|
Is this their London? Part three (concluded)
Taslim Anibaba
But a grave voice answers me
Impetuous son that tree young and strong
That tree there
In splendid loneliness amidst white and faded flowers
That is Africa your Africa That grows again patiently obstinately
And its fruit gradually acquires The bitter taste of liberty.
David Diop
I do not intend to bore you with the too much details of my experience in London. What I have written so far is considered sufficient to enable you form an impression of that city and the socio-cultural environment of same.
It is also sufficient in my opinion, to support the proposition that human beings are the same everywhere whether in London or Nigeria.
What makes the difference is the way we think and our perceptions.
In his article titled The Illusions and Delusions of Nigerians in Diaspora, Akintokunbo Adejumo stated that “Nigerians have excelled in all the various fields of human endeavours all over the world.. We have a Nobel Laureate, we have Deputy Presidents of the World Bank; we have thousands of notable medical doctors, journalists, academicians, accountants, engineers, scientists, IT specialists, political scientists, economists, you name it.”
However in spite of these “We tend to wallow in this self-belief that living abroad makes us wealthier, more sophisticated, more savvy and knowledgeable, more creative, more modern, more world-wise than those living within Nigeria. This is the illusion and delusions of grandeur that has unfortunately afflicted some Nigerians living abroad.”
The way some Nigerians think about their country and the manner in which they run down with their country is responsible for their attitude towards her and anything coming out of our country.
They are quick to defend whatever honest observation that is made about their country of abode and will not blink an eyelid when derogatory remarks are made about Nigeria.
{mosgoogle)Some of us will gladly abide with the laws in our country of abode but when we get to Nigeria we don’t want to respect the law and will rather look for excuses to avoid responsibility. A glaring case was presented in The Punch of 23/06/2007 by Patience Akpan-Obong on page 9. She presented the case of a Nigerian doctor in the diaspora (Brain Doctor) who couldn’t participate in giving free medical facilities to Nigerians. She blamed “red-tape” or bureaucracy for the sad incident. Unfortunately, she did not appreciate the genuine requests of the Nigerian authorities for proper documentation to be provided by the doctor. So Nigerian authorities should turn a blind eye to verification of the credentials of a doctor and simply allow him to have contact with patients. Suppose he is a quack, who will be responsible? And will Brain Doctor not make all the necessary efforts in his country of abode to ensure that his papers are complete before he will start or contemplate practicing medicine? Attitude, attitude, attitude.
I agree that some things may be done differently in some other climes, yet you only need to look closely to discover that the weaknesses of the great countries of the world are the strong points that enable the weaker countries to survive.
Recently, a workers’ strike was embarked upon in Nigeria and South Africa - two African countries. Whereas the strike has entered day 23 in South Africa, Nigerians, the ordinary people on the streets were appealing to Labour to call off the strike after only three days.
During one of our chit-chat sessions in London, we engaged in serious arguments raising our voices in the process. The visiting “white” facilitator had to run to our co-ordinator to warn him of impeding threat to public peace. The co-ordinator assured him that Nigerians can argue for days and raise their voices but they will never fight. We learnt about the discussion between the duo later.
Poverty, crime, prosperity, disease, sadness, joy, housebreaking, binge drinking, bribery and corruption etc have no territorial boundaries. Just as we have erudite scholars in the UK, we have them in Nigeria. All economic indices may not be in our favour but we have so many quantifiable and unquantifiable things that the West will pay any amount to have. This does not imply that we don’t have our own problems.
We have family, culture, religion, communal spirit, resilience and a strong will to survive. We also believe very strongly in God. We can build on these attributes to achieve the desired improvements that we all seek in our country.
A visit to reallyworried.com will reveal to you that what worries the average Westerner is what we regard as unimportant. A good example is the 2012 Olympic Logo which caused epilepsy in some viewers recently in the UK. Just before I left London there was this talk about making it compulsory for the name of the father of a child to be registered on the birth certificate. As we shall see later, gangsters, mostly youths are presently a source of worry in the UK.
