The other day I took off by road from Port Harcourt against the advice of some of my friends. My destination was of course Abuja. It has been quite a long time I did such a trip.
There were the Fulani herdsmen to worry about, the menace of kidnappers and armed robbers to think of, and the current state of most dilapidating highways to bother about.
The countryside, serene and enchanting, beckoned nonetheless.
Hours after we left Port Harcourt, we were speeding along the Owerri – Onitsha highway. Truly, we were travelling in great haste so we could get to Abuja before the sun crosses the sky from the east to the west. We watched buildings and bushes disappear; saw the topography change as we made our way further inland.
How I always loved the idea of travelling by road! It has always been fun to see the rolling hills and the valleys in between; fun to interact with the security agents who keep a weary eye on the road; and fun to watch sellers who besiege vehicles at every stop.
As we raced through the countryside, the opportunity to relive those experiences; to compare the low-lying land of my birth with the mountainous climb unto higher ground in the South East and the North Central; held me spell bound.
Driving through Okehi, not Okehi in Etche, I wondered how the builders came to build on the rock. It was as if the houses were attached to the rocky hills which stood like silent guardians in the background.
God must really be a Nigerian. A beautiful landscape the Lord chose to bless our nation with, and capped it with resources – mineral and solid. You would think he was done with Nigeria. He gave us more. He gave us the people, more than two hundred million of them;created a huge market of this number; and gave us a never-die-spirit that distinguishes us as Nigerians.
Diverse as our population may be, He bequeathed unto us and generations to come, a rich cultural heritage and blessed us with arable land that produces just about any crop.
I sighed as I remembered the turmoil – the killings that are products of insurgency; conflicts that exist between herders and farmers that have left everyone on edge; and differences between men who profess to be Muslims and Christians, men who claim to know how God is supposed to be worshipped even more than the Lord Himself.
My heart bled.
There was once a country, a rich country and a peaceful patchwork of undulating land. All of a sudden, we had transformed into savages, an uncivilized and blood thirsty bunch who have become messengers of death.
I cannot confirm if God planned to leave the tower of Babbel in our midst after he had given us everything. The cacophony of uncompromising voices that are coming forth from our communities and tribes haven’t been that friendly. Those indignant voices have rather set us farther apart.
Everywhere you go, all you see are local champions and separatists. These people only dream of a divided country, the promotion of hatred and instability.
Guns have replaced reason while conmen have transformed into overlords. Intellectuals who should be philosopher kings live in fear of pragmatists who capture the ground.
The result is that men, evil men make money with the blood of the innocent while power hungry and visionless fools ascend the throne only to become role models of a generation in search of heroes.
How did we get here?
The British weren’t wrong when they wrote as part of a first National Anthem, “Though tongue and tribe may differ, in brotherhood we stand.”
Where did we get it wrong? Could it be as a result of our ethnocentric pursuits? Could it even be as a result of the interference of foreign powers? Or the emergence of meddlesome non governmental organizations that do dirty work for foreign interests in exchange for pounds and dollars?
I stirred from my reverie and planted my eyes firmly on the road as we drove through Okene.
Anything could happen, I told myself.
We had seen burnt out tankers as we passed through Delta State; seen men as busy as bees at Onitsha. As we made our way up North, there were trucks and trucks. Trucks on the move. Trucks parked on both sides of the road.
Some of them belonging to Dangote were hauling cement. There were other trucks I noticed which were hauling cylindrically shaped objects that were more than 10 ft long. Each of those trucks carried three of those cylindrical objects. We overtook quite a lot of these trucks on our climb to higher altitude.
I could not tell what was encased in those things loaded unto the trucks, but I could tell as the trucks laboured up the hilly route to their destination that they certainly had a lot of weight to deal with.
Lokoja beckoned that Wednesday evening as we cleared Kogi territory, heading for the Confluence State on the final stretch to Abuja. It was 7.00pm when we pulled aside to eat our first meal since we left Port Harcourt that morning.
Soon we were meandering through trucks packed on both sides of the road as we drove through the bridge across the great Benue River, slowing down at various checkpoints manned by security forces as we made for Bwari, a settlement on the outskirts of Abuja.
We got to Gwagalada about 10pm and into Abuja. I simply forgot about my road notes; and those cylindrical objects that I thought could be chemicals that we saw around Kogi which held my attention because of the triangular shape that came from the way they were stacked.
Friday, I saw a video of the freight service of the Nigeria Railways that was launched by the Minister of Transportation along the Warri – Itakpe rail corridor.
Whereas each of the trucks I saw on the road carried three of those long cylindrical materials hauled from the point of loading, the wagons on the rail line transported several of those objects at a go.
This could indeed be the exceptional beauty of the rail revolution that is currently being championed by the Federal Government. The ease of movement of goods and services as a result of the expanding rail service provides a new hope, not just of the diversification of the transportation sector, but the way businesses of the future would operate.
Similarly, I could easily appreciate why the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has made it a point of duty to crisscross parts of our great nation in order to ensure the delivery of time-lines set for the construction of a network of modern rail lines.
Nigeria truly stands at the crossroad of great change. Its future destiny is no doubt rapped around the thumbs of its citizens who want a better country; and who owe a glaring duty to continue the expansion of rail services from the South West to the South East, the South South to the North. That migration from one transport mode on land to another built around rail tracks which are connecting villages and cities would definitely come.
As we reflect, getting to know that the rail infrastructure being put together today provides a cheaper and faster way of hauling goods, now and in the future, makes it more beneficial from the economic point of view.
All things being equal, Nigerians would join their counterparts in India, China, Europe and the Americas, where fast trains transport people across boundaries and across borders, to enjoy the use of a what can be seen as an efficient mass transport system.
I have had the opportunity of travelling by rail between Abuja and Kaduna when the Abuja International Airport named after Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was closed to traffic. My experience of the rail tracks and the train service still rests with me. I vividly remember the look of the rail station that we boarded from; the air conditioned coaches that made travelling by that mode comfortable; and the sprawling countryside that unfolded before our eyes.
Not many Nigerians have pictured the natural scenery that their nation is blessed with; the diverse vegetation that dot the landscape like the nation’s diverse cultures; and the streams and rivers across which bridges have been built to ensure the quickest moves of the train and automobile.
Not many have experienced the life style of the communities that exist by the rail lines; the little businesses that spring forth as a result; and the raw joy that adorns their faces as the fast train storms past.
I haven’t been able to forget my experience as a 17-year old on board a train from Port Harcourt to Kaduna. It was fun eating Gboko yam for the first time. That was before the rail service built prior to independence which was inherited by Nigerian leaders were allowed to collapse.
I had just finished my WAEC and my poor mother, blessed be her soul, thought a week in Kaduna at the popular Kaduna Club as it then was wouldn’t hurt me or her pocket.
It may be that my love for nature, the ability to describe scenes and tell a story stemmed from the early opportunity I had to see the world.
Younger Nigerians would most definitely have the opportunity to share their own experiences in the near future when they board their own trains and see their country. When they do, they would remember the labour of our heroes past. They would remember the labour of a young man from Ubima in Rivers State to whom laying rail tracks across the country was more like an obsession.
We may never be able to define “what tomorrow holds” or “what one can do with the strength and vision that God gives” as the names of this man suggest, but we may be able to hazard a guess that the name of the young man whose name may be permanently etched in history for all to see on account of rail line development would be Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.