Oje named names and showed me the evidence of this quite minor, unsung footnote of a venture that was so typical of the survival tactics of that species - Hydropus Nigerianensis. It happened during the construction of Abuja capital territory. A young lady, who studied in ëde abroadí of America came home on long vacation. Being a very active person, who had also grown up in that country where the vacation job often amounts to a basic student ethic, she asked her father if there was some way he could help her earn some pocket money while home. The father sent her to a close friend who happened to be involved in the construction of Abuja Capital territory, which was then perhaps half-way developed. Eagerly, she visited this man in his Lagos office, introduced and pronounced herself on the job line for some pocket money. Well, said the family friend, I only deal with the construction side of things. If you’re looking for a desk job, I’m afraid I really haven’t much to offer. Anything at all, said the eager young lady, in fact, I’ve always preferred outdoor work. So - cut a long story short - the man brought out his copy of the Abuja master plan, spread it out on the table and pored over it. Finally, he stabbed at a section and said here, see this road? We need a culvert between here, and - here. He handed her another sheet of paper here are the specifications. You think you can handle that? The girl was a bit flabbergasted. When she had heard the job description as construction, she was looking forward to actually working with her hands as one of a work gang, now it looked as if she was being offered, without any experience whatsoever, something like the position of a foreman. Worse was to come. It was not to be a foreman, but the contractor and organiser of all the required labour, skilled and unskilled - structural engineer, surveyor, etc. She was an adventurous girl however, and she remembered that she had an aunt who was a building contractor - you know, houses. She grew excited at the prospect and quickly re-affirmed her competence to undertake the project. Very good said her father’s friend, and scribbled her a note. Take this, report at that office tomorrow and collect your mobilisation fees. The girl took a look at the figure and nearly fainted. It was a most determined girl who returned home, contacted her aunt and looked forward to returning to the US to boast to her mates how she had gone home on vacation and ended up being one of the foundation builders for the city of Abuja. Her aunt soon found her a small-time builder, and a surveyor. Together they bought picks and shovels, negotiated cement delivery to Sam Abuja etc. etc. She hired a minibus, and within days, she was on site, ready for the challenge.. Well, they arrived there, followed the map and began hunting for the road. Throughout that day, they searched, searched and searched. Nothing but pristine jungle. The map of what was supposed to be a developed site had never been breached by human feet. Her father’s friend had made a mistake, they decided, so she left her crew behind and motored back to Lagos to see the family friend. He received her quite warmly, asked how her vacation was going. His mood underwent a change when he learnt where she had been, what had brought her back. His eyes opened even wider when he learnt that she had hired staff and bused them to Abuja, and his mouth fell apart when she, expecting nothing but praise, revealed how she had gone about the venture, the initiative she had shown. He shrank from her as one would a dangerous lunatic, reached for the phone and dialed her fathers number, not taking his eyes from the girl for one second. He got his friend on the line and stammered: ‘Chappie, I thought you said your daughter was bright. You told me she was smart. Is this what you call smart? Intelligent? Your girl, let me tell you, is mentally retarded. Do you realize what she did? Do you know she actually went to Abuja, and with a construction crew? I thought you said all she needed to make some vacation money? Do you realize sheís actually squandered all the Mobilisation fee I authorized for her? Chappie, she actually went there! She bought cement. She hired workers. Sheís been thrashing about in the jungle. Imagine, if she’d been bitten by a snake, wouldn’t you have put the blame on me? Ode l’omo to o bi yi o “ He turned on the girl “Go, go, get out of my office, go, I don’t ever want to set eyes on you again. I don’t know who you are, but you’re certainly not your father’s daughter” --Wole Soyinka: The Protean Dimensions (2006)
Posted on: Fri, 06 Jun 2014 09:00:06 +0000
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