By Deba Uwadaie

Journey to Fatherland Journey to fatherland (1)

Columbus, Ohio, USA: I had actually thought of writing about my (16days) trip from Columbus, Ohio🇺🇸 to Nigeria 🇳🇬, especially with the happenings around the world. My first thought was to do a daily livestream on my YouTube channel only to discover that my subscribers are not up to 50 which is the minimum for starting a livestream. Just as I was appealing to friends to go increase the number of subscribers from the current 43 to 50, my friend and colleague, former Secretary to the Government of Abia State, Hon. Ralph Egbu challenged me to “Do it now. It is timely. Write.” So, I’m taking up the challenge to share my story …16days? Maybe!

I left Columbus, Ohio for Washington DC on Saturday, June 7, 2025. I presented my U.S. passport to the TSA at the Columbus airport. United Airlines delayed for two hours at DC before boarding for the almost 12hours direct flight to Lagos, Nigeria. This time, it was my Nigerian passport that the airline officials needed to see. If I didn’t have one, then I must have a Nigerian visa for the trip.

It was about two hours before landing in Lagos that the pilot informed the passengers that the reason for the two hours’ delay in Washington DC was that the meals that would have been served last onboard (breakfast) were not put in the aircraft. Instead of canceling the flight he ordered some “fast food” be put on board for the flight to be operated. He apologized for the mix up.

We landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos at about 4pm on Sunday, June 8. They have two lines at the “border” one for those with Nigerian passport and the other for those with non-Nigerian passport. There are two checkpoints, the first by security officers in mufti who check the passport and ask one or two questions, and the second by immigration officers. They were briskly, polite and very friendly. A lot of improvement at the immigration area, more spacious and neater.

It was N500 for a trolley at the baggage claim this Sunday. The cashier seemed to be overwhelmed with many “aides” around her. She really looked very angry. I got my luggage and headed to the exit gate. Two customs officers signaled to me. It’s my territory this time as I’d covered the airport for 17years as a reporter and publisher before quietly relocating in 2011. I introduced myself, asked them how they were doing. They were nice.

Getting out of the car park was easier this time compared to my last visit in 2022. Destination, this time was Isawo, Ikorodu. It was Governor Babatunde Fashola that started working on the Agric/Isawo road project when he visited the area to assure the residents of his plans to construct the road. He never did before the end of his tenure. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode did some clearing work, poured sand and gravel on the roadsides but couldn’t do much before the end of his one term.

Current Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has worked some parts of the road encouragingly. Interestingly, all these governors had always assured the residents of their intention to construct and complete the road. Eight years of Fashola, four years of Ambode and now six years, so far from Sanwo-Olu. Hopefully, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu will deliver a completed Agric/Isawo road before the end of his tenure. Welcome to Lagos.

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Lagos, Nigeria: Top priority traveling this time was to see how Dad was doing at 85. Yes, aging can be very challenging sometimes. Dad cracked his right hip early this year. I’d followed the treatment and healing through the phone. While all my siblings had visited, I was the only one yet to visit him. Dad and Mum always wait for my calls every Friday between 4 pm and 5 pm. Whenever I fail to call, they would call. So, rather than allowing them to call, I always make sure I create the time to make the “traditional” call.

My visit was a surprise to Dad, as I didn’t inform him on the Friday call. He would have preferred I didn’t. It’s always exhilarating spending time with Dad in person. It’s like continuing from where we stopped the last time. But this time, the will for him to chat with me late into the night was encouraging despite the discomfort I noticed whenever he adjusted his sitting position. Dad is resilient.

The morning the next day was time to visit neighbors in the neighborhood who never failed to check on Dad. “He’s our father,” they all told me. That morning, a delegation from Dad’s church at military base, Yaba also came to visit. The new pastor wanted to meet with dad having heard so much about him. Some in the delegation remembered me as the “Bestman” during dad’s and mum’s “church wedding” or renewal of vows in the church about 20years ago. The pastor spoke well about dad, prayed and commended the family for being around him.

Another visitor was my secondary school classmate and his family (we saw in person last in 1980.) He visits dad regularly with his family spending hours during the visits. Despite all that happens Nigeria is a society of love and kindness.

