RANTINGS FROM A NOTE PAD

My first and last real feel of a zoo was in the late eighties. Rojeny Park, Ozubulu, I remember, gave me my first thrill at the sight of a pair of hyenas, a lioness, an alligator, and a very extravagant peacock. The only other time I would ever set eyes on a bevy of peacocks and peahens was on a very recent visit to the home of a wealthy company executive and Igwe(King) of Mbaukwu Kingdom, somewhere in the East of the country.

The man, notorious for his wielding of a colt pistol have these flamboyant birds in droves, and it was in his abode that I got to know that the birds could fly, or at least, try to do so.
They roamed the vast compound by day, picking whatever food they may. They retire by night by flying up, all the way to the top of the massive tank stand towards the west end of the compound. There, they had their night rest.

I'll talk about this dude and his pea-chickens some other time. For now, to other rantings.

Where are the zoos? I ask. A certain state boasts of its tourist attraction sites. I say lies. Who are they deceiving, actually? Why are we like this?

Tourism is a very lucrative venture. It can yield massive revenue for the country. Yet, menacingly, the funds meant to boost this very industry is shoved in coffers beyond access.

I'm sipping an industrially processed mix of fruits, herbs, and gin. Its called Orijin. I'm trying to mind my own business but the pain isn't letting me. I mean, how much will it cost to set up a zoo? Or a museum of African history? Or a research institute? Or revive industries in comatose? Hunh? How much? I guess there won't be any answers coming from our despots.

Talking of despots, the man, Bashir just escaped the snare of the ICC in South Africa. Accused of war crimes in his native Sudan, the very example of the trampling on human rights, I wonder why the SA government would let his abscond.

Why won't he, when, just like one analyst on BBC Africa tagged the AU a brotherhood. Yes, a brotherhood of despots - Mugabe, Jammeh, Biya, et alia.
I'm tempted to call our dear sweet agent of change a despot, too. A military coup in 1983, and now a converted democratic president? I say there's a fish, rotten, and smelling somewhere. Just thinking.

Its amazing the transformation that these African "rulers" (not leaders) undergo during their despotic reign. From "I had no shoes while growing up" to money laundering cases and big fat Swiss account. Or is it, now, accounts in the West indies, and the Caribbeans. A case of the rich getting ever richer, gaps between them and the poor never closing, and the poor plunging ever deeper into the abyss of poverty. And we have human rights lawyers and intellectuals?

Any way, today is one of those days I'd pick up a book and just read away. Let me see, Helon Habila's "Waiting for an Angel"? Or, Richard Wright's "Black Boy"? I think Wright will do for me.

Do have yourselves a blissful day.