Jos, the capital of Plateau State, is popularly known as the ‘Tin City’. Characterised by a cool weather, a rocky landscape, and diverse populace, Jos is a city with a very strong personality. It is a city that offers the golden opportunity of mixing with people of different cultures and traditions, as it is home to people from the different parts of the country.
Something stands out about Jos. It is the weather. Different from those of many other cities of the country, it gives one a foreign feel – cold clear air that refreshes the lungs with every inhalation. On really cold days, especially when it rains, one experiences something close to snow. It rains ice blocks, and that excites the children who run around with buckets to catch some as they fall.
Jos is not lacking in tourism sites. Shere Hill is one of them and it serves as a training ground for both the young and the old. Secondary school students are always taken there for a week or two of training on mental and physical abilities. Skills on survival strategies are imparted through obstacle courses, rock climbing, puzzles, and physical exercises. To the young ones in particular, that is always an interesting place to be.
So, also, is the Wild Life Park. For those who find comfort with nature, that is an irresistible place to be. Animals of different shades and sizes abound. Lions, monkeys, and countless others are available. A few harmless ones among the animals are allowed to roam around, while the dangerous ones are kept in cages.
Parks like the Solomon Lar Amusement Park, Wild Bunch and so many more guarantee real fun for any visitor.
Jos Museum, Pandam Game Reserve, Assop Falls, and much more also offer the opportunity for quality time in the Tin City. They offer a lot on the beauty and history of the city.
Like most cities of the country, Jos is one big sport arena, going by the love and fanaticism displayed by almost all about football and some other games. Little wonder therefore that football pitches, basketball courts and other sporting arena dot the city. Plateau State’s victory at the Nigerian Premier League last year speaks volume about the passion for football and the love for other games too.
Jos City qualifies for the appellation, Home of Good Music. Music comes from almost every corner such that one could mistake it for a big party ground. Concerts, fashion shows and other creative events are not rare in the city. Without doubt, the general creative nature of the city must have seen to the emergence of the likes of artistes like 2face Idibia, MI, Jesse Jags and others who rule the world of music, even beyond Nigeria.
Only God can tell the number of other budding artistes in the city, waiting to “blow” judging by the amount of exposure and opportunities they are currently basking in, underground.
The story about Jos will certainly not be complete without the mention of food. Yes, food. With the coming together of people of different cultures and personalities, the dishes are diverse. Gwate, Kwakle, Amora and many more delicacies are bound to leave anyone salivating.
The people, ever smiling, ever pleasant, come from the different tribes of Berom, Hausa, Tarok, Mangu, Ngas, Igbo and Yoruba among others.
Different in backgrounds, tongues, beliefs and cultures though, they are united in the Tin City.
One amazing thing is the picture of a rural and backward setting some tend to paint when the story of Jos is being told. Such a notion is for the “uninitiated.” They may be forgiven as it can only be assumed that such people have never stepped the soil of Tin City.
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It takes anyone to experience the city to be able to feel it. If the truth must be told, then one would dare say: The taste is sweet, the air is soothing and refreshing; the love is deep, the unity is gripping and the peace and serenity overwhelming.
One thing that stands out about Jos City also is the spirit of survival. Emerging from the raw violence a few years back that threatened to send it into extinction, Jos City has bounced back stronger and better.
That is why, despite all, Terminus, once the biggest market in West Africa, still the biggest in Plateau State, has returned to its bubbling nature after it almost collapsed in 2001. Terminus symbolises the moving spirit of the people of Jos.
With the little period I have spent in Lagos, it would not be out of place to say that Lagos is the direct opposite of Jos in different ways. Lagos is, unlike Jos, characterized by a busy nature with everyone seeming to be in too much of a haste. Rat race, perhaps. The two cities are both filled with their unique and outstanding characteristics. And as I say goodbye to my much adored Jos, I embrace with an open mind all that Lagos has to offer. Lagos, here I am.
