Ajaokuta

Photo credit:Metropolitan Museum of Art

I recently saw a documentary on Ajaokuta Steel Industry of Nigeria and it brought back some bitter sweet memories of Lokpanta.

In my village Lokpanta girls often got married quite early in life and so it was no surprise to me when I started to get proposals from a few young chaps who were bold enough to state their intentions.

I remember one of my suitors when I was barely eighteen years old, I do not quite remember his name but I will never forget that he was a motor mechanic or to put it well, a mechanical engineer. Lol!

Lokpanta is such a remote village, I knew early on in life that my husband would not come from Lokpanta and I often wondered how mother was able to grab the only eligible man in Lokpanta. Hehehe!

Father made fun of me when he spoke about the suitor and said that the only thing he would do for us after we got married would be to give me enough money to buy a tray and some tomatoes so that I would sit and sell the tomatoes next to my husband in his mechanic workshop. 

The said suitor got a chance to speak to me on one occasion and all he did for about ten minutes was to smile. Of course he was very uneducated and so I was kind of impressed at his near boldness at coming to ask for Ferdinand’s daughter’s hand in marriage. I know how they would refer to me in their household. “O nke n’agu Law n’yunivasiti” “the one studying Law in the University”.

With every humility, I’d say that dad was a force to reckon with and without being told I knew that this guy was desperately looking for a way out of poverty; I was going to be his meal ticket or so he thought. (He would have been shocked: two of us would sit at home hungry and staring at each other. Lol)

Other Lokpanta young men made passes at me and directly or indirectly made their intentions known but I paid no mind, also Betty and Ferdi (Mother and Father) protected us with their lives. It was hard to understand then but now I know better and I am glad that they did. 

One guy stood out however and I have never forgotten him. It was the annual bazaar in the Catholic Church and as usual mother had her own canopy where we all stayed and helped to sell hot jollof rice with chicken or beef in plastic plates at much subsidised rates. 

Mother sponsored the food every year and afterwards gave every single penny made from the sale to the church, it was her way of giving to the church. 

The queue for mother’s jollof rice was usually long and no other group sold their own food until mother’s own food was all gone. 

It was an exceptional one on that particular day, after helping out, mother let us mingle with the other young people and I must say it felt good. 

The local DJ rolled out songs as best as he could and all of a sudden I found myself dancing. Other people joined and that was when I noticed this very good looking young man.

He was also dancing and I could tell that he really wanted to dance with me but was being careful. He eventually found his way to where I was and keeping a safe distance, he danced in front of me. When it was time to leave, I asked him what his name was and told him that it was nice meeting him.

I was both shocked and pleasantly surprised when I saw him the next day in our home as my brother’s guest. We chatted some more and he told me that he worked in Ajaokuta steel industry which made me very happy, finally "onye Lokpa" (someone from Lokpa) has something close to a real job in the city!

From our conversations afterwards I could tell that he was a very brilliant chap who would have gone far in life if he had the opportunity of a better education.

Uche became a really good friend to my brother and I and he occasionally visited us in the Coal city. 

By the next Christmas holiday, Uche told my brother and I that he lost his job in Ajaokuta mid-year and had been living in Lokpanta ever since. It was such a bad situation and I could even tell that he no longer looked as fresh as he was when we first met him. 

Talk about the effects of a nation that failed her citizens. He went on to tell KC and I that a lot of people were laid off, people whose only hopes were the jobs the held at the Steel Industry. People who had learnt to survive on the meagre salary that they earned from working at the industry.

Hopes were dashed, dreams were killed and many became like Uche and resorted to living in the village where they wouldn’t pay rent, where they had friends and family and where they were accepted and loved.

~ To be continued ~