I grew up in an area I do like to refer to or rather people do
refer to as a restricted area. Spent most of my teenage years in Ondo state
although I was born in Lagos and left when I was six to a school in Akure as recommended
by my Dad, where my grand dad happened to be the first principal. I had to join
the boarding school till my senior year for whatever reason thought needed for
my growing up….. ‘This story for the gods’ perhaps is just to give you a hint
about the whole ideology of what strucked me differently from the norm as bizarre.
I moved into Bariga recently for the ease of going to school
as the distance seems closer unlike coming all the way from Okota (where we own
a house) everyday still I get my bed space in school fixed and just the few
weeks I stayed in Odunsi not too far from Church Bus Stop I discovered a lot of
messed stuffs about Bariga life especially in this ghetto like area…. First is the illiteracy thing, you see almost all the young boys and girls in this area
not taking education as a matter of priority and how ironic to have the area
very close to schools like Unilag, Federal College of Education Akoka, Yaba
Polytechnic, I mean…. the philosophy that tertiary education is nothing really turned
out to mess up their orientation and upbringing up. They all take after adept
jobs like hair dressing, fashion designing, carpentry and the likes and it just
feels so right in their eyes when actually it is a call for doom. And do not
get me wrong as saying adept jobs are write-offs, no! But education brings out
the best in everything…that’s the point am trying to make here.
Secondly, Is the Poke nosing thing; all the accommodation in
the area basically is a face-me-I-face-you, even as mine wasn’t really looking
like one; I still could not possibly have my privacy even as I was careful at
best. Many successfully monitored everything I do times I thought I had no
preying eyes around, guess what, there were in a dark corner with ultra rays binoculars
*like seriously...* and in no time I became the hottest topic even to my very
eyes up to the extent that the poke nosers’ fabricated tales and ended up putting
my ass in trouble with admirers… you know the Pepsi thingy I was featured, the
MTN project fame thing, the Etisalat advert and Glo industry nite with Burna
boy-NaetoC and all that??? (It wasn’t a big deal at my school, so I thought it
did be same in a nearby area but what a heck!) Trust me, these peeps are expert
detectives when it comes to gossip and am talking about the young girls and
married jobless ones in the area estimatedly 69% of the total populate… oh! Oh!
Now you get my plight.
Thirdly and still counting my experience, I notice that I
was easily spotted out as new in the area and not that I did not blend in fast
but because the goons in the hood all have their marks which I do not and of
what made me seemed however uncircumcised to them (if you can picture what I
mean… good!). The ghetto life is eccentric as young guys franchised in walking
up and down aimlessly, smoking, gambling, sagging, drinking herbs, living gangster
lives especially as grading the girls they date and fashion sense (Gosh!). I
had to make my research wanting to know what actually led to this and realized
one hurtful thing, ‘upbringing’…. Almost all the parents in this area gave
birth at very tender age at times they were not prepared for it (talking about those
who were given birth to and brought up in the area) plus mostly out of wedlock
too. I’m not trying to insult the image of this very populated power street nor
under-estimate them (forgive me if I did) …I am only trying to share the story
of a rather fortunate tale of oddities of the realities in this area, hoping to
enlighten the few brighten ones able to let the view passed sink and as a
consequence positively affect the others.
The few good ones I met happened to be without blemish and
very respectful too. That’s that!
Fourthly, I want to talk about the escapades of the young
girls in this area??? Stories at my disposal to far are shocking…. Let me hint
you, first about a girl forming to be a virgin during her menstrual period, another
girl barely fourteen been victimized by her god grand dad and the adventure of
a young beautiful girl of seventeen under the grips of a dreadful guy who
happened to be injuring her essences and worth since she was like thirteen and
up till date (What odds) amongst the other facts i affirmed…….(...)
Will talk more about this and the very few good and
ugly incidents I found shocking as part of my experience just in the few weeks
I stayed in the area (Odunsi, Bariga).
Stay tuned to www.unilagfamzer.blogspot.com for more of true life articles.
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