By Paul Chika Emekwulu
Please read this short story very carefully. The day was 18th of September, 2024, the second day since all the public secondary schools in Anambra state resumed for 2024/2025 academic session. They have been on holidays since June 13, 2024.
In the light of this, as a school book publisher I went to see the principal of a local girls’ secondary school in my local government, Agụata North.
“Where is the principal’s office,” I asked a group of students having a good time under a mango tree located on the north side of the principal’s office.
They pointed at a building on the south of the mango tree. Standing in front of the building were three women. One of them I came to know, was the principal. Others were visitors like me. The principal was at the point of leaving the rest of the women to see a member of staff at the staff room before coming back to visit with them.
While talking to them she was complaining of being tired climbing the stairs she just came down from. Yes, her office is upstairs. She later came back from the staff room.
Next, after acknowledging my presence she left for her office with the duo.
I followed behind them though not immediately. As they were in the office, visitors and members of staff were going in and out. I decided not to go in until she called for me. First come, first served should still be the rule, it doesn’t matter where. Some of us are not only uncomfortable but very uncomfortable with such policy. But is it not a part of a better society we all are clamoring for? Is this not a part of the reason why we are complaining about Nigeria not being like places like the United States or Canada?
There is no perfect individual and because there is no perfect individual, there is no perfect family and because there is no perfect family, there is no perfect society. We can only have a better society but we’ve to work towards it for it is not even guaranteed.
As soon as we start doing certain things the way the white man does things, please not everything, the closer we are on our rough road to a better society, of course not a perfect society because a better society is not automatic.
If we ever have to seek for a perfect society it has to be in pretense so that such much effort can only turn back to encourage us to look forward to a better society instead of a perfect society for none ever existed and none will ever exist and no generation of people has ever sought for one.
I was all the while standing outside the corridor where I was joined by a woman who introduced herself to me as a member of staff (Let’s call her Jane, not her real name). Jane was piggy backing a child. She later went in to see the principal.
To while away time I started to write an introduction to a book that teaches people how to capture people’s phone numbers (not memorize for a longer period of time) when paper, pen or pencil are not easily available. This unpublished book, by the way, is titled, “The Easy Way: How to capture people’s phone numbers.”
Few minutes after Jane went in, I decided to go to my vehicle to collect some important relevant documents I needed to share with the principal.
I was already downstairs walking to my vehicle when a voice called and said, “The principal wants to talk to you.” When I turned it was Jane. She was talking to me.
In response I said, “I’m coming back. I am just going to my vehicle to collect something.” Really, I was at that point going to my vehicle to collect a few important documents.
I had also in mind to move my vehicle and park it under the mango tree. I did that as well.
I did not come as a parent so I wasn’t in a hurry at all, after all a patient dog still has to eat the fattest bone. I was looking forward to that.
When I came back from my vehicle I decided to wait in the waiting room. There I joined another visitor, Nneka (not her real name) whose turn it was next to see the principal. As we were waiting patiently, a woman, let’s call her Ọgọnna hurriedly walked in to see the principal too. She inquired from Nneka whose turn it was next after her. She told her I was next. Immediately, Ọgọnna turned to me and asked me to allow her to see the principal when the principal calls for me. I found it difficult to give up my turn judging the history of my stay at the office, having waited for up to an hour.
It should be recalled that as I was walking to my vehicle the principal called for me because she thought I was leaving in anger (judging how long I’ve stayed waiting for my turn). This was an assumption though. But I wasn’t leaving, let alone leaving in anger. And now I was being asked by Ọgọnna to give up my turn. I found that a hard nut to crack. The principal herself could frown at that gesture.
I sat there thinking why we always exhibit this “I am in a hurry attitude” whenever we visit a public office. We witness this attitude at the banks, we witness this attitude at hospitals, we witness this attitude at motor parks, we witness this attitude at court houses as well as schools, among others.
“That’s impatience again,” I thought within myself. The same impatience at the banks, the same impatience during school registration exercises, the same impatience at the lights, the same impatience even during Holy communion. The list is endless because we all have our stories of impatience.
I shouldn’t have relinquished my opportunity to see the principal to someone else having gone what I went through. Doing so is like selling my birthright which can be compared to Cain and Abel. I could have, had it been a death and a life situation.
The other day at a bank a woman who just walked in wanted to know who was last on the queue. Again, I was the one.. She came with a similar excuse and “I am in a hurry attitude” which to me sounds like: ‘Last come, first served.’ She asked me to allow her to turn her papers in to the cashier. I said, “No, that is not allowed here.” Case closed. She did not repeat the request. She stayed to take her turn and hopefully, heaven did not break loose because she was still at the bank when I left.