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Lagos is not static! Driving on Ikorodu road from Ojota to Maryland is an ongoing massive construction on the right hand side. It was in the news during my last visit to Nigeria in 2022 that a bridge was going to be constructed at that spot to link Opebi Road, Ikeja. I had wondered then how that path would pass environmental impact test because it was a swampy area and water way for floods when it rained. I was amazed by the sight and the beauty of work along that path – long grey bridge and roads climbing up the Opebi valley into the mountain top. Kudos to Lagos State government for daring to overcome the swamps and valleys of Opebi.

I’d left my abode that morning for a 2pm flight to Abuja to attend the National Association of Political Correspondents Annual Lecture Series. The National Association of Political Correspondents (NAPOC) was formed in 1988 by a group of reporters assigned by their media organisations to cover activities at the national headquarters of the defunct National Electoral Commission (NEC), Onikan-Lagos at the dawn of the political transition programme of military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. There was a reunion in 2021 resulting in the publication of a book, Nigeria’s Aborted 3^rd Republic and the June 12 Debacle: Reporters’ Account. The NAPOC Annual Lecture Series was therefore a contribution to strengthening and promoting the importance of democracy to the development and growth of the country.

The drive to Ikeja airport was smooth. I got to the terminal one of the airports at about noon. I noticed the reconstruction going on at the premises of Skyline hotel. The proprietor, Chief Segun Awolowo was recently given approval to expand the only hotel at the airport. Having worked at the airport for years prior to relocating abroad it was not surprising to see few old friends and known faces at the departure lounge. Arik airlines called for boarding, and we left Lagos for Abuja as scheduled, 2.30pm.

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Abuja! “I’m a Nigerian” My new friend told me. “Which state are you from?” “I’m from Abuja state!” That was what gave up the claim of the person. There is no Abuja state but Abuja, Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria. My first visit to Abuja was in 1990 when most activities revolved around Garki and Wuse areas. However, in 1991 I was there with my colleagues, members of the National Association of Political Correspondents, NAPOC, to attend a political correspondents’ training workshop organized by the Center for Democratic Studies, CDS, Bwari, Abuja.

June 10, 2025, and thirty four years after, I arrived in Abuja to participate in the inaugural NAPOC Annual Lecture Series at the Yar’Adua Convention Center (September 11). Interestingly, the theme of the Lecture was “The Legacy of Option A-4 and June 12 Election”. Option A-4 was one of the lectures we received at the CDS. Part of my duties at the event was to welcome the guests as the chairman of the NAPOC Coordinating Committee. Being an organization with members in Nigeria and abroad, most of the members in Abuja were in attendance for the inaugural Lecture Series, including the chairman of the Board of Trustees, Dr Emeka Nwosu.  

Between my first visit to Abuja and now, a lot has really changed. The small Abuja airport of 1990 has transformed severally into what is now Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. Wide and beautifully decorated roads crisscross the city. President Bola Tinubu signs were hanging on the streetlights from the airport into the city as new bridges and the International Convention Center were commissioned and recommissioned that day.

Though not as populated as Lagos, nightlife in Abuja is active as I was entertained at Nelson Garden and the Ibro Fish or Farm City over two nights. Abuja has really transformed. The population has been growing, houses, estates and complexes are appearing everywhere, but I saw many of those residential houses unoccupied.

Do they obey traffic lights in Abuja? If you try to wait for red light, be sure to hear the car (s) behind you blasting away the horns for you to keep going. The traffic lights are fanciful, but I think they are confusing for those of us from “this part of the world”. I wonder how people read or interpret the red signal and the red “countdown signal” at the same time. As long as there are no traffic wardens to help interpret these signals it will probably remain a “free driving”.

Driving back to the airport on Friday, June 13, 2025, I was leaving a fast developing and fast growing city with all the ongoing constructions – roads, bridges, buildings and businesses. Hopefully, when I come back my hotel will not have to shut down their generating plants for hours to allow it to “cool down” because they operated it for “since yesterday.” Truly, Abuja is a beautiful city.

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Abuja: As I waited for our flight to be called, Arik Airline, Abuja to Benin City on Friday, June 13, 2025, I decided to start reading “The Ghost of June 12” by my friend and colleague, Olusegun Adeniyi. We covered the aborted third republic together. The book is a compilation of the transition to civil rule programs of General Ibrahim Babangida and General Sani Abacha, 1987 to 1998.

