When the wise one said that knowledge, which is always an expanding mirage in the desert of ignorance, comes one forth from study, one forth from experience, one forth from efforts and one forth from travel, he was right. I have therefore taken any travel I embark on as part of study in the endless pilgrimage of seeking knowledge in its elusiveness.

In this case, our trip was under the auspices of UNIZIK Business School as part of the requirements for the graduation of its doctoral students in Business and Public Administration. We missed the first Director of the School, Prof. A.U. Nnonyelu, but we are pleased that his successor, Prof. Emma Okoye, aided by his Deputy, an Associate Prof., Dr. Chinedu Onyeizugbe, have kept the torch aflame. Leading us to Rwanda, they made sure we got the best from the trip.

Because of COVID-19 and the security situation in the country, travelling was affected as it almost became a nightmare. The recent trip to Rwanda was actually my first out of the country in about two years. What was it like? What insight has one gained from it? Is it another torture? Are there lessons to learn from the trip on a personal, epistemological and national levels?

On the 2nd of April, 2022 , where my journey started, was actually the first time of using the N45 billion Anambra Airport. That I enjoyed it has not changed my opinion that it remains, like the N11 billion International Conference Centre, a misplaced priority. The comments of many people are affected by a certain euphoria fueled by excitement. In this case, time remains the greatest judge. Let us, for example, wait and see how many conferences the Centre will host in a year.

One instructive observation on this trip is RwandAir. About five years ago, when I first flew on the airline to Kenya and Rwanda, I recall I wrote about it, referring to the place of Ethiopian Airline in their economy and finally submitted that RwandAir may become for Rwanda what Ethiopian Airline is to Ethiopia. I raised questions about Nigerian Airline and the fate of other Nigeria's public corporations.

In Rwanda, planning is their forte. One could see deliberate efforts to sustain the greenery. They do not have reason to ban motorcycles in the city because of total obedience to traffic rules by everybody. I did not see a single bike man or his passenger that did not wear a helmet. I also did not see any single person on the street that was not wearing a face mask. By what magic would this be explained, except to assume they have become compliant to the law. Can we say the same of Nigerians? This is a veritable lesson in a country where those that should enforce the law are the ones that are lawless.

As part of the business of the trip, we first of all visited Rwanda Farmers Coffee Company. The first observation was that Rwanda is a relatively poor country that manages the little they have optimally. Kigali looks like a low-rated European country - well organized, neat and well planned. Through bracketing, they try to shield their ghettos from prancing eyes. The people look a bit contented in being Rwandans and appear not interested in being any other thing. They generally take things in their stride and are happy moving at their own pace.

At Rwanda Farmers Coffee Company, controlling 75 per cent of coffee business in Rwanda, we saw a small but effective company in terms of organisation, activities and the general philosophy behind its foundation. Founded six years ago by the Government of Rwanda, it has become the pride of the country as the biggest coffee company in East Africa.

Interacting with the Managing Director of the company, Mr. David, he spoke like a person sure of himself and the destination he is taking the company to. Mr. David vowed there is no government interference in things they do – no letter of introduction or urge to bend the rules a little to satisfy entrenched interests. Is this not another veritable lesson for our country?

With cheeks bursting with pride, David revealed that they have been growing steadily and now sell their coffee to 28 countries across the world with the plan to extend it to 50 countries in 2025. “It is Rwanda that still supplies coffee to UN in Africa for their offices and soldiers on the continent," he said, without airs.

It would be relatively easy connecting with the 50 countries because the emphasis among their ambassadors in foreign countries is to engage in 80 per cent economic than the usual political diplomacy. In other words, their embassies are their first marketing agencies in different countries. But how could ours do as much when politics, and not competence, has remained our guiding principle in all that we do?

At this juncture, David waxed statistically by telling us that 95 per cent of Rwandan Coffee is exported, while 5 per cent percent is consumed locally. As a deliberate policy, 65per cent of the profit the company makes is used to improve the condition of farmers, providing necessary infrastructure for them, while the remaining 35 per cent are ploughed back for further expansion. He talked about their plans this year to produce decaffeinated coffee, as well as iced coffee that people can take cold in 2023.

