The Otuoke Intersection
Late last week, news broke on the social media of the Federal Government signing a renegotiated contract of the coastal railway (Lagos – Calabar) with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation. The new contract is supposed to be US$800m lower than previously agreed upon by the Jonathan government. The proposed routes for the planned Lagos – Calabar rail line pass through Ijebu-Ode, Ore, Benin City, Agbor, Onitsha, Sapele, Ughelli, Warri, Otuoke (Yes!), Yenegoa, Port Harcourt, Aba, Uyo before terminating in Calabar. Eyebrows could be raised at a first glance of the afore-mentioned chain of stops. But a second look reveals that the coastal railway runs through mainly Niger Delta towns and cities rich in petroleum deposits and natural gas – Sapele, Ughelli, Warri, Yenegoa, Port Harcourt, Uyo. So should one then pardon the planners for the inclusion and omission of some towns and cities?
Since the days of Action Group of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the first Premier of the then Western Region, had there been talks to build railway which would connect major trading cities or towns in Yoruba-speaking zone to one another. Someone seems to have been reading that Awo’s blueprint because the Oodua States (the Yoruba-speaking states in the south-west) recently came together – their political leanings notwithstanding – to discuss ways and means of promoting free trade among each other. Among the proposed plan is building railway to transport agricultural products (cocoa) and petroleum products (bitumen deposits in Ondo State) from one state to the other – that other may be Lagos, the economic capital of the country. So the inclusion of the two Yoruba cities – Lagos and Ijebu Ode – on this coastal railway may be redundant as time goes by.
The first time ever I travelled by rail was as a child. The whole family – Pa was then a teacher at St. Luke’s Teachers’ Training College, Ibadan – went to Oşogbo by train from Ibadan. I can only recall that the train was packed, though we were lucky to have got seats. We went to see Papa Oşogbo, my maternal grandfather. I can also remember a bunch of traders at our destination in Oşogbo.
Oşogbo is the ‘gateway to eastern and northern Nigeria’, states Hezekiah Adetunji Odetoyinbo in his book, Oşogbo Progressives Union. Oba Ademola, Alake of Abeokuta, in the 40s, chose to be exiled to Oşogbo when he had his troubles with the Egba women led by fiesty Funlayo Ransome-Kuti. Oşogbo was a hub of commercial activities involving Lebanese, Syrians, Greek, British among others. Oşogbo can even boast of an aerodrome which was reportedly used during the World War II for refueling of war planes. Station Road in the city is the nerve centre of the capital of Osun State. The first train arrived in this city in 1905. The original plan of the colonial masters was to route the railway from Ibadan through Oyo to Ilorin and terminating in Offa. But Oba Lawani Agogoja, the Alafin (1905 – 1911), strongly opposed the plan of passing the railway line through his kingdom. His reasons? The means of transport would be used to ferry his wives away. This strong objection made the planners route the rail line through Oşogbo, a decision that not only enhanced commerce in the city but changed the history of the town forever.
One would have expected that as Oşogbo is a nodal town, central to northern and eastern regions, all rail routes would’ve been planned to pass through the city just like how the rail network in the south-eastern region of England conglomerates at Clapham Junction, London, UK. Where’s the love of our fatherland when we put the country last in all we do? What a pity!
What’s the justification in including Otuoke on that route? Is it because of the multi-million naira Church built there when Goodluck Jonathan was president? Apart from being the birthplace of the former president what else in Otuoke is a tourist attraction? My father was from a small village that is now a town, Oke-Igbo. I bet Oke-Igbo is much more a tourist attraction than Otuoke. For one, Daniel Olufemi Fagunwa, (remember him), came from there. He put our village on the world map through the many books he penned in Yoruba. Prof. Olupona, an anthropologist at Harvard University, USA, is also a child of Oke-Igbo. Another son of the soil is Femi Odugbemi, my aburo, who through i REPRESENT International Documentary Film Forum, iREP, is arousing the interest of Nigerians in docu-films.
Ijebu-Ode is noted for its’ Ojude Oba Festival which comes up during the Eid-el Kabir. Ore is famous for ‘Ija Ore’, reminiscent of the Civil War. Benin City, is acclaimed as the city of warriors who stood up to the colonial masters and also famous for its’ bronzes which adorn museum and stately homes all over the world. Agbor is the town that produced the youngest king on earth. Reigning Dein was only 2 and a half years old when he was crowned after his father’s demise. Onitsha, city of the great Zik of Africa. Sapele of the ‘oyèlè’ fame, Warri, I salute all the wafis, Ughelli, Yenegoa and Port Harcourt, oil, oil nothing but the black gold. Aba – s/he who doesn’t respect Aba traders will respect nobody and Calabar, the city of Mary Slessor. So where does Otuoke fit in?
Whatever the reasons that might have prompted the politburo of the day to include Otuoke in the coastal railway, one could only hope that the good fortunes from which Osogbo benefitted in her days may now be the portion of Otuoke. Sons and daughters of the soil may need to start their feasibility studies so as not to be left behind when the train passes. Surely inhabitants of neighbouring states are now stretching their necks to see what they could get from the deal. And they may just get lucky if the indigenes aren’t fast enough to cope with the situation.
Watching football can lead to heart attacks. No not in Nigeria.
In the wake of The Three Lions, the English team, exiting the Euro 2016 – I’m not talking of Brexit but the on-going UEFA, European Cup Champions – a British doctor, Laurence Gerlis, has warned that, ‘the anger that football fans feel when watching their team being defeated could prove deadly’. Dr. Gerlis, who runs Samedaydoctor – the largest independent GP practice in the UK, advised that the anger and frustration could be diverted mainly by ‘sublimating them via friendship and shared suffering but most importantly by humour’. English fans have a lot to learn from Nigerian football fans who when their teams play bad just switch allegiance to the better team. No they aren’t fair-weather friends, they just appreciate good soccer.
