#WQWWC – Change

Can you believe it?! This week’s topic is a phenomenon that reigned (in words) in Nigeria some months back. Why did I use the word ‘reigned’, you see in Nigeria when something is in focus or en vogue for a while, we call it ‘REIGNING’. https://silverthreading.com/2016/05/11/writers-quote-wednesday-writing-challenge-change/

The new dispensation or crop of leaders came in with their Mantra tagged ‘Change’. Has much changed in Nigeria? Yes o! Positively? Depends on who is looking. The person selling the Change story would say YES things have changed and improved. For the sakes of fairness, I will only address what concerns me.

For the past week or more we have been in darkness and PMS (Gasoline) has been up and up and down and upper, sometimes none at all. Do we still get to buy? Eventually, at a cost to your pocket, body, car etc.

• For the Pocket, the guy by the roadside sells his black market at a ridiculously high rate, we don’t patronise him or her, but people do and they are situated right beside the fuelling station. I hear from the attendants “we don’t sell to anyone with Jerrycans, bring your generators” and by the next day, “we don’t sell to generators too!” So we are wondering, how we will have power in the house when we can’t get fuel for the generator or get power from Power Holding Company of Nigeria?
• For the Body, you will suffer bodily wise with dragging on the queuing line with agberos (touts) manning the gates, men of the force and other car-users looking to get the product too!
• For the Car, whilst you are trying to push your car that has no fuel into the station, another car smoothly turns in front of you.

Now, it is Tomatoes whose price has skyrocketted and no end in sight to its increase. The sad part is when you complain, the mallam, tells you ‘nah Change’. I thought Change was meant to be positive or at least yield positive results. In a way, it has made many of us return to other recipes we abandoned and local food.

Whilst there’s so much to complain about the current system, I have decided to work on some changes personally. Watch what I say (as always) because words are seeds and I’m expecting a harvest. Come up with new and creative ideas and strategies to change situations around me. Be the Change I want to see in my home, to my King, colleagues, family and Lagos road-users…for this set of peeps, you need special GRACE, I tell you. But it will work together for good!

Picture Sources: http://quotesgram.com/it-starts-with-you-quotes/

http://ryan30rapadas.blogspot.com.ng/2014/03/i-m-t-h-e-key-to-change-when-we-are-no.html

https://www.pinterest.com/

©2016. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved

 

 

 

#MondayDrama – An Interesting Conversation

“It looks like this filling station will soon start selling fuel.”

“For where?! Dem no get fuel. Fuel only dey for that filling station for express.”

“NorthWest?”

“Yes, I hear say the woman get mouth.”

And I’m wondering “everyone has a mouth on their face” (technically, except in rare medical conditions). But you see, this is Nigeria and when someone is referred to as one with ‘Mouth’ or ‘Leg’, this means that you have CONNECTION and by ‘connection’ I mean, you can get away with anything or you have influence (in a manner of speaking). Now, I will have to agree to an extent with the fellow and his reasoning, as I’m wondering why a gas station would take 92% of the road and prevent other road users from moving freely to their destination, even when we know that moving freely in Ajah axis of Lekki means driving really slow – a step at a time! But to be so hindered that many people couldn’t reach the other part of Lagos yesterday (is something else), and nobody said anything about it, the woman obviously has connection.

Now, ‘we’ have blamed the woman aka owner of the fuel station. But I’m not done, how about you – the motorist?

She had cordoned off a section of the road to cater for her ever-increasing line of gasoline buyers. One line for the long stretch of cars, but motorist/ area-boys/ fuel touts/ enforcement agents in their all-knowing wisdom moved the rope and cone a bit for one car and another and yet another and soon we had four lines of parked cars attempting to enter the station through multiple access with no regard for other road users. Some others came from the opposite side of the road (drove against traffic apparently) and parked on that end in their own multiple queue to buy fuel. Many people didn’t go to church yesterday o! You do well.

