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Hello , welcome to the Word Cafe

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podcast . This podcast

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has been designed with curated content

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that centers on the power

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of words . Can we really

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do anything without speaking ? Can

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we really do anything without the agency

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of words ? Yes , that

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is what this podcast is all about

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, and I am your host , amakri

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Isoway , your neighborhood word

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trader . I believe in the power

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of words , for it is the unit

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of creation . I trade in words

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to profit my world . He

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is Amakri , given the decree by God Almighty , the maker of the tree

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, to get many to agree even if they disagree , to get many to

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see what they really could be with the

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work to believe . Never

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created to deceive , he

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is Amakri , created to deceive

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. He

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is a mockery . Back

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into the cafe . We

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come . Hi , how you doing

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good to be here

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with you . This is your neighborhood

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war trader , a mockakri Isobe

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. Ah , we're here

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again . Here

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again to like Share

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, and today I want to . I

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want to do something . Yes , I

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hope you like it . I

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know you're going to like it . I'm

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going to take you to my geography class in

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primary school , one

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of the best subjects

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, one of my most favorite

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subjects in primary

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school geography

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, elementary geography when

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we talked

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about the map

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of Nigeria , the places , historical

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sites , yeah

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, so intriguing . You

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know , when you sit there listening to the teachers like you're transported

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. But one story that

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never quite sat well with me

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was

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the story of the discovery

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of the Niger . There

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are two significant rivers

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in Nigeria that

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you cannot but

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take notice of , and

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if you look at the map of the country , the way the

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rivers flow , they divide the

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country or the

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landscape into

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three similarly

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equal parts the

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River Niger and the River Benue . And

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we are always fascinated

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each time we talk about these rivers

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and somehow

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, growing up , I

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have come to like crisscross

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these rivers . A

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little bit tall , and we'll get back

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to the story again . My granddad

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was a fisherman

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who did

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a lot of fishing expedition along

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the River Niger

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, along

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the river Niger . Yes , when you look at the way that River Niger flows , it

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flows to the eastern part of the country , cutting across the

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states between east

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and south

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, while Benue

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is to the other part , more like

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to the

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northern part of the country . So

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he's told us so many stories and

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growing up , becoming a man traveling

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the country , I have come to also

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see these rivers for myself

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. I remember once I was going to

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Obudu , the

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Obudu cattle ranch in mean , on

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vacation with my family and some friends

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, we went through from

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Abuja , driving

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throughassarawa and all

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that . You have to go through Benway , that's

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McCordy , and I got

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to see River Benway

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for myself

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. Amazing sight

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. Along the riverbank

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you see a lot of activities , economic

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activities going on and you

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see this orange

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orchard like endless

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long

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line stretching

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along the Benue

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River . Oranges everywhere

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. Same

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for the Niger . If

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you go into what

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we call the Orashi , the

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Orashi River , the

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Oguta Lake access and all

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that , you get to see the Niger for

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yourself . So back then

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in school , back to our story . Now , when

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we're being told about the Niger

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that it was discovered by Mongo

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Park , it

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didn't really sit well with me because

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I came to

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like , growing up , you know

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, yes , okay , you have to pass your

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exams and they ask you that question

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who discovered the River Niger ? And

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you say it's Mungo Park . But

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come to think of it , I

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asked myself , leaving that

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class and growing up , secondary

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school , university , how would you discover

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something that

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has been there , known

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by the

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, would I say , aborigines

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, the people , the settlers

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there who are interacting

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with

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the River Niger even before Mungu

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Park came ? So how would you say that

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mongopak discovered

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the niger . It's really troubling

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, I must say . You know what

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would you do as a

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growing up child . You need to pass your exams

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, you need to like appear to

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know , as in you're

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, you're in tune

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, you know what is happening . So

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, so who is Mungo Pak ? I

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got to like make some research

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to know who this Mungo Pak . Who is

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he ? Mungo Pak

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, born on the 11th of September

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1771

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and he passed 1806

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. He was a Scottish explorer

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of West Africa . After an exploration

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of the upper Niger

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River around 1796

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, he wrote a popular and influential

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travel book titled Travels in

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the Interior District of Africa , in

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which he theorized that Niger

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and Congo , as those two rivers

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rivers , merged to become the same river

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. He was killed during a

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second expedition , having

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successfully traveled about two-thirds

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of the way down . The

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Niger Park's death meant the

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idea of a Niger-Congo

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river merger remained

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unproven , but it became the

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leading theory among geographers

