Monday, May 4, 2009

WHERE DO WE BEGIN TO RE-BRAND NIGERIANS?

I have lived all my life in Nigeria. Expectedly, I should have thoroughly imbibed the sprit and culture of Nigeria. Fortunately or should I say unfortunately, (because the lesson from the following story has left a big burden on my mind) within the decade, I have had few opportunities to travel out of Nigeria. My first of such travels became for me, an eye opener- I have had to live with the burden of the desire for us as a people to do things right.

Sometime ago, on my first visit to the United States, I was traveling on a bus from New Jersey to Maryland. At some point we had a stop over at a petrol station. As we approached the station, the driver of the bus announced to us that we would be stopping for five minutes. I thought within me, that, that was a good opportunity for me to get myself a light refreshment as I was beginning to get hungry.

On getting down from the bus, I made for the small store within the petrol station; picked some snacks and drinks from the shelf. As I moved to the clerk to pay for these items, I found a number of people on a queue wanting to do the same. So I joined the queue. At some point, I realised that the time to get back to my bus was very near and I still had a few more people ahead of me on the queue. In my seemingly normal way of reasoning, I decided to move ahead of the queue to the clerk to try to hurry her up. I believed most of the people on the queue were not traveling and so should understand. I said to the clerk, in, a raised voice “Why don’t you hurry up so we don’t miss our bus, couldn’t you see that there are many people on the queue? You are just too slow, am on a journey and my bus is about to take off. Please answer me and let me leave this place” in my own opinion she was wasting too much time with every individual. If I was expecting the response I got to those statements it would have been a lot better for me. I was not. Almost in a split second, all eyes turned to me in a manner like “where on earth is this man from? Why is he so indecent and un-couth? Gush! And perhaps, many more of such questions running through the minds of practically everyone present, from the looks on their faces.

On her part, the lady clerk asked me just two questions. The first was “did the bus driver mention in his announcement that you have only five minutes to stay at this station? Second was “when you got into the store did you figure, that with the number of people you met on the queue, five minutes would be enough for you to take your turn? Sincerely, I just could not answer those questions because at that point I had realised how un-acceptable my behaviour was. I was so ashamed of myself. That experience and the shame I felt has been for me un-forgettable.

I decided to share this experience for some reasons. Amongst them, the fact that in Nigeria and especially in Lagos from where I came, that behaviuor wouldn’t have been viewed in any bad light, it would have been a normal thing to do in the face of the circumstance. As a matter of fact, other people would have joined in raising their voices too. Today, when I look at our society, I realise how much we have lost in terms of mannerism and simple etiquettes. Thinking that these actually cuts across all the strata of our society, regardless of status, makes me weep inside. This obviously is part of the reasons we have so much image problem. Have you witnessed an average customer service desk of a typical Nigerian bank? how 10 or more people try to speak to the customer service officer at the same time, New or old generation banks, it doesn’t mater, or an average fast food restaurant, street corner supermarkets or store, petrol stations, name it. Everywhere you go, this is the norm. Sad enough, nobody seems to notice that something is wrong. I have witnessed situations where some so called mystery shoppers would approach a bank’s customer service officer and put up this same show of shame as a way of trying to measure the officer’s ability to handle such horrible situation. How well she handles it is the measure of how good she is at the job. In my opinion, these mystery shoppers should, rather than encourage people to behave this way, urge the bank to encourage their customers to behave decently. It would be a great service to the nation.

It’s a common sight to see people roll down the windows of their expensive looking air-conditioned cars, to throw dirt’s on the street. Even in a modern city like Abuja, as good as the roads are, and in spite of the comparatively light traffic, you would notice that whenever a driver stops at a junction to make a turn say to the left, maybe at a traffic light, while waiting, any car coming behind that car at the junction, rather than stay behind the car in front, even if its just the two of them, would prefer to stay beside it. Thereby creating a second lane and the next car creates a third lane. Meanwhile they will all try to merge into just one lane on the left when the green light comes on. Most times they end up behind each other eventually. This does not mean anything to anybody. It’s the norm. What a people? How crazy.

Correct any wrong doing in this country and hear people’s response. Watch our children, the way they have religiously imbibed these spirits. Attempt to correct them and watch the expression of surprise on their faces. As if saying “what’s wrong with what I have done”

The question is how did we get here? Many have blamed these on prolonged military rule. But isn’t the military said to be a highly disciplined people? When General(s) Buhari and Late Tunde Idiagbon tried to instill the spirit of discipline in us in the eighties how did we react to it. Is anything generally wrong with our make up as Nigerians?

Do we have a future? If we do, then where do we begin from?

May God help us?

Whats wrong with our ATTITUDES

That we are good people is no doubt. But a number of things pertaining to our attitudes needs to be changed. I' ll dare to mention some of them in my subsequent publications. Not to slight us as a people but to encourage us to make a change.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Change to Nigerian Infrastructures.

What do we really need to change in Nigeria? To answer that question i believe one needs to first know what is different in Nigeria from the rest of the world.

A number of things are. But to my mind, the major one is INFRASTRUCTURE!

Our level of infrastructural development is poor. Basic things like food, water, roads and electricity are not in adequate supply. Should they be, we may have been equal or maybe surpass many countries in the world. For instance, let there be a day, in the life of Nigeria, when all roads, (i mean all roads, long distane,short, big or small) will be paved, when electricity would be in constant supply, water and food would be readily available, that day, it would become clear to the rest of the world that Barcelona, London, San Diego or Tokyo, any other city for that mater, is not created differently from Aba, Lagos or Jos.

That Nigeria is equally as good, as any other place in the world. Maybe even far better than many places because we have the added advantage of a better climate.

That day, our people will stop queueing up to be molested at foreign embassies, in their quest to acquire travel visas. They will stop celebrating or giving testimonies in their places of worship whenever they manage to secure entry visas to other countries. The world would then begin to appreciate us. They would strive to come here. They would see the opportunities that abounds in Nigeria. They would know that we have what it takes to be great. Our attitude would definitely change once we get our priorities right i have no doubt.

As Nigerians, there is also the need for us to conciously begin to adjust our attitudes. A lot needs to be done in these regards if we are to be taken seriously by anybody.

We shall get there.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Nigeria: Good people, Great Nation

That Change that i look forward to requires the contribution of every Nigerian. It must be both internal and external change. Internal change to how we project ourselves to the world and external as in how the world perceive us.

In the recent times we have suffered a great deal of negative perception in the eyes of the world due mainly to the way the world us. I have personally surfed series of it on a number of occasions; in the course of my travel around the world. To say that these hurts is to put it mildly.

It hurts, especially when you try to put in proper perspective, what the difference between you and the rest of the world is. As a people, Nigerians are generally very good- kind, warm and very friendly. A typical Nigerian would prefer to go hungry for his neighbour to have his meal. He will pay particular attention to the welfare of strangers often at the expense of his personal comfort. This is who we really are. These and many more good traits is what you ll find in an average Nigerian. If this is true, then why does the world see us diffrently, have we always been seen in that bad light, if not, when and how did it begin?

In terms of resources, most countries around the world do not have 10% of resources that Nigeria is blessed with. Yet life seems much much pleasant in these countries.

What is the way forward????

Monday, March 16, 2009

Change your World

Sometimes if you do not have the opportunity to leave your domain for another you may not be able to fully appreciate the differences in the way the world around you operates.

Doing things the usual way may seem the best thing to do. But with a chance for a change of environment comes with the burden to make a change. A positive change. This is were i am at the moment. The burning desire for a change.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

I just want to welcome everyone to my blog. You will see more of my expressions here over time.
Regards,
Charles