I saw a funny write-up thanking the no-light/no-fuel situation for how it has encouraged family times and bonding, as the men can’t go hang out with the boys, children get to read more and one said that even God was happy as churches were full yesterday because a lot of people went there to charge their phones (that have been dead for days) and if I must add enjoy the cooling atmosphere from the air-conditioning units. LOL.

That analysis would work for those that were able to make it to church. For those that didn’t, you don’t want to know what they said in their hearts to everyone connected to this avoidable situation that prevented them from doing so. I went to church o and yes I had to charge the phones very well. But after that, what next? What is the solution to the fuel crisis that we are experiencing? I’m not even sure what is wrong or who to blame, I can only ask that what needs to be done should be done fast before…. I leave the conclusion to you.

By the way, transportation skyrocketed today by 100% increase and I’m wondering if any company did salary increase over the weekend in anticipation of this transport hike. Another thing is that despite all the filling stations maintaining that they are not selling in jerry cans, right beside each station is a trail of boys, men and women with different litres of fuel (from the ones they can carry to the over-sized container) selling black-market at ridiculous prices. Who sold this fuel to them? Just thinking out aloud.

Picture Source: http://www.nextgreencar.com/mpg/

©2016. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved

Brutality – Is the Police your friend?

I know my friend FK would be interested in this gist and maybe have a few stories to tell or maybe not. As some didn’t live to tell their story.

I will not go into the details of what the Police is supposed to do, they already know their work. It is what they are NOT meant to do, but KEEP DOING that is the bone of contention today and because they have knocked on the wrong door, I’m calling this particular person to the stand. And to think that just yesterday I posted a poem on the different kinds of brutality, only to have it played on my own King! God is watching you, Mr. Policeman.

I had requested for fish, moi-moi (steamed mixture made from beans paste, pepper, onions, groundnut oil etc. Well, this info is for my friends that don’t know what moi-moi is). As a matter of fact, I’ve added the pix of my food and a link, so I don’t deviate and as such my anger boils over quickly than it should. Actually, I’m not angry anymore, just pissed that people, NOPE…some Policemen still behave like this.

So back to my story…

I had asked King for grilled fish, moi-moi and salad (Please stop salivating, because even if you want part of it, it will have to be virtual-eating) and he calls me, I’m not sure why, but I could hear distracting noise in the background. So I kept calling his name till he responded and said that a Police-man had just deflated his tyre. There was this long fuel queue and the location housing the filling-station also houses that eatery King was going to. Usually, if you are going to the eatery, the security personnel would allow you entry and watch with their eyes to ensure you do not divert. Moreover the owners of the Petrol Station have their area cordoned off so you are ‘forced’ to stay in line.

King attempts to turn in by Oando roundabout and is told by this policeman to go and park somewhere and walk back to buy stuff. A staff of the eatery tried to intervene, the policeman ignored him and subsequently went to deflate the tyre. When King tried to stop him, he clung onto King’s suit and proceeded to use his gun to hit him. But King’s friend, Dee, blocked him and the gun landed on Dee’s hand. While all this was happening, his senior officer was by the corner watching. So King approached him to report the matter, the same policeman walked down to his boss to tell him not to listen to King and a wind of ALCOHOL gushed out!

This early morning! And with a gun?! Supposing he had cocked it and fired? I met a lady at work who came in very early in the morning weeping unashamed because a DRUNK POLICEMAN had shot her brother for no offence and refused to allow him be carried to the hospital and he bled there and died. A young man with so many potentials…a heavy loss to his family and this nation.

I know there are VERY GOOD Policemen and women in the force. When will the BAD ones be sent away or kept in the station to be doing “charge and bail” and leave sensible work to those that appreciate lives? Just asking. By the way, we have his number and his boss even had the effrontery to tell him to run and hide. Well, like a proverb in my place says “It’s the same hand you used to catch fly, that you will use to catch Bee”, but you know the end-results already, don’t you?! Hahahhahahahahaha. He will do it again and the Bee will sting.

What has your experience been?

© 2015. Frances Kelvin Otung. All rights reserved