WayoGuy in Naija (Part 1) Pictures from Aba    Print      E-mail
Written by WayoGuy   
Thursday, 25 September 2008
ABA: More Nigerian Adventures in Pictures

On September 15, 2008,

My destination was the Ariaria International Market. The “International” in the Ariaria International Market truly meant something in the days when Aba was a giant among Nigerian markets. Traders came from Ghana, Cameroon, Liberia, Togo, and from even Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Ivory Coast, to buy goods for resale in those countries. Some Europeans considered it a tourist attraction. Ariaria shone and sparkled. Some Igbo and Ghana musicians attempted to capture the vibrant spirit of Ariaria in many still memorable songs. Young school children, including me, went to the market on group learning trips, which we called “excursions”.

Oh well, enough of the good old days. I will stop here and show you the pictorial documentary of my adventure. But while these pictures tell one story, I am compelled by a sense of balance and fairness to acknowledge that there are still nuggets of brightness, windows of starry sparkles, and individual monuments of shining beacons, inside the Ariaria market.

Why did my camera not capture those bright, shining, starry, lonely beacons? Well, all the pictures that I posted below were taken of the roads and shops along the roads without the flashlight of the camera which would have exposed what I was doing. But the brighter spots were inside the relatively dark and crowded little shops organized in clusters according to types of goods. For example, the jewelry shops were located in one area, clothes shops, electronic shops, shoe shops and so on were located in separate areas.

Get this: as soon as I went inside and took the first picture of a shop (a shoe shop), and because these shops were in relatively dark clusters, the flashlight of my camera went off and instantly there were mumbles of protesting voices: “Obu photo ka nwoke a sere anyi?(did that man just take our picture?)”; “A hukwara m flash ahu (I saw that flash too)”; “Onye gwara ya sebe photo (who told him to take the photo?), Gini ka o g’eji photo eme? (what will he do with the photo?) and other bla, bla, bla, bla.

As they spoke and surveyed me, I felt and saw the rising negative energy, a sense of self-preservation counseled me to keep moving, very fast, until I was out of that location and turned the corner into the clothes section. From there I limited the rest of my adventure to roaming the inside of other locations of the shops for sightseeing purposes only, my camera tucked deep inside my pocket. I no wan die.
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http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php/content/view/10388/55

Elodie,you had no right whatsoever to take ppls pictures without their consent.You were really lucky !

ifyalways:

Elodie,you had no right whatsoever to take ppls pictures without their consent.You were really lucky !

Is it that you are ashamed of your great international market in Aba or what?

I'm sure you would not have posted that if the pictures were pleasing to the eyes.

What i  saw is really an eyesore. It's a shame on this nation. I think the Government should consider modernizing the market.

But then, will our people let them?

na stubbornness dey make insect follow dead body enter grave, ewu photographer

sharp man:

Is it that you are ashamed of your great international market in Aba or what?

I'm sure you would not have posted that if the pictures were pleasing to the eye's.

What i saw is really an eyesore. It's a shame on this nation. I think the Government should consider modernizing the market.

But then, will our people let them?

You must be a retard,a crazy one at that !
Was my comment directed to you,Mr Loose mouth? As it seems you are Mr know-it-all,take your bush uncivilized sorry ass to Aba or even any city in Nigeria and start taking shots at people without their consent.that uncouth filthy mouth/hands of urs would be dealt with.Abuzu
I don't care about the state of the mkt or the roads,its a national epidemic,what am bothered about was OP taking peoples picture without their consent.

elodie:






Get this: as soon as I went inside and took the first picture of a shop (a shoe shop), and because these shops were in relatively dark clusters, the flashlight of my camera went off and instantly there were mumbles of protesting voices: “Obu photo ka nwoke a sere anyi?(did that man just take our picture?)”; “A hukwara m flash ahu (I saw that flash too)”; “Onye gwara ya sebe photo (who told him to take the photo?), Gini ka o g’eji photo eme? (what will he do with the photo?) and other bla, bla, bla, bla.

@Poster, how come I am unable to view the images?

OP, stop being jealous. this is just nigeria's way of curbing greenhouse emission. more vegetation, less CO2.

lol

na wa oooo

Kai,minini,according to mallams,human beings.You can't believe how much dollars those traders count everyday in squalor.

When the fundamentals of life are missing,every thing goes with it,including common sense.It is not just ariara that looks like this,but the whole country,to them,like average nigerians,it's just normal because the system makes it normal.

All hail Idiagbon,he was almost reprogramming the mentality of nigerian.

Nigeria Lacks Property Management Experts as such all properties are run anyhow without control.

This is realy sad, who could go to a place like this to go and shop and buy something, how can people even be in an area like this? this is a shame on Nigeria.
people have no sense of mnagement and caring for stuff.
I was hoping to get to this place one day, no why would i wanna visit a slum like this.

