Chapter one The story man
Elder Mike okunsi was an old man who lived in the old city of akoko land in the Ondo state area of Nigeria .He was good,calm and fun to be with.He loved telling stories to little children.Among the people of the small community,Elder Okunsi was really known as a great story teller all across the vast land of Ondo region.
Like most of the villages in the Ondo region,Akoko was a cocoa rich community. That is to say that Akoko land had lots of cocoa ,cocoa plant is the raw material for all manners of chocolate produce.it is so valuable that people all over the world comsume. Cocoa product has a great market that empowers it's owners financially.
Amongst many export produce that forms Nigerian's national revenue is the export of cocoa produce which is mostly exported to European nations and this form a basis of exchange for Nigeria.The same region. produce rubber as cash product for export purposes.Though Nigeria has a major export product which is the Crude oil that forms Nigerian major revenue.
This Ondo region has produced promi -nent people and wealthy people who got their wealth from cocoa farming.it is so lucrative that it boisters the economy of the land.The cocoa complex which is at Ibadan ,it is a place where all farmers bring their cocoa produce to sell for mass export or sales.
Akoko land where the story man came from,is a good land where most people in the land make their earnings from cocoa produce and other farm produce like: Yam, cassava, vegetables,palm oil etc.Though,there is still lots that the government can help them to do,like easy Link road that will help the farmers to transport their farm produce to town.Also constant electricity can help alot in setting up factories in such community where they can be turning those cocoa raw produce Into end product like chocolate beverage, chocolate confectioneries, chocolate ice cream etc
In the recent time things have improved, government had began to work on the social Amenities like the road , electricity and water.Moreso the modern building are beginning to take hold of the layout of the town.People are coming back from the city to invest in Agriculture,many opportunities are emanating from Agriculture business.The credit facility in conjunction with the CBN are collaborating in giving farmers soft loan to upgrade their farmlands.More Healthcare centers are being constructed all over the community which make the town an easy place to live compared to what was obtainable years back.
There are still some old buildings around.However,they remind us of how Akoko looked like many years ago.Most of these old houses were built in the colonial era when the white men ruled Nigeria.One of the oldest of such building is the Akoko center Museum.
The museum was built by the Europeans.In those days,it was an impressive structure admired by everyone.There used to be many visitors who can from all walks of life to visit the Akoko museum.The visitors are not many these days,though the Akoko Museum has reduced in glory recently.Still on most weekends and public holidays,a few curious visitors find their way to the museum.
The curator of the museum is Elder Mike Okunsi.He had been working there since he was a boy.Now he was almost Eighty years old ; one of the pioneer of the museum.Elder Mike Okunsi enjoyed working at. the museum,showing the visitors around the beautiful artifacts , sculptures and paintings that are displayed at the halls and lobbies of the museum.
There were scores of items,and Elder Mike Okunsi knew everyone of them by heart.He also knew the important dates and history of the events in the Ondo region.He usually told stories to the people who came to the museum,as he took them on tour.around the place.The children, especially,loved to hear his stories.He often told stories of battles fought in ancient times and of powerful warriors and kind magicians.Elder Mike Okunsi loved telling stories alot.
On most evenings,he would sit beside his little house in Akoko and lots of children would gather around him.They would urge him to tell them stories after stories.He loved having the children coming like that.
Some of the stories he might have repeated a dozen times.Still,the children did not mind hearing them again and again.One day,the story teller appeared set to tell a group of eager children some interesting stories.He said to them smiling softly,' i 've not told you these ones before '.
The children were excited upon hearing that,they wanted to hear a new story,so they all gathered round and fixed their. eyes keenly on the old man.Elder Mike Okunsi cleared his deep throat softly as he began the story.As a matter of fact even though the stories may sound like a mere fables but the community people believed that the story did happen a lonf time ago.so sit back and enjoy this interesting story.