What is observable from the foregoing is the fact that coffee is much more than a commodity to Rwandans. It is their natural pride that is being used as a common denominator of unity among Rwandans. This is why David talks of how, out of about 400,000 farmers in Rwanda, 4,336 supply coffee beans to them, out of which 36 per cent are female; a deliberate effort to empower females and, thereby, support families.

We wrapped up the visit by being taken around the Coffee roasting plant. A modest and well maintained facility that houses different machines, including the Italian-made Brambati Coffee Roasting Machine with the capacity of roasting 9,000 kilogrammes of coffee daily and the Switzerland-made Coffee Grinding Machine. The secret of their endurance is dependent on constant power, unlike in our clime where the madness in the power sector does violence to installed machines.

What could have informed the choice of name of their coffee – Gorilla’s Coffee? It is not because gorilla and coffee are black, but because Rwanda abounds in mountain gorilla as a land of 1000 mountains.

The visit to the Nigerian High Commission in Kigali, where we felt at home, was another eye opener. An unarmed security official opened the door for us and we did not see any other security man carrying a gun, as is common in Nigeria. This reminds us of another observation: Rwandan Policemen on the streets just stood attentively by the road side with their instrument – the whistle. We did not see useless checkpoints or witness habitual abuse by security agencies. In Rwanda, life still has the expected dignity.

The Ambassador, Aishatu Alui Musa, compounded the feeling at home with the phrase “welcome to Nigeria.” We took pictures with her after which she happily bade us good bye and happy stay in Kigali.

Observing Rwanda at close range, the trip, inexorably, turned out to be another torture, inflicted on one by the cumulative effects of bad governance back home. Imagine till now, light is yet to go off. One has not heard of any sporadic shooting. One has not encountered “Agberos,” harassing anybody. One is yet to see any of those untoward vices that we are condemned to contend with in Nigeria.

Moving around Rwanda, we observed the use of the bicycle as a means of mass transportation. It is usually the trademark of contentment among relatively poor countries.

We again, observed that Policemen are all over the place, unobtrusively, doing the duty Police men do everywhere, which does not include mounting of vexatious checkpoints, extortion, protection of criminals and other unedifying engagements. Here, the police being our friends, is a statement of fact rather than “speaking in tongues.” We did not see or hear of different cults engaging in duels for supremacy. We noticed what may be called, rightly or wrongly, total absence of personality cult as the streets are uniformly named numerically and not after people’s names and even landmarks.

The further exploration of the country offered additional knowledge about Rwandans. Their physiognomy is inviting: pinholes for eyes, dark and supple of look. The women, especially in Kigali, are examples of feminine tenderness. Their manners fit into Okey Ikechukwu’s description: “unaffected elegance and a graceful ambience.” One of us must have pondered on these qualities to openly pronounce his intention of returning to Nigeria with our young female Rwandan photographer. Prepossessing in appearances, they appear more industrious, thrifty, and purposeful than their men.

From what we have observed or learnt about their men, they are not as hard working as the women, and are only interested in what to eat and invest any leftover in their girlfriends. They belong to a degenerate tribe that goes conspicuously to prayers, hungrily to dining tables and stealthily to brothels. Because smoking is prohibited in public places, I did not witness any person smoking till we left the country.

However, both sexes are athletically trim, without extra ounces of flesh to burden them. They trek a lot, which appear to be economically induced than a likable hubby pursued for any purpose. Even poverty has not come between them and the urge to look western in dressing and contemporary sartorial elegance as “instagramly” defined.

Earlier, we thought that the cleanliness observed in high areas was a smokescreen to cover the degeneration of the outskirts. Not at all! The culture of cleanliness is so pervasive such that travelling from Kigali to Akagera on the 4th day, a trip of two and a half hours (105 kilometres), besides no single pothole on the road, one did not see any dirt either. Observing the intensity with which flowers are nurtured, one may be right to submit that they love it with abandon.