I still don't understand the reason for these pictures. Is it historical, current, or political? What's the point? To show that Aba, like 99.99% of all sub-saharan cities are squalors, from Kinshasa, to Lagos, from Murtal Market Kano to Benin city market, from Duala Market to Ibadan Main Market. They are all the same in terms of hygiene, infrastructure, and content. Do you have pictures of Mushin market too?

naijaking1:

I still don't understand the reason for these pictures. Is it historical, current, or political? What's the point? To show that Aba, like 99.99% of all sub-saharan cities are squalors, from Kinshasa, to Lagos, from Murtal Market Kano to Benin city market, from Duala Market to Ibadan Main Market. They are all the same in terms of hygiene, infrastructure, and content. Do you have pictures of Mushin market too?

You seems to be missing the point, Aba maket was a world market, i remember when people from lagos used to make so much noise about aba market, and to see it to have deteriorated this much, that is what is sad and not to make fun of aba, this is a shame to nigeria as a whole and not a tribe nor city.
there were revenue generated by the federal govt while this market was runing fine, cos pple that came from other place would stay in an hotel and eat, and such money are pumped into he economy, some caribbean nations only depends on tourism as revenue generations, how come we always run all our on things down?

naijaking1:

I still don't understand the reason for these pictures. Is it historical, current, or political? What's the point? To show that Aba, like 99.99% of all sub-saharan cities are squalors, from Kinshasa, to Lagos, from Murtal Market Kano to Benin city market, from Duala Market to Ibadan Main Market. They are all the same in terms of hygiene, infrastructure, and content. Do you have pictures of Mushin market too?

Nothing like Murtala Market in Kano, but Abubakar Rimi Market which is popularly known as Sabon Gari Market, I bet this Aba Market is even better than Sabon Gari Market, even though it is in Kano, it is almost 90% populated by Igbo and Yoruba People.

Do we have to inject regions and such into this?? Anyone who has been to Ariaria will know the market is not even close to as good as it was only 8 years ago. That market looks like a disaster area and no one seems to be willing to do anything about it. @Poster, you should have taken pictures of FOX ROAD. Seems governors come and go, all of them take a trip out to that road to look at the devastating state but none ever works to fix the problem once and for all.

auwal87:

Nothing like Murtala Market in Kano, but Abubakar Rimi Market which is popularly known as Sabon Gari Market, I bet this Aba Market is even better than Sabon Gari Market, even though it is in Kano, it is almost 90% populated by Igbo and Yoruba People.

The name of the market has changed quite a bit over the years. I was at Hotoro when the part of the market north of Ibo road was known as Murtala Mohammed market( there was also Murtala mohammed hospital and of course Gidan Murtala). South of Ibo road was essentially Sabon Gari, down to Noman's land area.Then came Rimi, who "mordernized" and tried to merge the markets from Kofar mata to Ballard Hughes, and then the market was named after him. Obviously, Ibos, Yorubas, and other visitors stay around Sabon Gari. At the time in question, no part of the market could have passed a hygiene test, however, the sabon Gari areas remained more populated and busier.

Absolute disaster,

frag:

Absolute disaster,

You haven't seen anything yet.

Thank God that Ariaria has improved 

The Ariaria I remember when I used to go there in the 1990's was completely waterlogged. Ariaria waterside as we used to call it. If you drive your car down the road, the water will seep in through the bottom of your car into the car to the point that you have a good few inches of water inside your car. Your car sef will break down in the middle of the road and you have to get out to push or pay some boys whose sole occupation is to push cars stuck in the water. The water sef will almost come up to their waist 

Any Aba man can testify to the nightmare of Ariaria waterside 

Eat your heart out Los Angeles, because Rodeo Drive will NEVER be as scenic as these breath-taking pictures of Nigeria's shopping malls , and the same goes to you, London, because Oxford Street will NEVER be able to boast of a central brown-water CANAL deep enough to float the boat of customers who choose to shop from the seat of their Kawasaki jet-skis or recreational canoes.

I note with great pride the botanical gardens tastefully planted on the roofs several hovels in the foregoing pictures. This environmentally friendly concept of combining avant-garde architecture with roof-top greenhouse gas-absorbing gardens is only BEGINNING to be explored in the West and Far East, obviously with inspiration sparked during furtive espionage trips by foreign architects to Nigeria, where visionary urban-planning concepts are invented daily.

ifyalways:

You must be a retard,a crazy one at that !
Was my comment directed to you,Mr Loose mouth? As it seems you are Mr know-it-all,take your bush uncivilized sorry ass to Aba or even any city in Nigeria and start taking shots at people without their consent.that  uncouth filthy mouth/hands of urs would be dealt with.Abuzu 
I don't care about the state of the mkt or the roads,its a national epidemic,what am bothered about was OP taking peoples picture without their consent.

Men, you harsh oh.

I think i hit a soft spot.

I won't bring myself down to your level so i would ignore your uncultured language.

