S3 Ep. 185 Fishing for Truth Along Nigeria's Iconic Rivers

Speaker 1: Hello, welcome to the Word Cafe podcast. This podcast has been designed with curated content that centers on the power of words. Can we really do anything without speaking? Can we really do anything without the agency of words? Yes, that is what this podcast is all about, and I am your host , amakri Isoway, your neighborhood word trader. I believe in the power of words , for it is the unit of creation . I trade in words to profit my world. He is Amakri, given the decree by God Almighty, the maker of the tree, to get many to agree even if they disagree, to get many to see what they really could be with the work to believe. Never created to deceive, he is Amakri, created to deceive. He is a mockery. Back into the cafe. We come. Hi, how you doing good to be here with you. This is your neighborhood war trader, a mockakri Isobe. Ah, we're here again. Here again to like Share, and today I want to. I want to do something. Yes, I hope you like it. I know you're going to like it. I'm going to take you to my geography class in primary school, one of the best subjects , one of my most favorite subjects in primary school geography, elementary geography when we talked about the map of Nigeria, the places, historical sites, yeah, so intriguing. You know, when you sit there listening to the teachers like you're transported. But one story that never quite sat well with me was the story of the discovery of the Niger. There are two significant rivers in Nigeria that you cannot but take notice of, and if you look at the map of the country, the way the rivers flow , they divide the country or the landscape into three similarly equal parts the River Niger and the River Benue. And we are always fascinated each time we talk about these rivers and somehow, growing up, I have come to like crisscross these rivers. A little bit tall, and we'll get back to the story again. My granddad was a fisherman who did a lot of fishing expedition along the River Niger, along the river Niger. Yes, when you look at the way that River Niger flows, it flows to the eastern part of the country, cutting across the states between east and south, while Benue is to the other part , more like to the northern part of the country. So he's told us so many stories and growing up, becoming a man traveling the country, I have come to also see these rivers for myself. I remember once I was going to Obudu, the Obudu cattle ranch in mean, on vacation with my family and some friends, we went through from Abuja, driving throughassarawa and all that. You have to go through Benway, that's McCordy, and I got to see River Benway for myself. Amazing sight. Along the riverbank you see a lot of activities, economic activities going on and you see this orange orchard like endless long line stretching along the Benue River. Oranges everywhere. Same for the Niger. If you go into what we call the Orashi, the Orashi River, the Oguta Lake access and all that, you get to see the Niger for yourself. So back then in school, back to our story. Now, when we're being told about the Niger that it was discovered by Mongo Park, it didn't really sit well with me because I came to like, growing up, you know, yes, okay, you have to pass your exams and they ask you that question who discovered the River Niger? And you say it's Mungo Park. But come to think of it, I asked myself, leaving that class and growing up, secondary school, university, how would you discover something that has been there, known by the, would I say, aborigines, the people, the settlers there who are interacting with the River Niger even before Mungu Park came? So how would you say that mongopak discovered the niger. It's really troubling, I must say. You know what would you do as a growing up child. You need to pass your exams, you need to like appear to know, as in you're, you're in tune, you know what is happening. So, so who is Mungo Pak? I got to like make some research to know who this Mungo Pak. Who is he? Mungo Pak, born on the 11th of September 1771 and he passed 1806. He was a Scottish explorer of West Africa. After an exploration of the upper Niger River around 1796, he wrote a popular and influential travel book titled Travels in the Interior District of Africa, in which he theorized that Niger and Congo, as those two rivers rivers, merged to become the same river. He was killed during a second expedition, having successfully traveled about two-thirds of the way down. The Niger Park's death meant the idea of a Niger-Congo river merger remained unproven, but it became the leading theory among geographers of that time. The mystery of the Niger scores, which had been speculated about since the ancient Greeks Did you hear that Since the ancient Greeks I was second only to the mystery of the Nile sauce was not solved for almost 25 years? In 1830, when it was discovered , the Niger and Congo were in fact, separate rivers. Yes, that's the bit of Mungo Pak and the story around him. So I kept asking that question how would you say Mungo Pak discovered the Niger when the Niger had always been there, with the indigents, the aborigines who live around there , traveling along the river, doing business, carrying out commercial activities, trade and what have you? Or is it because he put down some coordinates? It now became his property. Really, the project carried out by some young, brilliant Nigerian writers and authors Onyeka Mwelewe, adike Naoke. They came about this project Saving Mongupak, and the idea was are you sure he was the one that discovered the Niger? Now, the maverick author, producer and filmmaker Onyeka Mwele and prolific poet and writer Ikenna Chinidu Oke that's , I mean, these two teamed up to write. You know. They came about a children's book titled Saving Mongupak. Now, the idea of the book here is brilliant, I must say, because it's like I just discovered two guys who were thinking more or less same thought with me. The book, which subverts the colonial idea that mongopak discovered river niger, stares up questions in the minds of the young by teasing possibilities that it was africans who retrieved mongopak from a weaver that displaced him. The children's book is published by Hattus, that's, I know, the publishing house Hattus Books. Yeah, you can go check for that book and, honestly, the thought they have presented here most likely is the truth. Mungo Pak yes, here most likely is the truth. Mongopak yes, mongopak was retrieved. He worked, maybe in cause of his expedition and all that. They saved him because they know the river better than himself the current, the tide, the flow and everything. So they saved him. Ah, you would say he took down the coordinates. No, I don't think so. They showed him the coordinates . They may not have the language in terms of writing and all that . They knew the river so well. He would say why do you say that? Honestly, it's in our DNA, yes, communicated through the ages onto us. He did not discover, in my opinion, he did not discover. In my opinion, he did not discover no, he didn't discover the river Niger. Our parents lived, our parents survived, our parents did so much along the Niger River. So they actually own. You know, there's something about someone telling your story . He can't. He or she cannot tell the story like you. That's the essence of sharing this with you today. You have a story, we all have a story, but no one can tell the story like you. Why? Because it is your story. If I tell your story, I may not deliver it. Express it the way you would do it, because you see it through the lens of your experiences, the lens of your experiences. You need to own it, you need to become it, not someone telling your story, and that has been our problem. Mungu Park did not discover River Niger. Your dad and my dad and our parents discovered the Niger. So don't let anyone tell your story. You tell your story. You express yourself. You own your story. Why? Because it is your story. Why, because it is your story. So when next they tell you about you, let them know who you are. I am not what you say I am. This is who I am. I am not what you say I am. This is who I am. This is who I am. Don't let anyone discover you for you. You discover you and tell your story. It is your story. Hmm, he did not discover the Niger. It flows in us all. Right, gotta go now. Don't worry, I know it's like a eureka moment for you, a light bulb moment for you. This is what we do at the World Cafe. I gotta for now. Art for Time. It has been with you on the World Cafe podcast today. Thank you for being there. You can catch me up on my social media handles Twitter, facebook, linkedin, instagram all at Amakri Isoboye. Also, you can get copies of my books A Cocktail of Words, the Color of Words and my HR notebook on Amazon and on Roving Heights online bookstores. You can also subscribe to my YouTube page at the same address . Yes till we see again. Bye for now.