Besides coffee, observing what seems like banana plantations here and there, one reasonably suspects that banana forms a major part of their cash crop and staple food.

Beside the foregoing observations, our major task on the third day was the visit to African Leadership University (ALU). Universities in Rwanda are not as big as those in Nigeria. What, if one may ask, is the relationship between structural sizes and quality? This should be an object of research.

What is observable at every point is the fact that Rwanda is highly organized. Even in mounting signage, one could see that it is highly controlled. Our buses stopped at the gate of the university before we were led inside and warmly received by Mrs. Lucy with evident cordiality. She gave what could be considered preliminary or introductory talks about the African Leadership University and the philosophy behind her foundation, woven around pan- Africanism.

As we were introduced, any sedulous observer would notice that in the bid to buttress her pan-Africanism, they have quotes from notable Africans such as Sankara, Patrice Lumumba, Mandela, on their wall; as well as names of people like Fela, Nyerere, Queen Amina, Chinua Achebe, Nkrumah, Biko, Senghor, among others, conspicuously written on their wall.

The provost of the University, Dr. Nhlanhla, received us enthusiastically and told us about the school from its genesis. Set up with a campus in Mauritius to compete with the best in the world, it is pioneering a 21st century novel learning process where students are almost their own teachers. From what he said, the school emphasises the Socratic dictum by encouraging students to discover themselves and becomingly apply the knowledge of self discovery to attaining greatness in life.

While students toe the foregoing path, the facilitators are there to guide them not to stray into the path of self-destruction. Thus, for them, education is the progressive discovery of oneself and the task is better done individually because souls are not emancipated en masse. To make the matter clear, their study rooms have small cubicles (booths), where intellectually weary souls can stay alone and meditate along epistemological and existential excellence.

When the provost left, Dr. Lucy, Director of the institution’s Business School, took over. She took time to take us through the curriculum and course contents of the school, all in a bid to let us know that they are in sync with the requirements of the 21st century.

The school offers Computer Science, Entrepreneurship, Global Challenges, and International Business and Trade at undergraduate level; it also offers Post Graduate Diploma and MBA.

As she spoke, I observed the Director of Unizik Business School, Prof. Emma Okoye, and his deputy, and an Associate Professor, Dr. Chinedu Onyeizugbe, taking notes as if with the intention of comparing notes when they return to Nigeria. Tongue in cheek, part of the note that caught the fancy of the Director was the pronouncement on on-going review are fees payable at ALU. When he jokingly raised it, students reminded him that they clearly said the review was downwards.

Through with ALU and what it stands for, as told by the staff, we had a full lecture series with Dr. Frank Ojadi of the Lagos Business School on all aspects of case-writing. He was so good that with just one class, we became masters in the conception and writing of cases. With personal experience, he let us know and appreciate that beyond scholarly end, that case-writing has other benefits. Exit the 3rd day.

The fourth day was as exciting as other days, but added to it was the experience of moving outside Kigali to the sleepy town of Akagera. The interesting thing about Akegera is that it is close to the northward border of Rwanda with Uganda and its eastward border with Tanzania.

As we travelled, we understood why the country is called “a land of a thousand hills.” Because of its topography, the country is one of undulating beauty, interspersed with plains and plateaus that are heavily cultivated with rice, guinea corn and banana.

Besides the excellent condition of the roads, we also observed the decreasing standard of living as we moved farther from Kigali. At some places, we saw mud houses, but each, even those that looked like the stables of horses, have pre-paid meters conspicuously hanged. It is just a question of poverty and not that of organisation and planning.

We left the Onomo Hotel at 7:03 a.m. and reached Akagera at 9:30 a.m. At Akegera Coffee Project Ltd, we observed what could be called another side of coffee value chain. While Rwandan Farmers’ Coffee Company we earlier visited offered us the final processing of coffee into the coffee drink that we know, Akegera offered us the full mechanism of planting, trans-planting, harvesting, weighing, sorting, drying and bagging of coffee.

Our guide at Akagera Coffee, Mr. Caesar, took us through all the stages, demonstrated all of them that most of us now toy with the idea of introducing coffee to Nigeria.

