I live in a rented flat in a suburb of Lagos. There are four flats in the building, ample parking space for all of us, and a borehole for water. There is also one pump to supply the water to all of us. Yesterday morning, the pump stopped working.
Today, I woke up to hear insults being hurled across my ears. Stepping outside, I saw the wives of my neighbours abusing themselves while their husbands stood behind them. What was the problem?
M's wife said that S's daughter spoiled the water pump. Mrs. S did not take kindly to that accusation and let Mrs. M have a not too clean piece of her mind. Of course Mrs. M was not going to take it lying down, so things deteriorated very quickly. What was most interesting to me was that both couples were all dressed up for church, and The S kids were watching their mother use some language that would make a sailor blush. It appears that the Ms have no kids. Anyway, none that I have noticed.
I would like to see Mrs. S take the moral high ground in a few weeks when her little girl uses some choice language to describe something, but that is besides the point...
The point for me is that this morning's show highlighted one of the problems that we have in Naija. We tend too often to forget about the real issues and subjects and instead turn our attention to less important things such as persons and objects.
Take for example this little drama - maybe Mrs. S's daughter did spoil the pump by turning it on and off once too often especially given that the current is low on occasion. But would trading blame solve the problem? No. Why not sit down and find a solution, such as fixing the pump, then isolating it from the power line, connecting it to M's generator, and letting M pump the water. That way M's concern that the pump gets spoiled once too often (first time since I moved in) would be addressed, and we would still have water. At the moment, there is no water, and that is not fun.
There are so many other examples I can think of, but at the moment, I'm off to appear on TV.
Rubbin' minds on Channels TV at 1500 is going to discuss the enough is enough rally, and how we can secure our future. Ciao.
4 comments:
nice one. go get em.
Simple issues flare up because people can't stand each other enough to sit down and brainstorm. Kudos on the #EnoughisEnough campaign
what you are proposing is a logical process in which to resolve issues? in nigeria? I like the fact that in a short while after this exchange they will all be off to church where they will wax lyrical about loving your fellow man, treating your neighbour as you would like to be treated and other such Godly treaties.
This is not unique to Nigeria. Good article tho.
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