What is it like to be a chief in Africa?
In 2019, Kong Tao, a young man from Henan, was named the second-level chief of the Jiwa region of Abuja, Nigeria.
He not only has the right to dispose of hundreds of acres of land and manage it.
So, what did this Henan guy do to be named an African chief? Now that four years have passed, what kind of life is he living?
A large coronation ceremony took place at the Emperor's Palace in Jiwa, Abuja, Nigeria, April 21, 2019.
At that time, under the gaze of everyone, the emperor took the clothes and hat of the second-level chief to change his clothes, and after a change, the emperor solemnly handed over the scepter representing the sacred to Kong Tao.
After these steps are completed, it means that Kong Tao has officially become the second-level chief of Nigeria.
The emperor not only gave him hundreds of acres of land, but also told him that he could marry as many wives as he could.
At that time, when Kong Tao's coronation was reported to China, everyone was shocked and left messages saying that Kong Tao did to make him successfully elected as the African chief?
Kong Tao was born in an ordinary family in Puyang, Henan Province, and his parents taught him to study hard and be kind and charitable since he was a child.
Under the influence of his parents, Kong Tao's academic performance in school has been very good, and he was admitted to Beijing Jiaotong University with excellent results.
During his time at university, Kong Tao continued to study as usual, and four years later he continued his graduate studies. With his outstanding talent, Kong Tao was successfully recruited by China Civil Engineering Group after graduation.
Until December 2010, the company decided to send a person to Nigeria to build a railway, but who to send at that time has been bothering the leaders, at this time Kong Tao was the first to stand up and say that he was willing to go.
So, under everyone's gaze, Kong Tao stepped on the plane to Nigeria alone.
At that time, because of the development of the "Belt and Road", China established a very friendly cooperative relationship with Nigeria, so when Kong Tao got off the plane, he was warmly welcomed by the local people.
But after all, this is Kong Tao's first time in Nigeria, and although he had heard that it was extremely hot and full of insects before he came, he was still very shocked when he really felt it.
His clothes were soaked with sweat almost every day, and he was often woken up by mosquitoes when he slept at night.
Although the living environment is very poor, the good thing is that meat in Nigeria is very cheap, and he can eat big fish and meat here at once.
Because the ** of vegetables is very expensive, Kong Tao does not eat vegetables much, and after a long time, his body is not as good as day by day, vomiting and diarrhea every day, and he is miserable.
The doctor was also very helpless when he looked at Kong Tao, and said that there was no other way except to consume more vegetables and fruits.
There was no way for Kong Tao to follow the doctor's advice and go back to the dormitory to recuperate with peace of mind.
After eating vegetables for a few days, Kong Tao felt that his stomach was much more comfortable, but it cost a lot of money to eat vegetables every day.
In order to reduce expenses as much as possible, Kong Tao bought his own seeds and planned to grow some vegetables in front of the yard.
But the locals who came and went were very puzzled when they saw Kong Tao working, so they talked to him in the local language, but he couldn't understand it at all.
He realized that although he could speak English, the locals were not all at it, so in order to be able to talk to the locals smoothly, Kong Tao hired a few translation teachers to tutor him.
Finally, after two months of unremitting study, Kong Tao can master a lot of local languages, and there are almost no problems in daily communication.
Not only that, but he also provided a lot of useful advice for the construction of the Nigerian Railway with his outstanding talents.
Kong Tao's excellent performance was also seen by the leadership, and in 2013, he was promoted to the branch manager of the fourth power department of China Civil Engineering Group.
With the elevation of his official position, Kong Tao also needs to independently solve various problems in railway construction.
At that time, everything was ready, and everyone was going to start work in earnest. Just in case, Kong Tao once again organized workers to re-test, and at this time Kong Tao found that the quality of the prepared soil had not been up to par.
But at that time, all the workers were waiting for the construction, and everyone urged Kong Tao to build it as soon as possible, and the soil was different and would not have a big impact.
However, in order to ensure the successful construction of the Acre Railway, Kong Taoli resolutely did not allow anyone to build it in advance.
Then he found the soil in Nigeria alone, and seeing Kong Tao so persistent, the workers had to follow him to find the right soil.
Finally, the hard work paid off, and with everyone's efforts, we successfully found the right soil.
But these soil resources belong to another tribe, and in order to obtain the right to use these soils, Kong Tao needs to go to the tribal chief to buy them.
At that time, as soon as the tribal chief heard that the Chinese engineering team was coming to buy, he began to greet him from afar, and said that Kong Tao could take as much soil as he wanted, and not only that, but he would also sell it at a low price.
Hearing the chief say this, Kong Tao also expressed his gratitude, and then he said, we will buy it as normal.
Through this incident, the chief felt that Kong Tao was a very good leader who could handle things.
At that time, the railway workers were also very excited when they heard that Kong Tao had returned with suitable soil resources, and prepared a celebration banquet for him early.
Looking at everyone's happy appearance, Kong Tao did not hinder too much, he said that this time the success of finding the soil is not only by himself, but also inseparable from the help of the state and workers, and finally he hopes that everyone can work harder after this celebration banquet.
As a result, under the leadership of Kong Tao, the Acre Railway was successfully laid.
However, due to various reasons, the Acre Railway was officially completed after a gap of two years.
On July 26, 2016, Nigeria's ** Buhari also came to the scene, participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony with Kong Tao and others, and tried to take the first train.
But after the construction of the Akka Railway was completed, Kong Tao did not choose to come back with everyone, but chose to continue to stay in Nigeria.
At that time, Kong Tao's parents were very puzzled, they didn't know why their son took the initiative to stay there, in order to get Kong Tao back, his parents can be said to have tried all kinds of ways, and even did not hesitate to say that they wanted to cut off the mother-son relationship with him.
But even so, it didn't make Kong Tao change his mind.
Until July 2018, the company integrated the resources of the Akka Railway, the Abuja City Railway and the operation department, and established the operation division, which was mainly responsible for procurement.
But the leader never imagined that a few years later, he would become an African chief.
It turned out that when the Akka Railway was being built, he found that the houses of the surrounding residents were very dilapidated, and in order to improve their living environment, Kong Tao discussed with the leaders and gave them these leftovers for the construction of the railway.
After getting the consent of the leaders, Kong Tao sent all these leftovers to the residents.
At the time of delivery, Kong Tao learned through chat that most of the residents here did not have jobs and their lives were miserable.
In order to improve their lives, Kong Tao once again found a leader, and he said that he wanted to recruit some local residents to work, which would not only solve their employment problems but also speed up the construction of the railway.
Hearing Kong Tao say this, the leader had no reason to object, so he agreed with his idea.
Not only that, he also advocated that local residents grow their own vegetables at home, and slowly under the leadership of Kong Tao, Nigeria's development is getting better and better.
It wasn't until April 21, 2019, when the chief invited Kong Tao to his home as a guest, and saw the grand scene at home, that he knew that he had been awarded the title of second-class chief.
Although he gained a lot of power because of this, he was not proud of it, after all, he still had a wife and daughter waiting for him in his hometown.
In 2021, when the construction of the second railway was completed, Kong Tao returned to China to reunite with his family.
Perhaps we only see the series of powers that Kong Tao gained after becoming a chieftain, and ignore Kong Tao's contribution to Nigeria in the past decade.
I believe that in the future, thousands of Kong Tao will stand up and make their own contributions to the development of the motherland.