African Time

​I don’t think there can be a change in the time children or let me say students go to school in our community, from the kindergaten level to the university. Everywhere, it is in the morning, because Owuro L’ojo. Only those studying online sha… Even someone studying online must choose their morning period, or else, procrastination will doom them.

While I was in secondary school, there were always two assemblies to be conducted, one for those ‘time conscious students’ and the other for ‘the late comers’. The conscious ones are like the conscious Muslims of the prayer time, those who won’t pray won’t pray even if there’s salat time application on their mobiles.

Children are trained from childhood, if he is the type whose coming late to school is not seriously dealt with by his parents, either by scoldingly scold him or train him like a real African mother would train a child, then forget it, he won’t be able to manage his time, their type miss flight for no tangible reason. I don’t know, maybe they expect planes to come pick them at home.

It really sounds unbefitting when people come late to programs, parties, schools, offices and so on, I doubt people come late to office in this time of CHANGE. Thanks to Buhari. 

If you get late to a party, you might not be scolded, though, that won’t be the case for the MC. Very funny, have you ever attended a party where people are waiting for the MC to arrive? I wonder how he will control the program while people are looking at him like a fool. I have witnessed one, believe me. Well, he feels nothing is wrong with that.

Nevertheless, it is a bad habit and almost everybody is a time waster. We don’t know the golden opportunity time has brought us, and we don’t know it moves so fast until we die, for life really is time.

Talking about Africa time.. Hoooo, we call it “no African time”. The phrase itself depicts how unserious we are. Almost every poster you see in Africa, Nigeria to be precised, always has that motto: Plz No African Time, as if it is the name of the company printing posters. Time is life, if you can’t manage time, how will you go about your life?

African time means, adding at least one and half hour to the original stipulated time for the program you want to attend. When a program is announced to be 11, you ll get there by 2. Good people get there by 12, and ‘those’ who have nothing to do with their lives get there exactly 11. Upsidedownly arranged. It is totally wrong. Although, there could be reasons for people keeping to African time, African time is different from time, it is African time.

A naming ceremony for example, where people are expecting scholars  (Imam or Pastor) to be there by 4, but he got there by 5, such scholar already failed in time management. He is to preach the importance and essence of time (life), but himself is a time killer.

Teachers in some schools, come late to classes, universities as a case study; lecturer changes the lecture time for students extemporarily, chooses a befitting time that suits him without consulting the students as if they don’t pay school fee, then set up an impromptu test just to fail those who are not aware of his class or couldn’t make it, his time is time even if others die, another African time, I doubt that happens in other countries. Lecturers should let go off the thinking that students are in school just to watch them, you are not entertainers, you are trainers.

It is very funny when chairman of ocassion gets late to occassion, is it because you are the expected, that gives you the audacity for coming late to the program. You are loosing some respect in the real sense.

Of course, i can only laugh at some people who don’t go to programs on time so that they won’t be called onto the high table to spend, african parties, you must spend money na. Owo omogo, owo alubarika, owo ope, owo aseyori and co. So they have to arrive at an African time.

Some husband grow old waiting for their wives to finish their make up before they could go out, a wife was making up one day until her husband missed his flight, just because she wants to see him off. She had to go to his parents to help plead for her, before going to the parents nko, she wasted another precious one hour on make up. Yeyenatu.

Very foolish is the thought of a man, who has an interview for 7 o’clock but extended the time himself, whispering within himself that some people will already be there before him and he’ll be attended to after them, come later is your name. You know what, if everybody can get to a place at the announced time, what will delay us. Everything will just go smoothly and beautifully.

A lot are scenarios where African time are been proven, but I want to say, refrain from this African time stuff. It is nothing but a bad image. African is the best continent but I think the reason for our success in undeveloped projects towards the ozone, is because we don’t always work with time, rather we use African time.

Believe me, no one’s got more than 24 hours a day, the difference is that some are discipline and some don’t care about how life goes on. They say time is like sword, if you don’t cut with it, it will cut you. And I say if you don’t do something with time, time will do something with you. Time saves and time kills. Even when you sustain an injury, physical or emotional, we say, it heals with time. 

Timing was the only reason prophet Sulaiman wanted to punish the bird for, but I will not blame the bird too after its excuse for not returning on time. The story of Sulaiman and the bird is known to everyone. But not everyone is a bird. I wish I were a bird, or at least have wings to fly.

A friend had something to collect from me and we agreed on meeting by 2 O’Clock: from Okoko, if he leaves by 1, he definitely would meet up with me ‘that’ stipulated time. Exactly 1:45, I called to ask him where he was, he said Abuleado, I knew he was lying coz the underground sound was noise free. By 2:30, where are you, he said Mile 2. I laughed and said OK. I was waiting at Odunade for him…

I don’t know what joy is there in lying, if lie saves you this time, it won’t save you many times. 

Just tell me exactly where you are, I might have something else to do, maybe I’ll just kill two birds with a stone. I won’t kill him, why lie to me.

By 3:00 pm, he refused to pick my calls. So I gave in to doing something else before his arrival. Please put me in your shoe, if he was nowhere to be found by 3:30, won’t you call me a fool if I was still waiting for him. You know, I am a gentle guy, I just kept waiting. But one thing that pains me is, he stopped picking calls. So I went to pray in a nearby mosque. 

Because he was coming to collect his money from me, I did not really concentrate on Salat coz he might call. I left the mosque and set for another meeting with an organization in Ijesha. 

While walking through the bridge of Odunade bus stop. My phone started ringing, I thought he was the one, yes he was. On the bridge, I could see him from afar then picked his call, he said ” I am in your street now, where are you, mosque or at home. I said I am on my way to ijesha now, meet me in Darul Quran, {that’s my school}, if you don’t get there by 5, that means next week and I bang the phone.

He kept calling, but I stood my grounds, luckily for him, he met me at the gate of the school while I was trying to leave. ‘God save you’, I told him, he frowned as he was so angry at me for wasting two hours out of his time but I was only smiling and gave him the money. He left in anger after learning the lesson of his life.

This attitude starts when parents don’t time children in doing things; for ladies it start when they grow up and must make up before going out. I won’t say you should look shabby while going out but be time conscious.

The article is getting longer than I want it to be so I will end it for now and say, start planning for your tomorrow’s outing from now, don’t delay your husband, don’t shut your wife out for delaying you a bit, she is not going to like it, BUT if you think she will learn a lesson from it coz of next time, Ejawon Kale.

My dear friend, be time conscious, if you don’t do something with time, time will do something with you, and something will do the time…. 

Time is money, if you don’t do something with money, something will do money.
Whichever program you are invited to, please remember, No African Time.

©Broken Pen.