My mission to Benin included a cousin’s families’ wedding or traditional wedding as popularly referred to, that Friday; an opportunity to meet my junior brother’s wife and children for the first time (12years of their marriage); a visit my secondary school (Edo Boys High School) and visit to one or two other places.

When the first announcement of Flight 420 rescheduled from 10am to 11am I immediately understood the advanced warning that “you can’t rely on flight to and from Benin airport because the airlines are always canceling their flights when they don’t have enough passengers.” However, I trusted the airline to operate the flight that Friday since many people will likely be going to Benin that weekend.

But when the next delay announcement for another one hour came, my hope began to dissipate. And 15 minutes later we were called to meet with officials of Arik Airlines at the boarding gate. Before I joined other passengers who were already at the spot there was an uproar. “Nobody is going to board here unless you take us to Benin.” “You can’t just cancel our flight and ask us to come back next Monday.” The passengers were furious. It went on like that for some time. The flight was canceled “due to operational reasons.” One of the airline staff informed us.

Unfortunately, they don’t have allied airline they could transfer us to. As a former player in the industry, I quietly stayed at a corner observing the chaos because the aviation industry still remains “my industry” – having reported it, authored two aviation books and consulted for several major local and international airlines for 17years (1994-2011) while I was in Nigeria.

I called a friend who asked me to call their media consultant. From experience, I knew the only option at this time would be to ask for a refund. I went to one of the staff to request for a reroute to Lagos because “I can’t stay the weekend in Abuja.” Since they were going to operate a flight to Lagos the staff gladly and instantly accepted my request by asking for my boarding pass. As other passengers sorted out their alternate flight to Benin City I was put on the flight to Lagos. If I must make the Benin trip it would have to be the next day and by road.

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Lagos Benin: The timeline was to leave Lagos as early as 7am and get to Benin City by noon (5hours) and return to Lagos same day by flight already booked for 4pm. I remember we used to make that road journey to Benin between 3 and 4hours when I was in secondary school. The new Lagos-Ore-Benin Road was just constructed then.

I liked the way the Ikorodu bus station (garage) was set up for passengers that morning. There were three sections with about 12 chairs each arranged behind the vehicles in the open. Passengers were registered in a notebook after they made their payment.

The driver called for boarding. I got a front seat. After the “pastor” finished praying for a “safe journey” and “contributions” made, the journey to Benin City began at 8pm. It rained intermittently on the way. The driver was always “reporting” at the checkpoints.

Before getting to one of the checkpoints before Ore, the driver asked me for a N5,000 “loan”. I asked him how much he spends on the average daily. He explained that he was “reporting” at the checkpoints because of the two big generators in the vehicle. “If I don’t do so they will delay us. Even when we show them receipts and everything, they will still delay us,” the driver told me.

The checkpoints are numerous but good for security and safety of all. The officers at the checkpoints deserve better and conducive environment and not to stand on the roadsides in rain and sunshine. They should be in their vehicles to monitor traffic and carry out only random searches or on “marked vehicles.” The officers should be appreciated for the hard work they are doing on the roads. It’s a difficult job no doubt.

We got to my great Benin City around 2.30pm. My last visit to Benin was in 2009. Oluku was still a distance to Benin City then with farms and forests on both sides of the road. But Oluku has now expanded and built up into the city. A market has taken over the road junction to my school, Edo Boys High School at Ugbowo. I alighted at Uwasota junction where I was picked up to my destination. Welcome to Benin City.

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Benin City was the capital city of the only Benin Empire. Its territory before 1897 extended to the Niger River in the east and to beyond Eko (Lagos) in the west. The city is the present capital of Edo State. It was once the capital of Midwest region/state and Bendel State.

For 5years, 1975 to 1980 I schooled and spent all my first and second terms’ holidays in Benin City. I only go to Lagos to be with the family during the third term holidays. I’d visited fatherland twice since 2011 but never visited Benin City. I wanted to visit this time to meet for the first time family members I’d interacted with on phone for 12 years. I also wanted to attend a cousin’s wedding so as to use the opportunity to meet extended family members seen long time ago, and to see some new things and developments.

At the time I was eventually picked up from Uwasota junction (about 3pm) I knew returning to Lagos by 4pm flight was no longer a possibility. Uwasota street is a link road to Uwelu road. Uwelu area was just witnessing development during my secondary school days (1975/1980) and we had more farms than houses. Today, all the farmland has disappeared. The city’s main auto parts market is in Uwelu. It created opportunities and completely transformed the area into one of the most economically vibrant areas of the city.