Inspite of all these I want to quickly endorse the position of Adejumo when he wrote “In fairness, and in grateful acknowledgement, there are many sincere Nigerians living abroad, working quietly instead of making the usual loud noises of Nigerians abroad, who are making inroads into creating better lives for their people in Nigeria . These real patriots, either individually or as groups, have created jobs in Nigeria”.
To further support my proposition I want to share a few more experiences with you.
Snapshots
Culture of Consumerism
Iya Sikira a pepper seller at Mushin is the proud owner of a Nokia phone and her son is the proud owner of a motorbike popularly called Okada. Between the two of them they are saving towards buying land with which to build their own house; their present abode being a rented two-room apartment near Palmgrove.
That is the African for you – always dreaming of and planning to acquire assets. Such a craving has its economic and social implications. Indeed there are several Yoruba proverbs which inform us that it is better to own a property and have proprietary interest in it than to lease.
In London you don’t have to own a property before you can conveniently derive satisfaction from its usage or consumption. Even you don’t have to own a gsm handset. It is available from the telecommunication outfits in exchange for a weekly/monthly rental. Same goes for apartments, cars, airconditioners, beddings etc. The propensity to consume is high and the marketing concept is at its best here as needs change rapidly.
With this state of affairs, a man or woman living here can live comfortably for as long as he has enough on his/her credit card but may never own a single asset. Life is just too comfortable.
With buses and trains working efficiently, it is cost-effective to ply them on a daily basis and so no serious consideration may be given to owning a car. In Nigeria a car is a symbol of affluence and convenience and this works for us.
The same is the situation with almost every movable and immovable assets.
With tax liability of about 52% (paye 35% plus vat 17.5%) disposable income is minimal and with the monthly repayment of lease rentals, the average Londoner sure has cashflow problems on a regular and continuing basis. Someone told me that there is also road tax (I didn’t crosscheck though).
That perhaps explains why some of our countrymen and women work in several places.
I don’t have any problem with that. My worry is that inspite of the hard work and earnings, savings becomes difficult and the propensity to acquire assets is not likely to be given serious consideration.
Looking at this from another perspective Gbenga Odugbesan in his column UK Basics under the headline The Agony of remittances in The Saturday Punch of 23/06/2007 wrote “ The need to satisfy the ever-demanding loved ones back home is making some Nigerians in the UK to work their fingers to the bone. They take delight in having more work shifts that take them away from their bed and rest for about three quarters of the day.. In most cases, after settling their rents, their numerous bills and keeping some amount behind for daily upkeep, they are left with virtually nothing, but this scenario attracts no sympathy from home”
It should be mentioned however, that while this is a general picture of what is going on, some actually save money for investments purposes both in Nigeria and overseas.
Uninterrupted Power Supply
Throughout my two week stay in London, electricity was stable 24/7. The bulbs did not blink for even a second and I didn’t have to plug my laptop to a UPS before I could use it. That is another positive thing about London. The steady electricity supply also supports the vast trading and other commercial activities for 24hours.
Religious Houses
I observed that economic activities take place 24/7 in this City. There is no Friday or Sunday as we have back home.
Also there is no proliferation of churches and mosques. Indeed I observed that on Ealing Road which is about three kilometers only one central mosque and one church are located on it. I prayed twice at the mosque on Fridays and immediately after prayers everybody went about their normal business. There is no such thing as Thank-God-It-Is-Friday – an excuse for closing late or working half day in Nigeria.
Also no noisy loudspeakers and/or loud pastor or imam.
We can learn a lot from this attitude. Yes we can hold unto religion but our attitude in terms of propagation and evangelism require a change for the better. We are too noisy and litter our environment with posters advertising religious leaders and their funny claims.
Gangsters
A more dangerous and deadlier version of what we call “area boys” exists in London. A news report monitored on BBC confirmed that it also exists in America. It is called the “gang culture”.
These are youths mostly black who belong to cults. They are into drugs, alcohol, violence and other dangerous vices. Indeed the current debate is about which one, black or white gangs that is more dangerous, though police records show that the black gangsters run foul of the law more than their white counterparts.
This matter is of great concern presently and it is hoped that a lasting solution will be found soon.
