I woke up quite early this morning with plans of carrying my usual routine before heading to work at the secretariat. Just as I was about to start doing the dishes, I got a call from my boss informing me to dress smart today as I would be attending an event in another town where different people from all over the state will be present. Excited about this golden opportunity, I hurried with my chores, had breakfast, kept everything in order and off I was to assemble with everyone else at the chairman's office.
The office was brimming with 17 familiar faces all eager to embark on this new adventure. During the briefing before our departure, I learnt that it was an event to create an awareness in hopes to combat insecurities, kidnapping, drug abuse and cultism in Nigeria. The session lasted for over 30 minutes before we were all handed a T-shirt and since the cap was not enough to go around, only 6 people got access to them and sadly I wasn't one of them.
We left Igbokoda just a few minutes past nine with Ikale (a place in Ondo state Nigeria) as our destination. We navigated through the terrains of the unique route for over an hour before arriving at the location. The security officers stopped us at the gate just like everyone else, checked for our names through a list before allowing us inside with a gate pass to signify our status as invites guests.
It was an outdoor event and the venue was extremely huge. Being a picture- freak, I forced everyone to take pictures before heading down to the canopy to grab our seats. The event did not start until the special guest of honour arrived a few minutes after we did and to officially kick things off, the Nigerian National anthem was the first order of business. The heat today made me very uncomfortable and to make things worse I had to sit through four gruesome lectures that felt like torture. During the entirety of this supposed enlightenment, I kept thinking if it was possible to rewind time just so I could avoid this level of wickedness that was the occasion but sadly I am not a time leaper so I decided to sleep through it all.
After four hours under the sun, the programs came to an end, even though I slept through some of the lectures, I was still able to learn enough to validate the necessity of this event. We were told to wait back for refreshments and a certificate to show we attendees of the event . The certificates got to us all in no time, the refreshments on the other hand was a totally different story because none of us from Ilaje got even a bottle of water. Nevertheless we still got stipends from the host so that actually covers for everything including the refreshments.
Overall it was a wonderful experience, I slept through the entire journey back home tired, exhausted and hungry. The moment I was given my benefit, I hurried down to a restaurant to fill my tummy because just like the popular Nigerian saying goes "Na who work go chop". I know this is not going to be the last time something like this happens, I just hope I am remembered when another pops up again .....
Thank you.