The Nigerian Village Square - Dinner From A Lagos Dustbin

Dinner From A Lagos Dustbin

Written by Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

Sunday, 16 September 2007

Dinner From A Lagos Dustbin

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

scruples2006@yahoo.com

It was a very beautiful evening in Lagos. I was in the car, waiting for my wife to get her bag from her office so we could go home together. Then, I saw him, as he passed, looking very hungry and haggard. The general consensus here is that he is not mad. At least, not yet. He is clearly traumatized by the impossible condition in which he struggles to exist each day.

Suddenly, his hungry eyes caught the dustbin, outside the office complex, a few meters away from where my car was packed. He appeared so elated at his find. His face creased into an awful gesture, which he probably meant to be a smile. Then, with a quickened pace, he made for the dustbin, and began to desperately rummage in it, among its decayed, putrid, stinking contents. He seemed afraid that someone might come out to drive him away before he was through.

An idea occurred to me immediately. Nigerians ought to share this heart-rending image with me. Yes, my camera was at the backseat, I remembered. I quickly reached for it, and with a greater part of me hid behind the windshield, I took two shots of him while he was still busy searching and collecting some items triumphantly. Then my third shot caught him as he made to move away with his booty. And within a few minutes, he went down the street and was gone.

This, too, is a Nigerian. Like you and I. Like Umar Musa Yar’Adua. Like David Mark. Like Patricia Etteh. Like Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo (the founder/father of Modern Nigeria). Like National Assembly Members. Like former State Governors. Like former ministers and Super Special Advisers. Like some Local Government Chairmen. All now incredibly wealthy after just a few years of “self-less to the nation”!

If this hapless Nigerian had heard that houses are renovated and/or upgraded in Abuja with a mere “ paltry sum” of N628 million, he didn’t show it. He was just content to invade the dustbins, to fill his stomach with its putrid contents, until life, his life, reaches a T-junction, where, his candle would be cruelly extinguished by the violent wind of the unspeakable callousness of Nigerian leaders.

By the way, is Umaru Dikko reading this?

That is the reality of present day Nigeria. And make no mistake about it, there are several others like him out there, who would never have anything to eat today, until they are able to find a dustbin rich enough to yield them a meal.

Perhaps, this fellow voted in the last election. Perhaps, he did not. But those who are supposed to take care of him are out there in Abuja and other points of power engaging in unspeakable profligacy, with the commonwealth, from which they have carefully insulated him. While he dies slowly, and miserably.

What a nation.

Scruples2006@yahoo.com

http://www.ugochukwu.blog.com

Robot Robot is offline
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	# 1 ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot\| 15.09.2007 22:55

X-Ray X-Ray is offline
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	# 2 Let's not get carried away my good friend. Yes corruption is something we must continue to fight with vigour, but you can't stop some people being homeless and eating from dustbins. The greatest and richest country in the world, the USA, has an untold amount of tramps and vagrants eating from dustbins and permanently living under the subway. If in doubt check out New York's Manhattan. Let's get things into perspective as we try to build a better nation. No where in the world is everyone employed or wealthy. The top 5 wealthiest nations all have these problems too. What could be their reasons! Posted by X-Ray\| 16.09.2007 02:57

Vade Mecum Vade Mecum is offline
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	# 3 =X-Ray;2089884>Let's not get carried away my good friend. Yes corruption is something we must continue to fight with vigour, but you can't stop some people being homeless and eating from dustbins. The greatest and richest country in the world, the USA, has an untold amount of tramps and vagrants eating from dustbins and permanently living under the subway. If in doubt check out New York's Manhattan. Let's get things into perspective as we try to build a better nation. No where in the world is everyone employed or wealthy. The top 5 wealthiest nations all have these problems too. What could be their reasons! Mr. X Ray, The scenario is not the way you are painting it. "Some homeless are more equal than others". The vast majority of American homeless and beggars are homeless and are begging by choice, not that the government did not make social provisions for them.In the city of Los Angeles, the city attempted to forcibly remove all the homeless from the city,especially the business districts and relocate them to a special zone where all they would need for their comfort were put in place for them.The homeless resisted the move,got a law firm to represent them and the court decided in favor of the homeless and beggars.The homeless and beggars right to reside any where they deem fit except private property anywhere in the United States was upheld. American cities,counties,states and the federal government all have programmes in place for the poor.Ever heard of Medicaid-a medical insurance programme to help the poor get their medical care.What about gas and electric bills special assistance programmes. Talk about the free cheques, the poor collect monthly in the U.S. Free housing for the poor nkor? Abeg, leave matter. Posted by Vade Mecum\| 16.09.2007 03:25