We were in Rwanda the day they remembered the genocide of 1994 - “Kwibuka 28. ”They told us the dos and don’ts of “Kwibuka.” It is a day they remember the genocide, when they took leave of their reasons and killed one another with the clear conscience of nature, what else do we say about it? It made me remember a young Hindu who was asked to explain Yoga, but feeling that Yoga is much more sublime than be explained, he said: “It is only through Yoga that Yaga may be known.” We therefore leave explaining Kwibuka until we visit the genocide memorial, which we did on the sixth day.

We started the sixth day with a visit to Camp Kigali for COVID tests preparatory to our departure on Sunday. Inside the camp, one continued to be awed by the level of their organisation. Within the tent where our samples were collected, we had access to high speed internet and neat restrooms. We feel compelled to give these minute details because such are not obtainable in the Giant of Africa.

After my sample was collected, I took time exploring the environment and discovered the camp is actually within the University of Rwanda. Inside the office, I asked questions and discovered that Kigali town, with a population of about 1.1 million, has eight universities. The universities are not as expansive as Nigerian universities, but I am not in a position to talk about their qualities. However, I was told that strikes are rarities, while acts bordering on vices among itching lecturers are treated with all seriousness.

As I was interrogating some students, I heard one lady who spoke familiarly, in a dialect that closely sounded Nigerian. She introduced herself as Dr Olufolahan Osunmuyiwa, from Lagos State. She is of Charmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, but presently at the University of Rwanda under the African Centre of Excellence in Energy for Sustainable Development, a UNDP programme. I could not ask their presence in Nigeria because we were ready to leave.

Our next stop was for change of money because of planned shopping after the visit to Genocide Memorial. At every point, one is confronted by their organisation. We saw written on the roads, “Park and Pay”. The agent of the company told me that they collect money for parking and remit same to government.

Thenceforth we went to Kigali Genocide Memorial. After a brief lecture by Mugabe, one of the staff and a survivor, he took us round. “More than 250,000 people are buried here,” he told us. He gave the colonial, social, economic and political factors that led to the genocide and explained the memorial as aimed at remembering the dead and preventing such from happening in future. As he spoke, he betrayed every emotion that led one of us to ask a question that made him reveal that he was a survivor.

On the trial of those that partook in the genocide, he narrated how the first set of convicts were killed, and how, on discovering it would cause more dislocation, they abolished the death sentence. He talked about the “Gacaca” Justice system and how it helped in seeking Justice built on truth and sincerity. “I have forgiven the man that killed my father,” he said emotionally.

Inside the genocide memorial are pictures of those that lost their lives. The children’s sector is so moving that the women with us started crying. We also saw some skulls that are left to teach humanity lessons. This is what “Kwabuka” reminds humanity that should be avoided at all costs.

From there, we went for a brief shopping at Kimironko Market. Not so big a market, but certainly one of the biggest in Kigali. Women dominate in the market, suggesting that the death of mostly men during the genocide must have contributed to that.

The next day was a free day for us to do what we wanted. I took time to further explore the city. Kigali Heights was my first port of call. It is the biggest mall in Kigali and looked western in design and content.

From there, I visited a Police station and closely watched their operations. Not so busy, mirroring the low crime rate in the city. A Policeman told me that they had all they needed and that offering them bribe was unthinkable. He asked, “what of Nigeria?” As usual, I started speaking in tongues!

Moving round, I was struck by the absence of hawkers on the streets. Meanwhile, one did not see sachet water. On further probing, I was told that polythene is banned due to its bad effect on the environment. Starting of churches are equally heavily restricted making it difficult for “vendors of the Gospel,” to have easy reign. Can you juxtapose this with the situation at home?

As I write, my people called me from Nigeria on the increasing cost of diesel. Meanwhile, they had not had light for four days, even when light did not blink in the one week we stayed in Rwanda. So much so, for the giant of Africa.

•Valentine Obienyem, a businessman and media relations expert, sent in this piece from Rwanda.

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