One of the major causes attributed to the upsurge in gang activities is rap music and the tendency in youths to want to emulate the negative lifestyles of celebrities.
It is true that gangsters can be found in Lagos, Ajegunle and other Nigerian cities and suburbs. They are also on the prowl in Johannesburg (market street, Hillbrow etc) but the breed here are more dangerous.
Closely related to this is the culture of binge drinking and unwanted pregnancies amongst young females.
Liverpool Market/Finsbury Park
These are popular street markets where you can get good bargain for a variety of items especially fabrics and ornaments. I chose these two because Nigerian languages were so freely spoken, especially Yoruba that one may be tempted to believe that it was Balogun market in Lagos. I was particularly impressed by the fact that some Nigerians came to these markets in their traditional attires. The shop owners were very friendly and were fascinated to see Nigerians. They were warm and some even informed us that they have friends and family in Nigeria. At one of the shops, the owner wondered aloud when he said “ only God knows what will happen to the economy of London if Nigerians don’t patronize us again”.
Of course Nigerians will continue to patronize these markets given the historical ties between the two countries.
I also will like to recommend these two places for anyone looking for a relation that cannot be located or traced in London. Just go to any of these markets on Saturday and Sunday and you are likely to run into at least one relation of yours. I met two of my blood relations at Liverpool! It was a splendid re-union, though brief.
Liverpool also reminded me of the bicentenary celebration of the abolition of transatlantic slave trade coming up in August this year.
Other places include The Wembley Plaza (unfortunately it was cancelled the weekend I was to go there) and Brentcross.
My brother Nigerians plenty for London.
Michael Bland
I was fortunate to meet two gentlemen during the course of the training programme. They are Michael Bland and Dr. Eric Hooper.
I was particularly thrilled by the performance of Michael Bland, who I will like to describe as an erudite scholar, author and renowned authority in Crisis Management. Though physically challenged, he proved to us that physical impairment is no barrier to achieving success in life especially when it comes to developing others. An orator and crisis manager per excellence!
Ironically the only “diasporan” Nigerian resource person only came to the school to talk down on our country. He relied extensively on his outdated knowledge of the financial sector in Nigeria (he jetted out in 1984). In the year 2007 he was telling us about outdated techniques for E-Auditing. He is apparently not aware also of the improvements in the reporting standards of companies and the positive developments in the financial sector in general. We seized the opportunity to update his knowledge and to inform him of banking softwares that come with query facilities that can take care of the outdated techniques he was “teaching” us. It was so frustrating to pay so much only for people like him to make you listen to the condemnation of your country. We left his class half-way to the end of the session.
Land Filled with Gold Dust?
I want to express my profound gratitude to Uche who considered me a worthy subject for his article on the same theme though with a different title.
In that article he wanted to know what I was expecting to find in London
The truth is that whenever I was out of Nigeria I never really paid much attention to the happenings in my host countries. I was usually preoccupied with religious duties (Saudi), shopping and general “enjoyment” of the goodies in those countries.
However this trip to London was a different matter.
Firstly, I saw it as an opportunity to write about and share my experiences with fellow villagers.
Secondly, there has been so much condemnation of Nigeria by some our friends in the “diaspora” that one could not but wonder if they are living outside of this planet. So I looked forward to seeing a city where the “air is filled with gold dust and fortune falls like snowflakes in your hands”
Did I hear you say that my voice is not sonorous and the lines were not delivered with the right pitch and tone.
I seek your indulgence to call on Dolly Parton who sang that song some years back at a live concert in London and who was in the same state as I was at a point in her life.
Here we go
You oughta go north somebody told us
'Cause the air is filled with gold dust
And fortune falls like snow flakes in your hands
Now I don't recall who said it
But we'd lived so long on credit
And so we headed out to find our promised land
Just poor Appalachian farm folk
With nothing more than high hopes
We hitched our station wagon to a star
But our dreams all fell in on us
'Cause there was no land of promise
And it's a struggle keepin' sight of who you are
Oh and these northern nights are dreary
And my southern heart is weary
I wonder how the old folks are back home
But I'll keep leanin' on sweet Jesus
I know He'll love and guide and lead us
Appalachian memories keep me strong
Just like her, I did not find such a land of promise. Did I find a prosperous land? Yes. Did I find a perfect system? NO.
