THE MOTORPARK REPUBLIC

Embarking on a journey could be very exasperating and mentally enervating. The thought of the encounter with the rowdy atmosphere in Motor Park leaves an intending traveler apprehensive and demoralized. This is because a typical motor park in Nigeria is like a madhouse. Motor Parks are characterized by ear-splitting yells and befuddling movements. The situation can best be described as bedlam: yells from touts who are shouting on top their voices trying to convince passengers to patronize them, bellows from passengers running helter-skelter with their luggage trying to board their preferred vehicle to their destination, and deafening bawls from hawkers and itinerant traders who are utilizing the best of the opportunity to make brisk sales of their goods or services. Also in this survivalist gridlock are pick-pockets who are trying to eke out a living from stealing from their victims. Illicit drug peddlers are also citizens of motor parks, they deal in all sorts of psychoactive drugs which includes marijuana and gin. There are sex workers who provide sex services for the motor park citizens. Union officials are also not left out. They are the political maestros of the Motor park republic. They are members of the popular but dreaded group: National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). Other citizens that make up the Motor park republic are the full-blown schizophrenics who walk aimlessly around the motor parks in tattered, dirty cloths. Pastors and Evangelists are not left behind. They adorn suit jackets and trade prayers for money. 

The touts are the pawns in the motor parks. Many of them are street urchins popularly called area boys. They hustle for commuters, and are paid according to the number of passengers they are able to garner. They use all forms of strategies to convince passengers to join their vehicles. They even go to the extent of using bluff passengers to hoodwink unsuspecting passengers into boarding their vehicles. They would get travelers bags and stuff them with used cloths and get their fellow touts to sit in the vehicle pretending to be passengers. Many intending passengers would normally choose to join vehicles which have more passengers because it indicates that the vehicle would move soon. Once the unsuspecting passenger falls to the bait, the bluffers would disembark one after the other and disappear. The touts are tipped after they had loaded full a vehicle with passengers. They also extort money from commuters who carry luggage. They wouldn’t load a commuter’s luggage until they are tipped. Most touts are drug addicts. Their daily income is spent in beer parlors and brothels after the day’s hassle. Some of them also double as conductors. They would travel with the vehicles to their destinations and aid the driver to fix the vehicle when it breaks down. Many of them, also, are spare drivers. They would take over from the driver when he is fatigued. A tout or bus conductor is the worst of receptionists.  An encounter with one will leave you thinking if you’ve hitherto had unsettled issues with him. Their facial expressions are intimidating. They are not receptive at all. Their voices are baritone and their mouths stink. Often times, acrid smells of sweat ooze out from their dirty cloths. They are mostly school drop outs who could not complete their education due to the inability of their parent to afford tuition fees; others could not cope with the mental task of subjects like mathematics while in school and had to drop out. Many others are truants who after a thousand and one reprimands from the school authority, were expelled to protect school mates from being contaminated by their misbehavior. They are always livid, and burst up at the slightest provocation. They are quick to engage in a fisticuff with anyone who crossed their path. Many of them have no homes; therefore, they make do of the garage as their bedrooms at nights. Others would also pass the night in brothels with sex workers.

Commuters thronged from all directions to the motor park. They intend to travel to their various destinations safely and on time too. They come in carrying different sizes of traveler’s bags. A trend in the motor park is that female passengers most often conveyed larger traveler’s bags than the men travelers. A passenger on arrival would have to contend with the deafening yell from the touts who will use every available method to convince the passenger to board their vehicles. Often times, the passenger would like to board a vehicle which has much passengers seated in it, but they would soon discover that the people they thought were fellow commuters are actually fake. Once a passenger agrees to board a particular vehicle, he or she would be asked to pay the fare and a ticket will be issued him or her. He or she would board and wait for the arrival of other passengers. If the spaces in the vehicle are exhausted, the touts would come with the manifest and urge the passengers to fill. Thereafter, loading of luggage would commence. The touts would only load the luggage after they must have been tipped. If a passenger does not tip the tout, an argument may ensue, and may metamorphose into a brawl. Male passengers would prefer to sit close to a beautiful looking lassie.

Illicit drug peddlers provide the motor park with assorted kinds of drugs. Some of them, who are mostly female, deal in cigarette and herbal concoctions called paraga in local parlance. These herbal concoctions, a mixture of herbs and alcoholic gin, are believed to serve medicinal purpose; while others are aphrodisiacs. The male traffickers, who are less visible and operate in the underworld, deal in Indian hemp and other psychedelics. Their main patrons are the drivers, touts, union officials, sex workers and some commuters. The drivers consume these substances before hit the road; they report that they see the road clearer after consuming Indian hemp and paraga (gin). The conductors on the other hand would shout and tout better after having a breakfast of these psychoactive drugs. 

The sex workers are very important members of the motor park republic. They provide coital services to the of the motor park citizenry. They are usually in different sizes and shapes and complexion. They live in shanties somewhere at the outskirt of the park, where they sell their bodies to anyone that can afford it. They are mostly patronized by union officials, drivers, conductors and some randy commuters. They hawk their goods at motor parks and are usually in the habit of taking dangerous drugs alongside their patrons. They offer different classes of services ranging from short time, where the patrons are allowed one bout of sex; to daybreak services, where the licentious patrons spend the night with the sex workers in their shanties or in hotels.

The union officials are the gaffers of the motor park republic. They control the day-to-day activities of the motor park. They keep inventory of all the vehicles coming in or going out of the motor park. They are the branch officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) which has become synonymous with mugging, conflict and fracas. Many of them hide in the guise of unionism to spit mayhem and cause the breakdown of law and order. They own different types of dangerous arms and ammunition including guns, machetes, axes and other weapons. They also carry charms which they claim would protect them from getting into trouble or being harmed in a situation of crises. Sometimes, their activities are so nefarious that even the police cannot quell their wanton destruction of lives and property. Most at times, politicians who are contesting in elections would come to hire their services. They would be provided with cash, arms, charms and logistics to cause mayhem and intimidate opponents in the other political parties. The union officials usually converge in a makeshift office in the motor parks, from where they extort money from drivers, and other people therein. They also patronize illicit drug dealers and would drink to stupor before resuming the day’s work. They treat passengers with scorn and are feared in the park because they posses political and spiritual powers. They would not hesitate to beat up any passenger or driver who would not follow their dictates. Sometimes, they are factionalize; there would be tussle for power between the factions and this would cause a serious breakdown of law and order in the motor park republic, characterized by wanton destruction of lives and property. 

The motor park is a republic of rubbish. The environment is filthy and smells of urine, feces and other dirt. Inhabitants of motor parks are used to cohabiting with these filths. They cook on it, eat on it and even sleep on it. A visitor to a typical motor park would be welcomed by the disgusting smell of urine and dirt. This, however, takes a toll on the mentality and general well-being of a typical motor park worker.  The motor park republic is a lawless republic which can be likened to the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah because of the abominable activities which go on in it. 

When next you are journeying, pay attention and identify the different citizens that make up the motor park republic.