Lerabari's Blog

Wetin Musa no go hear for gate? This seems to be the latest expression in town.  But it should be changed to 'Wetin #BigBaby no go hear inside Keke?' Here's why.  "Police, Agbero and Taskforce wey dey collect money from drivers for road, dey help drivers sometimes kwa. Dem dey help dem escape some kain tins like accident and armed robbers." - Keke Passenger What started off this obscure point of view from this passenger? Well, the Keke driver had parted with some money (for the boys) at the junction where we boarded - thanks to the absence of wisdom displayed by those in charge of ensuring sanity on our roads (which I'll explain in another post). So, after driving some meters down the road, just by one of the approved parks, the Keke driver parts with some amount of money again: this time, for the 'park officials'.  One of the passengers who couldn't understand the system of operation asked the Keke driver why he had ...

10 Things that Happened over the Weekend and in the Past Week in Rivers State: 1. Protest, as body of missing young woman is found in well in Rumuosi Community                             Lifeless body of young woman after it was brought out of the well                                           Compound well in Rumuosi where body was found                 2. Police in Rivers State arrest four people for allegedly stealing one-month-old baby 3. Police in Rivers State rearrest owner of real estate company, The Villa 4. Rivers State to start operating Treasury Single Account 5. Rivers State Road Maintenance Agency say rain is the major challenge affecting its operations 6. Alleged Port Harcourt serial killer, Gracious David-West, changes...

In the space of 10 minutes, I was told by two different persons that I should be driving my own car. They said it in a derogatory manner, but don't know that somehow, they've agreed with me in faith. The first person was a street trader who was trying to 'shed' her wears on the road. I was jejely standing on my own by the road, waiting for a keke to drive by. She was straightening out a black nylon she had already spread on the road next to where I was standing. There was another unfolded one on the floor and I suspected she was going to spread it too. So I just stood there when she picked the second one up and said,  "Shift make I shed my market."  I stood still, like I didn't hear anything. She then attempts to spread it, not minding that I was standing there. While bending, she put her butt in my face (not literally though). A keke had stopped in front of me, so I just walked towards it and told her,  "Na you get the road? No wo...

"Oga free us make we go nau!" The driver kept shouting as he frantically turned the key in the ignition, in an attempt to get the bus to start. The bus kept hiccuping, but refused to start. The Man opened the door and stepped down from the bus. The eyes of all the passengers followed him as he walked away and stopped a rickshaw otherwise called 'Keke'. Then I began questioning myself. Was it the man that CURSED the vehicle to halt? Did he possess special powers that we weren't aware of? Was he going to do more than he did to the driver? Why didn't the driver just keep quiet!? I usually have two routes to choose from every Sunday. This particular Sunday, I decide to change from the regular to the 'not regular'. The first bus I approached was parked by the roadside, because it appears the Taskforce on illegal parks have their break on Sundays. I entered the bus and sat down, but the seat was bad so I stepped down to look for another vehicle. ...

#WorldOceansDay is marked on the 8th of June annually. It comes days after World Environment Day which is held on the 5th of June all over the world.   The debate on #ClimateChange is an endless one which I won't even bother going into, but there’s no gainsaying that waste management has become a herculean task for countries world over, Nigeria not being left out of the equation. Waste and its poor management has left the environment polluted in different ways. From plastic pollution, to air pollution, to sea, water or ocean pollution, the concerns keep rising. For this reason, the theme for this year’s #WorldEnvironmentDay2019 was #BeatAirPollution. Last year, it was #BeatPlasticPollution and the results from the awareness campaign launched are yet to be seen. As the sources of resources keep changing, so the environment suffers. In Asia, #AirPollution is a major problem because of industrialization. This is because some countries use coal to generate power f...

Can the #ChildrensDay2019 celebration in Rivers State be described as a happy one? Are the ‘Happy Children’s Day’ wishes really in order? I ask these burning questions because of recent happenings in the state that have children and their welfare at stake. A. The first event being the severed head of a 42 year old man deposited in front of the gate at Community Secondary School, Rumuekini. How did I hear of this pathetic story? I was on my way to work on Thursday, and thought it would be an uneventful journey (my thoughts are never met yeah?). I walked a little past the makeshift bus top and waited for a bike, keke or cab to come by, as the ones stationed were empty and not ready to move. Then came one and picked I and another lady standing next to me. Then the driver began with small talk.  “Me I no wan dey drive for this place again o”, he said. “Wetin happen?”, the other lady asked because I wasn’t in the mood for small talk. “Hm. You no hear say dem k...

A normal day it was. Heading home wasn't uneventful as has become the norm these days. I boarded one of the commercial tricycles popularly called Keke-NAPEP to take me home. The idea is always to get the next available vehicle heading home, just to escape the darkness of the night.         Parked Kekes defy 'No Parking by Police           Order' sign , Port Harcourt  The Keke wasn't full, so I waited until the last person boarded. Then, out of nowhere, this lout starts asking the driver for the daily toll. The driver insists he had given another lout the money. I'm very quiet in the Keke until the lout starts struggling with the driver and tosses the vehicle here and there. Then I flare up because he's actually putting our lives in danger. The driver had already started the Keke and was moving as the scuffle continued.  "You dey see say people dey inside this Keke abi? Wetin dey worry you?" I shouted at t...

Mosquitoes are the known vectors or carriers of the parasite that causes malaria. To be precise, it is the female mosquito known as anopheles, that carries the parasite, which is known as plasmodium. All these are facts taught in primary and secondary schools. One would wonder, why teach these things if for years, we are unable to find a lasting solution to the fatal disease? I mean, what is knowledge without wisdom?  Prevention, they say, is better than cure, so the message being preached over the years is that people need to stop breeding mosquitoes around their homes and places of abode. By so doing, they wouldn't get bitten by mosquitoes. Insecticide treated nets have been invented, mosquito repelling creams produced, drugs that kill the parasite have been discovered, we've even come to the realization that combination therapy works better in the treatment of malaria, but how about the insects themselves?  I monitored a discussion about the causes, trea...

I was going through scriptures the other night, reading about Jesus' life as recorded in the book of Luke. The lady with the alabaster box was one of the stories in the chapter I was reading and something struck me that Ill like to share with you. In verse 37- 38 of Luke Chapter 7, the bible says the woman with the alabaster box she stood behind Jesus weeping:  A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisees house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. (Luke 7: 37-38) Then, I began to have a mental picture of the whole scenario. How was Jesus sitting that she went 'behind Him' to wash His feet? I don't know why, but I was reading between the lines and wanted to know what seemed really trivial, compared to the 'rhema' in this pa...

I had finished from the office for the day and boarded a vehicle to take me home. Approaching the Choba Area Command Headquarters on the East-West road, just after Alakahia, I notice some kind of traffic congestion ahead. Getting closer about 6 vans or more, filled with young boys with their eyes covered were being driven out of the station. The expressway by which the station is located has two lanes, one for vehicles going to Choba and the other for vehicles heading towards Rumuokoro. The side of the road heading to Rumuokoro is where the station is situated, and there's traffic builds up on that aide because the police vans have to drive out, causing some sort of delay for other vehicles which had to be at a standstill. This may not be unrelated to the sporadic shooting reported by residents of Choba on Wednesday morning and evening. Meanwhile, an acquaintance of mine who runs a business and resides in Choba community of Obio/Akpor in Rivers State sent me a d...