The state and local governments need to do more on the Uwasota road and all adjoining roads in Uwelu and neighboring Ogida. Having grown up in Ukpasia, Siluko road specifically, erosion has been an issue from West Circular to Ogida, and I noticed it in Uwelu. The government will have to continue to pay attention to managing and controlling the menace of erosion.

Solar panels have sprung up in many places. For six months part of Agadagudu, near Baptist High School has not had electricity because the electric transformer broke down. Even after contributions have been made by residents, no replacement has been provided. Those who are able, have resorted to using solar panels or generators to “enjoy” electricity.

Benin City has expanded greatly, transformed immensely and still growing. It has even become a musical theatre that has produced raves of the moment like Rema and Shallipopi.

I couldn’t spend more hours in Benin City as I needed to leave for Lagos at 7am next day. Interestingly, there were no checkpoints on the road driving back to Lagos. I guess the checkpoints on the other side of the road probably oversee that side of the road. I got back to Lagos Sunday afternoon and looked forward to joining staff and former colleagues on Monday to celebrate 90 years birthday of founder and owner of the Vanguard Newspaper, Uncle Sam as we refer to Prince Sam Amuka-Pemu. Welcome back to Lagos.

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Lagos: Vanguard Newspaper is a national newspaper in Nigeria established in 1984 by a global foremost journalist and entrepreneur that we all call Uncle Sam. Prince Sam Amuka-Pemu, founder and owner of the Vanguard Newspaper celebrated 90years old on June 13, 2025.

Late July of 1984, I walked into a small building (bungalow) in Kirikiri Canal, Apapa, Lagos to ask for a freelance reporter’s job. The newspaper had just started publishing weekly and I was going to my final year at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism. So, a freelance job was very appropriate for me.

My trip to Kirikiri Canal as we call the location took me first to somewhere around Liverpool area in Apapa. A newspaper vendor directed me to “Berger Yard bus stop before Mile 2.” That was where I found Kirikiri Canal.

On Monday, June 16, 2025, my driver drove along Ikorodu road towards Western Avenue. “Is this the fastest route to Vanguard?” I asked him. I’d thought he should have exited Ikorodu road into Oshodi-Mile 2-Badagry road. “Yes, they’ve done the road. Apapa is no longer congested,” my driver replied. Truly, Apapa roads were looking well tarred with sidewalks, except that my driver got the wrong address and we ended up around Liverpool area.

I told him to ask for directions from someone close to where he had stopped, while I insisted that the destination was Kirikiri Canal and close to Mile 2 bus stop. We eventually got it right and arrived at the Canal.

The experience with the driver was a nostalgic moment for me as it brought memories that almost 41years ago I was in the same neighborhood trying to find my way to Vanguard Newspaper for a job. This time it was on the invitation of my former colleagues Yetunde Arebi and the Editor Eze Anaba to join the staff of Vanguard Newspaper in celebrating and honoring Uncle Sam on his 90th birthday – the man who gave us the platform that had made many people successful in their careers, including journalists and publishers both locally and internationally.

Did I remember walking the dusty and sometimes lonely road from Berger Yard bus stop to the Canal to write my stories or walking the lonely shortcut to Mile 2 bus stop when it was dark? Did I notice the rapid development in that area to when the road leading to the Canal can’t be easily accessed because of the car dealers that have taken over that neighborhood? Yes, Vanguard neighborhood has changed because one man dared to dare that neighborhood by bringing his business there and today businesses worth billions of Naira are operating daily in Kirikiri Canal.

It was great and an honor to have been part of the 90th birthday celebration of Uncle Sam at the Vanguard office with my former colleagues and staff. It was another close encounter with Uncle Sam. “What is your name?” he asked. I told him and added that the last time I saw him was at his guesthouse in 2007 when I accompanied Captain Bob Hayes to their alumni gathering. “That’s a long time,” he said.

I left Vanguard in 2000 as a senior correspondent after 9years of my second term in the organization. Many did two or three terms. That is the beauty, privilege and joy of working in the Vanguard Newspaper. It is home and always a home where we are welcome back. I’m grateful to all the staff and the management team for keeping Vanguard alive and still making it refreshingly different. It’s the publication that made me who I am today – a journalist and the publisher of the New Americans magazine in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Thank you, Uncle Sam, for daring to establish Vanguard Newspaper and happy 90th birthday sir.