From Heathrow to my hotel at Hanger Lane, the memories of old Lagos (60s to early 80s) filled my hearts. The narrow roads, the left-hand drive, those overhead bridges and the posters on their beams and columns, the jam-packed residential apartments and the absence of space which necessitates the parking of cars on the road etc.
Indeed Lagos Island of those days was not different from the layout I saw in London; even Abuja roads are wider and cleaner.
I experienced so many things that I have already mentioned and my initial conclusion was that all societies are basically the same each with its fair share of opportunities, threats, weaknesses, strengths, achievements, misfortunes etc.
Just as in Nigeria London houses men and women of different cultures, religious beliefs, nationalities and social status. We have the super rich, the working/struggling class, the poor, the lame, the pious and the criminal.
I saw a man picking cigarette stubs at Alperton Junction. Cigarettes are expensive (₤5.49 per pack of 20). And not being able to afford this, the man picked stubs on the floor to smoke! This happened in the same city where some can afford to spend more than ₤500 a month on cigarettes and alcohol.
London has her own share of natural and man-made disasters. In just one week a building collapsed in central London (Luton street) while a 45 minute downpour of rain caused a disastrous flooding that left so many people homeless and distraught.
Farewell London
In spite of all that I experience London is an important city for her historical and commercial attractions. Someday sometime I intend to visit again provided I am given a visa.
I was due to return to Nigeria on the 18th but I decided to reduce my stay by two days (at least to save the cost of hotel accommodation) and traveled back to Nigeria on the night of the 16th.
My return journey was a pleasant experience. From the business class check-in counter of British Airway my colleague and myself were treated like “big men”. The BA officers (Guv, Amana and one other lady) were very warm and friendly. We exchanged pleasantries, talked for some time about Nigeria and we exchanged cards. They promised to honour my invitation to visit Nigeria.
The customs and immigration were efficient and our passage was without any incident or delay.
We boarded the plane at about 11.30pm and we were spoiled on the plane by British Airways. The concept of the customer is king was at its best as all considerations of race or colour were absent. It was a pleasant experience.
We arrived Abuja early in the morning and the immigration and customs officials were already waiting for us. They were thorough and efficient in their duties that it took less than 30minutes to attend to all of us.
And by the time we were through with immigration, our luggage were already waiting for us to pick.
The attitude to work of those Nigerians on duty that day is highly commendable. They were courteous and did not lower their standards.
Even poor me, I was referred to as “Oga”. That jolted me back to life. I suddenly realized I am home. Yes I am home. Where I am not just a number. I am home where my the totality of my being can best be appreciated and properly defined. And instead of buses and trains my friend’s driver was already waiting to take us home.
Home sweet home. No matter how long it takes for my ship to navigate the high oceans and seas, it must eventually surrender at the harbour for anchoring. That is my home.
I am an African and in spite of the fact that I am not even writing in my mother tongue, Africa flows in my veins just as it did to David Diop when he wrote:
Africa my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs
Africa of whom my grandmother sings
On the banks of the distant river
I have never known you
But your blood flows in my veins
Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields
The blood of your sweat
The sweat of your work
The work of yor slavery
The slavery of your children
Africa tell me Africa
Is this you this back that is bent
This back that breaks under the weight of humiliation
This back trembling with red scars
And saying yes to the whip under the midday sun
I want to express my gratitude to my employer, colleague Abba Tijani, my friends Uche, Uncle Tisha, Ali (our hotelier) Femi as well as all those who made my journey interesting and colourful.
Until next summer. Let us continue to assimilate the good things that the western world has to offer but conscious of who we are and our heritage while at the same time distancing ourselves from those weaknessess or negative things that are prevalent in the western world
Thanks for having read this article.
Taslim Anibaba (FCA)
24th June, 2007
|
Authors 
Posted by Robot| 26.06.2007 01:42