The 23 year old ancient article
Ore
gained international attention following its dramatic capture by Biafran forces
during the war. When I later gained admission to study Economics at the
University of Ibadan, I saw Ore, ‘life’. The busses plying Onitsha-Lagos route
usually stopped at Ore for refuelling by the vehicles and their passengers. It
then cost N5.00(Five Naira, only) for an Onitsha-Lagos trip with the luxurious
busses, the most popular of which was Ekene-Dili-Chukwu. Ore
became a regular feature for me when I reluctantly became a Lagosian. Generally,
I perceived Ore as a Big Town, which should ordinarily boast of modern
facilities. However, as our elders would say, it takes the wind to expose the
anus of a fowl! The wind has blown on Ore and I found out that contrary to all
expectations, the express-way was the only thing big about Ore. Here is the
full story.
At about 6pm on 10/10/99, I received the
shocking news that my elder brother, who just returned from USA and was on his
way home, was involved in an accident and was rushed to Ore General Hospital,
together with the driver. By the time I got to my house at Okota Lagos, two
other relatives who received the sad news earlier, had left for Ore and promised to telephone
with the situation report as soon as they got there. While awaiting their call,
we wanted to get through to Ore so as to make enquiries. We went through all
records and even went through a Newspaper house( I think it was Champion
Newspapers) but could not obtain the telephone number of anybody at
Ore. Meanwhile, anxiety mounted because we did not hear from those who left for
Ore earlier. By 5 am the following day, I was on my way to Ore, promising those
at Lagos that I would telephone them immediately I got there. When I
arrived at the General Hospital, I received the sad news of the driver’s death but nothing concrete about
my brother. I asked for directions and went to the nearest private hospital.
There was also no news about my brother there I asked the nurse on duty if I
could make a call from their office and if not, to direct me anywhere that I
could do so. The lady looked at me as if I had committed heresy and responded,
‘Here in Ore? You are NOT serious’! I was confused. She then explained to me
that there was no telephone either in the hospital or anywhere else at Ore, and then advised that if I needed to telephone anybody, I should go to Ondo(about
110 kms away). It was then my turn to exclaim: ‘You just be joking’! But she
was damn serious and that explained why those who arrived earlier did not send
any feedback.
I continued with my search and got to the Police
Station where a Traffic Officer gave me some meaningful information about the
accident and the cheerful news that my brother survived. He also advised me to
go to Okitipupa (about 29kms away) to make the needed telephone call
because it was nearer and the road was
not as busy as that of Ondo. So, I left for Okitipupa, a town I had not visited
before. I got there, and located the
Telephone Exchange, which was situated off Broad Street (You see, Lagos soes
not have a monopoly of Broad Street!). However, my problem became more compounded:
there was no light and I was advised to wait till 11 am when they would start
the generator for me to make the call. It was about 9.30 am then. I was at a
dead end. There was no telephone facility at Ore and after getting to Okitipupa
, I had to wait for a generator, which I was not even sure was in a good
working condition. There was also no certainty that the line would go through:
there might be no dialling tone, the line on the other end might be engaged or
may be on TOOS( Temporarily Out of
Service; a very regular term in those days) or
other 1001 NITEL generated reasons.
I decided to return to Lagos, rather than
waiting for the genset and an uncertain
telephone call. By the time I got back to Lagos, there was a
‘missing-person’ alert on me. My brother, who had minor injuries, went straight
to Enugu and telephoned from there that morning. Those who left earlier had
also telephoned from Benin but nothing was heard from me until I came back
‘life’ much later. So when my people received the good news about my brother,
they went into another panic mood as the
person who went to search of someone was
apparently missing! All because there was no telephone service at Ore.
Well, all that was well that ended well. I later relaxed and reviewed the whole episode. If there had been
telephone services, I would not have travelled in the first instance because
the first party would have reported with the sitrep. I would have saved the
time and resources (I hired a driver for the trip) and avoided the risk of
travelling (I had a burst-tyre on the way-while in motion). The tension and
anxiety that lasted for almost 24 hours would have been avoided.
The absence of telephone at Ore, and any other
town for that matter, portends calamitous consequences. How do doctors
communicate in emergency situations? How does the community inform the police of robbery incidents? How
do businessmen transact their businesses? How do government departments and
corporate entities communicate with their headquarters? What if the usual
communal riots erupted, how do people communicate? The big question however is
why is a town as old and strategic as Ore is without telephone services?(the
end)
You
know how it would have played out if it were today. Those who arrived at the
scene earlier would have been busy taking and sharing pictures rather than assisting
those involved in the accident. The
family would have heard the story first from Facebook et al. and we would have
received up to 100 telephone calls and messages within a few minutes of the
incident! Since then, my brother, Prof M C Muo (now of UNIZIK), had never
travelled by road unless he was the one driving!
The Christmas/New year season has just
ended. I doubt if anybody sent or
received ‘life’ Christmas cards. There were e’Cards, most of which were
personalised, videos, assorted memes text and voice messages, emails, special
Facebook posts and even ‘Christmas alerts’. These were not possible in the days
before GSM. You had to buy Christmas cards, post them through NIPOST and pray
that they got to the recipient before Easter of the following year!
·
I also found
a letter dated 6/30/89 from one Chijioke
Okpara of Department of Business Administration, Anambra State University of
Science & Technology, Enugu, seeking further explanation on my article ‘Is
exploitation a misnomer’ published in the Daily Star of 24/5/89. I will
like to reconnect with Chijioke in case
he is reading this, or if anybody who knows him is reading this
The letter and the BD cake of 1/1/23
· Meanwhile, happy new year to all men of good
will, I also appreciate all those who felicitated with my on my birthday (1/1/23),
which was celebrated in the cloud. One of these days, before long, it will be
celebrated on the ground and I will ring the bell when that time comes.
Meanwhile, ‘soft copies’ of the cake, specially made for elders, have been distributed online to all elders in my contact list.
Those who are left out should please forward their details, including
attestation by their grandparents!
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