“If You Are Serving The Public In Nigeria…”
By CHIDI A. OKOROAFOR
IF you are serving the public in Nigeria, especially if you are an employee, particularly if your services involve dealing with the Nigerian elites, please by all means, do everything you can to be fully in charge of your emotions. Try as much as you can not to allow them trigger you.
Nigerian elites don’t use their money, influence and connections to help people. They use it to intimidate, oppress and make life more difficult for the common man. They are constantly in search of people they can make to lose their jobs.
I was at the airport the day a Nigerian politician constituted a nuisance despite being at fault. He constantly threatened to make airport security personnel lose their jobs.
Inside the plane, another one made so much noise until we tackled him while he was busy threatening the hostesses.
Another day it was a known Nigerian clergy man who refused to follow normal protocols. Wasted everyone’s time and still threatened to make all the FAAN staff lose their jobs. The list is endless.
Some years ago, we had this rich patient that used to come to our hospital for bed rest. I was aware he was having an affair with some nurses. But there was this particular woman, a married woman and a mother of three that he had been making advances on, but she wasn’t interested. While on admission, as the woman went to check his BP, he grabbed her breast. She instantly landed him a hot slap. He was livid. He ordered me to sack the woman or he’ll never come to our hospital again.
In my mind I was saying, na so dem dey sack? You did the wrong thing, and instead of hiding your face in shame or at least be remorseful, you wanted her to lose her job too after being assaulted (sexually). I refused to apologize to him nor tell the woman to apologize as he demanded. In fact, I was glad she reset his big head with a slap.
Ask doctors and nurses that work in elite hospitals to tell you what they see everyday in the hands of Nigerian elites and their families. Even their children are sometimes worse. They are always looking for how to make you lose your license or your job. Any little thing they don carry phone dey make calls.
Did you notice on the KWAM1 and ValueJet airline’s saga that baba was busy making calls while blocking the plane? I don’t know who he was calling, but that’s what happens everyday in Nigeria. My happiness is that the pilot is a daughter of a prominent politician; if not, the story would have been different if she were a daughter or son of a nobody. She for no even get mind move the plane because employers don’t even protect their staff from these wicked elites.
Finally, there’s something to learn from the pilot. It is true that Baba messed up big time, but her reactions could have complicated matters for her. The plane’s wings almost hit the old man if not that he was fast to dodge it. What if he didn’t dodge it? It could have been disastrous. The lives of those in the plane were also endangered in that moment of double madness.
If she had been in control of her emotions, allowed him to successfully fool himself to his satisfaction, the backlash on Baba could have been more without anyone calling her names.
There are things people will do to you which could be a terrible thing, but your reaction will overshadow their own errors. Learn to control your emotions at that point and allow public opinion nail them.
Serving the Nigerian public is difficult, but dealing with the elites is far worse. Be guided. Don’t let them take food out of your mouth because that’s their aim.
Uwa ntoor fa.
