It was 1992, the first time in Abuja. We went to spend Summer Holidays with our Dad. My mum, sisters and I boarded Nigerian Airways and made the 50mins journey to the capital city. It was an amazing experience. My dad had gone out of his way to make this holiday special for us. He came to pick us from the airport and drove us straight to Agura Hotel. We were all amazed at how smooth the roads were, and how new the buildings seemed. This is like London, my sister quipped several times. At the hotel, we had a FEAST in every sense of the word, all manners of food and drink, I really couldn't love my dad more at that point. But alas due to my stomach sensitivity I was visiting the toilet in no time. If we go by first impressions, Abuja was a pretty awesome place to be.
When we got settled into the house my Dad had been living in at the OAU Quarters, a nice cosy three bedroom apartment, my sisters and I wasted no time exploring within and without. We spent the mornings watching our favorite Christian musical and the afternoons exploring the nearby hills. Abuja was indeed something the whole of Nigeria could aspire to be like. Back in Lagos where we live, NEPA was the main hindrance to our fun, but here we could watch our movies all day with no fear of the power being cut, and when it did, in a minute we could cheekily call NEPA and have the power restored in seconds. Bliss!!
Night-time was equally splendid. After our usual cups of Nescao, we would get on our cosy bed. The weather was usually cool that time of the year, so we would pretend we were 'Abroad'. Tell ourselves stories and sleep off when we were exhausted. One of such nights, I had the dream. I remember the shades of blue duvet I had. It always made it seem my dreams were bathed in a light blue glow.
Waking up, I glanced around, and stretched while I sat there on my bed. My room was large and I was alone. The sun streamed in through large glass windows which the whole house was covered with. This seemed like straight out of the Jetsons. I got off my bed and pressed a button, my night wear was taken off and dumped into the bin which sends dirty cloths to the laundry. My dressing gown came on. Food! I thought, I went to the panel and pressed a button. An array of breakfast came sliding towards me, as I lay back on my 'La-z-boy' type chair and proceeded to dig into the food. All in my mind was, This is the Life!
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