Abraxas Abraxas is offline
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	# 4 Hi, folks! This guy sounds like someone who has just been teleported from planet Uranus, via the Moon, to planet Earth for the first time ever. It may interest him to know that, worldwide, the main reason why most persons that got employed to work for refuse disposal companies ever applied for the job in the first place, is to have privileged and unrestricted access to the goodies at the refuse heaps! Obrigado. Don Juan-Carlos ABRAXAS (III) Posted by Abraxas\| 16.09.2007 04:58

akuluouno akuluouno is offline
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	# 5 This argument over eating from dustbins even in developed climes keep being cited by mischievious patriots who want to rationalise the total destruction of the socio-ecnomic fabric of our fatherland can indeed be seductive. But I refuse to succumb.:biggrin: What of other fundamentals being exhibited by these countries. Why are they not being cited in those arguments viz: constant electricity, cold and hot water, roads, medicare facilities, education, good governance etc etc etc. Can u compare a man eating from the dustbin in Canada with subject under consideration in Lagos? The former is by choice, while the latter is by compulsion.:exclaim::exclaim: It is not bad if UMYA sets it as a national goal to make sure that no Nigerian eats from the dustbin.:exclaim::exclaim: Posted by akuluouno\| 16.09.2007 05:26

Abraxas Abraxas is offline
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	# 6 =akuluouno;2089900> It is not bad if UMYA sets it as a national goal to make sure that no Nigerian eats from the dustbin.:exclaim::exclaim: It is humanly impossible! Posted by Abraxas\| 16.09.2007 06:11

Amy Amy is offline
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	# 7 You do not have to be poor, homeless and starved to scavenge the dumpsters in America for goodies as I know perfectly normal and productive people that regularly visit dumpster to cart away perfectly edible produce that these grocery stores discard of simply because such produce have extended the artificial expiration date on their package. In fact, I have personally been served food from a dumpster and I couldn't tell the difference, so I believe it is an unbalanced perspective to compare the incomparable. There's simply no need to acutely blur the lines in the bid to prove the absurd... feeding from a disease infested & disgustingly stinky dustbin in filthy Lagos, of all places, can not be compared in this life with scavenging well maintained dumpsters that sometimes contain perfectly OK food that wasteful America and other developed nations do not want. Bottom-line, we have been unlucky with the leaders that have managed to force themselves on us in Nigeria- leaders that are too self-absorbed to realize the importance of investing solidly in the people. The extreme poverty that will lead a sane person to Lagos dumpsters is a vivid manifestation of how chronically disconnected our leaders are from the deprived masses of Nigeria. The author speaks to our hearts and humanity in a way that is worth more than mere theories! In the end, we may all have to insert ourselves in meaningful ways in the economic development of our downtrodden- one lone person out of poverty at a time is all that is required. I am convinced chronic poverty need not be the inevitable lot of a majority of the human race... God did not mean it to be so... it is the unfortunate consequence of the greed and wickedness of a few in our nation. Posted by Amy\| 16.09.2007 06:34

