This morning, I had an appointment by 11am at my workplace in Bonny Town, Rivers State, Nigeria, and as a result of the insufficient availability of cabs coming to the gate of the NLNG Residential Area, I had to hitch a ride with my mom who was heading into Finima Town.

She was going with my little cousin for a secondary school meeting at St. Patrick’s School about the same time I was rushing out for my appointment. This had me waiting for them to dress up and get ready rather than trekking down to the NLNG Roundabout along Finima Road which actually ended up delaying me.

On arriving the NLNG Roundabout, there was already a small commercial bus parked along the Finima Road waiting to load passengers going to Bonny Town. Regardless of the size and discomfort I knew I would face using a small bus, I still had to board the bus to avoid extending my arrival time at my appointment.

Along the road we passed various landmarks leading to Bonny and one of the eye catching ones was the Finima Nature Park, which is popular for hosting a cross section of exquisite animals ranging from the land, amphibious and aquatic ones. These include monkeys, crocodiles, peacocks, and the bones of a fully grown whale, which has now become one of the most popular attractions on the island.

Along the road we passed the road used by the NLNG Train 7 workers, one leading to the Train 7 project site and the other leading to their camp adjacent to the popular Workers Camp.

The bus was really slow because of the potholes created due to the ongoing construction work on the Bodo/Bonny Road by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. We sluggishly continued on our journey along the Finima Road until we got to the popular Willbros Junction, an ever busy area, which is the next major landmark after the Workers Camp junction.

We stopped multiple times picking up and dropping off passengers at the road side, thereby extending our arrival time.

When eventually we arrived at our destination and had to pay N200, that is N50 extra to our regular transport fare because the driver argued that from the Finima Roundabout to the Bonny Roundabout is N200 and not N150.

Prince Onubi, a student of Mass Communication at the Edo State University, Uzariue, Edo State, wrote in this piece.