Journey of a thousand miles .......

Having been born, bread and buttered in one of mama Africa's own offspring which we would formally refer to as "country" in today's modern society; Nigeria to be precise, my journey towards self independence, self realization and self identity started in 1989 when i got an admission into the one and only University of Lagos (Greatest Akokite).

Unilag bestowed upon me an experience unlike no other; one that i carry with me for the rest of my onward journey in life. I remember one of the professors who spoke at the auditoriun during the new students orientation saying that at the end of our experience at the University of Lagos, there would emerge two groups of people; those who passed through the school and those who let the school pass through them. I believe that i belong to the latter.

In reminiscence, i miss the good ole days of standing in line to take a shower @ 5am at the notorious Moremi Hall with the fanitical "born agains" on the roof top of "F" building which they called "mountain" praying in "tongues" as loud as the spirit led them to, for whoever cared to listen.

I miss the uneasiness that came with the prospect of "launching" a new outfit that had been bought at tejuosho market; the showing off. You could tell someone who was "launching" a piece of clothing that had been brought from the "almighty" America or London, by the way they would walk to class the next day! God help those who came from poor backgrounds and had to make do with the little that life offered them.

Some "poor man pikins" became changed individual on campus; especially those who wanted to "belong"; talk about peer pressure. The "been tos" who were privileged to go on summer vacations to "Jand" (London), did not make it easy on others on campus when they came back for the new semester; of course, some of them came back in the middle of the semester and had someone else do their registration while they were away and somehow had a way of making the lectures look the other way. Being from a rich home definitely gave one an edge.

Some of the rich kids were know by names; all you needed was to mention their last name in a conversation and everyone knew exactly who was being discussed. Some lucky ones who made friends with them, were privileged to move in their circle of friends; of course that in itself put pressure of those whose parents could not afford to pay their tuition, let alone clothe them. In order to belong, these kids resolved to other means to help elevate their fashion sense and morale.

I also miss the unending nites that saw an assorted arraignment of cars with prospective "toasters" parked in front of the hall and countless bevy of beauty pretentiously strolling around the car park; acting like they were getting "suya burger", just jiggling their tiny waists to attract the attention of the "layabout" men who were looking for their next prey. The nite life was crazy; i mean "great moremites" insanely looked forward to the bubbly nite life. The transformation that one witnessed as soon as it was dusk was unbelievable. It was like having a "auto fair" every nite.

Mondays through thursdays were somewhat "serious" nites but come friday and all hell breaks loose. This is not to say that week nites were "dry", on the contrary, they were far from uneventful but the weekend tops it all.

I miss those times when we would walk down to the Arts or Science building @ midnite to "jack" our books in preparation for a test or an exam. While some studied all nite, others did not have to study because they had either slept their way through getting a lecturer to hand over the questions or had an "efico" who did all the work for them. All that was required was for them to show up in class and use their "giraffe necks".

How could i forget the much dreaded yearly list that published the names of "girls you cannot take home to mama" and those you can take home. I am surely glad that i never made it to that list, this is not to say that I was notorious; quite the contrary, i considered myself a good girl; one you can take home to mama. But come to think of it, how come all the notorious girls who managed to make it to that list, all got married before the "good girl". The answer to that one my friends, I guess is blowing in the wind.

"The grass" they say "is always greener on the other side", this journey has led me to the USA where i now call home and have been privilged to obtain an education. This education is nothing comparable to that which i obtained back home. Sometimes I try to convince myself that I am getting older and having fun is no longer a top priority for me but then i quickly dismiss that thought and tell myself that in the United States, I kept two jobs while getting an MBA and still graduated with a 3.8 GPA. Who graduates with such a GPA while holding down two jobs, paying all their bills (mortgage, car notes etc). How can i possibly explain that to anyone that wants to know. I simply do not know how I pulled that one off in God's own country.


In my opinion, the education here in the US is a "piece of cake". People back home studied hard under intense and severe pressure. All the privilege that one can possibly imagine is offered to students in the USA, still most refuse to get a college degree. Sometimes I wonder what Africa would be like if people had the opportunites that are provided to residents in the western world. Especially since i know that people back home take education seriously, possibly seeing it as an opportunity to get out of poverty and turn their lives around.


The "poor" encourage their children to go to school in Nigeria, infact, the zeal of the children from such background is equal to none. Their hunger for knowledge is astonishingly insatiable, evident by their good grades in school. But is education truly a hope for a brighter tomorrow? A friend of mine says "yes" if only one can put their effort into it and not take advantage of the opportunity they have? but i say how do you explain those who have made an astounding amont of wealth without the education required? A lot of people are getting degrees nowadays but are still faced with inadequate job opportunities.


A friend of mine recently forwarded me a job advertisement that required a minimum of a Bachelors degree but was paying $10/hr, my reaction to that was WOW!!! What is going on in this society today? Things were definitely different less than a decade ago.


I am still going WOWWWW!!!!!!!!!!! Could it possibly get worse than this?