I stood in front of my friend’s Iron rod shop on the Elepe-Ijede road adjacent to FOREVER PLAZA between Enyo filling station and Idiroko bus stop and witnessed a sight that enraged me greatly and broke me into bits at the same time.
Arab Contractors had retired for the day after covering up the granite/cement flooring with sharp sand and smoothing it up in preparation for the next day’s job of laborious and delicate setting of paving stones in interlocking format by the hands of a few, skilled men. To protect this prepared part of the road from traffic, a raised line of paving stones was laid across, marking the stretch of road to be worked on the next day. The other side of the road, interlocked and running two lanes to and from Elepe was open for traffic all day and many days before.
Next thing, a few Okada riders rode up to the divide, saw the blockade and while some turned back to use alternate routes, others, assisted by co-riders or passengers carried their bikes physically over the culvert (a normalised infraction) onto the interlocked road and continued on their journey.
Wetin come blow my mind pass na Keke Napeps wey 3 man squads dey carry cross culvert too. A new one on me o!
Next thing. Heavy traffic, dominated by Bike men and Keke Napep riders plus a few private vehicles built up at the protective divide.
Next thing. A number of Keke and Okada riders got down and brazenly cut the red and white tape and removed the protective paving stones, creating a path for their bikes and tricycles over the smoothened road waiting to be interlocked the next day.
A few of us tried to stop them at risk of bodily harm from men wey dey para…but no way. So many bikes, Keke Napeps, private vehicles, a military truck and countless human legs ran riot over the smooth sand all the way to Idiroko, destroying in minutes the hard work put in all through the day by Arab contractors to get the road set for interlock.
The next morning, I stood at the same spot and saw the pain and frustration in the eyes and faces of the labour workers. Na dem go use head carry the wahala. Plenty work for them, added to a new day’s job, minus a boost to their lean pay. It hurt so deeply and I found myself wondering at the mental state of my fellow Nigerians at the bottom of this ladder…the little people.
Yes, Nigerian governments over too many years have been a disappointment and the current Federal government is evidently a tragedy and we all want to heap blames for our country’s woes on the system forgetting to factor ourselves into the equation and do the needful little that we can to help ourselves. We don shout tire, curse Federal and State government tire say road bad, life hard…plenty talk online and in real time.
Dem don dey do the road now…e dey fine come for our eye…we come still open our eyes, balance dey spoil am. From tales I heard that night and the next day, nor be today our people, ordinary, everyday people dey spoil Arab Contractors job for dis ongoing project wey dem nor go get choice but to re-do the work, setting them back a bit.
It is a sad reality that we pay no heed to the fact that we hurt ourselves when we give in to foolery. The road destroyed by us is meant for us. The little man is equally a big problem as the big man is, in the nature of Nigeria. Nor be all our problem government or rich man cause. Na Mekunu orientation be that. We, the little people are our own problem many times past one.
© Onus Obinyan
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