What interests me in these pix is that it is a microcosm of Aba.Most of Aba outskirts are like that.From Umungasi to umuagbai,ohabiam,nkwo ngwa,osisioma,amapuife,ekeakpara,ariaria town and the adjoining towns.Oyigbo in River state is like that too.Much of Port harcourt,woji,elelenwo,rumuokwurusi,eliowhani,rumuodara,rumuagholu,rumuigbo,waterside and even G.R.A. is like that.So is Onitsha,Lagos,kano.The list is endless.Its a shame the Nigerian masses are living in abject puverty with poor road,housing and power supply.I went to Ariaria last week and was stunned by the increased population inspite of the filth.I got the clothes much cheaper than Port harcourt anyway.

auwal87:

Nothing like Murtala Market in Kano, but Abubakar Rimi Market which is popularly known as Sabon Gari Market, I bet this Aba Market is even better than Sabon Gari Market, even though it is in Kano, it is almost 90% populated by Igbo and Yoruba People.

Never was a time the Sabon Gari Market was 90% populated by any tribe.

This is shocking! Wow

well, the market is populated by millionaires who can't lift a finger to improve the state of their surroundings.My national service was in Aba and my shock was complete the first time i visited the Ariaria market. It had rained and I saw traders literally sitting in stools and chairs in flooded shops. It has never entered their heads to do something about making things better themselves. They "marginalise" themselves. And I could never find anything of good quality in that market. What makes it "international"?

@ifyalways

OP culled the story, she didn't take the pics. The original writer, wayoguy, did.

At 1st, bawomolo's pics here didn't download on my PC. I'm glad it lends credence to my last post. see how happy the shopowners look!

Jakumo:

Eat your heart out Los Angeles, because Rodeo Drive will NEVER be as scenic as these breath-taking pictures of Nigeria's shopping malls , and the same goes to you, London, because Oxford Street will NEVER be able to boast of a central brown-water CANAL deep enough to float the boat of customers who choose to shop from the seat of their Kawasaki jet-skis or recreational canoes.

I note with great pride the botanical gardens tastefully planted on the roofs several hovels in the foregoing pictures. This environmentally friendly concept of combining avant-garde architecture with roof-top greenhouse gas-absorbing gardens is only BEGINNING to be explored in the West and Far East, obviously with inspiration sparked during furtive espionage trips by foreign architects to Nigeria, where visionary urban-planning concepts are invented daily.

Excellent!
What an ode to Ariari market.

sharp man:

Men, you harsh oh.

I think i hit a soft spot.

I won't bring myself down to your level so i would ignore your uncultured language.

good foryou.Next time you reply ONLY when its meant for u. aturu igala !

Kobojunkie:

. @Poster, you should have taken pictures of FOX ROAD.

its FAULKS road

Eat your heart out Los Angeles, because Rodeo Drive will NEVER be as scenic as these breath-taking pictures of Nigeria's shopping malls , and the same goes to you, London, because Oxford Street will NEVER be able to boast of a central brown-water CANAL deep enough to float the boat of customers who choose to shop from the seat of their Kawasaki jet-skis or recreational canoes.

I note with great pride the botanical gardens tastefully planted on the roofs several hovels in the foregoing pictures. This environmentally friendly concept of combining avant-garde architecture with roof-top greenhouse gas-absorbing gardens is only BEGINNING to be explored in the West and Far East, obviously with inspiration sparked during furtive espionage trips by foreign architects to Nigeria, where visionary urban-planning concepts are invented daily.

chai, jakumo. why CNN or MSNBC no sign you yet

ifyalways:

good foryou.Next time you reply ONLY when its meant for u. aturu igala ! its FAULKS road

thanks for correcting me, I did not see the sign the last time I was there, lol

Jakumo:

Eat your heart out Los Angeles, because Rodeo Drive will NEVER be as scenic as these breath-taking pictures of Nigeria's shopping malls , and the same goes to you, London, because Oxford Street will NEVER be able to boast of a central brown-water CANAL deep enough to float the boat of customers who choose to shop from the seat of their Kawasaki jet-skis or recreational canoes.

I note with great pride the botanical gardens tastefully planted on the roofs several hovels in the foregoing pictures.  This environmentally friendly concept of combining avant-garde architecture with roof-top greenhouse gas-absorbing gardens is only BEGINNING to be explored in the West and Far East, obviously with inspiration sparked during furtive espionage trips by foreign architects to Nigeria, where visionary urban-planning concepts are invented daily.

Ayep! Going Green - Ariaria Market was there first!

And We di'n't need no stinking Ex VP to make a ridiculously expensive movie to tell us.

Woo! Wooo!!

jakumo:

Eat your heart out Los Angeles, because Rodeo Drive will NEVER be as scenic as these breath-taking pictures of Nigeria's shopping malls , and the same goes to you, London, because Oxford Street will NEVER be able to boast of a central brown-water CANAL deep enough to float the boat of customers who choose to shop from the seat of their Kawasaki jet-skis or recreational canoes.

I note with great pride the botanical gardens tastefully planted on the roofs several hovels in the foregoing pictures.  This environmentally friendly concept of combining avant-garde architecture with roof-top greenhouse gas-absorbing gardens is only BEGINNING to be explored in the West and Far East, obviously with inspiration sparked during furtive espionage trips by foreign architects to Nigeria, where visionary urban-planning concepts are invented daily.

"  "   chei jakumo u fit kill persin with ingrish

ariaria market brings back some humorous  memories