The last time I was in my hometown/village long enough
to observe anything was eleven years ago.
So last year, my family went back for
Christmas.
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| Benue, the food basket of the nation |
The packing? The cars had to be loaded the evening
before…two families were travelling together. So we had a minibus and another
car to go with. It was a long, 8 hour, but smooth drive. We set off just after
6am.
I was quite disappointed with the final stretch of the
road between Otukpo and Otobi. Normally, we have to pass through Otukpo to get to Otobi. Otukpo is a local government in Benue state and the most popular
Idoma town/village. It is the local government which my villages, Otobi - my
mum’s village and Onyuwei - my dad’s village, fall under. I have not been to my
villages many times, but the few times I have been there, the thing that has always
struck my siblings and I is the red sand (as we like to say) in Otukpo. It is
still the same, the roads are largely untarred. Between Otukpo and Otobi, where
we spent 5 out of 6 days, the roads leave a little to be desired. Erosion
has eaten deep into the roads and to make it worse, there are so many potholes. The irony is that someone represents this very constituency at the National Assembly,
and has been in that position for 15 years…story for another day!
