My Beloved Makurdi: A City of Boundless Possibilities
Terwase Swande
Finance Professional,
Author, Ideation Specialist/Consultant
Makurdi presents a curious and sometimes funny scenario. Super markets, Beer Joints, Hotels and expensive fast-food restaurants are all cashing out. Building materials and Plumbing materials/equipment vendors are cashing out. Banks are making huge profits too. Expensive schools are not short of students. Civil servants are also being paid before end of the month…something very refreshing and which endears the people to the present government.
There are many road construction projects ongoing. The rich are building gigantic mansions and there is a new governor co-habiting Makurdi who is truly loved by the majority of the town folk.
Someone estimated that Makurdi may have as much as ten thousand motorized boreholes for water supply. He may be wrong but the clear inference is that River Benue, a national treasure, which passes through Makurdi for not less than 10 kilometres is yet to feature in the economy of Makurdi.
There is a huge influx of easterners due to urban-to-urban migration from Eastern States to Benue for opportunities and many are now billionaires. There are opportunities in Makurdi; for contractors, for business men, for Politicians who are everywhere in every corner with expensive Toyota Land-cruisers whose cost is the equivalent of 30 years of their official annual gross pay.
Despite the huge constructions, there is a housing deficit. Rents are high. And still more enigmatic is the fact that almost one-quarter of the houses in Makurdi are for sale and guess what? There are no buyers!
Makurdi has big markets but the volume of commercial activities outside the markets are more. Enterprising people have built de facto markets they creatively call “plazas” and they are cashing out if located in a strategic corner.
Makurdi is competing with bigger cities in terms of cost of living. N20,000 is the amount needed for a decent meal in one of the restaurants with fancy names. Those who are wise trace where Okada men congregate for food.
But they say Makurdi is a “civil servants” town meaning that there is no money. An enigma huh? Transportation is mainly on Okada (motor bikes) and Tricycles (Keke).
Makurdi is vibrant. The social media community in Makurdi is always on fire…over hubris.
Makurdi has nothing less than 200 Professors but they are not and have never been part of the economic and development discourse of Makurdi metropolis. Most of them avoid conversations dominated by exuberant youth who are, more often than not, jarringly flippant and sometimes obscenely rude on social media. I have seen where a student abused his former professor on Facebook and tagged the Professor for proper import and impact.
The youth are brave in actions and in words. University students who are “hustling” leave lectures and hop on Okada straight to where they pose in the appropriate clothes for customers in a town it is easy to come across an uncle or aunt.
Makurdi is under-policed and under resourced in terms of security infrastructure but the town is comparatively peaceful. The police are polite and civil as it should be. Ethnic pluralism of the town presents another interesting scenario. The Idoma have maintained a deliberate silence which they exhibit with a measure of maturity concerning issues that make their Tiv brethren go wild.
The Idoma watch with amusement and amazement as the Tiv abuse one another, their fathers and their King while embracing foreign cultures in a rare and peculiar show of xenophilia. The Igede are ready to embrace whatever is thrown at them. The Ibo are content on buying the land and properties of the once-had, the Jones and Smiths, former government officials who have decided to sell their land and properties because children are now all abroad with no sign of imminent return and when you are accumulating and taking over from the hosts, quietness is a virtue. The Ibo man knows better. The few Yoruba are almost hiding and tongue tied. This is not their tuff. The Fulani and Hausa are content with plying their trade in Wadata and North Bank axis, Ready not to rock the boat.
There is a small but quiet expatriate group. The NGO workers. They are usually holed up in their rooms with gun-toting security escorts milling around for “protection.” 20 years ago, expats with big SUVs were usually found drinking at Sam’s bar close to APC Secretariat or Larozone. Sam was a German and how he came to operate a bar in Makurdi was one of the hidden stories of the town. the VSOs were many. Philippinos, Kenyans, Britons, Canadians, Irish and the Danish from Danish Aid and of course the loud and friendly Americans from USAID.
There is a large population of Gen Y and Gen Z. They are bright, smart and impatient. The opportunities available to them are meagre.
In the midst of all, everyone hopes for a better tomorrow.