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of that time . The

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mystery of the Niger scores , which

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had been speculated about since the

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ancient Greeks Did

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you hear that Since the ancient

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Greeks I was second only to

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the mystery of the Nile sauce was

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not solved for almost 25

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years ? In 1830 , when

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it was discovered , the Niger and

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Congo were in fact , separate

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rivers . Yes

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, that's the bit of Mungo Pak and

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the story around him

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. So

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I kept asking

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that question how would you say Mungo Pak discovered

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the Niger when the Niger

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had always been there , with

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the

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indigents , the aborigines who live around

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there , traveling

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along the river , doing

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business , carrying out commercial activities

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, trade and what have you ? Or

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is it because he put down some coordinates

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? It now became

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his property . Really

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, the project carried

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out by some young

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, brilliant Nigerian writers

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and authors Onyeka

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Mwelewe , adike

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Naoke . They came about this project

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Saving Mongupak

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, and the idea

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was are you sure he

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was the one that discovered the

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Niger ? Now , the

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maverick author , producer and filmmaker

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Onyeka Mwele and

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prolific poet and writer Ikenna

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Chinidu Oke that's , I

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mean , these two teamed

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up to write . You know . They came

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about a children's book titled Saving

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Mongupak . Now

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, the idea of the book here is

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brilliant , I must say , because it's like I

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just discovered two

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guys who were thinking more or less same

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thought with me . The book , which subverts

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the colonial idea that mongopak

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discovered river niger , stares up questions

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in the minds of the young by

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teasing possibilities

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that it was africans

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who retrieved mongopak

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from a weaver that displaced

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him . The children's book

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is published by Hattus , that's

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, I know , the publishing house Hattus Books . Yeah , you can go check

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for that book and

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, honestly , the thought they have presented here most likely

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is the truth . Mungo

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Pak yes , here most likely is the truth . Mongopak yes , mongopak

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was retrieved . He

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worked , maybe in cause of his expedition

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and all that . They saved him

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because they know the river

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better than himself the

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current , the tide , the flow and everything

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. So they saved him . Ah

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, you would say he took down

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the coordinates . No , I don't

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think so . They showed him the coordinates

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. They may not have the

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language in terms

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of writing and all

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that . They knew the river

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so well . He would say

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why do you say that ? Honestly

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, it's in our DNA

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, yes

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, communicated through

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the ages onto

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us . He did

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not discover , in my opinion

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, he did not discover . In my opinion , he did not

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discover no , he didn't discover the

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river Niger

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. Our

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parents lived

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, our parents

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survived , our

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parents did

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so much along

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the Niger River . So

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they actually

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own

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. You know , there's

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something about someone

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telling your story . He

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can't . He or she cannot tell the story

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like you . That's

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the essence of sharing

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this with you today . You

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have a story , we all have

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a story , but no

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one can tell the story like

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you . Why

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? Because it is your story . If I tell your story , I may not deliver it . Express it

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the way you would do it , because

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you see it through the

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lens of your experiences

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, the lens of

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your experiences . You need to own it , you

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need to become it , not

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someone telling your story , and

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that has been our problem

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. Mungu

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Park did not discover River Niger

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. Your

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dad and my dad and our parents discovered the Niger . So don't

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let anyone tell your story . You tell your story . You express

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yourself . You

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own your story . Why

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? Because it is your story . Why

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, because it is your story . So

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when next they tell

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you about

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you , let them know

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who you are . I

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am not what you say I am . This

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is who I am . I am not what you say I am . This

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is who I am

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. This

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is who I am . Don't

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let anyone discover you

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for you . You discover you and tell your

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story . It

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is your story

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. Hmm , he

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did not discover the Niger . It

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flows in us

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all

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. Right , gotta go now . Don't

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worry , I know it's

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like a eureka moment for

14:54

you , a light bulb moment for

14:56

you . This is

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what we do at the World Cafe . I

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gotta for now . Art

15:18

for Time . It has been with you on the World Cafe podcast

15:20

today . Thank you for being there . You

15:22

can catch me up on my social media

15:25

handles Twitter , facebook

15:28

, linkedin , instagram

15:30

all at Amakri Isoboye . Also

15:32

, you can get copies of my books A

15:35

Cocktail of Words , the Color

15:37

of Words and my HR notebook

15:39

on Amazon and on Roving Heights

15:42

online bookstores . You can also subscribe

15:44

to my YouTube page at the same address

15:46

. Yes till we see again

15:49

. Bye for now .