Immediately I made that comment a staff of the bank who heard everything, with a smiling face exchanged meaningful glances with me all in silence.
I have written a newspaper article about this “I am in a hurry attitude” in several state Catholic Diocesan newspapers. The article was as a result of my experience at one of the MTN offices in the south east.
If impatience were to be a crime punishable under the law, 99% of the Nigerian public (each individual’s social, religious or political status notwithstanding) would be in jail for various levels of impatience. Some will be released a few minutes after check-in, while some will be remanded in custody for hours, some for days, some for weeks, some for months and some for years depending on the severity of impatience.
Being the beginning of a school term the rush at the principal’s office is not only expected but understandable. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. The principal herself knows that well enough. So, the best attitude at that point for me was to be a patient dog salivating and hoping to eat the fattest bone.
Now when Jane called me I had two choices: First was walking back to answer the principal’s call. I knew very well why she called for me. The second option was to continue proceeding to my vehicle hoping to walk back to the principal’s office. I chose the second option primarily because of clear conscience. I wasn’t angry. But why should I? I was waiting for my turn. Now, waiting for my turn wouldn’t have made any sense if outside visitors were walking in and out of the principal’s office not caring about who came first. That never happened.
If I had walked back to the office as soon as Jane said that the principal wanted to see me, that would have confirmed the fact that probably I was leaving in anger. But I wasn’t and there was no reason to.
At that point the principal would have been correct with her thoughts but again, it would have been an assumption.
Now I still want to talk about Nigeria not being a better society. People always accuse me of comparing a sixty something year old Nigeria with a 248 year old United States that got her independence from Great Britain in 1776.
Are these people telling me we have to wait to be 248 year old before we start respecting and being patient at the lights?
Are these telling me that we have to wait to be 248 year old before we start respecting punctuality and do away with the so called “African time” which to me is an African invention and the last born of every African family. African time is metaphorically evil. (African time by the way cannot be eliminated globally but can be in a particular group.)
Are these people telling me that we have to wait for 184 years to realize that we are risking our lives when we jump the red lights?
Are these people telling me we have to be 248 years old before we start taking turns properly at public places and events?
Are these people telling me we have to wait for 184 years before frowning at the insult meted to our naira currency notes at public events by way of spraying? (At a traditional marriage ceremony in my village sprayed currency notes landed on my plate of rice.) Is it not time to say enough is enough. Despite the Central Bank’s ban on spraying, the madness continues.
Are these people also telling me we have to cover our food on and off at public events to avoid our foods being victims of sprayed naira currency notes?
Are they also telling me that when it comes to “African time” we also have to wait for 184 years before we stop lying with our different excuses when the actual excuse most of the time is what I call “African time excuse.” (African time excuse” by my definition is the idea that when I get to that meeting or that event I’ll be the only one.)
Let’s be serious. When one takes a look at what is happening in Nigeria it doesn’t have to take a rocket scientist to realize that we Nigerians are not ready for a better society, a sure way to greatness.
It is Nigerians’ desire as a people and Nigeria’s desire as a country to be like Americans as a people and America as a country respectively, but each refuses to pay the price for greatness already paid and still being paid by Americans as a people and America as a country. That is pretentious and therefore controversial.
As long as we are all clamouring to “japa” to Canada, US and France etc., Nigeria can never be a better society, let alone being great. We are not talking about being a perfect society because as individuals we are not perfect. You cannot have a perfect society without perfect individuals. No society has ever sought for one because there is none.
Recently at a parish near me a minister confessed that the “Nigeria in Distress Prayer” which has been regurgitated for years in some churches is not yielding any fruit. It looks like the more we pray the worse situations in Nigeria become because we have refused to do what God has told us to do – be honest. We can say all the individual and chain prayers we want.
The man of God said that the “distress” prayer has been replaced by another prayer. I am yet to know the purpose of this replacement prayer. The next to go is the monthly bulletin.
Prayer, prayer, prayer! I believe in the efficacy of prayers (Don’t get me wrong) but prayers cannot be the solution to every conceivable personal or societal problem under the sun, otherwise our dream to live in a perfect society would have been realized even before we were born. Moreover, Jesus never promised us a trouble-free world (John 20:29).
For success in any endeavour, there is a price to pay. It shouldn’t necessarily all be about dollars and cents or naira and kobo.
Nigerians of today can be more disciplined and organized but it cannot be done without individual responsibility. We can do it and we have to have it written in our minds that whatever we Nigerians are as a people will be used to judge Nigeria as a country.
