At your service 2

If you've ever travelled out of the country, one of the things you'll notice is that foreign immigration officials treat you better than the immigration officials in Nigeria.

I think it all narrows down to not understanding that they provide a service. They represent the first impression you have of a country. I think the foreign immigration officials recognize that hence they try their best to make you enjoy their country.

While waiting to get my passport stamped, a foreign immigration official gave me a little guide to the country – “it's as big as.....”, “tourism represents one of our biggest income earners” etc.

I wonder if foreigners get this sort of education when they come to my country. But between you & I, we know they don't.

Service is about serving others. Even the police need to realize that their job is not to catch criminals but to serve and protect the citizens of the country. If they did, they would treat people with more courtesy.

When we truly start offering service, then we give better meaning and value to each other.

At your service 1

I’m finding it hard to get service in Nigeria. By and by, I’ve concluded we are just an exchange nation, no more, no less. Giving service seems so foreign to our nature.

Imagine this, I stay in a hotel and find that my bed was not properly, the pillows were a different story altogether. My complaints make me a difficult customer.

You want to know why - to the hotel, the transaction was a place to stay for the cash I paid. Making my stay pleasurable was not part of the deal. Why would I want to visit the hotel again? Guess they don't even want back else I would have been treated better.

But I’m finding that this is not an isolated event, the trader who sees no value in making her shop comfortable for the buyer or having a friendly face, the nurse who welcomes you with a scowl, need I say more?

Perhaps someday, we’ll get there but for now, we only trade in goods and no services attached.

The frustrations of a failed service State 2

My friend had a rather funny experience. She parked her car in front of a shop she was at. The owner of the next shop while trying to park his car gives her car a scratch. When accosted, instead of apologizing, he launches into a tirade. He claims she was parked in front of his shop. Then, he says wife drives a better car than my friend.

My friend is definitely frustrated trying to make her point. In annoyance, she leaves him and goes to nearby drycleaner to pick up her stuff.

Then the unthinkable happens. While at the drycleaners, the man comes to look for her with another male partner. His mission - He came to apologize. According to him, his shop attendant had just robbed him of the shop takings. He had no way to trace him and the authorities were of no help. My friend was the unfortunate recipient of his frustrations.

Perhaps if offenders got their due on the scales of justice, we may have a little reduction in the number of frustrated people on the streets. When your car got hit, when you were mugged, when PHCN power surge destroyed your electronics - perhaps if you got a bit of justice, maybe just maybe, you might have toned down on your frustration level.

The frustrations of a failed service State - 1

It was a painful picture. A full adult male been beaten naked in public. No, he was not caught stealing, he was driving a LAGBUS. His offense was that he had hit a car owned by a soldier near a barracks. They meted out their form of justice on him.

A bit pathetic is that the crowd gathered around urged the soldiers on. 'Yes, beat him', 'that's how they are', 'another hit a car before me and ran away'.

What we should collectively deplore, we now hail. Perhaps if our country did not fail in its service to defend justice we might not take up the tools of justice ourselves.

When the ideal becomes impossible, the obvious takes place.

Let's return to righteousness & justice, then perhaps we won't see grown-up men stripped naked on the streets.

The biker dialogue

I was on a bike (aka okada) when the chap ran a red light during mid-day Lagos traffic. I was in a talking mood so I launched into giving the biker a good education on obeying the traffic light. 'Disobeying the traffic lights could lead to an accident with cars from the opposite direction' I explained. 'Don't pray for an accident on me' retorted the biker.

It seems my education had touched a raw nerve. He did not want to hear that his actions could cause an accident because it meant he would have an accident.

How foolish we sometimes act, we make the wrong choice and don't want to be told the repercussions.

Fortunately we did not have any accident but I hope he doesn't repeat the action again. Something tells he might still run the red light again.