fresh palm wine that the place has to offer, stressing that it (the palm wine) always remind him of the one he was used to in his village in Southern Kaduna. Danladi, who stays in Kubwa, one of the satellite towns in Abuja, stressed that he comes to Zimbabwe at least once in a week to catch his fun. A young lady, Miss Adeola Oke, who came with her boyfriend for the very first time, told Daily Times that the quietness of the place, the serenity of its surroundings coupled with the comparatively affordable items in the area is one of the reasons why she would be willing to visit the place whenever the opportunity presents itself.
The Zimbabwe market opens as early as 8am every day — Monday to Sunday — and does not close until there are no longer people to patronise the traders. People, especially traders, also come to the market from far and near to buy fresh cat fish in large quantities, which they in turn use to make fresh fish pepper soup to be sold to their customers. The traders spoken to in Uke confirmed that they always record their biggest sales at weekends and public holidays.
