I crossed 600 police checkpoint

This one is for those of us that must have everything laid out before we start anything. I hope this goes straight into your soul so it’s clear to you that everything doesn’t go according to plan.

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Hey there,

I think it’s worth mentioning that I did not actually cross up to 600 checkpoints. It is an obvious exaggeration. But in my defence, it did feel like 600 checkpoints.

Since you are already here, looking for the 600 checkpoints I crossed, you might as well enjoy the rest of the newsletter.

All the things I have experienced in the last month are probably enough to write a book but as always, I will deliver my rant/gist in bits.

It’s almost like I was locked in a simulation where I got to experience different variations of human behaviour, the uncertainty of life and the need for consistent demonstration of problem-solving and adaptation skills.

It feels like big grammar but this issue is mostly gists from my trip to Enugu State.

I know I have mentioned this in one of my newsletters but in case you missed it, I am a member of an organization called AIESEC, and I currently lead the Ile-Ife Community. At least once a quarter, a 4-day conference is organized for members of the organization. These conferences are many things.

• A learning experience, as that’s the primary goal of the conference and its sessions,
• An opportunity to network with peers from different regions and professions, business owners, and individuals with generally higher skills and experiences than you,
• A space for the organisation’s partners and members to formulate plans to execute social impact goals,
• and so much more.

Essentially, the entire 4 days is a big bowl of opportunities and experiences and it’s up to you to scoop as much as you can.

This particular conference was set to be held in Enugu State. I have visited 10 other states before embarking on this trip but this one was the longest I have ever gone on by road.

One thing to hold on to is that the trip, was quite an experience because as the drivers took different and multiple turns, so did the trip.

There are many experiences to unpack from this trip, but, for this issue, I will be focusing on things that happened on my way to Enugu only.

It’s a series of “God abeg” and “Thank you Jesus”, but every experience was a memorable one.

My goal for this issue is not just to share stories with you but to demonstrate how life can be uncertain, highlight how it happened to me, and hopefully encourage you to take chances more because if we are being honest, what we have in our minds as where we want to go and what would happen on our way to it is a big guess not necessarily facts. Because, except you can see the future, you can never know if choosing to do something is the worst decision of your life or the best. All you can do is enjoy every bit of our decision-making.

Case 1: Depart by 7 am (Status - failed)

Transportation for our trips is usually pre-planned. And even when plans started to change as the departure day approached, we ensured we had plans B, C and D.

But if I know anything for sure about life, it’s that things never go according to plan and that no matter what, we all must just keep going and adapt. Which was why I wasn’t entirely caught off guard when we had to change plans on the go.

We were exactly five people going by road and had already negotiated the fare days before. We were supposed to be at the park by 6:30 a.m. so we could get on the road as early as 7 a.m. but that didn’t work out because the person who negotiated was not the actual cab driver, and when the actual driver finally came, he raised the price by 50,000 naira, which was obviously above our budget.

So it was either we renegotiate with the same driver or renegotiate with a new driver at the park.

We did the first but that didn’t work out well, so in order to save time, we went to the main park and negotiated with a new driver to take us to Enugu.

Case 2: Get a cab straight to Enugu or Onitsha (Status - Failed)

Initial consultation and research had informed us that we could not get a straight bus or cab from Ife to Enugu and that our best bet was to go first to Onitsha and then to Enugu.

So we decided to do that but just when we thought it was all good and we were set to go, the driver brilliantly proposed that we go to Benin instead, as it was easier to get a straight bus to Enugu from Benin.

“I have called the park over there and once we get there, you can just join the Enugu bus.” was what he said.

I’m not a sceptic but I was curious about why some random Yoruba cab driver in Ile-Ife was so interested in helping us save money. I remember telling one of my guys that this man is a salesman and that he had something to gain from going to Benin instead of Onitsha.

We did go to Benin and it was a nice, safe trip. “At least now we were on the road. We are no longer losing time.” is what I thought.

Over 3 hours of gisting, sleeping and singing passed and everything was good. But things fell apart when we got to Benin and the bus had already left.

It became even more annoying when the cab driver said we should go with the Onitsha bus instead since we missed the bus to Enugu.

If you are thinking the same thing I did, thank you.

Why can’t he just stick to the original plan and take us to Onitsha since we missed the opportunity to work with his brilliant plan to catch the Enugu bus?

This man said, “He can’t go to Onitsha. That he would not be able to get passengers from Onitsha back to Ife.”

Ohhhhh, so that’s why your Benin pitch was so strong ??.

Moving on.

Case 3: 600 checkpoints, karaoke and an angry driver (status - just enjoy the gist)

I think I need to do a bit of research on why there were so many checkpoints between Onitsha and Enugu but damn, it was a lot. Police, Soldiers, Police, Soldiers back to back to back.

I’m not even kidding. There were officers after every 5-10 minutes drive.

But it was nice and safe. As long as you don’t move drugs, make calls at checkpoints, say something stupid, look suspicious, or play loud music at checkpoints, you would be good.

There were a few unspoken rules, some of which were very funny.

It was also interesting to me that at checkpoints where they did a stop-and-search, they only searched the guys. LOL.

There’s so much to talk about on this one but I would highlight a few things:

• If you ever get cold and you have to pull your hoodie up, once you get to a checkpoint, pull it down.
• No matter how hard the lyrics of the song you are singing along to in the car is, turn it off at checkpoints.

This is the driver’s problem but, always have change.

• If your driver doesn’t have change, he might lie to them that you are a youth corper so they can let you guys go. If that happens, now this is the important part,

If they ask you what batch you are from, please don’t say Batch 2. The batch is a letter and the Stream is a number. Okay?

So you say “Officer, I’m from Batch B, Stream 1”. Not Batch 2.

Okay? Good.

• If your driver decides to be stubborn and pass a checkpoint, he would end up going back to that checkpoint because the other guys in front, would send him back.

Let me stop here. There’s so much to talk about but I would stop here for now.

To close, if you ever find yourself on the road, these are a few things that would come in handy and even if you don’t get on the road, they are helpful life lessons.

• Learn to negotiate
• Have multiple plans and learn to adapt quickly because they might fail.
• Always have a fully charged phone and power bank.
• Google Maps is your friend.
• Ask many questions.
• Remember to make a memory of everything
• and finally, have some songs downloaded offline on your preferred streaming platform.

Cheers.

In summary

• Try not to live a life of regular experiences. Set yourself up for adventures once in a while.
• Plan, learn fast, make memories and adapt.
• Bonus - there are ideologies that you grew up with that would hinder you from living a full life, dump them.

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