ORGANIZATION: THE MISSING WORD IN THE NIGERIAN DICTIONARY

  My experience today at the police report preparation exercise in Madrid Spain was disgusting as it is disappointing. I had unofficially gotten the report that the police officers sent from Nigeria for the exercise were around and that the exercise would not be held at the Nigerian embassy as was expected but a lackluster warehouse converted into a church with no proper ventilation and lacking  the stipulated exit route in case of emergency.

  The exercise was slated to commence at 9:00 under the watchful eyes of the organizers and the providers of the space, The Nigerian national association in Madrid. I got there at about 9:25 due to the difficulty in locating the address. As at the time I got there, there were already about 184 persons on the list before me, amongst them mothers and their kids, some of whom I gathered came from other states in Spain for the exercise.

  The impression I got as I entered the venue was that of chaos and lack of adequate organization, which was made manifest as the hour stipulated for the commencement of the exercise went past with more than two hours during which the members of the Nigerian Nationals present did not have any cogent explanation on why the exercise had not commenced, according to their spokespersons, they had made several calls to the embassy to know why the police officers who were to conduct the exercise were yet to turn up at the venue.  
  More and more people started trooping in and putting their names down in the list made available by the host association, the Nigerian Nationals. Close to 300 names were written and corresponding numbers given to up to 129 persons on the list because the same group of persons responsible for the list allegedly discovered that some people were writing down their names as well as that of their friends and family members who were still at home sleeping on their bed while some people had already arrived at the venue as early as 6:00. It was also alleged that a prior list had already been drawn a day earlier by the church as well as persons close to the church and even members of the Nigerian nationals themselves, which was why at my arrival I already had 184 persons before me on the list even though there were physically half or a little more than half of that number of persons at the time of my arrival.

  My special concern as I persistently made it known to some of the host organizers was the issue of the Ebola virus, I could not understand why a multitude like that could be jam-packed in that inappropriate and chaotic space for so long, everybody shaking hands and embracing old friends despite the threat of the Ebola virus. I wondered why there was not even a sanitizer available despite the huge sum of money, 145 Euros for each person in the case of fresh police report and 115 Euros in the case of a renewal.

  It was not until 11:40 that the Nigerian police and the Nigerian embassy staff accompanying them arrived at the venue with their usual Nigeria superiority aura, walking majestically past a multitude of persons they had kept waiting for almost 3 hours. They marched pompously to a room upstairs prepared to serve as the operating office without even a formal apology to all the Nigerian men and women present.

  Precisely one hour after their arrival at about 13.00, the Nigerian nationals’ spokesperson came forward to declare the exercise open in the midst of the already generated chaos, without a clear-cut demarcation point or cordoned area from where they will be operating. I stepped forward to demand that before the event could start, at least an official of the Nigerian embassy needed to come down and tender a deserved apology to all of us for waiting for them for almost 3 hours but was surprised that the same Nigerians I was interceding on their behalf said it was unnecessary, I looked at them and shook my head. I understood at once why our leaders and those elected to serve us treat us as herds of cows and goats. When is the official time in Nigeria for the commencement of the day´s work in the civil service? Why have these government officials chosen to arrive at their place of work at 11:40 when they had earlier announced that the exercise was going to begin by 9:00.

  And again when they eventually kick-started the exercise, they said they would only attend to 100 persons on the list so the rest of us had to leave to return the next day (tomorrow) hoping and expecting that the list today will still be valid for tomorrow´s exercise.

  With what I saw today, I think that most Nigerians think that the head is only meant for wearing a cap, people get paid and demand money for doing nothing or for rendering a mediocre service to Nigerians, in their minds they believe that every Nigerian is a goat and deserve no better treatment than that reserved for a goat . The same document that the Spanish government give to their citizens for a tax payment of less than 10 Euros and you wouldn´t need to be on the queue for more than 20 minutes, is what the Nigerian authorities, and a referent Nigerian association in Spain cannot even organize laudably after charging as much as a 145 Euros.

Honestly, my heart bleeds.