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Lagos: The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) was founded on March 15, 1955, in Lagos. Presently, NUJ operates 37 state councils, six zones, and numerous chapels, along with affiliate bodies like the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, NAWOJ, Nigerian Guild of Editors, and Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN. As a media professional association, it also advances the safety and welfare of Nigerian journalists.

The Lagos chapter has invested and still investing in the association and journalists, including owning property in Victoria Island, Somolu and Ikeja. The association secured hectares of land in Arepo and Abaren in Ogun State, giving opportunity to journalists to own land and build houses of their own. The success of the NUJ Estate phase one, Arepo led to it acquiring the phase in Abaren. This cooperative program has assisted hundreds of journalists in Lagos State to own their homes.

Part of my agenda was a visit to Abaren Estate in Ofada/Mowe/Ibadan expressway axis. Having heard a lot about development in the Abaren Estate in a group that I belonged to, I decided to visit on Wednesday, June 18. My driver from Sparklight Estate, OPIC drove 41 kilometres to Mowe, along Lagos/Ibadan expressway like he was escaping a police chase. The remainder 6kilometres drive from Mowe to Abaren was on muddy, half constructed and earthy road. The driver had no choice this time but to maneuver slowly until we got to the village closest to the estate where he parked.

The journey to the estate continued on a bike. The guide advised us to abandon the bike and complete the remainder of the trip on foot due to the flooded terrain caused by several days of heavy rain. Currently, the NUJ Estate, Abaren, is a vast undeveloped land. Bordered by Mowe and Ofada, it is a boiling space about to erupt into an unimaginable town in between two towns.

With the ongoing few constructions in the estate, I see a land flowing with milk and honey being nurtured to become the Reserved Area (like a GRA) of that neighborhood. I believed that the Ogun State government must have seen the potential and economic benefits of the area with the ongoing road construction to Abaren. This is commendable and I look forward to being part of the commissioning of the road very soon when it is completed by the administration of Governor Prince Dapo Abiodun. Well done, Governor!

All the factories springing up on that axis need their workers to live close to work. Ogun State has the character of what New Jersey is like to New York.

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Lagos: Sunday, June 22, 2025, the timeline included attending church service in the morning at Alausa, attending a classmate’s sister’s 40 days prayer service at GRA, Ikeja, visiting a family friend in Toyin Street, Ikeja and heading to the airport for flight back to home, Columbus, Ohio.

Two of my friends had visited me at the Christ Arsenal Retreat at Sparklight Estate, opposite OPIC on Lagos/Ibadan expressway during the week. One of them offered to drive me to GRA, Ikeja after church service that Sunday and to also drop me off at the airport later in the evening. I’d thought the GRA, Ikeja engagement would last probably two hours. It did, but it became a reunion for five secondary school classmates (Edo Boys High School 1980set).

We ended up in Maryland, the home of one of us where we were all treated to sumptuous “amala ati ewedu, pelu eran orisi-risi.” It’s one of Nigeria’s delicacies from the southwestern part of the country. It is better described as written. It was a time of reminiscing for the five of us. One of us was my class monitor up to class three who always gave me the “job” of writing the names of noise makers. I loved that job! It excluded me from being flogged by the teachers whenever they come to the class and decide to ask for the list of noise makers.

Interestingly, the five of us were regarded as “Lagos boys” then and associated with “Lagos behaviors.” Whatever that means! I don’t know whether it was positive or negative. Boarding school has a way of segmenting students probably because of noticeably different ways of doing things.

We can only be grateful to God sitting down together after leaving secondary school 45 years ago. It was the first time of meeting one of us in person since we left school. We were able to reunite on WhatsApp group in 2021. We talked about so many things.

I got a call from my friend at around 5pm asking where I was. It was time to go to the airport. The last administration added a new terminal to the Murtala Mohammed international airport easing the always crowded single international terminal. Renovations are still ongoing, and I hope that one day we will be able to connect the local terminals without having to exit the international airport building. It was an eventful 14 days visit to Fatherland covering Abuja, Benin City and Lagos. God bless Nigeria.

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