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If I am indeed being honest, I really miss my home. Unfortunately, making the trip home at the moment seems like extreme sport. There have been numerous reports of kidnap and armed robbery on the highway, and the short train ride that would take you to the somewhat "safer" capital city of Abuja was ransacked earlier this year, the local airport too was attacked in January of this year, making the only means of exit the highway which is ridden with dastardly activities by these perpetrators of unrest we call bandits.
I haven't been out of this city for at least 17 months and it's beginning to take a toll on my sanity, I haven't been in the same room with a member of my nuclear family in a long while and I think I'm officially homesick. Not going to lie, some people still make the trip using the highway into town but I personally find it pretty dangerous.
While at home, I usually help my mom out with managing the family catering services business. This means she and her staff can concentrate on bringing out the best meals from the kitchen while I handle most of the logistics to make certain our clients are happy. I have continuously done my best to remotely help out even though I am about a thousand kilometres away. I prepare google sheets detailing purchases, sometimes helping her set up the salary scheme and also typing out documents like receipts, quotations and applications.
Recently, it has been increasingly difficult to be effective from my present location as it seems like I'm just giving orders from a far away kingdom and she is doing all the heavy lifting. This always makes me feel bad as I know if I was on the ground I would do by far a better managing job for the business than I am doing right now.
She recently got a job that is very strenuous, working for a man we had worked with some time ago known to be very cunning. The job is meant to last for about 2 months stretch, and managing being in the kitchen while also ensuring that we keep a standard has become increasingly difficult, especially as our most trusted staff (Tochi) and myself are absent at the moment.
I would really have loved to go back home to help but the insecurity of the journey scares me so much considering that my journey would be to and fro along that very dangerous route.
I intend to move back home in September when I am through with all that I came to do in this part of the country and move to our home town or somewhere closer, where I can help out with the family business without o much of a hassle.
The sad thing about the insecurity in Nigeria is that cities that were once business hubs, tourist attractions and just plain habitable have become apposite for crime and belligerence.
I really would love to be home helping my mom and the business perform better but it seems like I am trapped in one end of the country while she is in another, and making the trip isn't without its enormous risks.
I really wish for a better Nigeria, one where my children and grandchildren can proudly call home. I think redemption is still possible but it means we as Nigerians have to start making the right steps now because we seem to be on the brink of being a failed state.
So many of us feel like running away or "Japa" as we fondly call it solves all the problems, but it doesn't. As a matter of fact, it leaves a huge gap in leadership, education and technological development as we are already seeing in the ongoing brain drain happening as we speak that only leaves people with questionable characters running the affairs of the nation and constantly burrowing us deeper into the ground.
I really wish we could make a change so that simple things like helping out my mom wouldn't feel like crossing the red sea or like in dire straits. I just want to go home and help my mom.
Thanks for stopping by and until next time, stay frosty
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