Celticologist Celticologist is offline
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	# 8 =Amy;2089906>You do not have to be poor, homeless and starved to scavenge the dumpsters in America for goodies as I know perfectly normal and productive people that regularly visit dumpster to cart away perfectly edible produce that these grocery stores discard of simply because such produce have extended the artificial expiration date on their package. In fact, I have personally been served food from a dumpster and I couldn't tell the difference, so I believe it is an unbalanced perspective to compare the incomparable. There's simply no need to acutely blur the lines in the bid to prove the absurd... feeding from a disease infested & disgustingly stinky dustbin in filthy Lagos, of all places, can not be compared in this life with scavenging well maintained dumpsters that sometimes contain perfectly OK food that wasteful America and other developed nations do not want. Bottom-line, we have been unlucky with the leaders that have managed to force themselves on us in Nigeria- leaders that are too self-absorbed to realize the importance of investing solidly in the people. The extreme poverty that will lead a sane person to Lagos dumpsters is a vivid manifestation of how chronically disconnected our leaders are from the deprived masses of Nigeria. The author speaks to our hearts and humanity in a way that is worth more than mere theories! In the end, we may all have to insert ourselves in meaningful ways in the economic development of our downtrodden- one lone person out of poverty at a time is all that is required. I am convinced chronic poverty need not be the inevitable lot of a majority of the human race... God did not mean it to be so... it is the unfortunate consequence of the greed and wickedness of a few in our nation. Before the arrival of stalinistas, government apologists and other well adjusted, western-living, gucci-flaunting, nice-neigborhood-living, nice-CLK-cruising, in-denial-living, white-women-loving "activists", and before they begin to neutralize the effect of that picture, I would like to say these: AMY: Thank you. You summed up what it is all about. I think Abraxas could have been making a joke, but on the other hand, the possible spin in this sad picture is that some might still find it unbelivable or unrealistic because his hand is in the bin, and not yet in his mouth. Some may say the guy in the picture is an actor, not quite easy to accept. In my opinion, I think yes!...he is looking for something, he can't possibly be employed, and his chances of making it in his society is very slim. His access to justice at anytime is zero, he is not in the system, no possible health care opportunity. If (God forbid) he dies on the street, he will be there for a while, and life will move on. BUT....whatever led him to that bin is NOT choice. (Some) people who scavenge dumptsers in the west often have to drive there, you'll be suprized to see them clutching cellular phones. They have some kind of access to the system if they want to live a normal life; choice is the keyword. I noted a few of your points in bold because some of us have been called all kinds of names for implying exactly that. Nigerians in europe and america sometimes seem to be selectively detached from reality. I bet among afro-conspiracy theorists and other myth peddlers, whatever makes a fellow citizen eat from a dustbin cannot be the fault of the leadership at home; even "father of the nation" should not be questioned. It always come down to that white-man-did-this-to-us myth. Ransome Kuti's ODOO says it all about a civil servant who saved money for two years to buy a fan but never could: "Now he understands his own life, that enjoyment can never come his way, Now his life is in reverse, In Africa his fatherland" That was just about 1991. I don't know if it's worse now or not. Posted by Celticologist\| 16.09.2007 07:51

Jah Guda Jah Guda is offline
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	# 9 To the author, I am very disappointed that you did not offer your brother some money to enable him have a decent meal for a change, he gave you something to write about, you took a photograph of him without his consent, the least you could have done is to give him enough money to see him through a couple of months. If you had you would have given him some hope and made him feel he is not alone. There are millions of Nigerians in the same predicament. Some are fortunate enough to have a family and loads of love to compensate for their meagre existence. Your subject is alone on this Earth, he has no one in his life to help him bear the burden of poverty and neglect. Take a look at his face, you see emptiness and dejection. There are very poor people in every Country but Nigerians deserve better. We have got too many of our fellow citizens living below the poverty line. Politicians and the rich drive past hundreds of poor Nigerians everyday and seem immune to their pitiful existence. If we fail to tackle our social problems now we will one day wake up and find these problems impossible to find a solution to. As our numbers grow, our chances of tackling and finding solutions to social issues like poverty and crime diminishes. Posted by Jah Guda\| 16.09.2007 08:43

akuluouno akuluouno is offline
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	# 10 Dear Abra, And that exactly is what qualifies an idea to become a mission statement. It is like Nike's Just do It. I is humanly impossible for everyone to Just Do It, but at the end of each financial year, Nike and her shareholders smile to the bank. Once UMYA adopts that as a guiding principle of governance, the rest of the machinery of govt can now work gradually towards that goal. It may not be met 100 per cent, but at least having aimed for the sun, he may land Nigeria on the moon:biggrin::biggrin:, which is better by far than the limbo we are presently in. Now having distinguished between dutbins in Europe and Nigeria, let us henceforth eschew making mischievious comparisons so that policy makers will know that they have a great job ahead of them.:idea: Posted by akuluouno\| 16.09.2007 08:49

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