CHUNGAI PEOPLE! A CURSED CREATION...Read

                                              Hmmm..I just saw this inspiring piece on my friend`s wall on FB, so i decided to share it with ENB Readers..               
I’m sure you know that the content of this write up is ironic to the topic, cos if you didn’t then you are a disappointment. I was lying on my bed and reminiscing as usual, and it crossed my mind on how the Southern Kaduna people also known as chungai are viewed, so I decided to write a piece on the Chungai Stereotype. Well, I know some Southern Kaduna indigenes don’t like the name Chungai cos they have the opinion that its stigmatized but I don’t care and I love using cos that’s the only name that brings the Jju, Ham, Atyap, Oegworok, Nikyob, Sholio, Atakad, Adara and all the numerous Southern Kaduna tribes under one umbrella. It doesn’t change my capabilities or neither does it kill my God given talents, so if you are from Southern Kaduna and you don’t like the chungai word bear with me as from this moment on in my write up I will drop the Southern Kaduna designation and continue with the chungai alias.                                                                           
Now back to the matter how do they see the chungai people; some bunch of burkutu drunks, cheap, naïve, vulnerable set of creation that lack enterprising skills, love to work in the civil service, hate to love themselves and various other perceptions that I don’t have the luxury of mentioning all. In as much as some of the stereotypes might be true, we don’t own the monopoly as it cut across the whole federation. Let me pick some points and make some analysis.                         
I had a little chat on the history of the chungai peeps with my mama and I was able to understand that the chungai people where indeed very enterprising but due to sabotage by the Hausa people who wielded so much power and were the ones in contact with the colonial masters they dumped it for the only option they had; Govt. work. She told me that during the cotton boom, the chungai people produced the best grade of cotton, they took their time to pick their cotton but by the time they took it to the point of sale the hausa people who were in charge of the market will say ours is grade c and it will be priced at miserably figures. This misery turned to frustration as time went on further leading to despair and the need for an alternative came calling and that was why they resulted to civil service as the escape route cos any other venture was sabotaged. But come to think of it every bloody Nigerian now wants to work in the Government why? The frustration we felt a century ago is what they are facing now and they can’t stand the heat. A simple case study was the last immigration exercise you wouldn’t tell me all the applicants were the Govt. work loving chungai people that filled the Abuja stadium. What other Nigerians accused us of is what they are doing now.                                                                                                                                         
Now to our youths; they call the guys drunks and the ladies cheap, I came across an article some years back published in City People magazine, a magazine for myopic minds that said if you want to sleep with a chungai girl just buy her Indomie and Suya and voila an gama. I don’t know where they got that stupid story from but come to think of it our parents didn’t bring up our girls to sell their body for sex, it is not an official venture in chungai land not to say some of them don’t do it but if a chungai girls indulges in selling her body for money, that money is forbidden by her parents unlike some parts of the country where it is celebrated. I don’t know if requesting for money before sex is something that should serve as a bragging right. I won’t talk about the drinking stereotype cos even a blind man knows that drinking in Nigeria is not peculiar to any ethnic demographic. As a matter of fact we should be given credit for inventing burkutu time in memorial. An average chungai youth is seen as dumb because he/she is not dubious, most youths from other regions are taught to be dubious growing up so they see it as a norm. They mistake our hospitable, accommodating and sincere nature as a weakness but those characteristics are what has kept us strong and balling despite over 100 years of oppression.                                                                          
I’ve stayed in different parts in Nigeria, I’ve also had the opportunity of visiting villages around Nigeria and I can authoritatively say that Chungai villages are one of the most developed in Nigeria. If you visit some so called developed villages in Naija you will appreciate Kurmin Musa or Wadon lol. They can keep calling us what they want while we keep growing slow and steady. We should be given credit where it is due. Thanks to chungai Nigeria has Chocolate City, thanks to chungai the Nigerian Airforce produced the first female fighter pilot, thanks to chungai Nigerian Millitary produced the first soldier to hold the post of Chief of Defence and Army at the same time, thanks to chungai Nigeria produced a Chief of Army Staff in Liberia, thanks to Chungai Nigeria has Farmfresh, thanks to Chungai Nigeria has Kunu Zaki the highest selling local beverage, thanks to chungai Nigeria has one of the most technologically advanced environmental oil servicing firm, thanks to chungai Nigeria has one of the best bio-scientist in the world, thanks to chungai Nigeria produced an Internationally recognized Art Olympiad winner, thanks to chungai MTV based produced buttermint IQ, thanks to chungai Africa Magic Hausa is undergoing a revolution, thanks to chungai non indigenes in Kaduna State are safer than they should, thanks to chungai Nigeria has the best ginger in the world. So when you see a chungai mortal please pay respect cos despite our minority status our achievements are Major…I dedicate this piece to the memory of Sir Patrick Yakowa R.I.P