Transportation remained a re-occuring challenge, I can not forget the day I went with two friends to the market after work, I should have turned down the request but I had an errand to run too. We should have left early if I had known. It was on a Friday which worsened the case. We went first to the mall to get what my guardian sent me not knowing what still awaited us, after some minutes in the mall we went to the market. One of us was going to buy a bag and shoe,we kept entering different stores she just wasn’t satisfied. I was getting angry but our other friend appealed to me to be patient,
I was becoming wary of time and the atmosphere was beginning to change as if it was going to rain. I still hadn’t gotten any of the things I decided to get for myself, by the time we eventually satisfied this my friend, I had lost the desire to go further to get anything. I almost turned back cancelling what I had to get but my friends encouraged me. By the time we got to the weavon store the rain had started. We rushed in to the store and the downpour became heavy. By this time we had already entered far inside the market.
The rain fell for almost an hour nonstop; I couldn’t wait any longer because it was getting really late and dark. We decided to start going in the rain, it was still raining but not as heavy as earlier, the more we trekked the more I realized how far we had gone into the market.
On and on in the rain we trekked by the time we got to the bus stop where we needed to board a bus we were soaked from head to toe, to make matters worse it appeared as if the whole of Ibadan was looking for buses, bikes, cabs, any means of transportation at that same spot . I almost screamed.
I began to regret and lament aloud, by this time calls were entering my phone, I’d never been out that late here. I began to pray and think of how I and my friend (the only one left with me going in the same direction) will get to our destinations. The rain had stopped now but there was water everywhere, we walked and rushed in the water towards any cab or bus that came along. After over an hr we were able to grab a cab that came. He was ready to take us halfway from there we had to struggle further especially me who still had a long way to go.
As if the night couldn’t get any worse, a car hit the next vehicle I got in from behind and curse started flying each party was ready to fight and claim rights after getting out of the mess, we entered into another. A flat tyre.
I got home that day tired, dirty and cold. My guardians even told me I was lucky to have arrived at that time, on days like that some people got to their homes as late as 12midnight and beyond. This was like a major city, a part of me wondered if I would have faced similar experience if I had remained in Plateau.
